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May 28, 2015

My Ipsy Glambag May 2015 – and EWG scores

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Lip Pencil + BONUS Revolution High-Color Lipgloss no cones, no fragrances, no parabens … let’s see how this breaks down 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. Well BHT didn’t catch my attention and it’s alone is a 6. But the overall ingredient score is a 3. Not too bad. I’m assuming the ingredients is for the lip pencil only and so I’m not sure about the bonus.

Chella Eyebrow Color Pencil So this is one that has great ingredients but I’m not likely to use it. Have you seen my eyebrows? I have plenty of eyebrow so unless I somehow over-pluck I’m not likely to use this. Yes, I know, you can have even prettier eyebrows with a eyebrow pencil even if you have thick brows, but this is just one too many products for me. AND I just see myself accentually smearing it as I type at the computer. I don’t touch my eyeliner but I do touch my face more than I should. That aside the EWG skin deep score is good, it’s a 1 so it’s really healthy. If eyebrow pencils are your thing you might want to try this. Actually I might try it as an eyeliner…

NUXE Rêve de Miel® Facial Cleansing and Make-Up Removing Gel … fragrance … if this didn’t have fragrance this would be fairly healthy. It’s a 4 with the cosmetics database. I suspect it would be a 2 if it didn’t have that one ingredient. I may still try this one depending on how it smells.

Luxie Beauty Tapered Blending Eye Brush 205 so no ingredients here and I personally don’t have a preference on animal hair vs synthetic as long as the brush is good and suited to the type of application I want to use it for. For those who care, this is synthetic. 🙂 I’ll give it a go. It’s not my favorite shape brush so it might not get the same kind of use.

CoTZ Face Natural SPF 40 off to a good start touting “100% Free of Oils, Chemical Sunscreens, Preservatives, Fragrances, Oils, Parabens, PABA, Gluten, Phythalates” so dimethicone rules it out for me personally. But if you don’t have any issues with cones, this is a really healthy product that comes in at a 2 with the EWG skin deep cosmetics database.

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{affiliate link – I get 250 points which points equal products but it’s still a little unclear how many points to the dollar}

May 26, 2015

My Birchbox May 2015 – and EWG scores

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Subscription boxes

My Birchbox May 2015 - and EWG scores • via ClothingCult.com

Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream fragrance but otherwise at a glance this looks pretty good. Off to 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 to get the score. I missed the BHT. So the score isn’t as good as I hoped here. It’s a 5 and there are other moisturizers out there that are just a little bit healthier and still good.

Number 4™ Blow Dry Lotion fragrance, cones, I can’t use this. I think I’ve smelled some the Number 4 products before and this is just too strong to even consider. Plus cones. Let’s see what this ranks with EWG. Looks like an another 5 here.

Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel I deliberately chose this because I didn’t see another item I wanted more. I actually like this product enough to have purchased a full sized version and received it in a previous birchbox. I figured I might like a travel size or just a little extra here.

Whish Flawless Swipes the fragrance is a dealbreaker for me on this one. The whish products seem to be very fake sweet scented and not my cup of tea. And it’s not natural. But according to the EWG skin deep cosmetics database it’s not horrible, it’s a 3.

Chosungah 22 Flavorful Lipstick in vanilla berry fragrance but no parabens or cones so it’s on the the list of maybe to try. However it’s not exactly that healthy. Mostly it’s the fragrance though that brings it up to a 5 – a little more toxic than I’m usually willing to try. I’m debating trying this … and then I remember that I have a pixi lipstick that’s healthier and in the same shade range. I’ll probably do a swatch comparison.

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April 23, 2015

My Birchbox April 2015 – and EWG scores

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

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

First let me say I LOVE the Rifle Paper Co. box here. Even though it’s just a cardboard box, it’s lovely.

Jouer Tint in petal – Again, not a huge fan of blush or in this case cheek tint. That aside though this has paraben, bht and petrolatum in it. It’s not horribly bad for you but it’s also not great for you and there IS better out there on the market these days. This ranks a 4 with 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 (reminder, 0 is the healthiest, 10 is the worst.)

Liz Earle Eyebright™ Soothing Eye Lotion – I’m already addicted the Liz Earle Hot cloth cleanser and I think this is the reason I chose this box over the Mad Men themed boxes. I wanted to try another Liz Earle product because of the quality and ingredients of the first I tried. I’ve lost count on the number of times I’ve emptied and re-purchased the hot cloth cleanser! Right off the bat though there are a couple of ingredients I’m not keen on – parabens. But there’s not much else in here to worry about so other than that it’s pretty close to being healthy. It ends up ranking a 3 with the EWG cosmetics database. I’m going to try it but they could make it healthier by working on a more natural preservative.

