OK! Beauty stuff! Better yet… Eco & Animal Friendly Beauty stuff! I’m a true girly girl at heart. I love makeup and beauty goodies. It all started back when my mom let me wear purple eyeshadow to school when I was about 12 years old. I was hooked. When I was growing up, you could stick me in a makeup department for hours and I was happy as heck. However, these days there aren’t many makeup departments that make my list though. Too bad there weren’t great healthy products back then! Now that I’m aware of the toxins present in most beauty products which not only harm animals with testing, but that are also destroying our environment, I’ve become uber selective with what touches my face, hair and body.
The Beauty Products I Use
I strive to make my makeup, skin, hair, and overall body care as pure as possible, eco-friendly, cruelty-free, all natural, and non-toxic. The following companies are some of the brands that I use and recommend. I do not list every green or vegan company out there, as I’ve not tried them all. Furthermore, not all of the companies I listed here are vegan (although most offer vegan products – be sure to check specific products if that’s important to you). Some offer vegetarian products that use honey or beeswax, but I don’t purchase those. However, even if they offer vegetarian products, they are animal friendly in testing and eco friendly in ingredients, packaging, etc. There are also some companies that I’ve tried and not had much success. I talk a bit about those, too.
A note about mineral based products.Minerals are pretty much the rage and have been for a few years now. I do have some myself, but I read this blog post from EWG recently which I found intriguing: Is Mineral Based Makeup Safer?
I’ve tried many things from this company: mud shampoo, face cleanser, body cleanser, face toner, hand soap (the citrus smells divine!), intensive shea butter moisturizer (great stuff), and deodorant (it’s the best natural deodorant on the market in my opinion – love it, although most days I don’t use deodorant – a perk of clean eating! – but I admit there is a day here and there, maybe from hormones, where I like a little help and this is what I turn to). I’m partial to their fragrance-free options because I try to avoid products with essential oils while pregnant. I was a fan of their mud shampoo, but then my scalp started flaking. I’m now using Morrocco Method’s hair care line (detailed below). Terressentials’ products are hand-crafted, USDA Certified Organic, and they are truly 100% Natural. I will most likely try some of their baby line, too, when the time comes. (See Nature’s Paradise link below for another great baby option.)
I’ve been using Morrocco Method’s products on my hair for almost a year. The awesome thing about their products is that they’re organic, vegan, gluten-free, and even Raw! I’d go into more detail about why I’m a big fan, but I already have here… also read the comments section in that link because the owner, Anthony Morrocco, dropped by to chime in. He addressed some readers’ questions – gotta love that level of commitment and accessibility, it counts for a lot in my book.
I’m a paying customer of theirs, but recently they sent me a review package including some of their groovy elixirs to use on my scalp and hair. I love them. My husband and I have marveled at the rate of my hair growth. Some say that the pregnancy is contributing to that, but I’ve been using Morrocco Method products for some time now, well before I became pregnant. They also sent me their Agave Mist Styling Spritz to try. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the spray bottle… the sprayer thing itself shoots out a spray that is not “mist like” which makes it a little hard to use. I’ve bought and tried their Feng Shea Facial Scrub which is a nice exfoliator.
They have released a new conditioner, Pearl Essence Cream Rinse, which I’m eager to get my hands on. And, they have an interesting Lunar Hair Chart for the best days to cut and beautify hair each month.
Pristine Beauty (updated 2/28/12)
Read my recent raving review here about the “butta” and their other products. I’ve been using their face cream, hair products, and more.
This is a lovely company with terrific products. Raw Gaia has beautiful, living skin care products created from cold-pressed, organic and vegan ingredients, infused with essential oils and floral waters of the finest quality. I thought I’d have to miss out on playing with their products for the most part because the company is based in the UK, and it wouldn’t be very environmentally responsible of me to have stuff shipped here frequently. However, it appears from their website that some online stores in the United States carry their products. That is helpful because those online retailers probably buy in bulk, but it’s still better to buy as locally as possible. Regardless, I like this company and wanted to showcase them. Plus, I have some European readers, so this is a great company for them to try.
Zosimos BotanicalsZosimos Botanicals is an excellent company. I use their loose powder mineral foundation. One of the best aspects about this company is the customer service. I know that when I turn friends on to them, they’ll get treated well. And, what’s more… they’re an environmentally conscious company. They handcraft their own line of natural products in a 100% wind-powered workshop. Cool!Coastal Classic CreationsI have a lot of fun on this website. They make a nice blush (Stargazer), as well as some eye shadows (I use these for liner and shadow, but honestly, I’m not crazy about loose powders for shadows so I don’t use these as often anymore). Try their sample sizes to experiment with colors first – as they can be a little different than what you might expect. They have a vegan mascara that I haven’t tried yet, but plan on doing soon. Coastal Classic Creations continues to get excellent ratings in the Skin Deep database I mentioned earlier. In my dealings with them, this is another company with terrific customer service.
I wrote about this company in a blog post here (there’s a video, too). It’s a great little company from Santa Fe. They are working on some “raw” products – yay! Just like I enjoy getting to know the people who grow my food from the farmers’ market, I love the idea that I shook hands personally with the man crafting such fine products for my face and body.
UPDATED (May 2010) WITH THREE NEW REVIEWS:
Dr. Alkaitis (my favorite) – Click the link for a thorough review
Miessence – Click the link for a thorough review
Sprout Wellness – Click the link for a thorough review
Natural Food Products From My Pantry
This company makes both body care as well as makeup. I want to like this company. Truly, I do. So much that I’ve tried many of their products, some of them twice! I keep thinking, “They get great reviews, even some awards, so surely I’m missing something.” But, for the life of me, I can’t get excited about them. The Exfoliate Foaming Cleanser, that’s one of the things I’ve tried… twice. It didn’t get my makeup off very well and just didn’t give me a clean feeling. It smelled heavenly though and I wanted to eat it! The face lotions… they just didn’t make me jump for joy. And, the makeup… hmmm… well, I’ll start by saying that the cheek and eye colors, which I have tried, contained beeswax. I actually bought them without knowing that. However, I still wanted to review them without that as a consideration. Some of the colors were nice, but here are my beefs: The eye cream colors did not stay put. At all. By the time I left the house after applying it, there were oily creases. Now, maybe I have oily eyelids? I don’t know. I tried many things like using powder as a base, touching up with powder after, etc. Nothing helped. The eye colors are also not easy to apply. I tried using both a brush and my fingers. The cheek tints had some nice colors and effects, but it wasn’t easy to carry in my purse because the jars are a little heavy and took up room in my makeup bag, but how can I complain about glass jars, right? It’s nice to have makeup in those! The biggest problem with the makeup I tried was that (3 times!) the pots of color started to smell horrible after a relatively short period. It smelled rancid. That said, I’ll give the company big props for great customer service, their mission, and their use of glass containers for most of their products.