Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE make up, and I love giving people make overs. I have used many brands of make up over the years and consider myself a bit of a make up snob. When I was pregnant with my first two children I would switch to a natural safe cosmetic brand, but as soon as I had the baby I couldn't wait to get back to the "good stuff." I did not fully understand how bad conventional beauty/personal care products were for you.
As I mentioned in my last post on clean skincare, your skin is your largest organ. Every thing you put on your body is absorbed through your skin. Cosmetic companies have been allowed to put ingredients in products, that recent findings show cause negative health effects, like cancer, endocrine disruption, skin irritation etc.
Women use an average of 12 personal care products containing 168 ingredients daily. Men use about 6 personal care products containing 85 ingredients daily
Enter Beautycounter. About 4 years ago, one of my friends posted some information about Beautycounter on Facebook, and I started researching the company. Their make up looked like some of the high end brands you would find at Sephora or department stores. I bought a few eye shadows and other products to start off. As soon as I started using it, I knew I was never turning back.
Beautyconter is a certified B-corp, meaning it adheres to the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability.
Foundation
They just launched a new featherweight foundation called skin twin. This product blurs the line between make up and skin care. There are 18 shades to choose from, so everyone can find their perfect match. It delivers all day hydration and contains a potent dose of hyaluronic acid, which leaves skin visibly plumped and glowing.
It also and minimizes the appearance of fine lines over time. It has Jojoba esters, which is derived from dessert dwelling jojoba plant, which helps moisture, smooth, and soften skin. For light coverage use 1-2 pumps, medium coverage 2-3 pumps, shake well prior to use. I use their retractable foundation brush, which does a great job spreading the foundation evenly.
The Perfect Brow
Your eyebrows frame your face. My eyebrows are not as full as they once were, I always fill them in using the Beautycounter eyebrow pencil, and follow up with the brilliant brow gel to keep my brows looking full and in place. if you have nice full eyebrows, you may only need the gel (they have clear or tinted). This is a great video below (only 2 minutes long), showing exactly how to create the perfect brow.
Touchup Skin Concealer Pen
Next you can use the touch up skin concealer on dark circles around your eyes, redness, or any other imperfection.
Bronzer
I use an all over bronzer (surf) to give my face a sun kissed glow. I love this bronzer, it is very natural looking.
Satin blush
I then go over just the apples of my cheeks with a satin blush, my favorite color is nectar. It has a gorgeous, gold shimmer to it. I think it would look great on any skin tone.
Sheer Lipstick and lip gloss
I love their sheer lipsticks. They are so moisturizing, it feels like a lip treatment. I normally stick to light natural looking lip and play up my eyes. The lip glosses are also beautiful, my favorite color is peony and their nude lip gloss trio.
Flawless in Five
If you are like me and often find yourself short on time to get ready in the morning, they have the flawless in five, which is 6 products that you can apply in 5 minutes or less. Here is a great video to show you how to use these products.
Eyeshadow
The classic palate is my absolute favorite eye shadow, the colors are gorgeous, and they are made to compliment all skin tones. It took Beautycounter two years to formulate their shadows. They have several palates to choose from, I have all of them.
They wanted to achieve an artist grade, high performing product. The shadows are triple milled, which give them a velvety texture and blend beautifully. They also contain butter powder, which makes it adhere better to the eye, and helps with longevity of wear.
Most importantly, they wanted to achieve purity. Many colorants used in make up contain heavy metals. Beautycounter's colorants do not contain heavy metals, they test for heavy metals. They also do third party testing to ensure their talc is not cross contaminated with asbestos. They are certified asbestos free.
Eye Pencil
I like to finish my look using their brown eye pencil along my upper lash line and water line, then add several coats of mascara.
Beautycounter is having their annual Memorial Day sale now through May 26th. You can get 20% off your first order, plus if you spend $125.00 they have a free (full size) gift with purchase, while supplies last. As always, if you don't love what you buy, they have a 60 return policy.
Similar to their ingredient Never List, they have certain materials they prohibit or restrict in their packaging. BPA is one of them, as it may leach into the products when heated, and contaminating formulas. They also do not use vinyl, as it can release phthalates, which are known endocrine disruptors.
Beautycounter reduces the amount of plastic they use, opting for glass and paper packaging, to reduce their carbon footprint.
If you have any questions, would like me recommend products, or want a zoom tutorial =), feel free to contact me through the contact page.
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To find links to all the products I recommend, check out my resources page here.