Natural Make Up Review - Concealer

I'm slowly trying to switch all my cosmetics out to greener & kinder products (yes I realize that the greenest thing would be just to ditch them all together, but I'm not at that point by any means!) and so your reading pleasure, I will be sharing my adventures with you here.  I haven't been given any product or incentive to review these, I just wanted to share what I've found about products I've purchased on my search for greener make-up!

The criteria that will be used to evaluate said products are largely ingredients & performance.  As I'm not an expert on the ingredient side of things, I'll be using other sources to help evaluate that.

First up to bat is concealer.  I picked up a tube of ZuZu concealer (color C-7) from my local health food store.

On the website, there are no organic claims or certifications, however they say they are "all natural" and  gluten free, vegan, and cruelty free.

Let's look at the ingredients:

Aqua (Infusion of Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice) Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Fruit Extract Cetyl Alcohol Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride

Glycerin Cetearyl Alcohol Crithmum Maritimum (Sea Fennel) Extract Tocopheryl Acetate

Retinyl Palmitate Limonene Lecithin Silica

Xanthan Gum Kaolin Iron Oxides Titanium Dioxide

Potassium Sorbate

For easy reference I go to my handy-dandy Ecoholic Body book (love the Ecoholic books, they're great resources for us Canuks AND I love that she's realistic - i.e. testing products and rating them, not just "stop using deodorant and washing your hair"!) and reference the "Mean 15" ingredients list to check for the 15 top offenders.

This product only has one of them - retinyl palmitate.  The reason this ingredient is on the list is because it seems to speed up the carcinogenic effects of UV rays in mice.   :(  Ie. there's potential that exposure to sunlight could increase cancer risks.

It does however appear to be free of the other offending ingredients, including parabens.

In Ecoholic Body, the author Adria Vasil recommends 2 sites to check out your cosmetics - goodguide.com and EWG Cosmetic Database.

Good Guide gives this product an overall rating of 5.0.  Their ratings are comprised of Environmental, Social and Health ratings.  This concealer rates well Health-wise, but pretty poorly in both Social and Environmental ratings.

Health - 8.0  They rate Kaolin as an ingredient of low concern "This ingredient is suspected of causing respiratory toxicity"

 It appears that Environmental & Social ratings are low due to poor transparency.

Unfortunately I couldn't find anything on the EWG Cosmetic Database.

Performance:
So far I've really liked this concealer.  It's creamy, has good coverage, and lasts all day. I wouldn't know the difference between this and a chemical-full formula.  The price was resonable and I would definitely continue to purchase this one!

Now for fun, let's compare this to the concealer I had previously been using.

NARS concealer - $23 (CAN)

I couldn't find a complete ingredient list for this one, however Sephora lists it as being without:
- parabens (Mean 15 ingredient)
- sulfates
- synthetic fragrance (Mean 15 ingredient)
- phthalates (Mean 15 ingredient)
- GMOs
- triclosan (Mean 15 ingredient)

But just because it's lacking these things doesn't mean it's all fine and dandy.

Let's see how it rates:

Good Guide
Overall: 4.2
Health: 0  Ummm, yikes?
It looks like the low ranking is largely due to the lack of information available.  They list Silica as an ingredient of medium concern (which is apparently in the ZuZu concealer too, but wasn't listed as an ingredient of concern...I'm wondering if the formula of that one at the time did not contain silica...)

Other ingredients of low concern include mineral oil (Mean 15 ingredient), lanolin, talc, kaolin, and propyl paraben.  Again, I'm not sure if this had been reformulated between when it had been evaluated by the Good Guide, and now, as Sephora has listed it as paraben free.

Environment: 6.9
Social: 5.7

The EWG rating is for the 2009 Vanilla shade formula
Overall: 3 (a 3 is a moderate hazard level)

Here they rate all the ingredients individually (0-2 is a low risk, 3-6 is moderate, 7-10 is high) and the propyl paraben is the only ingredient in the high risk level.

It again appears that data is limited.

