I recently had the amazing opportunity of shooting a makeup video with Gwyneth Paltrow for her Juice Beauty organic makeup line. I first met Gwyneth at a Juice Beauty luncheon for a small group of influencers where we learned about the line, chatted with her about the products and her inspiration for creating them, and were given lots of items to take home and try.
When she reached out about filming a makeup tutorial with me, I was very excited to have her walk me through how she would use the makeup and apply it to my face on camera. I showed up at 7:30a makeup free, which was obviously a little intimidating because I never imagined Gwyneth Paltrow would be evaluating my bare face first thing in the morning in my entire life, but I went with it. We started rolling and it was an hour of super fun chatting, lots of laughs, and a great natural makeup look that I wouldn’t think to do on myself and am so glad I learned how to achieve.
The reason Juice Beauty makeup peaks my interest so much is because Gwyneth is a major actress with red carpet events, photo shoots, and films to be made up for virtually every single day of her life. She obviously needs makeup that is lasting, high coverage, non cakey, and flawless. She has had world-renowned makeup artists apply the best of the best industry standard makeup to her face her entire life. So, if she is behind a natural cosmetics line and can vouch for it and wear it herself, it has to be good, right? The main reason I don’t use more natural makeup is because (and believe me, I have tried it all, and have wanted nothing more but to find natural products I love) is because, I have found, most of it just doesn’t live up to the performance, finish, and wear time of conventional products. I am sad to say that, but from a truly objective performance judging standpoint, that’s just my real observation.
Conventional makeup is not a clean category. I could break down all of the potentially harmful chemical ingredients one by one, but that would take forever because there are so many. If you want me to, comment below and I will do a separate dedicated post if that’s something you really want to see. Some of the commonly toxic ingredients include BHA and BTA, parabens, formaldehyde, artificial fragrance, artificial colors, silicones, talc, phthalates, lead, PEG’s, and oxtinoxate. They have been shown to cause a number of problems including hormone disruption, impaired endocrine function, neurotoxicity, and cancer. The scary part about cosmetics is that so many harmful ingredients and their derivatives have several names so it can be difficult to identify where they are hidden within a product.
So, why do I use mostly conventional makeup products despite the fact that everything else in my lifestyle is very clean and natural? How can it be so important to me to eat healthy, mostly organic foods, exercise, and meditate, but slap on chemical laden makeup every day? The answer is simple and honest: I haven’t found anything I like better and that’s where I have chosen to be imperfect. I believe life is a balance and we can’t be 100% perfect all the time with every single thing we do, so I have chosen to use makeup I truly enjoy and love applying for it’s quality and performance as something in my life I know and am well aware isn’t great for me. Have I attempted to change this? Yes, many times. I have spent hundreds of dollars on natural makeup products and I have been disappointed by many of them. However, in the trial and error process, I have found some real winners. I am happy to say that my natural makeup collection is growing, and I have recently phased out quite a few of my conventional product obsessions that I never thought could be replaced. The best part about this is that I don’t feel like I’m compromising, they really do perform better and I would choose them natural or not.
Juice Beauty Ultra Natural Mascara (this is a great daytime mascara, but it doesn’t build tons of volume so be aware of that)
Juice Beauty Sheer Lip Gloss in the shade Naked
Juice Beauty Luminous Lip Crayon in the shades Carmel and Catalina
Juice Beauty Phyto Pigments Pressed Powder (I am the shade Golden Tan)
Juice Beauty Phyto Pigments Flawless Finishing Powder
ILIA Lipstick in the shade Humble Me
ILIA Lipgloss in the shade Peek A Boo
ILIA Lipstick Crayon in the shade Call Me
Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipsticks in