Beauty & Skin

June 13, 2013

Why stay subscribed to Birchbox and Ipsy?

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Subscription boxes

I was just asked why stay subscribed to Birchbox and Ipsy?

“Just curious, why order these boxes if you have such strict qualifications for products? Why don’t you order the organic specialty boxes or just handpick your products? Seems like a waste of money, and products. And being wasteful doesn’t seem very healthy for the environment either.” — Sarah

It’s an excellent question and the answer is not as simple as simple as just liking or disliking/having problems with the products in the boxes. It ended up being long enough that I thought I should write a blog post quickly instead of simply responding in the comments.

Here are my top 10 reasons that I stay subscribed to Ipsy and Birchbox:

I DO like trying new products.
They’re only $10 each.
The natural / organic boxes still have some of the same problems – dimethicone and other cones. These ingredients aren’t toxic, they just break out my skin. I suspect other people may also have this problem and not have pinpointed it to the ingredients in their hair and skin care (even if it’s something other than dimethicone causing or increasing acne problems.)
Many of the natural / organic boxes aren’t focused on makeup and beauty products. I have food allergies and sensitivities too and what I’ve seen of food in these boxes I’m not too interested in. I have almost bought Eco Emi before but Ipsy won out. I had a lot of people recommending Ipsy after I complained about Birchbox a bit on instagram. When I reviewed previous box contents, that’s what sold me. There’s at least one exclusively natural makeup subscription box but I think it’s $45 a month which is in a range where I might as well just buy a full size product. And the last time I looked at it, the number of brands in that expensive natural box was very very limited.
To bring awareness to products that could be healthier if they made a few minor changes.
To bring awareness to individual products in a line of otherwise not-natural products that are actually nontoxic and quite good (I don’t want to just stick to brands that market themselves as natural / organic.)
I have received products that I love or have had an interest in trying that are worth WAY more than that $10 price of the subscription. Just going and hand picking products to try it would have cost me more to try them.
I end up with brands I’ve never heard of and might never have found on my own..
One example that covers a fair number of these reasons is an eyeliner I received in an Ipsy box. I wear it daily now. It’s healthy and it alone is worth $30+shipping. Would I have tried a product for $30 if I wasn’t sure I would like it? Not as likely. Plus I had never heard of the brand so it wasn’t even on my radar to try.
.
Same will probably go for the highlighter pencil. Never heard of the brand or the product but I’m likely to add that to my routine and likely to re-purchase it when I run out.
.
Color Club would be another example from Birchbox, and I haven’t found those polishes locally yet. And there are some products I will also compromise on IF they aren’t something I’m going to use daily (and if they don’t break me out … as I said, dimethicone is a deal breaker.) They have to be awesome though in order for me to compromise.
.
Two Birchbox Specific reasons:
Birchbox exclusive items. I sometimes want them and there’s no way to get them outside of Birchbox (ok maybe a swap site or ebay but there’s less risk and money to just staying subscribed.)
Birchbox Points for reviews. This one is a bit lame on it’s own but I do leave my feedback to get points. This means that every two months I’ve earned back one month (so essentially my boxes end up being $5/month. Or you could say I spend that $10 a month and get even more free products.) I recently ended up with a 20% off for some reason that I can’t remember and combined with points rewards I bought an expensive shampoo I had been putting off buying (because it was normally $55 a bottle!!!)

I should do a post soon on what has made it into regular use from these boxes and what I have gone back and purchased just as a sort of summary of how much I have found and love from these boxes.

I do know that I have become a bit grumpy with Birchbox. There was a period of about 6 months where nothing was exciting or usable for me in the boxes and it made me just a bit sour on them. I’m trying to be aware of that.

I did do this sort of breakdown in my head before this post and felt like for $10 it was still worth it to stay as long as I got one ok product per month. Another 6 months stint of nothing that I can use and I will probably switch from Birchbox to another subscription. It will probably be Eco Emi or Goodebox unless they take a dive in quality or unless something better comes along before then (via recommendation or a new company.)

