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? 

My New Home - The Scrapbook Studio

I'm so excited I might just burst!  A brand new scrapbooking store just opened in Saskatoon and the owner is a wonderful lady I met a year or two ago at my favorite annual crop.

Lori has made her dream a reality and it's really just getting started!

Let's take a look at her baby:

Lori has brought a ton of wonderful lines to Saskatoon.  I'm not sure if I love her or hate her because I wanted to buy EVERYTHING!!

The store is full of wonderful ideas - look at all those layouts on display! Did I mention she's hired an extremely talented team to help her out working at the store?!

How cute is this?!!

Details, details, details!  Each section is labelled with those cute little banners! Here: Fancy Pants Designs & Imaginisce

I LOVE these rub ons!  I wanted to buy them all!!  Right now there's a little bit of empty space around the store because Lori didn't want to stock old products - only the newest and the bestest! :)

OMG! WANT!

Wha?! Glitter brads? Why, yes, I do want some of those!!

I love how Lori has incorporated decorative storage into her shop.  This wall currently has a bunch of white products, perfect for wedding season!

Ummm, do you think she'd notice if I stole this adorable wire dress form?! You do? Oh. :(

And here she is - the superstar herself!  Lori & Me!

If you're in the Saskatoon area, definitely stop in!!  Check it out on Facebook, or their webpage!

And now more details on what I spent my money on!  

Lori had a whole section of Wizard of Oz stuff - perfect seeing as how I just saw WICKED!!  That yellow & grey patterned paper - I've been looking for something JUST like that for a while now to go with my grey & yellow obsession (for my office!)

The Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine was a bonus with my purchase! Whoot! AND that neat bag - buying one of those means that every time I come back to shop with it I get entered into a draw!  

See - I really do love the dress form stuff - I had to buy the rub ons!  The glitter brads too!!  Glue dots are a staple in my world - if you haven't tried them, you must!  GEEK IS CHIC - I don't think I really need to explain this one!  

And I finally bought myself a pad of Staz On ink.  If you haven't heard of this stuff before you're missing out.  Staz On work on things that normal ink would rub off of - like plastics, glass, metal, etc.  I have a project in mind already that I'll hopefully be able to show you soon!

In addition to the above pictured goodies I bought a membership at the store.  They have 2 levels of membership - regular & gold.  I went with the regular membership for now, but can always upgrade later if I change my mind (the gold membership gets you a discount on classes & kits - not sure if I'll make use of that yet...)  I get a 10% discount when I shop there, and there's a little something special on your birthday too! There's a little more to it (getting to use their crop room, etc.) but I've misplaced my sheet with all the deetz! 

Lastly - like a lot of other scrapbook shops they have a stamp card & when you spend XX dollars you get XX dollars free. BUT unlike a lot of other stores they ROUND UP!! Whoo! So if I spend $26 I get $30 stamped on my card!  I'm pretty sure the other stores in my city don't do this! :)  

Well, there you have it! Brand new scrapbooking store & things are only going to get better!  The store is far from where I live right now, BUT super close to work... delightfully dangerous! 

Eco Deodorant Review

I'm always on the search for a good deo.

Deodorant as opposed to antiperspirant is about keeping you from smelling, not actually keeping you from sweating (which is what antiperspirants do).  Often antiperspirants contain aluminum-base compounds that can be harmful. There are many different beliefs on what effects these compounds have on the body.  Nothing is really confirmed, and so they keep selling the stuff, but I think that it's usually a good idea to exercise caution when in doubt.

Thus my search for a good natural deo.

This is one of many I've tried. 

It had a nice scent, comes in a standard/convenient roll up container, and is free of aluminum.  Additionally, I was able to find it at my grocery store.  Those are about the only nice things I have to say about it.  

Firstly, it was VERY hard.  It almost hurt to put on the first few times until you could smooth out the edges.  Additionally, it didn't even do it's job.  Less than an hour later I found it ineffective.  :(  

It was bad enough that I actually returned it because it was $6.99 - not exactly cheap when it comes to deo.  

So my search continues.  

I'd love to hear if you've tried any good brands, or if you have a kind you'd like me to try and review.