Beaver Professional Hydro Nutritive Moisturizing Shampoo
Beaver Professional Hydro Nutritive Repairing Conditioner
I’m going to group these two together since Birchbox didn’t put the ingredients online. Cones rule BOTH out for me. Fragrance is strong and these and hurts my lungs (that’s a new one.) And they also contain parabens. I don’t want to have to type up the ingredients list on these tonight but I can tell you already I won’t be trying them. In fact the scent hurts me enough from within the bottles that I don’t want it on someone else’s hair and I’m throwing them out. Toxic. Gross. It’s making me feel bad and I haven’t even opened it. Gah!

MDSolarSciences™ MD Crème Mineral Beauty Balm SPF 50 – several kinds of cones rule this one out for me personally (causes me to break out) but the rest of the ingredients look good at a glance. SPF 50 is a bit overkill however. Unless you’re surfing and need something on your nose or are super fair skin and visiting an island for the first time ever, this just seems a little extreme. We need to allow our bodies to get a bit of sun and produce a certain amount of Vitamin D in order to be healthy. Also at 17% zinc, I wonder if this will be a bit calky despite the color – anyone want to give me feedback on that, please post in the comments. That aside, lets check out the full ingredients for anyone not sensitive to cones. This is actually very healthy – it ranks a 2 with the EWG cosmetics database. So if you’re looking for a strong SPF facial cream (I suspect this will be like a BB Cream instead of a foundation) you might want to give this a shot. Also does anyone know if it’s water resistant? Might make for a good day at the beach lotion for those who hate going without any makeup at all. (Again, cones and I don’t get along so if you can post a comment that’d be great!)

Still not signed up for Birchbox?

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April 23, 2015

My Ipsy Glambag April 2015 – and EWG scores

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

Hikari Cosmetics – Blush in Tango – I’m not much of a blush person because I’m naturally a bit pink. Add in talc and mineral oil and parabens and I’m even less of a blush person. A few of those aren’t harmful but they feel weird on my skin (talc and mineral oil.) I will say the packaging is sleek though. Simple and elegant on the packaging. No fragrance or parabens either. It ranks a 4 with 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. Not great but not the worst (0 is the best, 10 is the least healthy.)

LATHER – ultra light face lotion – All the ingredients look good here at a glance. But bam, Vitamin A which increases skin sensitivity particularly to light. You know that Vitamin A is something I don’t mind in a peel and even an exfoliator, but maybe not something you want in a product you are going to wear all day… I’m half and half on this. I might try it as an overnight moisturizer still even though it ranks a 4 with the EWG cosmetics database.

theBalm Cosmetics – NUDE Dude Eyeshadow Single in flirty – cones rule this one out for me because they cause me to personally break out (allergy?) otherwise the ingredient list is pretty sound here. Usually theBalm products seem to rank as healthy but have cones I can’t use. And I’m right, it’s a healthy 2 with the EWG Cosmetics database. Too bad I can’t personally use this one.

MicaBeauty – Eye Primer – no cones, no fragrances, no parabens, nothing bad here as far as I can tell. I’m excited to give this a try. I really loved the black micabeauty eyeliner I bought previously. The downside of the eyeliner though was that I tried to stock up and since it’s a natural product, it dried out. Even the one container I was using dried out before I was halfway through it. It’s something I keep thinking about re-purchasing but haven’t since I have kinda fallen for the Pacifica eyeliner and a few others. So back to the eye primer. I AM excited to try this one out. And it’s also a healthy 2 with the EWG skin deep cosmetics database.

Mullein & Sparrow – Mini Lip & Cheek Tint – two blushes in one bag? Well at least it looks like it would make a better lip tint anyway. 🙂 So this is again a very natural looking product. Nothing bad stands out on this ingredient list and many of the ingredients are organic (maybe all of them actually.) It’s as healthy as it can get, ranking a zero with the EWG skin deep cosmetics database. 🙂

Bonus time! Since I had enough bonus points to earn a reward, I chose to get the Pacifica natural mineral coconut eyeshadow in treasure. I received one of the other color previously and liked it but thought this color would actually be something I would use even more.

And cute bag right?

March 25, 2015

Birchbox March 2015

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

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

Dear Clark Volumizing Tonic – ok I was most excited to try this product just because of the ingredient list and rightly so. It’s amazing and actually does what it says it will do. It gives your hair a little extra boost and it does it without a lot of the unhealthy junk that so many other products use. This is what I keep expecting dry shampoos to do and feel like. More volume, a little texture to help style your hair. I’m in love! And Volumizing sprays aren’t even the type of product I usually get excited about. And honestly I don’t want hair the size of Texas so the volume is very reasonable and fairly controllable for those worried about that. You can got big if you want or just give your hair a little oomph. It is not scent-free but it is scented only by the ingredients it uses. That does mean though that you will smell lightly of patchouli. No one else can smell it and after half a day I don’t even smell it really. So yes, if you sniff the bottle your first thought might be “hippie” but your hair won’t look that way.