As for being wasteful, I don’t toss the unused products. I usually either give them to friends or run a giveaway of these products. I know that some of them I’m not using simply because I have a sensitivity and that other people won’t have a problem with them. Others might be in different places and priorities and would LOVE to have things I consider not healthy enough to use myself. Plus there are some products that I wouldn’t recommend using daily but every once in awhile it’s not going to have a significant long term affect so I’m not going to be a Debbie downer – have some fun! But here’s the educational PSA portion: look for healthier everyday options where you can. So bottom line, these samples aren’t going to waste just because I don’t want them! 🙂

June 13, 2013

June 2013 Birchbox vs Ipsy Glambag

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

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

My Birchbox unboxing AND my Ipsy unbagging in the video below along with some swatches and commentary. AKA June 2013 Birchbox vs Ipsy Glambag:

My June 2013 Birchbox:

Davines 3-Step System – Davines Love Smoothing Shampoo, Davines Love Smoothing Conditioner, Davines OI/ OIL. dimethicone… 0/5 stars
Mirenesse Glossy Kiss in “Quick Kiss” – the color was growing on me and at first glance I thought that the ingredient list looked ok. Not super healthy but not super toxic. What I missed was that they include fragrance AND dimethicone. The dimethicone is a deal breaker for me personally. And it’s a gorgeous color.Argh. Cosmetics database custom report has it about a 4. Since I had already swatched on my hand, I tried on my lips just because I was curious about the color. I think it might be a little hard to wear but I do think it might have certain occassions that it would be nice to have that extra pop. Then I washed my face intensely and I’m hoping that a limited test isn’t going to cause cystic pimples anywhere near my mouth. I was thinking of the Laqa & Co Lil’ Lip Duo when I was doing the video so I’m frustrated I didn’t get this product. 0/5 stars for the Mirenesse (would have been a 5 star if it had been without dimethicone and fragrance … or if it had been the other product.)
Color Club Wanderlust Collection – I received “Pardon My French” which is a nice lavendar but I was hoping for “Reign in Spain” because I have a thing for corals. My problem with this isn’t that I have to buy the nail polish color I want, it’s that they don’t have full size bottles and you can only buy the set. Since you already have one of the colors, then you’re buying a second of that color no matter what you got in your box. The purple is a good enough color to have as a mini but I don’t need two and I really wish that they offered these as full sized individual bottles instead of the collection. I will probably buy the collection though at $8 and free shipping, so whatever. 3/5 stars (I’m just not a big purple fan plus my comments about the collection above and no full size products even available. For purple it’s an excellent shade and always love the Color Club polishes.)
Oscar de la Renta Something Blue – synthetic fragrance. They now have a new check box for “don’t send me more than 6 fragrances a year” but I really wish I could make that setting “don’t ever send me fragrances” …. maybe with the additional of “I’m allergic to half of them and I don’t want to use the other half and this is such a waste. One even gave me a headache just from opening the box so please stop sending perfume already.” Sigh. Just know, unless it’s natural / organic and it doesn’t give me a headache (which does exist, just rare) I’m not going to give a fragrance a positive review. 0/5 stars

My June 2013 Ipsy Glambag:

Starlooks Lip Pencil in “Bare” – I had high hopes for this one. However the color made me unsure if it was meant to be a lip liner or a light eyeliner (though lip liner makes more sense …) Nothing jumped out as obviously bad ingredients that I could identify. No dimethicone, no frangrance, no parabens. But the custom report, it ended up a 6. (pdf linked on this one.) 0/5 stars
J.Cat Beauty Eyelash + Eyelash Glue – even the glue on this isn’t bad for you. I may cut these apart into individual lashes instead of trying to use the full strip but I’m happy enough with these. Until you get into some really specific eyelashes, those in the under $8 price point are all fairly decent and your biggest factor is lash style / cut. Latex free glue. And these are human hair … ok so a little higher quality than your average drugstore lashes but also a little creepy in that sense. Cruelty free (not tested on animals.) I don’t wear false lashes maybe more than … once every three years but I will be using these for an upcoming special event probably fairly soon. 5/5 stars
Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil – AWESOME no cones. Turns up a 3 in a custom report. Talc is the worst ingredient and in this case I’ll forgive it since it’s not going to go on my eyelids (where talc tends to crease) and it’s not filler reducing impact of some other pigment. I love this in the inside corner of my eye and this looks perfect and natural. No shimmer so it can be used easily and I wonder if it might make a good concealing pencil as a result as well. 5/5 stars
J.Cat Beauty Sparkling Cream Palette – this is categorized under “body glitter” instead of eyeshadow. It’s a chunky glitter so this makes more sense. No, just no for so many reasons. Plus there are the ingredients which aren’t good as well. Kind of on par with petroleum jelly mixed with glitter. It even says “This product should be used on the body and not on the eye area.” I’m not sure what they were thinking. Halloween? Rave? 8 year old girls? I don’t know and this just really doesn’t seem like a great fit for an ipsy bag even ignoring the ingredients for a minute. Yes it’s wild but… Might have made more sense it to be sent out in October just for the Halloween reason. 0/5 stars
NYX Blush in “Pecan” – awesome bronzer shade but there’s dimethicone and talc so I won’t be using it. I haven’t swatched this but I suspect the color is excellent for a beachy summer look. 0/5 stars

