Nessa's Naturals Mineral Eye Shadows

I've been especially into eyeshadow in the past couple months, and these ones from Nessa's Naturals have quickly become some of my favorites from my collection. Nessa's Naturals is a little handmade company that I found through Healthy Beauty Social, and have had my eye on for a while. I finally decided to make a purchase after I saw all the gorgeous shadow colors.

I will say the website is a little difficult to navigate, so I recommend checking out facebook albums to see what colors you like. I thought all of the ones I picked out looked pretty in the pictures, but all were so much more impressive in person.

After lots of consideration, I picked out Frolic, Dash, Vapor and Visitor. Frolic is the best warmed toned shadow I own; it is reddish but somehow does not make me look tired. Dash is my go-to lid color, and might be my very favorite eyeshadow, period. It doesn't look particularly exciting swatched, but on the lid it is incredibly flattering. I've gotten lots of compliments wearing it, and it looks especially great with a neutral brown eyeshadow in the crease. Vapor is a great cool toned lid color that blends well with taupe shadows. Visitor is a really fun green color that I use as a liner on my lower lash line on days that I feel like adding a little color.

I highly recommend taking the time to check out the minerals from Nessa's Naturals; the colors are a gorgeous and last all day with a primer (I currently use this one from Silk Naturals). The company also carries all sorts of other makeup and skin care, and usually includes some extra goodies with your order. I absolutely will be making more purchases in the future.

Ingredients: Micas, Sericite.  May contain:  Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxide, Tin Oxide, Magnesium Stearate, Carmine and Silk Sericite Mica. All shadows are nanoparticle free.

Price: $6 each at nessasnaturals.com

Alima Pure Let Them Eat Cake collection

First off, I apologize for my long hiatus from blogging! I am finishing up my last semester of school, and life has been pretty much non-stop these past couple months. To add to that, I've had limited access to a camera, so I've had several barriers in getting up new posts.

That said, I'm excited to share with you a recently released collection from Alima Pure. Cutely titled Let Them Eat Cake, this dessert-inspired eyeshadow collection contains Devil's Food, a dark shimmery cool to neutral brown, Red Velvet, a warm brown with a reddish undertones, Strawberry Shortcake, a light pink that appears more frosted on the skin, and Angel Food, a golden champange shimmer. 

At first glance, I thought the colors were pretty, but not very suitable for me. I like cool toned neutrals, and I don't tend to wear pink. But I was all wrong, I wear these all the time and have gotten lots of compliments. The light colors, Strawberry Shortcake and Angel Food, are super pigmented and add a ton of sheen and shimmer to your lid. On me, Strawberry Shortcake looks more cool and flesh-toned than pink, which I really like. The darker colors are great because they can easily be sheered out and blended, which makes them very wearable for day use, or piled on darker for smokey night looks. I pair Red Velvet with many of my other tan and warm shadows, and unlike many warm shades, it does not make my eyes look red or tired. Devil's Food is even more versatile, and I often pair it with cooler shades. I also use both of them smudged along the lower lashline all the time.

If you're interested in swatches, I posted a picture on my twitter here. This blog also has an intense amount of photos!

Ingredients: Mica (CI 77019). May Contain (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides ( CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510). Note: I always prefer products without ferric ferrocyanide, but am making an exception because I really love these shades. I am guessing the only ones that have it are Strawberry Shortcake and possibly Devil's Food. 

Price: $32 at alimapure.com. The actual kit contains full sized eyeshadows, the ones shown above are sample sized.

Disclosure: The products in this post were provided from Alima Pure as PR samples. This does not affect my views of the product, and opinions are 100% my own.

Silk Naturals swatches: taupe city!

I think I can credit Catie for first introducing me to Silk Naturals. It took a while for me to actually commit to buying anything from the brand, but then I had an epiphany with eyeshadows. Cool and neutral colors tend to work better on me than warm ones. That made me want to try a variety of shades, and at $4 a shadow, Silk Naturals was a brand I could afford a bunch of colors from.

With that in mind, I scoured their extensive collection to find some new colors to diversify my collection. Taupe is probably my favorite eye color ever, so I put "taupe" in the search box and bought almost every single color. I also threw in some other neutrals that caught my eye, and a few of the dupes from the Naked Palette collection.

The colors I got are: Sierra, Loaded, Terra, Eu-Taupe-ia, Tailfeather, Aztec, Bareback, Graceful, Earth, Glory, Lurid, Taupetastic, Idolize, Rizzo, Nudge Nudge and Mink. Phew. Went a little nuts, didn't I? Anyways, swatches:

Several of these colors are dupes for mainstream brands. Loaded is a dupe for Urban Decay Toasted, Terra is Bobbi Brown Hotstone, Bareback is Urban Decay Naked, Aztec is Bobbi Brown Mica, Lurid is MAC Moth Brown, Idolize is MAC Idol Eyes and Mink is MAC Satin Taupe.