Performance:
I actually found this concealer a little bit chalky feeling.  It wasn't something I was all that interested in buying again, for $23 it didn't wow me.

**So after I was looking at the Good Guide website I got to wondering if there was an app for that...and guess what - THERE IS!  I downloaded it right away and it's really good.  The reason I wanted the app was so that I could look up products as I was shopping.  The app even has a barcode scanner which makes it really quick and easy to use it as you shop!**

Well, that was fun.  I learned something, and I hope you did too!  Have you checked out your cosmetics? How do they rate? 

Hotel Spa Night

Every now and again I have to travel for work and sometimes I end up in a city where I don't know anyone, and there's nothing good to do by yourself.  Or sometimes you just need to enjoy the time to yourself.

That's when I started having spa nights.  You can usually find a grocery store or drug store close by to get everything you need.

What you need varies depending on what you want to do.

This time I decided on:

Balea unscented wipes (for make up removal)

St. Ives Apricot Scrub (for scrubbing)

Balea face mask (for masking)

Alberto V05 hot protein treatment (for my hair)

As a bonus, add some chocolate and maybe a glass of wine (I had some tea)

If you plan ahead you can definitely make some of these items, or bring things you have from home.  I usually decide on the impromptu spa night, so I just take a quick trip to the store!

My bathroom had a really great set up for this, the shower & toilet were separate from the sink.

Firstly, remove your makeup.  You can do this however you like - I bought wipes for it.

Now prep your hot towel.  I used my ice bucket and filled it with hot water & put my folded towel into it.

Now that your towel is sitting in the hot water, put your face mask on according to the directions on the package.

When it's time to take it off, use a warm face cloth to do so.  (sorry folks, no sweet pictures of me with no makeup and a face mask on!)

Now wring out your hot towel and place it on your face so that only your nose is out and the middle of the towel wraps around your chin.  This is good to do when you're lying down on your giant king bed with more pillows that you know what to do with! 

When the towel is no longer warm take it off and proceed with your treatments. 

Next I used my hair mask.  Any kind of hair mask or hot oil treatment would work here.  

And for a little extra decadence, you can run the shower as hot as possible, and sit in the nice steamy bathroom while you wait (I know, not exactly envirocrafty, but every now and again you just have to spoil yourself)  The bonus to doing this at a hotel is that it's not your water/heat bill, and I wouldn't want to purposely get my own bathroom that steamy!

Follow the directions on your hair mask for how long you should leave it on.  In the shower I finished off with using the scrub on my face and my body. 

To finish up, spritz face with toner & smooth on moisturizer.  My favorites are from Lush!!

Thanks for stopping by, now go ahead and have your own spa night next time you're staying by yourself! 

Good Ol' Sugar Scrubs

One of my most popular posts tend to be my post on this sugar scrub here.

Although I did like that one with green tea in it, I prefer this classic recipe because it's so easy to tailor to whatever you like.  

I made some scrubs for a girls night with Amy and her sisters.  

After we started by soaking our hands with the mini bombs I'd made (check that out here) we gave our hands a thorough scrubbing with the coordinating scrubs I made.

I finally found a use for all these Elizabeth Arden containers my mom had been giving me!  

Interested in making your own?

Here we go!

You'll need:

1 cup  Sugar (or salt)

3 tsp.  Glycerin

1 tsp.  Honey

a few drops  Essential oils of choice (I used 2 combinations, cinnamon/clove and lemon/lime)

a few drops  Food coloring (optional)

Measure your sugar into a mid-sized bowl.

Add your glycerin and honey and mix well.

Add your essential oils & color.  Start with less than you think you need, you can always add more.

Cinnamon & Clove!

Lemon & Lime!

To use:

Wet hands, take a marble or two sized bit of scrub and rub in a circular motion all over both your hands. When you've lost the scrubbiness or you're just done, rinse well with clean water.

Mini Mani-bombs

I love getting together with girlfriends to pamper ourselves.... or just use it as an excuse to drink some wine.  (even better when they come in cute bottles!)

And maybe some shots in there... just for fun?!

