My Birchbox May 2015 – and EWG scores

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

#ootd cute bugs shirt from Kohl’s

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in OOTD

So I bought this cute light cotton shirt from Kohl’s yesterday. I think it will be easy to pair with t-shirt and tank tops this spring/summer.

Kentucky pretty much requires layering as the weather has wild mood swings. For example today’s high will be 57 and low of 35 – in ONE day!! So I decided to wear this today anyway even though later I might need a sweater … Or a winter coat! But it’s a nice preppy casual outfit.

Just a little fun with the layout app – no twins here. Though sometimes I wish there was a second one of me since there’s so much going on lately!

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!)

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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?

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April 3, 2015

Sumita Color contrast pencil kit in “Colors of India” + swatches

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics

#sumita #makeupswatches – my skin color is very different in different kinds of lighting. Bottom right is natural but cloudy outdoor light.

I liked the Sumita blue eyeliner so much that when they sent me a promo code for I think being a Birxhbox Ace for a certain amount of time … But only for select products, I ended up choosing this out of what was available.

Left to right: bombay black, bengal bronze (brown), jaipur gold (olive green), new dehli chai (gold)

All have a bit of shimmer/metallic to them but they aren’t glittery. And they’re smudge proof after you let them sit for a bit. All go on really smoothly and if they’re like the blue, the ingredients should be fairly healthy.

April 2, 2015

Worth Sharing : Natural foundation roundup

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics

via : http://kriscarr.com/blog-video/best-natural-foundation

So this is missing my favorite foundations again but it’s still worth sharing for those of you looking for some natural healthy options. (My favorite foundations are W3ll People Narcissist and Everyday Minerals jojoba.)