Blune Day 6: Using Clean makeup for two weeks

First of all a before I get into my fun experiment, a definition for clean makeup: it is makeup with no toxic ingredients like parabens, talc. The ingredients must be sustainably sourced, ethically sourced, and non toxic to human health and the environment. Think brands like RMS, Jane Iredale, Bite Beauty, Burts Bees! As a result of this understanding and in the name of science I wanted to do an experiment and only use my cleanest products ingredients wise for two weeks to see what would happen.

Week one was really good. Of course, this was after I arrived from being home so my skin was having a bit of trouble due to food I ate at home and spring allergy season. One thing I did notice was no face itching which I do find does occur when I have conventional makeup on.  My skin feels great – naturally because I treated my spots they have almost disappeared but I don’t find the makeup to be irritating my skin. However, the Andalou naturals tinted moisturizer – while great, can be a bit itchy on my cheek area. This could be a variety of things and might just be my general allergies so I won’t quite attribute it to this to. 

My skin was (and is still) rather clear and I have no new blemishes, other than ones from eating too much wheat. I am a bit bored. I found myself wanting to use my Too Faced sweet peach or my Colourpop Super Shock shadows and my Colourpop highlighter. I  guess this might be why my collection is a bit larger than your average. I think that in this week I really did notice my skin becoming more clear, no new texture or visible blemishes appeared. I also kept my skincare the same, so that didn’t have any effect on my clean makeup

You may notice I don’t have a bronzer because I don’t have any clean ones and didn’t overly want to buy one for this experiment. I  used my Annabelle matte one and my Anastasia Beverly Hills one which are both cruelty free and paraben free.

The base products I used were Physicians Formula B.B. cream, the Andalous Naturals C.C cream and the Burt’s bees B.B. cream. I also used the Lush feeling younger skin tint, which arguably isn’t clean at all because it contains parabens but then again, I have read conflicting things on the paraben front. It was also my only other mostly clean option for a highlighter that I could find in my collection and I like to switch it up on the highlighter front. I used the Burts Bees bare peach blush, which is a favourite of course who doesn’t love a good peach blush. I also used the 100% Pure Naked 2 palette and the Burts Bees trio in countryside lavender. I really like this palette. It’s a really sheer palette, but the highlight and blush pack a punch and you can build up the eyeshadows to a more a full intensity.

Ah the mascaras. I love the Burt’s Bees mascara and will be repurchasing once it reaches the end of its life. It is great for every day and doesn’t smudge on me (which literally every other mascara I have tried does). I threw in my two other Physicians Formula ones but again, these are drying up so I mainly just used my Burts Bees. For lips, I mostly just switched between what I already use, Burts Bees (surprise), Lush (discontinued), 100% Pure, and Bite Beauty.

I think what I can tell you, is I realize how much of a consumer I am when only rotating between a few products. What I mean by this is I get bored so easily and want to use other things in my collection (which is by no means a bad thing as that means I am using all my products) and then I realize that I have been sucked into the “get more” mentality instead of appreciating the products I have. Which has made me appreciate the things I rarely reached for because I wasn’t forced to use them. I found keeping everything that was clean(ish) in my collection in one bag was beneficial and by the end of this two weeks I found myself enjoying them more and more.  I also realized the incredible privilege it is to be able to use clean makeup. There are no foundation, BB Cream shades above light in any of the base products I discussed. I used all affordable options and none of them are suited to anyone who has a darker skin tone. This will be discussed in a later post, but part of the reason I get conflicted on which brands to support is the shade range. Hence, my reasoning behind buying some Maybelline and L’Oreal products because they have a large range of shades that cater to all skin tones. Anyway, let’s not get off topic, this a whole conversation for another post. 

All in all my two weeks of clean(ish) makeup was really good. I will my skin was improved after these two weeks, but no so much that I will stop using conventional makeup because I love makeup and experimenting with new things! While I enjoyed all the products I have to say, I am so excited to use my other products again.

Do you have any clean beauty favourites?