Anyway, I can't help but make my own spa treatments, I HAVE to share them with you!

Today I'm bringing you mini-bombs.  They're basically just mini bath bombs, for when a whole one is too big.  Like for when you want to soak your hands for manicures!

The girls enjoying their spa night!  (Leigh and Kim love being featured on my blog... apparently it makes them feel like mini celebs, little do they know how tiny my blog really is!  lol)

(Can ya tell they're all sisters?!?!)

Anyway, if you want to make some of these little lovelies, we'll get to it!

What you'll need: (I halved my original recipe to make ten of these little guys)

1/2 cup baking soda

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup epsom salts

~1 tbsp water

a couple drops food color

a few drops essential oils

1/4 cup citric acid


I apparently didn't take pics of the process, but if you go to one of my older bath bomb recipes, you'll find them. 


Mix your dry ingredients EXCEPT for your citric acid together.  


In small bowl combine water and food coloring, and then add your oils (of course they don't really mix...)


Add the wet to the dry, and mix well.  Consistency should be like wet sand.  


THEN add your citric acid and mix with a spoon (I used my hands once, and putting them right into the citric acid was a very bad idea because I had a bunch of cuts all over! ouch!)


Press your mixture into moulds and turn out onto parchment paper and allow to dry about 24 hours.  




(the "spots" you see here is just epsom salts, if you use a finer salt you don't get that)


For these mini ones I used those mould for oreo cookies that you cover in candy melts.  


To use, drop in warm water and let the fizzy goodness explode.  



Soak your hands/feet for as long as you need!



Stay tuned for the coordinating hand scrubs!

Play Make-Up

Two years ago I found the coolest tutorial ever.  It was for faux make up for kids.  It was on Not So Idle Hands (I love her blog - so glad she's back at it now! This is one of the first ones I started reading!)

I've been saving my make up containers for a while now to give this a try.

The first thing you need to do is clean them up really well with soap and water (I also used a toothbrush just to get into those hard to reach places!)

Next I took some of my nail polishes that I don't really use/that are getting old.  Picking up cheapie stuff from the dollar store would work too!

After giving the polish a good shake, carefully pour it into your containers.   If you can, do this outside.  It will be smelly (unless you have low VOC nail polish!)  

Pour carefully, or else....

I just picked it out and tossed it because the bottle was empty.

When doing the bigger ones, I found that it looked "ugly" when I poured them, so I gave them a little swirl with a q-tip to make them look prettier. 

I also mixed 2 colors for the power compact (again, swirl with a q-tip)

Note that they shrink quite a bit as they dry, so you might need to top them up after the first "coat" dries.


Voila! No-mess make up for those little girls in your life! Include some make up brushes and you're set!

Make sure you check out Not So Idle Hands.

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Summer Scrubin' Had Me a Blast!

It's been a while since I've posted a new scrub recipe.  I love making scrubs because you control the ingredients in them (no artificial preservatives, or perfumes) and they're so much cheaper!

I made 2 for summer time and I think I found my new favorite scent combination!!! LIME and EUCALYPTUS!! Sounds a little weird, but it's awesome & fresh.

TIP: if you're ever unsure what scents work well together, take the 2 (or more scents) in one hand, and wave them under your nose together, this will give you a good idea of what they smell like together!

Now on to the good part - the recipes!



This one is a body scrub because it has a high oil content in it.  I stored mine in an old scrub container.

I also wanted to exfoliate my face too, so I made another scrub, this time a salt scrub.  I prefer salt because when you get a little water in it it won't clump together like sugar does, but for large scrubs, sugar is usually easier.

Orange & Lemon Face Scrub
1/3 cup salt
2 Tbsp baking soda
1 squirt (~1 tsp?) honey
3 capsules vitamin E oil
1 to 2 tsp glycerin
3-4 drops orange essential oil
3-4 drops lemon essential oil

Mix baking soda and salt, add the other ingredients and mix well.  Store in an air tight container.