I also just realized that people were commenting below the products on ipsy (linked to in the glamroom) if they wanted to trade. OR there’s also http://mygl.am/glammieswapforum (though the other seems more efficient… or makeupalley would also work better than the facebook page.)

And I’m happy with the leopard bag with the neon zipper. I’ve been leaving the chevron bag in my swim bag recently just to throw my jewelry in so it’s not lost at the bottom of the bigger bag. I’ll probably find a use for this one too.

So there you have it … another mildly disappointing month with Birchbox and a good month with Ipsy. I think I wouldn’t even be saying this if I had received the Reign in Spain polish and the other lip gloss Birchbox had promoted on facebook. Actually I’d probably have been happy with just the other shade of nail polish just because the swatches I saw of it looked like a nice bright fun summer color. The creamy shade is one that I already own something similar and the green … meh, not as versatile. Actually the purple I already own something similar to as well just the that Color Club purple is just a hint better actually.

Swatches of some of the products from these boxes:

June 10, 2013

Trying right now:
Eclos facial cleanser, facial scrub & facial serum

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Skin Care

I ended up with some Eclos products after a recent shopping trip. I went looking for a natural facial scrub the other day but I wanted something with silica (essentially sand) versus the walnut shell powder many of the natural scrubs use. Basically swimming is taking a little bit of a toll on my skin and it tends to do best with some form of exfoliating anyway which I’ve neglected lately.

The Eclos products I bought:

Eclos Anti-Aging Facial Cleanser Skin Prep
Eclos Anti-Aging Instant Radiance Facial Scrub
Eclos Anti-Aging Cellular Activator Facial Serum

I caught the Facial Serum on clearance (but available online so I’m not trying a product just to end up with another thing I can’t find) and the facial cleanser was packaged as a sample size with the scrub.

As always, I was also looking for something without dimethicone or added fragrance. These three products are free of these but if you’re avoiding cones, read all of the labels. They have several other products such as a moisturizer that use dimethicone but otherwise the ingredients are quite high quality. I haven’t done the custom reports yet but the facial serum is a 2 with EWG and most of their line is between a 2-3 which I find acceptable.

Eclos has a starter pack for about $20 with a little bit of everything but since I wanted a full size scrub and could get the three items I wanted (no dimethicone) for under $20 as well so I opted for several full size products instead. Several people have commented that the starter pack is excellent if you want travel sized products (under 3oz.) I may go back and purchase it for an upcoming trip instead of having to distribute small amounts in small bottles. I think there are also some $5 off coupons floating around on the net somewhere.

I’ve only used these products twice so far (once at night and once in the morning) and I’m quite impressed. If you use the Eclos facial scrub or cleanser you will probably need some sort of moisturizer even if you don’t buy the facial serum.

I’ll do a more thorough review once I’ve had a little more time with these.

