A healthy lifestyle goes beyond the food you eat. What you put ON your body is just as important as what you put IN it. This post is all about clean beauty and three reasons why you should swap your makeup for safer products.
Even though I’ve been working from home for the past few weeks, every day before I start work, I put on my makeup. I have a very simple makeup routine that takes about five minutes to do and it helps me feel little put together for my work video calls each day. It also helps to balance out the fact that I’m totally on team comfy pants all day, every day during this quarantine.
Did you know the average woman uses 12 personal care products in the morning? Count yours up! From skincare products to makeup, if we aren’t careful about what we’re putting on our skin, we risk exposure to hundreds of potentially harmful chemicals throughout the course of our morning routine.
Curt and I are determined to live a life as healthy as possible. This is why we take so much care in the food we eat, the products we use to clean our home, and what we are putting on our skin everyday.
The many changes we’ve made in our lifestyle did not happen overnight. We’ve been on this journey for almost ten years now, so don’t feel like you need to do all the things right now. Instead, focus on making small changes and make them often. A bunch of little changes over a period of time will add up to a big impact on your life.
So today, we’re gonna talk makeup. I want to start with swapping your makeup because for those of us who wear it, it’s usually applied bright and early and not removed until well after dark. Unfortunately, a lot of makeup products on the market contain chemicals of concern and those potentially harmful ingredients have the opportunity to be absorbed into your skin for 12+ hours each day.
When I began my search for safer products way back in 2011, I really struggled with finding makeup that was both healthier for me AND also performed.
I had no problem switching from using vaseline as a lip balm (#cringe) to a beeswax-based lip butter. And it was so easy for me to swap my Cover Girl eye makeup remover that I’d been using since high school for straight up jojoba oil (I still use this and love it to remove my mascara!).
But makeup? That was a struggle.
Thank goodness for Beautycounter and the Flawless in Five.
Below are three big reasons why I love and use the makeup and skincare products from Beautycounter every single day. (Full disclosure: I love their products and mission so much I became a consultant!)
Ingredient Safety
The beauty and personal care industry is very under-regulated and Beautycounter is working tirelessly to change that. Not only are they advocating every day for better health protective laws in Canada and the US, but they’re setting the bar so incredibly high when it comes to ingredient safety.
Beautycounter created their Never List, a list of over 1800 questionable or potentially harmful ingredients that will never be part of their product formulations. Below is a “pocket-sized” version of the never list that you can save to your phone. Pull it out when you are at the store and referring to product ingredients, much like you would refer to the ingredients on food packaging. You can also read more about these specific ingredients and their concerns here.
Beautycounter screens all ingredients for their products rigorously and from a lens with the most vulnerable in mind (pregnant women, children, elderly). This is because once an ingredient is considered safe for more sensitive populations, it’s going to be safe for the general population as well. Using the best available science-based sources, Beautycounter performs exhaustive research on every potential ingredient considered for a product formulation. If there is no safety data on a particular ingredient, they run their own testing to ensure it’s an ingredient that meets Beautycounter’s standards.
They also test all their products extensively.
Beautycounter performs tests on all their formulations up to SIX times.
- Body products are tested five times
- Makeup is tested six times (including every batch)
- The bottles and packaging are tested
- The product is tested after it’s been packaged
- And the product is tested after exposure to extreme temperatures for extended periods of time
Beautycounter’s testing is robust to ensure no contaminants (ingredients that weren’t intentionally added to the product) are present in the final product.
Heavy Metals
Heavy metals are often contaminants in colourants used in cosmetics. Whether the colourants are naturally occurring or synthetically derived, heavy metal contamination is a common concern in colour cosmetics.
The problem with heavy metals is their risk to human health. Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic pose some of the biggest risks to our health including cancer, lowered IQ, headaches, and kidney, lung, and heart damage.
Remember, heavy metal toxicity can occur in products, even if they’re natural. This is why testing is so important for Beautycounter and why you should never assume that something is safe for your health, just because it’s natural.
Mica
Mica is a globally sourced mineral used in an array of products we use every single day. It’s found in the paint on our cars, our computers and electronics, and in beauty products. In colour cosmetics, mica is what gives that beautiful glow, shimmer, and luster we all love (think eyeshadows and highlighter).
Unfortunately, not all mica is equal and sourced responsibly. The mining of this mineral is associated with child labour, forced labour, and there are serious issues with transparency throughout the supply chain. Sourcing ingredients responsibly is an important part of Beautycounter’s ingredient selection process, so they set out on a mission to audit all of their mica suppliers. So far, Beautycounter has conducted phone audits with 100% of their suppliers and they’re working to complete on-the-ground audits of 100% of their suppliers by the end of 2020.
Wanna learn more about the incredible work Beautycounter is doing to shed light on the issues surrounding the mica industry? Watch this incredible 12-minute documentary, Transparency: The Truth About Mica.
If this information resonated with you, I can help you swap your makeup in one fell swoop with Beautycounter’s Flawless in Five. The FiF is a curated makeup set of six essential products that will give you a natural and polished look, in five minutes or less.
What’s included in the Flawless in Five?
Skin base: Choose from Tint Skin or Dew Skin for your skin base. Tint skin is a light-medium coverage foundation (my fave) and Dew Skin is a tinted moisturizer that provides sheer coverage while also providing sun protection with a mineral-based sunscreen. I wear Tint Skin in Linen.
Concealing: The Touchup Skin Concealer Pen is great for covering dark circles, blemishes, or redness. For under the eyes, you want to choose a shade lighter than your foundation to give a brightening effect. This will also help tired eyes look more awake. For covering blemishes and redness, you can choose a shade that’s the same as your foundation so you aren’t highlighting areas you want to cover up. I use the Concealer pen in Fair.
Eyes: Choose between volumizing and lengthening mascara. Volumizing is my jam! It gives me the full lash look I love since I don’t wear other eye makeup on a regular basis.
Brows: Choose between the brow pencil or the brow gel. Filling in my brows was something I never did prior to my Flawless in Five, but now I love it. Filling in your brows will help to frame your face and give a really polished look. I use the pencil in Medium and the gel in Light.
Cheeks: Choose from seven different shades of Satin Powder Blush. These blush shades are beautiful and are super pigmented. My ‘everyday’ faves are Melon and Guava.
Lips: Choose from ten different lip gloss shades. These sheer glosses are hydrating and not sticky. Some of my faves included Peony and Dalia (both really natural pinky shades), Fig (a deeper purple shade that’s great for Fall and Winter), and Bare Shimmer (a super natural, versatile shade with a bit of shimmer goodness).
So, are you ready to makeover your makeup bag like I did two years ago? I’d love to help you! I promise, it’s easy and so worth it!
Leave a comment in this blog post, fill out this questionnaire, or send a message and I’d be happy to help you get started!
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Tina is successfully optimizing health and healing illness (and helping others do the same) with the help of her husband, Curt. Read Curt & Tina’s inspiring story, “From on our heels to On Our Heals”. Feel free to send them a message.