Green Eye Primer? Yes, please. Gabriel in Warm Beige

I purchased this at my local Whole Foods when I made the mistake of perusing the makeup and skincare section (the skincare and makeup junkie in me HAD to stop by "just to look"). One of the few things I'm missing is a natural eye primer and a good eyebrow powder/pencil in my makeup bag (90% of my makeup has been transitioned over to cleaner make up). The packaging isn't fancy, just simple. What sold me was the short list of ingredients--I took a quick look and didn't see any ingredient that raised any red flags. 

Please ignore the lint on the lid of the eye primer (how good is the camera on my S4??).


I got this in "Warm Beige," which seems to be the perfect color for me. I've used it several times over the past few weeks and I LOVE IT. My eye shadows looked more vibrant and had greater staying power. I had no idea how much more the colors would show using the same amount of eye shadow, but with a natural eye primer as the base. I'm now a convert. This doesn't last all day like non-natural primers, as I did get creasies after a few hours.

I did also notice that cream eye shadows (I use natural cream shadows), didn't last so long with this primer. I'm guessing it's because they both had oils as the bases (and like dissolves like-remember that from chemistry?), the staying power wasn't as good compared to the powder shadows.

The thing I love most about it is that they don't sell you based on the packaging--it's simple packaging, not fancy, but what's inside it WORKS. Like they say, don't judge a book by it's 80's looking cover.

All in all, still a primer I will keep re-purchasing until I can find something as clean with better staying power.
Pros:
-$14.99, which makes it pretty affordable in my book (I'm used to buying the more expensive primers)
-Makes eye shadow colors pop
-Extends the life of the eye shadow on your lid (# of hours depends on how oily your lids are)

Cons:
-still got some creasies after 3 hours, but the shadow colors remained in place anywhere away from my crease
-packaging is simple
-less hygienic than primers that come out of a tube (this one comes in a little pot that you have to use your fingers to get the product out and apply on your eyelids, similar to a potted concealer)

EWG Score: 2

Click here to read the EWG report.

Natural Inika Eye Pencil Vs. Urban Decay Eye Pencil

I have mixed feelings posting this blog, because after I did my research on EWG Skin Deep, turns out, the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil has a lower score than my Inika Organic Eye Liner (EWG Skin Deep scores of 1 and 2, respectively). It's tough because the ingredients in the Urban Decay pencil aren't organic or as natural, and each pencil contains ingredients that rate at a 3 based on various things (please note that just because an ingredient is "natural," doesn't necessarily make it "good" for you--poison ivy is a natural plant, but is toxic right?). There are pros and cons of each pencil, so I'll go over that. How you choose to decide on the pencil is up to you.

The typical complaints of a green eye liner are: color isn't as pigmented as traditional liners and they don't have great staying power. With the Urban Decay liner in Perversion, these problems don't exist--it's also the blackest black liner I've ever used. I personally loved this liner before I decided to clean up my makeup bag and go green. In fact, it works so well you have to put a little elbow grease into removing it at night.

Since I've switched over to cleaner make-up, I tried this Inika eye liner pencil based on good reviews in the green beauty community. It doesn't create a drag when you apply the pencil and does go on fairly smoothly (which is good because eye liners that tug your eye lead to accelerated eye wrinkles-no bueno). My only complaint is of the staying power and lack of dark pigment (both of which I knew about prior to purchasing, so this isn't fair for Inika, right?). I just have to keep the pencil on me and re-apply before I go out at night, and this does the trick. Or I can line my eyes with a gel liner (I use the one from Tarte) to give you a more dramatic look. Another cool thing about this pencil is that it comes with its own sharpener, which is nice- gotta love a free stuff.

Click here to view the Inika report, vs. the Urban Decay report here.

Bare Minerals Ready Touch Up Translucent Veil, SPF 15 Review

Well, I've been using this for 3 years and today I looked up the hazard score and it got a 4. Not too high, but my goal is to stick with items with a score of a 3 or less. On the hunt for something with a lower score…but read below if a score of "4" doesn't bother you--aside from the score, it's a pretty good translucent powder. My post below was written before I looked up the score (I know, boo on me). I've been trying a different loose mineral powder with SPF 30, so if that continues to go well, I'll be blogging about that in a month. 

I used to hate Bare Minerals. A Sephora makeup artist put the foundation on me years ago and I hated it. It looked completely cakey and when I looked in the mirror, I saw a geisha girl. I was nice to the make up artist and thanked her, as I grabbed a few tissues on my way out of the store. The moment I got in the car, I immediately started rubbing it off (did I mention it looked worse in natural light?). I didn’t think I would ever go back to Bare Minerals after this experience until I read about this translucent powder in a magazine a few years ago. I noticed this powder was lighter and contained ingredients that were cleaner. I was looking for a powder at the time with some SPF for added sun protection and this fit the bill (SPF 15). I’ve been using this powder for over 2 years now, and I can say that I’m now a Bare Minerals believer. The translucent powder doesn’t clog my pores, mattifies my skin for many hours, provides a SPF of 15 AND looks natural. I told a friend with finicky skin about this product and she's been using it for the past year. I use this with a kabuki brush once a day in the AM and possibly again in the PM before I go out. I have tried a TON of powders and all of the other ones caused me to breakout to varying degrees. Four compacts later, this is still my powder of choice. This powder doesn’t provide any coverage, so if you’re looking for that, you’ll have to try something else. Photo courtesy of Sephora.com.

