bronzer

July 21, 2015

Ipsy Glambag July 2015 and EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database Scores

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

Jelly Pong Pong Cosmetics 2-in-1 Shadow/Liner – no cones (cones rule things out for me personally – allergy maybe), no fragrance but it does use petrolatum, parabens and BHT. This is a 5 with the skin deep cosmetics database.

Crown Brush Professional Tweezers – nice! these seem pretty solid. We’ll see how they wear over time.

Octavio Molina Hair La Playa Salt Spray – fragrance/parfum. Sigh. So I’ll have to see if I can handle the scent. Can’t tell on this one without opening it which is a good sign. No parabens, no cones, nothing else that leaps out. Oh wait – a second frangrance hiding here. “Hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde” isn’t found by EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. by that name but is actually commonly known as “Lyral” – just noting it because I had to change it out in the ingredients to run the report. And another sigh – FD&C colors that are really unnecessary. So EWG gives this a 5. Not the worst, not the best. I think I may pass since I can make a healthier version of sea salt spray if I want it.

tarte deluxe Amazonian clay waterproof bronzer – dimethicone rules this one out for me personally – bah bronzers are one of my favorite things. None of the ingredients leap out as bad ingredients. No parabens, no fragrances etc. There are a couple that I can’t place though which is part of why I run them through the EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database – to learn more. This is a healthy 2 which makes it even more sad that I can’t try it! Ugh. Why must my skin react so badly to cones???

Vasanti Cosmetics Brighen Up! Exfoliating Cleanser – This one has killer perfume. I’ve received other things from this company before in either Ipsy or Birchbox and it gave me a headache then and it’s giving me a headache now. I can smell it without opening it which is the most annoying part about these things. The rest of the ingredient list looks sound though so if they were to drop the scent I might actually use it. This is a 5 and since fragrance is still the worst thing in here, if they were to drop that it would lower the score and I would try it. For now though it’s out of the question. I’m not using products that give me an obvious headache and I limit those that use synthetic fragrances as well just because they seem to over time have an effect on me.

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 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! * * * *

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November 15, 2013

Ipsy glambag unboxing and reviews November 2013

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

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

em michelle phan – pillow plush cushiony lip balm in vanilla – the color is almost non-existent. No cones or parabens – yay! fragrance, boooo. If they had left out the frangrance this would likely have rated a lot better than a 4 with the EWG cosmetics database.

Be a Bombshell Lip Crayon in “hot damn” – this is a cherry red shade. No cones or fragrances, yay! Parabens though, booo. This ranks a 5 with the cosmetics database.

Nailtini Straight Up Color Nail Lacquer in Champagne – this is a coppery color in the bottle but does actually look more like “champagne” when applied. And as I’ve established before – Nailtini is three free so all good here!

Pixi Beauty Bronzer – cones … I can’t use this personally (cones break me out without fail) but otherwise this is super healthy. It’s a 2 with the cosmetics database. Yay for healthy! Bad that I can’t use it. :/

Starlooks Gem Eye Pencil in Topaz – this is a silver eyeliner. No cones or fragrance … but parabens. It is another 5 with the cosmetics database. Remember, lower is better! The report actually calls out carbon black as the worst ingredient. Petrolatum and aluminum powder were also concerns but ranked 4s as ingredients.

TRESemmé® TRES Two Extra Hold Hairspray Travel Size – no cones or parabens but fragrance. :/ This ranks a whopping 7 though!! HORRIBLE health-wise. There were also two other reports for this so they apparently have changed the ingredients several times – none are healthy. Report 1 & report 2.

Swatches:

So this month’s Ipsy glambag is a bit of a bust for me…

The best items for me in the November 2013 ipsy glambag are the nailtini nailpolish and … well that’s about it. I’ll try the two lip products because they don’t have cones but they are a little less healthy than I would like. I also wish I could try the pixi bronzer because it IS healthy BUT it has cones in it. Oh and I do like the bag!

wish I had received …
Cailyn Built-In Sponge Tip Mineral Eye Shadow in Champagne! No cones and it’s super healthy. It ranks a meer 1 with the cosmetics database!

