Makeup / Cosmetics

September 19, 2014

Birchbox unboxing September 2014

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

Harvey Prince Hello – Hello seriously? I just said last month that they should stop sending me fragrances and products from this brand. Synthetic fragrance is an 8. Nuf said. Moving on (and Birchbox PLEASE stop sending me Harvey Prince!!!)

TOCCA Crema da Mano Luxe – Hand Cream – I had high hopes for this one but oh well. Anything over a 4 and I usually start questioning whether I want to use it and I definitely don’t want to use it regularly if it has synthetic fragrance as an ingredient (which this does.) It’s a little too unhealthy for a lotion for my tastes as it ranks a 5 with EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment.’s skin deep cosmetics database.

.
Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish™ Hot Cloth Cleanser Starter Kit – Ok so I chose this sample deliberately even though I’ve received it before. I looked at the things I could choose from this month and nothing was appealing so I figured I would add this and have a travel version. I’ve been re-purchasing and using the full size of this since the first sample I received last October and I LOVE it. Since I’ve never done the EWG ranking for it (it has crazy healthy ingredients) I figured I should go ahead and post that info now too. The few ingredients that cause this to be a 3 with the skin deep cosmetic database do not concern me. There are no parabens, no synthetic fragrances etc etc.

Skin&Co Roma SICILIAN LIGHT™ SERUM Vitamin C Brightening Face Serum – so this has dimethicone in it which rules it out for me (cones break out my skin). This is also a 5 with the cosmetics database with fragrance being one of the bigger bad ingredients.

.
ewg skindeep cosmetics database score 5 TEMPTU S/B Highlighter – this has cyclomethicone which rules another one out for me personally. This is also a 5 with the cosmetics database.

ChapStick® Dual-Ended Hydration Lock Day & Night – Ok this one is going to be a weird one in that the two ends have completely different ingredients. At a glance the day side looks toxic to me and the night side looks healthy and perfectly fine to use. So let me run each set of ingredients through the cosmetic database separately:

Day side ingredients: is a 6 with the cosmetics database.

Night side ingredients: is a 2 with the cosmetics database.

So chapstick made half their product good and healthy. I’ll give that side a try. I’m not sure how much I’ll use it though because I don’t want to accidentally use the wrong side. Actually I’ve already solved this – I put some masking tape on the end I don’t want to accidentally use so it would be hard for me to make that mistake.

Still not signed up for Birchbox?

http://birchbox.com?raf=3l3e7
{ yes it’s an affiliate link, I get 50 points which equals $5 credit – share the love! }

August 19, 2014

Worth sharing: Mascara smackdown
What’s Non-Toxic, Cruelty-Free & Works?

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics

They missed my new favorite which is Pacifica’s Aquarian Gaze. It’s a 2 with EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. AND waterproof! Look for a review and photos here on this mascara soon!

via: http://kriscarr.com/blog-video/all-natural-mascara-reviews

July 22, 2014

August 2014 Birchbox sample choice –
how they stack up based on ingredients

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Subscription boxes

I was impressed last month when Birchbox gave us a choice of colors on the nail polishes we received. They decided to extend that this month and let us again have a choice on one of the sample items in our boxes but this time it’s bigger than just the color. This time they’re going to let us choose between four products.

So I thought I would go ahead and do the EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. skin deep cosmetics database reports for each of these products now in case anyone wanted factor how healthy they are into their decision making.

* * * * SPOILER ALERT * * * *

ModelCo Bronzer (full size retails for $22.00) Keeping in mind that they often send sample sizes, this one would still be the most expensive to try on your own. This IS free of cones, parabens, and fragrance and other nasties and it ranks a healthy 2 with the cosmetics database.