June 10, 2013

Update :: a better link to EWG’s 2013 Natural SPF Sunscreens

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Skin Care

Previously I wrote about finding a healthier natural spf sunscreen and I found a better link to EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment.’s 2013 Natural SPF Sunscreens. It’s an excellent resource:

http://www.ewg.org/2013sunscreen/

As well as an iphone app if you want detailed info on the go (maybe you’re flying somewhere, only taking a carry-on and can’t take more than 3oz of sunscreen with you…)

May 28, 2013

Natural Oils SPF – sunscreen alternative

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Skin Care

Recently I posted about choosing a more natural healthier sunscreen this summer. I wanted to follow up that article with some information my local co-op grocery store recently posted about natural oils SPF properties. Some in these natural oils even provide the 15-30 SPF range that most people choose when they’re shopping for sunscreen.

Source: http://livelovefruit.com/2013/05/natural-sunscreen/

List of 10 oils with natural UV-ray protecting properties:

Carrot Seed Oil: SPF 38-40
Raspberry Seed Oil: SPF 28-50
Wheatgerm Oil: SPF 20
Avocado Oil: SPF 4-15
Coconut Oil: SPF 2-8
Olive Oil: SPF 2-8
Macadamia Nut Oil: SPF 6
Almond Oil: SPF 5
Shea Butter: SPF 3-6
Jojoba Oil: SPF 4

Many of these have antioxidant properties if they are cold-pressed oils. Always look for cold-pressed when possible anyway because it will have retained more of it’s natural healthy qualities over something that has been heated.

So which Natural Oils SPF should I choose for sunscreen?

A quick glance through options and it looks like wheatgerm oil would be the best bang for your buck. 32 oz for about $25 with Amazon Prime or 16oz for around $10 from other suppliers or Vitacost. Raspberry or Carrot seed oils are in the $16-$19 price range for 2oz.

However wheat germ oil will probably leave you feeling a bit oily whereas the Raspberry and Carrot Seed oils absorb more readily so you may want to opt for those for your face and the wheatgerm oil for your body.

How accurate are these SPF numbers?

http://livelovefruit.com/2013/05/natural-sunscreen/ references several studies but I also went looking for a little more info because I was curious where they came up with the SPF info since that seems a little vague (and some of the sources referenced were more about vitamin D production or how bad standard sunscreens are):

In a study published in “Pharmacognosy Magazine” in 2009, a sunscreen comprised of wheatgerm and vitamin E had a natural SPF rating of 20. Read more: http://www.ehow.com/list_7557101_natural-oils-contain-spf.html#ixzz2Ubir3JBF

So even though I can find multiple sources stating the same SPF figures for each oil, after a quick search I could only find one study mentioning a study of SPF for Wheatgerm. Yet another reason this one is probably your best bet. But I do wish I knew how much the Vitamin E affects the SPF value.

IF you can find studies that show SPF for each of these oils please link up those studies in the comments.

SPF doesn’t mean it protects 100% from the suns rays, it just extends the amount of time you can spend outside before you burn so your own personal tolerance to UV is also a factor in how long you can stay outside with or without SPF. If you want to understand SPF better, check out the wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunscreen

Wide brim hats and clothes are a better UV blocker than anything topical. But I don’t know anyone who wants to go swimming in full head to toe clothing and a hat. 🙂

Natural Oil vs Allergies and Skin Sensitivities:

Also note – don’t go slathering these on without checking for allergies first. If you know you have skin sensitivities definitely do a patch test over the course of three days to see if you react. No one wants a head to toe rash!

Now get out and enjoy the summer!

And if you’re hesitant about using Natural Oils SPF as your choice of sunscreen, check out my previous article on choosing a healthier sunscreen.

UPDATE May 29th 2013:

Ok I’ve reviewed in more detail the article mentioned in ehow … :
http://www.phcog.com/article.asp?issn=0973-1296;year=2009;volume=5;issue=19;spage=238;epage=248;aulast=Kapoor

… and come up with this.

That study was done on fourteen commercial herbal sunscreens that were purchased from local dealer of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. I can’t seem to find the proportions that comprise those herbal sunscreens. And I suspect that “Water melon” isn’t the same thing I’m thinking of (or would be some sort of extract or seed extract.) In other words, the study is still incredibly vague.

