Sheer Miracle Sale!

One of my favorite mineral makeup companies is having a sale. Sheer miracle has great foundations, and now you can buy one get one! Click the picture below to enter their site. Here's to healthy skin...on a budget!

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : Just Launched: The Story of Cosmetics

You have read it here many times...there are toxic chemicals all around us. I have touched on the subject of cosmetics and have reviewed just a few of my favorite healthy choices for cosmetics, and will continue to do so. Here is a great little clip that breaks it all down for us. And you can make a difference by making your voice heard. Click on the link below to watch The Story of Cosmetics.

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : Just Launched: The Story of Cosmetics

Quick Beauty Tip

I like my skin to have a nice, healthy glow, but I never want it to look oily or "shiny". Every lady knows that restrooms are not just a place of rest. Women congregate in the ladies' room to check out their hair, reapply their lipgloss...and essentially, to "powder their noses".

A while back, cosmetic companies came out with blotting tissues, little mini tissues to absorb excess oil on the skin. A lot of companies make them, but here is a little trick I discovered several years ago while at my chiropractor's office. Many of you may already know this, but here it is just in case you haven't heard this one.

The chiropractor was just finishing up with me. I sat up from my face-down position on the table and realized that the sanitary paper on the table had an oily imprint of my face in it. A few days later, while in a public restroom, I noted that the toilet seat covers were made of this same paper. Aha! You know where I am going with this...blotting paper. FREE blotting paper!

Next time you are in a restroom, give it a try. It works! Some may be too germaphobic for this one..but I thought I'd share it anyway. Of course, it is best to avoid the first few papers toward the front of the stack! So there you have it, a quick and frugal beauty tip for the week.

I still like to keep blotting tissues readily available in my purse. When choosing a brand, be sure to check the ingredients before you buy. Stay away from those with added chemicals or talc. The most absorbant ones I have tried are Clinique's pore minimizer oil-blotting sheets. I was pleasantly surprised recently when I tried them. There are no added chemicals, they are very absorbant, and they don't leave any powdery residue. Plus, they are a bit more convenient than running to the nearest powder room!

Interesting fact:

The term powder room dates back to the early 18th century, when it was used to refer to a closet-sized room where people went to have their wigs repowdered. The expression carried through to Victorian times, when any reference to personal bodily functions was considered indelicate. Ladies of the era were embarrassed to speak of such things and would excuse themselves from mixed company to go to “powder their noses.” In fact, many women still use refer to a public ladies’ room as a powder room. (found on http://www.wisegeek.com/)

Pure, Natural, Beautiful Skin!

I have been using mineral makeup for a while now and I am excited to see such a buzz about it these days. Suddenly every brand out there has a mineral line of cosmetics. But, not all mineral makeup is created equal. Some products still contain parabens and other chemicals. I have tried several different brands, including the more popular Sheer Cover (also called Bare Minerals and Bare Escentuals) seen on late-night infomercials. I liked the product, but was curious about one ingredient in particular-bismuth oxychloride. So I googled it and found that it is a naturally occuring element, but some companies use a synthetic form of it, which goes through various chemical processes during production. It can be a skin irritant in some people, causing itchiness and other symptoms. Well, that explained the itchiness I had been feeling on my skin!

I started shopping around online and found two great mineral lines that make very pure and natural, beautiful makeup. Both companies offer inexpensive samples, allowing me to try different shades to find the right one for me. I love mineral makeup because it is light and weightless, blends nicely into any skin type, and it reflects light which minimizes fine lines and wrinkles. It offers a natural SPF with titanium dioxide, and with it's nurishing minerals, it can actually improve our skin! "Matching" our skin perfectly just isn't possible, and our skintones may vary throughout the seasons of the year. But I find that with mineral makeup, I can easily adjust my shade by mixing colors together-and I have total control over the amount of coverage I want by using different brushes.

My favorite brand is Alima Pure. It comes in simply beautfiul packaging, the company uses recycled materials for shipping, and they always throw in extra samples! I especially love their eyeshadows. I bought sample sizes of several colors months ago and I have yet to run out...a little goes a long way. My favorite shadows are Amethyst, Plum, and Zen. Alima Pure makes the most gorgeous eyeshadows I have ever tried!

Another brand I like is Sheer Miracle. Their website and packaging are not very glamorous, but they offer beautiful, pure makeup. I really like their foundation. Their colors are a very similar match to the popular Bare Escentuals, without the bismuth oxichloride. I use "Medium Light Neutral", a great blend for light skin with both pink and golden undertones.

Here's to playing with makeup and here's to a healthy, gorgeous you!

More Than Skin Deep

A good friend recently asked me to blog about cosmetics and since I have been wanting to for some time, I am happy to oblige. When I first started making changes to what I was putting in my body, I didn't think much about what I was putting on my body...and then I met a very organic-focused esthetician while attending massage school, who helped me understand this simple truth-if it's on your body, it's in your body.

Our skin is the largest organ in our bodies and it absorbs everything like a sponge. We are all familiar with the fact that doctors are prescribing "patch" medications-from birth control to smoking cessation. This is proof that what we put on our skin is absorbed into the bloodstream. For years I used popular department store cosmetics, like Mac and others. In college I had a strange infection on my eyelid skin. It was so raw and irritated that I could not wear makeup at all for weeks. I asked my doctor about it and she said it looked like I was allergic to red dye #5, which is often found in eye shadows, especially mauves and plums...my favorite colors. Darn!

Fast forward a few years and I am still using the same cosmetics but avoiding the purple hues. Along comes this esthetician friend who educates me about the ingredients found in many cosmetic lines...I was appalled and a little grossed out. You may not be aware, but there are alarming amounts of petroleum and other dangerous chemicals in many personal care products. I decided this part of my health-conversion was not going to be gradual. I bought some makeup recommended by my friend and immediately went home and trashed everything in my cosmetics bag. A little rash? (Okay, no pun intended, but given my past eye infection I now understood that my body was rejecting a very foreign substance).

I have been using natural makeup for several years now (including beautiful plum eye shadows!) and I have experimented like crazy and been an obsessive ingredient reader. Natural makeup has come a long way. I have tried some great...and not so great products. I would love to give you all my favs in one post, but that would impossible as a mommy of a three-year-old. So each week I will feature some of my favorite skincare and cosmetic products.

First, it is important to know what is in our personal care products. Since the FDA does not regulate these products here in the USA, reading the labels with a little scrutiny is required. Here are just a few of the ingredients we should avoid...good luck pronouncing most of them!

1. Phthatales, di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and di(2-ehtylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)
2. Parabens or alkyl-p-hydroxybenzoates (methyl, propyl, butyl, and ethyl)
3. Lauryl sulfate(SLS), Sodium laureth sulfate(SLES)
4. Dissodium EDTA
5. Dimethicone
6. Formaldehydes or Diazolidinyl urea, 3-diol Imidazolidinyl urea, DMDM Hydantoin , Quaternium-15, Nitropropane-1, Formalin , Methanal , Methyl aldehyde, Methylene oxide, Morbicid acid, Oxymethylene
7. Amines-Diethanolamine (DEA), triethanolamine (TEA), amonoethanolamine (MEA)
8. Propylene / Butylene Glycol (PG)

This list may seem daunting to remember, but don't worry...I will be posting lots of great products sans the harsh chemicals. In the mean time you can do a little research of your own if you'd like. There is a great site that gives products a safety rating, defines their scientific ingredients, and lists the potential risks. I checked it out recently and I was impressed with the amount of info I got. To learn more about ingredients or to search a particular product, use Skin Deep Safe Cosmetic Data Base.

Here's to beautifully healthy skin and a healthy you!