Laura Geller Beauty Cool Lids Cream Eyeshadow (full size retails for $19) color me impressed. This is another healthy item at 2 out of 2 ranking a 2 with the cosmetic database. This is a shimmery cream eyeshadow in “silver sands.”

theBalm® cosmetics Stainiac (full size retails for $17.00) this is one of those products that many many people fall in love with that I just wasn’t personally enamored with it. I’ve had this as a sample before and I just didn’t use it. It’s a dual purpose stain and I stick with bronzers for my cheeks so that might be part of it. But it’s a top seller so…

The link in the cosmetics database may be missing some of the ingredients or might be using an older ingredient list so I decided to do a custom report. It does contain fragrance and parabens and but it ranks somewhere between a 3 (using the report above) or a 5 based on the custom report I did using the ingredient list off of the nordstrom website. The ingredient list wasn’t available though birchbox’s website nor through theBalm site. I didn’t want to go dig out my sample because it may actually be old and might not have the current ingredients either… so it’s somewhere between a 3 and a 5.

Noir Long-Wear Eyeliner (full size retails for $15.00) I actually already own this. It’s a good black eyeliner pencil but I’ve found I’m the weird one who can apply a gel liner faster and better than most pencil liners so I prefer those most of the time. So although I don’t need a backup of this, I’ve kept this one around because it’s a good black pencil liner and it’s a super healthy 1 with the cosmetics database.

So I own the last two already. And the first two are a tie when it comes to the ingredient ratings… Surprisingly all of the options are good choices when it comes to the ingredients (theBalm’s stainiac is the only iffy one and it still isn’t horrendous.)
… Decisions decisions….
Which one do you think you’ll choose? 🙂

Still not signed up for Birchbox?

http://birchbox.com?raf=3l3e7
{ yes it’s an affiliate link, I get 50 points which equals $5 credit – share the love! }

* * * * UPDATE – even more choices! * * * *

Screen Shot 2014-07-24 at 1.17.38 PM

July 19, 2014

Ipsy glambag July 2014

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

bareMinerals 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow Broad Spectrum SPF 15 – holy cow, a BB cream with no dimethicone! YAY! Granted it’s eyeshadow instead of a foundation but I’m still excited. No fragrance or parabens etc. Ranks a healthy 2 with the cosmetics database. (ps: I have checked and the bareminerals foundation style bb cream has cones. As mentioned in the past, this might be a personal allergy but cones cause my skin to break out.) So the only negative here with the eyeshadow BB cream is that I can’t seem to find a shade name on what I received! I THINK I got the “Divine Wine” but since all of the shared are neutral and very similar it’s hard to tell (as I know print runs are not always perfectly accurate as well.) There’s a chance that I received Barely Nude as ipsy says “ipsy subscribers who receive this product will receive shades Divine Wine or Barely Nude.”

Befine Food Skin Care Daily Moisturizer with SPF 15 – another one I’m excited to try. Super healthy ingredients – so healthy it actually ranks a zero. Yay!

Hang Ten Dark Tanning Oil SPF 08 – no cones and again with the healthy ingredients! (Really hope we continue to see more brands using healthier ingredients!) But it does rank a 5 with with cosmetics database because of the OCTINOXATE and a couple of other ingredients (flavor? why does this need flavor? Or was the flavor for scent?) Octinoxate is NOT one of the top suncreen ingredients to avoid though. % could be worse but could be better when it comes to sunscreens. Check back to my previous article on sunscreens that includes the top ingredients to avoid: http://clothingcult.com/2013/05/19/find-a-healthier-natural-spf-sunscreen/ And EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. has a specific page to help you find healthy sunscreens here: http://www.ewg.org/2014sunscreen/

Pixi Beauty Mini Tinted Brilliance Balm in Unique Pink – no cones, no fragrance, no parabens. I’ve been really happy with about half of the pixi beauty products I have. Most wear really well but some shades are just really weird when applied which is the only reason I’m half and half on this company. I can’t remember which product looked chalky on me but one did. HOWEVER I have been regularly using the pixi pink lip balm I received in the May Birchbox which actually came as a surprise to me since usually I grab lip glosses over anything that’s a balm or lipstick. “unique pink” is a “pH reactive pink” but it seems to just be clear on me. Not sure if that’s just me or not. The cosmetics database ranks this as a 6. Mostly for the vitamin A and the limonen which are ingredients that don’t worry me as much personally. So although this ranks higher than I normally would go, I’m still willing to give it a try.

wHet Nail Polish in Facetious – this is a 3-free nail polish which is thankfully becoming the industry standard. It actually looks like it’s a dup for the color club Insta-This nail polish. We’ll see how well it wears!