Now here’s why I’m going to remind you to take the EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. score with a grain of salt. This product got a 4. But the ingredients are amazingly good and healthy! Clove oil alone gets a 5. I LOVE clove oil! It’s amazing. It’s healthy. I understand that if you put essential oil directly on the skin it could be a bad thing if it’s not diluted but that’s not what we’re doing here. Alchohol 40B … again … we aren’t drinking this in quantity so there’s less concern here. There are three ingredients I can’t identify as natural that are between a 2-3 each that aren’t great but are mostly contamination concerns so I’m not even really worried about those either. No parabens, no synthetic fragrances, no cones, this is a healthy product and not one that I’m going to avoid because it got a score above a 3. So I’m going to say that unless you have an allergy to one of the ingredients, you should just ignore the score on this product and really look at the ingredients here.

I’ve used this product pretty much every day since I’ve received it! Between this and my new hair brush, every day seems to be a good hair day! I’ll stop gushing now… 🙂

Laura Geller Beauty Baked Blush-n-Brighten – the first three ingredients are Talc, Mica, Mineral Oil, and Dimethicone. 3 of those are ingredients I avoid (hint, mica is the good one.) Two just feel weird on my skin (talc and mineral oil) and one seems to cause my skin to break out for some reason (dimethicone.) It also has parabens and “Imidazolidinyl Urea” which is a formaldehyde releaser. I haven’t even run it through the EWG skin deep database yet! However I thought it was going to be a lot worse than a 5.

Whish Three Whishes Body Butter – I have not been thrilled with any of the Whish products. They all contain fragrance and the scents have been … just not good in my opinion for the most part. If they would ditch or go with a natural fragrance though their products would be a lot better. However it’s most unhealthy ingredient is the fragrance which makes it a 3 with the EWG skin deep cosmetics database.

Supergoop!® Advanced SPF 37 Anti-Aging Eye Cream – dimethicone rules this one out for me. This is not the worst sunscreen though at a 4 but there are also healthier sunscreens out there. Also I think one of the active ingredients may be one of the sunscreens you want to avoid in the ocean due to how it can damage coral reefs. I’ll have to go back and look at that. I wrote a previous post on this.

derma e® Evenly Radiant® Brightening Day Crème SPF15 – you may already know that I’m a big fan of Derma e. Honestly it took some samples to get me to fall in love with them because the only thing I’m not a fan of is the packaging. I hate products I have to dip my fingers into! Despite this I have actually had some Derma e products that I’ve used the entire product and repurchased. That said, I’ve already tried this and while it’s good, it’s not my favorite moisturizer from this company. But it is good and it’s WAY better than many moisturizers from other companies. I think the real test will be when it’s summer. This seems like a better moisturizer for the summer months when your skin is less dry. Right now I’m actually using a night cream during the day because the winter has been harsh. When it comes to the ingredients though, the list on this product is great and scores a healthy 2 with the EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. Yay!

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March 25, 2015

Ipsy Glambag March 2015

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

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

March 2015 – FLORAL FANTASY

Mary Kay At Play® Eye Crayon – first ingredient is dimethicone so this product is out for me personally. Reminder, cones cause my skin to break out for some reason. No parabens, no fragrance but it does contain aluminum powder. It ranks a 4 with the EWG skin deep cosmetics database. Not great but not bad.

Coolway Glow Oil Treatment – second ingredient is dimethicone, also out for me. Along with dimethicone it also includes fragrance and ranks a 5 with the EWG skin deep cosmetics database. There are a lot of better oil and hair treatment options out there. Also one of the things about cones (for those that aren’t allergic) they may make your hair look good the first few uses but they can be not so great for your hair over time.

NYX Cosmetics Butter Lipstick – no cones, no parabens, but it does have fragrance/parfum. It also doesn’t have mineral oil or parafin which, although not toxic, are ingredients that don’t feel right on my skin. So I could technically use it but it’s also a VERY purple shade. Going back to 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 score on this one and it’s just not healthy. It’s a 7 due to many of the other ingredients used. So nope, not using this one.

LANEIGE BB Cushion – more cones so again this one is out for me. No parabens but it does include fragrance again. When I started to run it through the cosmetics database custom score builder I ended up with it having problems finding the following:

CROSSPOLYMER
ETHYLHEXYL
POLYRICINOLEATE
ACRYLATES/STEARYL
ACRYLATE/DIMETHICONE
DIMETHICONE/VINYLDIMETHICONE
CROSSPOLYMER

So the score does not reflect these ingredients. And yet still it’s a horribly unhealthy 9. Nope, nope I would not use this product.

skyn ICELAND Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels – no cones, no parabens, no fragrances/parfumes added. So far so good here. And an EWG skin deep report shows this as a healthy 2 and a closer look at the ingredients and everything looks pretty good. Healthy and gentle is something you want with the more delicate skin around the eyes. Definitely going to give these a try.