TIP: I usually avoid adding oil to face scrubs, Vit E was an exception here.  Looking for glycerin?  Look no further than your grocery store/pharmacy... you'll find it with the laxatives.  Yup.

Making scrubs is so very easy once you own the basics.  Here's everything I needed to make these two scrubs:

It takes a while to build up your collection of essential oils, but you can get by with one or two for quite some time!

Check out some of my older scrubs:
Lime & Tea sugar scrub
Autumn spice salt scrub
Peppermint lip scrub
Basic citrus scrub




  

Giveaway Winner!!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for our Spa Series!  We had a lot of fun and hope you did too!

We had 8 entries total for our Lush gift card draw. There were 5 entries here (1-5), and 3 over at Leslie's blog (6-8).

And our winner is.....

Chris who said:

Great choice! It's raining men is one of the newest shower gels!  It smells like their soap Honey I washed the kids, which is what is in my shower right now!!!  

Leslie and I will get in touch with you through email shortly to get you your gift card!

Thanks to everyone who joined in the Sisterly Spa Series fun!  

Sisterly Spa Series: Day 6 - GIVEAWAY!!

Alright, this is it.  The wrap up to our week of spa treatments.

In case you missed it, or are just stopping by for the first time, here's a quick summary:

Envirocraftiness:

Monday: DIY Bath Bombs

Tuesday: Face Mask Product Review

Wednesday: DIY Body Scrub

Thursday: Hair Mask Product Review

Friday: DIY Lip Gloss

Try To Keep Up:

Monday: Bath Bomb Product Review

Tuesday: DIY Face Mask 

Wednesday: Body Scrub Product Review

Thursday: DIY Hair Mask

Friday: Lip Gloss Product Review

Today were offering you a chance to win a $50 gift card from LUSH Cosmetics!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post letting me know what you'd love to try from their store!  One entry per person, please!

Maybe it'll be one of their amazing bath bombs!!

Or maybe you'll choose some of their fantastic soap!

Want one more chance to enter?

Head over to Leslie's blog and enter there too!

Contest is open until Wednesday!


We'd love to see anything you've tried out this week!  Please feel free to join the blog hop started by Elizabeth and Bev (from Twelve Crafts Till Christmas, and Flamingo Toes respectively) 


Link up and grab their button!

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And if you want, grab ours too:

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Please note that this is a blog hop, and so by linking up here it will also show up on  Twelve Crafts Till Christmas, and Flamingo Toes

Sisterly Spa Series: Day 5 - Lip Gloss

WELCOME TO DAY 5 - LIP GLOSS

If you missed DAY 1 click here. 

And for DAY 2 click here.

Find out what happened on DAY 3 here

And don't forget about DAY 4 here

 If you're new around here, this week my fun and talented sister Leslie over at Try To Keep Up!  and I are having a bit of a blog spa!  All week long we'll be providing you with spa product recipes as well as reviews of store bought stuff too for when you just don't have the time to make it yourself!  Each day one of us will be doing the DIY version and the other sister will be reviewing something she bought, so make sure to check out both blogs daily!

Today I'm making another thing from The Big Ass Book of Crafts!

This one is the Lemon Lip Shine

Again, I made a couple changes, so here's what I did!

What you need:

2 Tbsp vegetable shortening

1 Tbsp grated beeswax

10 drops vitamin E oil

10 drops lemon oil

Mix everything together in a microwave safe bowl.  

Pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Give it a stir.  If it's not all melted, throw it back in, 10 seconds at a time, stirring in between.

Pour the melted mixture into cute little containers, and let cool to room temperature before using!

I really liked everything about the final product.  It was a little hard, but has a very nice feel on your lips and a little bit of a shine to it. 

What I changed:  I decided to use beeswax instead of paraffin.  It's more natural, and I love the smell of it!  

Things to try:  It seems like you could almost use any oil you wanted in this recipe to scent/flavor your lip balm!


Here's another recipe I found in my travels through blogland.  This one uses strawberry jam.  YUM!


Check us out tomorrow for your chance to win a $50 gift card from LUSH!!

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