Pros:

-light

-doesn’t clog pores

-mattifies

-contains SPF 15

Cons:

-doesn't provide any coverage (if that's what you're looking for)

EWG Skin Deep Score: 4

Click here to read the report.

Beauty Trick: How to Make Your Eyelashes Look Long and Voluminous

I decided I'd do another mascara post as a companion to my favorite green mascara post I finished up earlier this week (click here to read that post). Long eyelashes can make such a big difference-I always love to wear strip lashes and lash extensions, but I don't find them to be easy to maintain doing on a daily basis. Follow these few tips to enhance your own lashes to make them look longer and fuller:

1. Start by curling your lashes. Start at the base and using a pumping motion, curl your lashes moving upward half way until you have a good curl. Some people recommend heating the curler using a blow dryer prior to curling, as this holds the curl longer. I personally don't find the time to heat the curler in the AM so I skip this step.

2. Use an eyelash primer. I like to use Tarte's eyelash primer (read full blog post here). Use 2 coats of primer.

3. This third tip, I got from a vlogger (click here to watch her tips on how to lengthen and volumize lashes): use two different mascaras to achieve long and voluminous lashes. One mascara should be lengthening and the other one should be volumizing. When I was using this technique with non-green mascaras, I LOVED it! I was using Loreal's Telescopic for length and any cheapie volumizing mascara. It really made a difference and I was loving it. Now that I'm going green and green mascaras are at least $20 each, I'm not utilizing this method. If you haven't gone green or don't mind spending the money on separate volumizing and lengthening green mascaras, I would recommend doing this.

4. If you forego the two-different-mascaras idea in step 3, you can follow the above steps and wear multiple layers of your favorite mascara (my favorite green mascara for now is the one from 100% Pure). One to two layers of this stuff and you are ready to go! Sometimes I'll curl my lashes again at the end to reinforce the curl.

My New Favorite Green Mascara is….

(Drumroll please)….the 100% Pure Black Tea Pigmented Ultra Lengthening Mascara!

I did lots of research on mascara and settled on trying these three mascaras which all claimed to provide volume/length or some combination thereof:

1. Josie Maran Gogo Instant Natural Volume Mascara
2. Afterglow Cosmetics Organic Infused Pure Soul Mascara
3. 100% Pure Black Tea Pigmented Ultra Lengthening Mascara

And the above is exactly the ranking I would give them. Afterglow's mascara is pretty good, but it doesn't do much in terms of volume--it primarily lengthened my lashes a bit, and that was it.

Unfortunately, the Josie Maran one was my least favorite (click here to read the full post).

Here's why the 100% Pure Black Tea Pigmented Ultra Lengthening Mascara is the winner (thus far): 

1. It lengthens AND volumizes my lashes comparably to the more chemical-laden counterparts.  It actually would do well in a competition against any drugstore or department store brand, in my opinion.

2. Like it's company name indicates, it's made of 100% pure ingredients. Here's the ingredient listing:

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract (Organic Green Tea), Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Cera Alba (Honey Beeswax), Rubus Fruticosus Fruit Extract (Blackberry Extract), Ribes Nigrum Fruit Extract (Blackcurrant Extract), Rubus Idaeus Fruit Extract (Raspberry Extract), Hydrolyzed Oat Protein (Oat Protein), Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein (Wheat Protein), Pantothenic Acid (Pro-vitamin B5), Fucus Vesiculosus Extract (Seaweed Powder), Coconut Stearic Acid (Coconut Acid), Mica, Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter (Cocoa Butter), Pearl Powder, Oryza Sativa Germ Powder (Rice Powder), Theobroma Cacao Extract (Cocoa Powder), Coffea Arabica Seed Extract (Powdered Coffee Beans), Mel (Lavender Honey), Origanum Vulgare Leaf Extract (Oregano Extract), Thymus Vulgaris Flower/Leaf Extract (Thyme Extract), Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract (Rosemary Extract), Lavandula Angustifolia Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract (Lavender Extract), Hydrastis Canadensis Extract (Goldenseal Extract)

3. It smells nice-not that mascara ever needs to have a scent, because who will be sniffing your eyes? Regardless, it naturally has a nice fruity smell that's very subtle. 
4. This mascara smudges less than Telescopic, which is really surprising. Even at the end of the day, the smudge isn't too terrible, which is unusual for me (my skin is on the oily side). 
**Note: I wasn't able to complete my report on EWG Skin Deep--there's something wrong with the database and it's not synthesizing the information to provide me with a hazard score. :( I'll keep plugging away until I can get a score. Until then, the previous formulation of the mascara had a score of a 2. Hoping it's as close to this number as possible, as I love it!).