Overall, I have absolutely loved these shadows. Most have a gorgeous shine, are pigmented, smooth, and have a lot of depth and dimension. I look forward to putting them on everyday, and I have yet to find a bad combination. I like all of them, but my favorite is probably is the Eu-Taupe-ia, a matte color that looks so sophisticated and smokey. It is very versatile and wearable day or night. I also really love Sierra, Tailfeather, Idolize and Mink. Bareback is the best transition color for the crease I have found yet. I doesn't look super exciting, but it really takes your look to another level when you blend out a darker color with it.

I also have to comment on this company's excellent customer service. They ship incredibly fast, and when I placed my order, I realized that it would arrive before I was back in town from vacation. I also forgot to add my free shadows, so I sent a message to the company. I got a quick response saying they would delay the shipping, and add my shadows. It was totally hassel free.

This is definitely not the last you will be seeing from Silk Naturals. I have been building a wishlist, and it's only a matter of time before I place another order!

Ingredients: Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Magnesium Myrsistate, Magnesium Stearate, Boron Nitride, Silica.  May contain: iron oxides, ultramarines, chromium oxide green, tin oxide, ferric ferrocyanide, carmine. Individual color additives are listed in each product description for additives you want to avoid.
*FYI: Some colors contain ferric ferrocyanide, which I recommend avoiding. Some of their blushes contain FD&C dyes, which I also do not recommend. None of the colors shown here contain either.

Price: $4 at silknaturals.com. For every $30 spent, you get an additional eyeshadow for free. Each order over $10 also comes with an eyeshadow as a gift. And you get points for money spent, which you can eventually redeem for more products! Deals, anyone?

Review: Sibu Beauty Cleanse & Detox Sea Buckthorn Facial Soap

You may recall seeing a box from Sibu Beauty in my haul from VitaCost last month. I had heard about this natural company through a YouTube guru who uses mainstream products, and was surprised to see that their items really did have good ingredients. I loved that the facial cleansing bar was so affordable, so I decided to pick one up.

I've been using the soap at night for about a month now, and I've really been loving it. I know a lot of people don't like it when you wash your face and your skin feels tight after, and this does not do that. It has a very mild scent, and it feels very gentle. I liked the scent at first, and it has grown on me the more I get used to it.

The best part is its effect on my skin. Ever since I incorporated this cleanser into my routine, my skin is calmer. It's just not freaking out. I have gotten a breakout or two, but much milder and less often then normal, and they go away quickly. I have an oily forehead that just never seems to get clear, but this has made it far more even and smooth. I've even gone more days with less makeup.

I really look forward to using this every night, along with my homemade toner and a moisturizer. It's a simple, clean, affordable and effective product. What's not to love?

EWG Rating (preliminary): 0

Ingredients:  Coconut oil, palm oil, safflower oil, glycerin, purified water, oatmeal, sodium hydroxide (not in end product), sea buckthorn puree, sorbitol, sorbitan oleate, fragrance orange/lemon*, soybean protein, sea buckthorn leaves, titanium dioxide. 
*I called the company and they said that the fragrance is from essential oils of orange and lemon. I love that they had a phone number where I could just talk to someone directly about ingredients. No waiting for an email response!

Price: I got mine off of Vitacost for $5.91. You can also get a pack of three on their website for $16.95. Whatever you choose, this is an affordable product!

Homemade rosewater & witch hazel toner

Lately I've had a fascination with homemade beauty products. I've been bookmarking websites left and right that have recipes and ideas. I was thinking about making a toner out of rosewater, witch hazel and glycerin, because why not combine three ingredients you like?

I searched for recipes to get an idea for proportions, and found this one with the exact ingredients I wanted to use. I adjusted a little bit, because I wanted a slightly higher proportion of witch hazel. I think you can really alter the proportions however you want, but I wouldn't add too much more glycerin. 

It is extremely simple to make, you just put everything into a bottle, shake up, and voila. I used a glass bottle that my kombucha came in, because I am trying to reduce my plastic usage. Unfortunately, all of the ingredients did come in plastic bottles.

So far, I am loving this toner. I use it right after washing my face, and it removes makeup my cleanser missed. My face feels clean after, but it is gentle and does not sting. I like it better than the witch hazel alone, because it  is milder and the glycerin is a humectant that helps the skin retain moisture.
I do not like the smell of witch hazel, and I was hoping the rosewater would overpower it. Instead, it combined with it, so the toner does have a bit of a strange scent. It won't be for everybody, especially if you don't like the smell of roses (obviously!). If you're sensitive about scents this is probably night the right thing for you. However, I've noticed that after I put it on, I can slightly smell the rosewater, but the witch hazel scent is gone. 

