Eco-friendly Skin
Going “green” may be trendy right now, but it’s also the right thing to do. Choosing natural and eco-friendly products can help you and the environment at the same time.
You may not think of beauty products when you hear “green” or “natural”, but these are some of the most important items in your daily regimen that should be natural. Because makeup touches your skin, whatever is in the makeup can enter your body. Choosing natural makeup products means preventing toxins, parabens, and other potentially harmful substances from getting into your body.
There are several natural beauty brands out there that make a wide variety of high quality natural products. One of these brands is Burt’s Bees. Burt’s Bees is all about natural products that are good for you and good for the earth. They use natural ingredients from the earth while minimizing their impact on the environment. Burt’s Bees helps support environmentally friendly business practices and does not test on animals. They have a great line of natural beauty products, including their very popular lip shimmers. These add a hint of color and a bit of shimmer, while moisturizing the lips. Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers come in seven different colors, such as Champagne. If you prefer more than a little shine, they also offer lip glosses. Burt’s Bees Lip Gloss Tube in Zesty Red, for example, gives you a hint of red color with a ton of shine. Plus, it’s fruit flavored! Another favorite makeup product is the Burt’s Bees Natural Cosmetics Vanishing Facial Powder. This powder helps improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, while controlling shine.
Another notable natural brand is Dr. Hauschka Skin Care. Started over 40 years ago, this brand takes a holistic approach to making beauty products. They use plant based ingredients, sourcing as many of their ingredients as possible from certified Biodynamic and organic sources. They also use eco-conscious packaging and do not test on animals. Dr. Hauschka has an extensive line of highly rated makeup products as well. Their Liquid Wand Concealer uses therapeutic botanical and mineral ingredients to blend and conceal imperfections while soothing the skin. Their Translucent Face Powder uses rose petal extract and silk to combat shine. For color cosmetics, they offer products like eyeshadow with silk and talc powder and lipstick with rose petal extract and jojoba oil.
Physicians Formula is famous for their hypo-allergenic products. Lately, they’ve entered the mineral makeup market, as well as the organic makeup market. Their latest line, Organic Wear, features 100% natural origin makeup with no harsh chemicals, parabens, or synthetic preservatives. It also comes complete in eco-conscious packaging. The Organic Wear Concealer Stick in Soft Green was designed to hide red and pink imperfections while remaining smooth and blendable. They also offer a Translucent Pressed Powder and a Natural Bronzer to further give your face that natural, healthy look. You can give yourself a soft, rosy glow or a more dramatic look with their Blush in Blushing.
Kiss My Face is a terrific natural brand with a vast selection of highly recommended products. Their 3-Way-Color for Lips, Cheeks, and Eyes is an extremely versatile product that moisturizes as it adds sheer color. It contains no chemicals, was not tested on animals, and is 100% biodegradable. Additionally, it has an SPF 8 to protect against sun damage.
Juice Beauty products are up to 95% certified organic. Known mostly for their top notch natural skin care products, they also offer a fantastic natural lip plumper, perfect for the beauty- and eco-conscious consumer. The Juice Beauty Lip Plumper uses amino acids to plump the lips, cane sugar to refine, and organic orange juice and essential fatty acids to moisturize. It even helps fill in little lines around the lips.
Tarte is not known as a natural brand, but their cheek stain in Full Blossom is preservative, paraben, mineral oil and phthalate-free, and contains natural mineral pigments and botanical ingredients. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from the purchase of this product will go toward Sambazon’s Sustainable Acai Project in the Amazon Rainforest. Full Blossom is two universally flattering pink shades, swirled together for a fresh look.
CARGO has a wonderful line of natural lipsticks called PlantLove. They contain botanical ingredients and no mineral oils or petroleums. Additionally, all of the packaging, down to the actual lipstick tube is biodegradable! The outer carton is made with biodegradable flower paper, infused with real flower seeds. You can moisten the carton, plant it, and beautiful wild flowers will grow. And, if that wasn’t enough, $2 from the sale of this lipstick goes to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital™. It’s not only an environmentally and socially conscious lipstick, but a great looking one too. There are 20 gorgeous shades, 9 of which have been designed by celebrities like Mariska Hargitay, Lindsay Lohan, and Evangeline Lilly.
Going “green” may be a trend currently, but hopefully it will soon become a lifestyle for more and more people. It’s not about making a huge lifestyle change, it’s about making small changes, one at a time. You don’t have to go out and buy an electric car right away, but you can go out and buy green eyeshadow!