Green Toothpaste?? And a Coupon CODE!!

I was hesitant to try a "healthier" toothpaste for fear of it leaving my mouth feeling…dirty. I read a few reviews about this toothpaste and decided to try it out, since most of my skin care, shower care and 1/2 my makeup had already made the green switch.

I really like the company, Redmond Inc.  The ingredients they use are minimal and the essential oils they use to flavor their toothpaste are 100% pure and wildcrafted. If you have any concerns about any of their ingredients, they've thought of it, and have articles for you to read about the safety of their ingredients. One thing I was concerned about was the Prop 65 sticker that came on the box, but I read this article and felt better about it. They also posted an elemental analysis of what's contained in their Redmond Clay, which is their main ingredient: 0.000142% lead and 7.75% aluminum (if you're wondering about the aluminum, click here about why the aluminum in Redmond Clay is safe and doesn't stay in our bodies). If you're worried about the tea tree oil ingredient, here's an article to answer that question.

Their star ingredient is Redmond Clay, which has over 60 trace minerals in it. Some use pure Redmond clay to heal cuts/scrapes because it's known to draw toxins out (topical application), helps with digestive problems when taken internally (sounds weird, I know) and is naturally alkaline.

Ingredients: hydrated Redmond Clay, essential oils, xylitol, and Real Salt.

Tooth Brushing Experience: This is going to be weird for most of you (like it was for me) the first time you try this. My first purchase was the Peppermint flavor (Spearmint also tastes pretty good too). First, the toothpaste itself is grayish. Second, it doesn't foam…at all-- it becomes a thin mixture when you start brushing your teeth with it. It's sorta strange when you spit out light grey too. The first week of use, my mouth didn't feel squeaky clean, like it did with the foaming and very tingly Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste. It felt clean, just not squeaky clean, like I was used to. After I got over those things, I can't imagine going back to regular toothpaste. I've been using it for about 3 months now, and on the off day I do use regular toothpaste, it seems way too harsh. I feel good about knowing that I can actually EAT the toothpaste if I wanted to. My mom was asking me if I knew of a toothpaste without SLS and fluoride (my mom is more granola than I am!) and I gave her the Spearmint flavor. As of today, she's a convert. :)

It may not be for everyone, but if you're looking for a natural toothpaste that makes your mouth feel clean, I would absolutely recommend this toothpaste. I tried the Tom's Strawberry toothpaste and the flavor sort of grossed me out, and my mouth did not feel clean afterwards.

Once I'm finished with this tube, I'm moving on to the Lemon Twist flavor and then Cinnamon. I'll let you know how those flavors compare against the Spearmint and Peppermint. Those two mint-based flavors are pretty good and do leave your mouth feeling clean and slightly minty.

Also, for a limited time, Earthpaste has agreed to give you 15% off your purchase! Simply use the coupon code "BeautyLooter15" to get the discount. :) 

Visit them at www.earthpaste.com and see what they're about.

Happy brushing!

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Review

I did a lot of research on this powder before I took the plunge and made this purchase (I have this in Dim Light). There are so many video blogs available on what this is, and how to properly use it, I had many a late nights researching because I was so intrigued. I think some people get disappointed by this because they don’t have a clear understanding of what this is: this is not a highlighting powder, rather a powder that’s supposed to soften your face by giving the illusion of professional lighting when applied correctly. Different vloggers will tell you different things: some say to put the powder all over your face, and others recommend applying it in certain places (sides of the forehead, cheeks). You have to sort of play with the application to see what works for you. I tend to be on the oilier side, so it doesn’t make sense for me to apply it in the center of my face (center forehead, nose and chin) because these places will get greasy, and the Ambient Lighting powder is not the type of powder you want to be constantly reapplying throughout the day. 

There’s a vlogger whose makeup videos I’ve been watching called “A Model Recommends” (love her) and she displays how she applies this powder (she uses Diffused Light). Click here if you’d like to watch the video-the Hourglass portion begins at 1:53. Even in the video, the powder and the way she does her makeup really make her skin look brighter. She likes to use this in the daytime, whereas I mainly use this in the PM. I like this powder, but I’m not sure if it makes me look much better (maybe I need to try the Diffused Light?). I only apply the powder for special occasions and for the days I have the time and want to do something extra. It’s not a life changer, but something nice to have. I would recommend trying it first at Sephora before you make the purchase, since it'll cost you $45 each. 

Pros:

-subtle
-has some shine-control capability
-gives face a softer finish

Cons:

-pricey
-kicks up a bit of powder when getting the powder on to your brush

EWG Skin Deep Score: 3

Click here to read the full report. *Note: there were two ingredients that EWG Skin Deep did not recognize and hence, were not added in the report. The score may be skewed a bit without the addition of these ingredients-beware (BENZIMIDAZOLE DIAMOND AMIDOETHYL UREA CARBAMOYL PROPYL OLYMETHYLSILSESQUIOXANE and OLYACRILYMide).