Note on this month’s bag. When I opened my package I thought “what in here am I going to have to throw out?” It’s the cute scalloped bag itself that smells a little bit chemically and toxic. :/

Overall I’m really REALLY happy with this month’s ipsy glambag though! 🙂

Sign up for Ipsy:

http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-h051sec1kqq5g8p
{affiliate link – I get 250 points which points equal products but it’s still a little unclear how many points to the dollar}

July 13, 2014

Birchbox unboxing July 2014

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

Cynthia Rowley Beauty Eyeliner – cones rule this one out for me personally. Actually what’s odd is that some of the colors of this eyeliner use cones and some don’t so I had a 50/50 chance of being able to use this. They sent me the black which gets a healthy 1 with the cosmetics database. Which means it sucks that I react to cones by breaking out badly.

RUFFIAN Nail Lacquer – Ambrosia – This shade is a metalic orchid / purple shade. I don’t think it’s a good summer color but I do think I will wear it come fall and winter.

ewg skindeep cosmetics database score 4 RUFFIAN Dressing Room Nail Lacquer Remover Towelettes – while not horrible (no nail polish remover will rank a zero and this isn’t bad at a 4 with the cosmetics database) the added fragrance AND no added healthy oils means I will likely stick with the LA FRESH® Eco Beauty Acetone-Free Nail Polish Removers. They are also a 4 but they have aloe, rosemary extract, vitamin E and a few other things that I’ve liked.

ewg skindeep cosmetics database score 4 Naobay Body Radiance Lotion – no cones, no parabens, and many of the ingredients are organic. I’m excited to try this one. One caveate … fragrance (parfum) is hidden in there and I don’t know if it’s from essential oils or not. The description says no synthetic dyes but it doesn’t say no synthetic fragrances. If they want to be truly natural, that needs to be clarified. In the meantime, “Fragrance” gets them some point docked both by myself as well as on the cosmetics database report making this a 4. Still not bad but it would be SO much better if fragrance were from essential oils. And it might be which would mean this would rank better than a 4 if that were the case. It’s just not clear from anything on the Birchbox OR the company website whether or not the fragrance is synthetic or from natural ingredients.

ewg skindeep cosmetics database score 2 Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel – no cones, no fragrances, no parabens… but I don’t expect this to rank well simply because almost no face peels rank well. So keeping that in mind… wow this actually ranked low! It’s a surprising 2 with the cosmetics database! I love peels and exfoliators so I will likely try this.

ewg skindeep cosmetics database score 2 100% Pure Gingerade Shower Gel (Honey Cream Wash) – no cones, excellent ingredient list and is a 2 with the cosmetics database. I’m excited to try this one though I hate little packages like this for the shower. I have to remember to cut them open before I get in the shower because they are nearly impossible to open otherwise particularly after you get your hands wet.

There’s also a magazine subscription bonus in here. A year’s subscription to Women’s Health and it doesn’t look like there’s any strings attached! (I’ll have to read the fine print in a bit.)

Still not signed up for Birchbox?

http://birchbox.com?raf=3l3e7
{ yes it’s an affiliate link, I get 50 points which equals $5 credit – share the love! }

June 19, 2014

Healthy, Natural and BIRCHBOX!
Ingredient conscious picks category added to their website

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

Birchbox has added an “ingredient conscious picks category” to their website. I’m so happy! Granted it doesn’t take care of my personal issue with cones / dimethicone (we’ll just call it an allergy until I start seeing people step up and say it’s causing acne for them as well.) BUT it is a MEGA step in the right direction! We put makeup and skin CARE products on daily, shouldn’t those be healthy?

Check it out here: http://www.birchbox.com/shop/featured/ingredient-conscious-picks

Healthy, Natural and BIRCHBOX ingredient conscious category