According to Reprise Skincare founder Kristi Shepherd, Reprise Skincare was established in 2016 after seeking out her own skincare routine.  

“(The makeup is) made with pure and natural ingredients that are very simple to understand. It is good for your skin, it is good for the environment, and our whole idea is making high quality skincare available to women for an affordable price,” Shepherd said.

According Shepherd, while the products of Reprise Skincare work on repairing the wrinkles of older skin, Libellu focuses on treating younger skin.

“The Libellu products are a little bit lighter,” Shepherd said. “Our branding and our marketing is geared for a younger audience. We use a lot more social media to market the product and more friend-to-friend type marketing.”

Senior Reprise Skincare intern and team Libellu member Makagbe Kuyateh said she assisted in the creation process by providing a teen’s perspective.

“She wanted to ask us what type of products do teens use now, and we brought up the attention that we use face masks and stuff like that, so we decided to make the clay mask and right now we are working on a detox mask,” Kuyateh said.

According to Shepherd, the Libellu line consists of dry mixes and oils that allow each consumer to customize their skincare routine.

“We’ve created a cleansing oil made with coconut oil, castor oil and essential oil that’s used for cleansing the skin. Then we created two separate dry mixes. One is a facial scrub and then we made a facial mask that you mix with the oil to either scrub your skin or give your skin a facial,” Shepherd said. “You can buy the two things together and kind of make the consistency you want.”

Shepherd said the name is based on the French word for dragonfly, Libellule, and its meaning encompasses the brand’s goal.

“Researching the dragonfly and what that imagery meant, we realized it has a lot to do with things that are beneath the surface, and as we talk about beauty and confidence and feeling good about yourself, a lot of that relates to not what is on the outside but what is on the inside,” Shepherd said.

Junior Marian Mohamed said she received various products from the brand to test from members of team Libellu before school.

“I really, really liked the products,” Mohamed said. “I liked it because it is a student-based group, and it just shows the involvement our students have in general.”

According to Shepherd, team Libellu became knowledgeable on all of the natural ingredients that would benefit young skin prior to creating the products.

“We did a lot of research online, and we also talked to a chemist who advised us on some of the things that would be better for skin than others,” Shepherd said. “Natural skin care is quite popular right now, and we just followed the lead of some other people. We know through our research for example, that baking soda is a great natural cleanser and scrub.”

Kuyateh said she enjoys all of the opportunities the internship has provided her so far in the process through her role in external marketing for the brand.

“I try to find places where we can market at, so I said the school for sure, I said we should market through the Echo, so that’s why we kind of got an ad through there, and then I’ve also brought attention to other schools where we can market at,” Kuyateh said.

Kuyateh said the internship allows her to expand on her leadership and creativity skills.

“I’m the type of person where I like to communicate with people, reach out and sell our products,” Kuyateh said. “I really like to take responsibility.”

Freshman Kristi Thompson said hearing about the opportunities students have in the community gives her pride in being a student at Park.

“I think it is really great that St. Louis Park students are getting a chance to be in entrepreneurs and start businesses,” Thompson said.

According to Shepherd, team Libellu has received positive feedback from those who have tested the products.

“People are interested in it, they have a lot of questions about it,” Shepherd said. “One of the things that is kind of fun is we’re getting a lot of suggestions for products from people who try it. It is kind of fun to think about exploring those products, see what we can do to create them.”

Shepherd said she hopes to expand the conversations inspiring young men and women to embrace their skin.

“We want people to use the products for sure but we also want all kids, regardless of  where you go to school, where you live, what you do, we want people to start having the con

versation and the awareness of what it means to be a strong, confident young person who respects other people for who they are under the skin,” Shepherd said. “That’s the big goal.”

According to Shepherd, Libellu is hosting a pop-up party at 3:15 p.m. Dec. 22 at Reprise Skincare for those interested in testing and buying Libellu products.