Rosewater and Witch Hazel Toner 

1.25 cups rosewater*
1 cup witch hazel
8 small squirts of vegetable glycerin

*If you want to add another DIY element to this, you can make your own rosewater, but then it will need to be stored in the refrigerator. I purchased this product made with essential oil.

TKB Trading micas

Here's a great option for those of you who like bargains and super pigmented eyeshadows. Try buying mica in its unmixed form from a company such as TKB Trading. After watching YouTube videos and checking out blogs, I decided to order some micas from them. They have a huge array of super gorgeous colors, including many neutrals. A sample size costs $1.50, but it's not a "sample" by any means! One sample baggie has more than enough to fill a blush container to the brim. 

These are micas, not eyeshadows, and you may be asking how they can be used. In fact this is the most asked question on TKB's FAQs:

Question: Can the colored mica be used as pigment eye shadows or do you have to do anything special to them to be able to use them as eyeshadow? 

Answer: There is no particular harm in using our eye-permitted micas and pigments directly as an eye shadow. The problem is that the results will probably not satisfy you. The mica will fall off too easily. 

As they note, the mica alone is loose alone and will fall off too much. However, there are several ways to remedy this. My favorite way is to mix it with a medium or foil it and then apply to the lid. Another way to do it is to apply some type of base with a little bit of creaminess or stickiness to the lid first and then applying the shadow. Then, it is easy to use and the results are great! I've worn these pigments plenty of times, and you can also find tutorials all over YouTube of how to work with them.

Here's some swatches of the ones I got:

Though they all look glittery in the direct sunlight, Honey Mica and Antique silver are the only ones that actually are in normal light. The rest are more shimmery or frosted. My absolute favorite is Chameleon, a warm reddish brown that has a blue duochrome. It's warm in some lights, cool in others: it's just so neat and sophisticated! I'm also a big fan of Bronze Fine and  Moonstone Mica. I use all of the warm toned ones on the face for blush, bronzer or highlight, or mixed in with my mineral products to add extra shimmer and pigment. They are so versatile!

Ingredients: Varies for each pigment. Most contain a combination of mica, titanium dioxide and iron oxides. Some also contain carmine, tin oxide, bismuth oxychloride, ferric ferrocyanide or FD&C dyes. When purchasing pigments I recommend avoiding colors with FD&C dyes, ferric ferrocyanide, or bismuth oxychloride. Ingredients are available for each individual color on the website. All pigments are sold uncoated and do not contain nanoparticles.

Price: $1.50 each at tkbtrading.com

Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques Creme Concealer

I recently ran out of my favorite Vapour concealer, and even though I was happy with it, I wanted to test drive one from another natural beauty brand. Originally I was looking at rms "Un" Cover-Up, but then I found this concealer from Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques for literally a third of the price. It has a great list of ingredients, including jojoba oil, rosehip oil, green tea and raspberry extract. It even has carrot seed oil and eyebright extract to help heal blemishes. All of the brand's products are free of nanoparticles, chemical preservatives, synthetic dyes, and all those other nasties you wouldn't want in your makeup.

Here's natural light and flash swatches of the light neutral concealer I bought, along with swatches of the samples of light warm concealer and guava lip glaze that were included with my order:

Both of the colors match me pretty well, but I think the neutral one does better - so I made the right choice. And I have to say I love the performance of this stuff. It is very creamy and gives a nice amount of coverage. It also looks very natural. When I think of many full coverage products, I think of cakeyness, but this product applied looks like skin. You could even use this as a thick foundation if you have larger problem areas. The concealer is available in 6 colors: light medium and dark in both warm and neutral undertones. 

As for the guava lip glaze, the swatch on the right is much more true to color. This is not my kind of color for the lips, but it actually has worked nicely on me as a cream blush. 

Another great thing about this brand is that it participates on Healthy Beauty Social. So if you want, you can actually talk to Lauren herself about her products through the network. I also love that my order came with two samples in a nice little organza bag.

Overall I'm highly satisfied with this product, I think I may even like it a bit better than the Vapour concealer. For $10 less, I definitely like the price better! Lauren Brooke makes a lot of other nice looking foundations, including a pressed one that I really have my eye on. So this is definitely a company you will be hearing more from me about in the future!

EWG Rating: 1

Ingredients: Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (edible plant-based oil), zinc oxide, certified organic beeswax, certified organic jojoba oil, silica, certified organic rosehip oil, neem oil, certified organic green tea extract, certified organic olive extract, eyebright extract, carrot seed essential oil, certified organic raspberry extract, natural vitamin e oil, certified organic lime extract, certified organic tangerine extract (+/- Iron Oxides, Ultramarine, Mica).

Price: $12 at laurenbrookecosmetiques.com or naturaljoybeauty.com

Deal alert: When the facebook page reaches 200 followers, Lauren Brook Cosmetiques will be offering a 20% off coupon, so get over there and become a fan! Also, while you're at it, check my blog out on facebook.