Month: August 2017

Believe me when I tell you that I am a skeptic when it comes to  the performance of personal care and beauty products. For years I’ve been trying to find healthy lotion, shampoo and makeup that was up to my expectations regarding ingredients and how well they worked.  I’m admittedly a bit of a high maintenance person when it comes to my health as I eat sustainably raised, local, organic food as much as I can. I cook in cast iron and stainless steel and store food in glass rather than plastic. And I make my own mayo and eat gluten and dairy free.  I put a lot of time and energy into optimizing my time on the planet. Finding more “natural” “safe” beauty care products was hard. They either were chemical free and sucked, or had all ingredients I could read and were okay.  Then I was invited to a Beautycounter social.

I was greatly intrigued by Beautycounter’s mission to get safer products into everyone’s hands and the fact that the first social I went to was extremely low pressure to buy. The main message was educating yourself about what you are using on your own body as well as your family members. I went right home and used the Environmental Working Groups Skin Deep database the Beautycounter consultant mentioned to see how the products I was using ranked. I had to throw away two of my chapsticks based on their lower safety rating and one of them was a brand marketed as “natural.” Then I ordered three Beautycounter products and waited. They were the Citrus Mimosa Body Bar, Citrus Mimosa Body Lotion and the Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer.

1. The Citrus Mimosa Body Bar smells great, but isn’t too strong and the smell doesn’t linger which I liked. The soap has a nice creamy feeling texture as you use it and soaps up just the right amount. I used it for shaving while in the shower too.
2. The Citrus Mimosa Body Lotion again has the light citrusy floral smell that you enjoy while applying, but it doesn’t leave your skin perfumed. It spreads well and absorbs quickly and provides non-sticky moisture to your skin. I would say it is perfect for normal skin. If you super dry skin you may need a heavier product. Which would be the Citrus Mimosa Body Butter 🙂  This lotion was perfect for me.
3. The Dew Skin Moisturizer was the one that most surprised me. I used it on fresh washed skin and after my regular moisturizer as my face is dry (and getting old) so I find I have a higher moisture requirement. This glided on, provided excellent sun protection and felt so light I didn’t even know I had it on. It doesn’t really provide coverage, but my skin looks better after a week of using it. Less dry and softer looking.

My sister, who has extremely sensitive skin that will rash up at the wrong input (lotion, soap or laundry detergent) tried both the Citrus Mimosa products and not only liked them, but said her skin was fine and she would be able to use them.

Since then I have become a Beautycounter consultant, ordered more products and have been genuinely impressed with what I’ve tried. The Nourish & Protect Shampoo and Conditioner leaves my hair clean and I can dry it without any other product and it holds its style. My hair feels so soft and healthy and it smells salon fresh. The Color Outline Eye Pencil goes on smoothly, precisely and doesn’t smear and run which is why I had quit wearing eyeliner. The Peppermint Lip Conditioner got rid of the unsightly dry skin flakes on my lips. The Protect Lip Balm kept my lips moisturized and soft even after several days in the Texas heat.

The takeaway? Try it! You’ll be surprised and impressed. At the very least your contact with the company will leave you better informed as a consumer going forward. I can be reached for comments or questions either through this site or through at:  Beautycounter by Heather Clark And even if you don’t want to buy anything, look at the Never List of chemicals Beautycounter avoids as well as learn about what the company is doing on a national level to advocate for all of us consumers.