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:

October 11, 2011

October 2011 Birchbox

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Skin Care, Subscription boxes

While still fun, I’m less excited about it this month.
Two words: dimethicone and fragrance.

Almost everything I got has dimethicone in it which makes me break out. Now you might be thinking “you don’t put hair product on your face” but trust me, anytime I put it on my hair, my hair touches my face and I again break out. I’m just over trying anything with dimethicone because even expensive products with this ingredient break me out. I keep watching hair tutorials with gorgeous silky hair and inevitably they use some serum with, yup, dimethicone (usually Frizz Ease.) The painful kind of zits, not just the ugly kind. I really wanted to try the Laura Geller bronzing primer too. 🙁 But I’ll pass.

As for fragrance … really do I need to cover this one? Allergies, toxins, overpowering scent. At least the Ahava hand cream was overpowering even in the tube.

The one item I’m looking forward to trying is the “Sunday Riley Modern Skincare Juno Transformative Lipid Serum.” Amazing ingredient list. Tried a little on my hand and it’s clearly good stuff but a little … hippie smelling. And natural products don’t need to smell … hippie. I really have no better word for it. No not patchouli hippie, it’s just not exactly bad but it’s not exactly good smelling either. I don’t want them to add fragrance, no way, but I’ll be spraying my homemade lavender spray on my face to see if that helps.

Serum INGREDIENTS: Acai seed oil, Argan oil, Black Cumin seed oil, Blackberry seed oil, Blueberry seed oil, Broccoli seed oil, Carrot seed oil, Chardonnay Grape seed oil, Cranberry seed oil, Marula oil, Meadowfoam seed oil, Pomegranate seed oil, Red Raspberry seed oil.

At $125 a pop (30 ml) I probably won’t be buying this puppy unless it also fixes me coffee in the morning but the 5ml sample might last awhile. Hey never say never. If I can suddenly get less redness, more even skintone and not need foundation I’d consider it.

It’s still exciting to get something fun to sort through and that serum sample alone is worth the price of the box. I guess I just wish this were a more natural selection of products that I could really dive into more.

June 12, 2011

Everyday Minerals “Natural Reflections Summer Bronze” Bronzer

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics

http://www.everydayminerals.com/store/face-natural-reflections-summer-bronze.html

I got this to compare to Everyday Minerals “Raw Sugar” since they don’t carry that anymore and it’s my staple bronzer. Often bronzers will look either too pink or too yellow or too muddy on me (no matter how light I try and apply them.) The Summer Bronze is “ok” … I’m not amazed and in love but it’s better than nothing and it does NOT look too yellow or too pink.

In fact it will probably work pretty well for the summer because it has a hint of pink to it and I’m spending more time outside so I may need a little more contrast.I took a lot of photos so you can see it in different lights as well as compared to the Everyday Minerals medium beige foundation (in pics above.)

“Natural Reflections Summer Bronze” on LEFT and “Raw Sugar” on the RIGHT side of my hand. Pics inside and in direct light. The Summer Bronze does not have any shimmer which some people will probably like.

Everyday Minerals is becoming this horrible love hate relationship for me, I find something I love so much it becomes an staple item I use daily and bam, they stop carrying it. First the pressed powder, then the bronzer.

Right now this bronzer is only $4.50 for the full size so I expect this to go out of stock like anything else I like.

And a quick note on the foundation, I previously posted EM’s response about no longer having the pressed powder (though they “say” they’re planning on bringing it back, I just don’t think that’s likely anymore.) I bought both matte and semi-matte powders to try. I can’t use either individually, I really do have to mix them to get the right coverage and color for me which is really frustrating.

EM used to sell mixing containers … I need that because I don’t have any empty sifters and it’s a pain to open two different screw top containers each morning for one simple task. I really like their close-able sifter covers.

Anyone have any spare empty EM containers they want to ship to me? Otherwise I guess I could dump them both out into a bowl in the kitchen and then refill the existing containers … I guess that’s what I’ll actually end up doing.