Since I went to the trouble of compiling this table from the presented information, I’m posting it here (since it simplifies some of the information in the study):

code	ingredients	SPF (in vivo - real life tests)
HS1	Watermelon	10 SPF
HS2	Sandalwood, Winter Cherry, Cobras Saffron, Wheatgerm, Honey, Red Sandalwood, Symplocos, Aloe Vera	29.5 SPF
HS3	Carrot, Symplococos, Wheat Germ	40.6 SPF
HS4	Aloe Vera, Apple	14.5 SPF
HS5	Sunflower, Indian Madder, Cucumber	19 SPF
HS6	Aloe Vera	19.9 SPF
HS7	Orange, Vitamin C	25.2 SPF
HS8	Coriander, Vitamin E	20.5 SPF
HS9	Aloe Vera, Vitamin E	24.5 SPF
HS10	Aloe Vera, Basil, Tumeric	30.8 SPF
HS11	Sandalwood, Aloe Vera, Carrot, Honey, Sunflower	15.1 SPF
HS12	Wheatgerm, Vitamin E	14.9 SPF
HS13	Aloe Vera, Vitamin E	19.0 SPF
HS14	Cucumber, Jojoba, Orange, Sandalwood, Lavendar, Vitamin A, C, E	29.9 SPF

There is one surprising finding. That Aloe Vera appears to have an SPF of about 20 with no additional ingredients.

So there you have it. If you’re in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India you might be able to pick up some nice herbal sunscreen that really does what it says it does. Otherwise this study doesn’t seem to cover as much in the way of individual ingredients.

I’ll continue to look for studies that do cover the oils mentioned on the LiveLoveFruit article and post that information if I find it.

May 19, 2013

Find a healthier natural spf sunscreen

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Skin Care

Natural and organic spf sunscreens used to be harder to find but due to demand, more and more have become available in recent years.

Picking a Natural SPF Sunscreen for the sake of our HEALTH:

You should avoid the following ingredients:

Oxybenzone
Vitamin A (Retinyl palmitate)
Aerosol spray and powder sunscreen
Added insect repellant like deet
Parabens
Fragrance

On the “powdered sunscreen” I have to note that I think powdered mineral makeup that has natural mineral sunscreen for regular daily wear would be an exception.

If you haven’t noticed yet, one of my favorite resources is the Cosmetics Database from EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment.. For a list of general ingredients to avoid by product category, check out their guides:

Tips for safer products: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/top-tips-for-safer-products
Wallet Guide: http://static.ewg.org/skindeep/pdf/EWG_cosmeticsguide.pdf

For a full listing of some of the best options, check out their listings here:

SPF 15 to 30 : http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse/sunscreen:+SPF+15-30/
SPF 30+ : http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse/sunscreen:+SPF+greater+than+30/

** UPDATE: Better link and iphone app here **

Picking a Natural SPF Sunscreen for the sake of our OCEANS:

Not only is it important to be concerned about what we put on our skin but since many people are wearing sunscreen on beaches and into the ocean, how it affects ocean wildlife is something to think about as well.

Be sure to avoid sunblocks with:

octylmethoxycinnamate
benzophenone-3
parabens
octocrylene

These cause complete coral reef bleaching at very low concentrations. If you want to read more about this bleaching phenomenon, check out this National Geographic Article.

What sunscreens are both healthy and won’t harm our ocean wildlife – BOTH?

Well the easiest to find would probably be Badger. They even have one of the easiest to follow explanations about the coral reefs. Most of their sunscreens are within the 1-2 range (lower is better) with the cosmetics database. They ARE mineral based sunscreens so they may leave some white residue and they are in the $15-$20 price range. I haven’t tried this one yet so I can’t tell you from personal experience the pros and cons.

Honestly the next sunscreen I’m probably going to buy will be from Coola. I was really impressed with the sample in my birchbox AND it does fit both health and ocean requirements. I’ll probably get the Coola Face SPF 30 Unscented for general use and Coola Classic Sport SPF 45 Sunscreen Unscented for longer outdoor / swimming use. These are again in the 1-2 range with the cosmetics database (the Coola brand has some older listings that are higher.)

Since there area lot of personal preferences, I’m probably not going to try and go through a whole lot of sunscreens simply to review them but I am going to go through a few for myself just to find what I personally like. What I had been using wasn’t very healthy.

For the most part, products 3 and under via the Cosmetics Database are going to also be safe for the oceans (but just quickly double check the ingredients to be sure!!)

infographic_sunscreen_web