I finally used up my old makeup — the “conventional” kind that has all sorts of scary, untested chemicals — and went shopping for new, hopefully healthier foundation and powder at Co-opportunity.
“You don’t need foundation,” was the first thing the woman at the makeup counter said, smiling, when I asked for her recommendation. “You have great skin.” How sweet!
Compare that response to the one I got back in the day when I was at a L’Oreal counter: The woman there told me I had big pores and tired skin, before pushing not just foundation but a whole myriad of cleansers and lotions on me.
I did buy some foundation at Co-opportunity anyway — to use for special occasions — and picked up some pressed powder, both from Gabriel Cosmetics.
Gabriel prides itself on using 100% natural ingredients, without any synthetic chemicals or animal by-products. Still, what “natural” means can be very confusing, which is why you gotta look at the ingredient list.
To make this easier, Environmental Working Group’s made a wallet guide with a short list of top 6 ingedients to avoid. Unluckily, this wallet guide isn’t avaliable on the EWG website yet :(
However, I nabbed a copy at the EWG party a month or so ago — Here’s the list of top 6 to avoid:
* Fragrance
* Alpha & Beta Hydroxy Acids (AHAs, BHAs, lactic acid, glycolic acid)
* Parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben)
* Triethanolamine
* Iodopropynyl butylcarbamate
* Triclosan (antimicrobal liquid soap)
My Gabriel stuff have none of those things :)
I also recommend EWG’s Skin Deep website — You can type in the name of the product you have or are thinking of buying, and get a quick safety rating :)
November 10th, 2006 at 5:29 am
how come they dont want lactic acid in skin products?
i think lactic acid is present in sweat.
ethylparaben is OK?
ewg.org is offline at the moment…
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:58 pm
Well what do you really think of puting something in sweat all over yourself when it isn’t yours. Doesn’t sound like such a great idea…
November 22nd, 2006 at 5:02 pm
The ewg site’s back up now. Here’s the page on lactic acid.
December 8th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Burts Bees make up, cleansers, moistuizers, etc. are pretty good for being natural. I use Burts Bees products for most of my make up. The package of each product states how natural it is (97%, etc.) Their motto, so I’m told, is that they use only ingredients that you can safely eat. The only thing I don’t like is that they use fragrances.
December 10th, 2006 at 12:53 am
Looks like Burts Bees is paraben free too :) Cool! Not a fan of fragrances either though…
December 12th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Anyone …. what brand/kinds of make-up do you use if you do use cosmetics? What about mineral oil vs. vegetable oil? You hear that mineral oil is ok, then it’s not, then it’s ok, and the cycle goes on. . .
December 23rd, 2006 at 6:47 am
This is a great site, I’m using as as resource and reference for mine too. Check it out www.purealternatives.net
December 24th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Well, you know what brands I use –
January 18th, 2007 at 1:11 am
This site only sells paraben free cosmetics - www.lovelula.com - it’s a useful resource
January 19th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Thanks for the links, Heather and Leah! Sweet of you to share them :) I have them bookmarked.
February 22nd, 2007 at 6:46 am
The make-up suggestions have been really great! Thanks! Does anyone know of a good facewash to use?
February 23rd, 2007 at 7:39 pm
I use Avalon’s lavender facewash, and sometimes JASON’s scrubble. Both highly recommended :)
February 26th, 2007 at 9:45 am
thanks! i will try those!
March 3rd, 2007 at 8:53 am
I use UltraPure Cosmetics for my make-up…..and love it. If you are looking for a “clean” make-up then this is it!
March 6th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Hey Ann — I can’t even find an ingredients list on the UltraPure Cosmetics site. Can you help me out?
Leah — I realized this lovelula website’s really geared towards people in the UK. Shipping to the US is v. v. expensive –
April 15th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I imagine there should be one on there either under each product or on another tab somewhere.