Westman Atelier was founded in 2018 by Gucci Westman, a celebrity makeup artist, and her husband David Neville, who also co-founded Rag & Bone. Before that she was Lancôme's international artistic director and Revlon's global artistic director, so the brand reads like a working artist's kit. It launched in spring 2018 with the Vital Skin Foundation Stick and the Baby Cheeks Blush Stick, positioned as conscious luxury. The slim stick packaging was inspired by fragrance atomizers, and its magnetic closure was a first for a foundation. The founders funded it themselves until a couple of years after launch. Here, the Vital Skin Medium Coverage Multi-Use Foundation Stick is the one that started the story, and the Suprême Bio-Complex Liquid Foundations, including the one with exosomes and peptides, are the newer liquid route. Vital Skincare Concealer, the Face Trace Contour Stick and its Mini Petite version are the sculpting steps, and the Lit Up Highlighter Stick and the Super Loaded Tinted and Liquid Highlighters add glow. The Blender II, Liquid Foundation Brush and The Refining Brush Edit are the tools. For more glow ideas, a pearly highlight milk and Dior's highlighter story give other points of view.

The Lip Suede palette has one of my favorite origin stories in recent makeup. It grew out of a tomato red that Gucci Westman mixed for Reese Witherspoon's January 2019 Vogue cover shoot, and the first palette arrived in February 2020. Here it sits with the Eye Want You mascara, the Eye Pods eye shadow trio, the Eye Love You Clean Kôhl Eyeliner Pencil and the Bonne Brow Defining pencil. The Eyeshadow Palette Holiday Edit is the one for a bigger look, and Eyeshadow Brush I and II are the matching tools. A useful test for any eye trio: look at it in daylight near a window, and pick the shade that is closest to your natural lid color as the base. For tools and palettes from another maker, a palette and brush story goes further.

The last group shows how far the brand has stretched from sticks. The Sun Tone Hydrating Matte Bronzing Drops and Sun Tone Bronzing Crème warm the face, and the Skin Activator Serum, the Eye Activator Serum, the Vital Skincare Complex Drops, the Pore Refining Complex and the Skin Activator and Eye Activator Duo make up a skincare shelf. What I would skip is pressing the Sun Tone Bronzing Crème over a finished powder face; apply the cream before the Powder Duos so it blends. The Lip Suede Hydrating Matte Lipstick, the HydroBalm Sheer Tinted Lipstick with Peptides and Hyaluronic Acid and the Squeaky Clean Liquid lip balm cover color and care, and the Lip Shape Lip Liner finishes them. The Essentials Edition and Petite Party are for people who want to try the brand in a set. For another bronzer stick, a bronzer that comes in a swipe is a good neighbor, and for the lips, the good pink lip has more ideas.

My Westman Atelier bag would hold a Vital Skin foundation stick, a Baby Cheeks blush stick and a Lip Suede, since that is where the brand began. It is a founder's brand in the best sense: a working makeup artist who named herself Gucci at age 9 and then built a line around the sticks she wanted. Everything else here grows from that idea.

For more in the same spirit, take a look at Urban Decay Makeup and Tower 28 Makeup and Skincare.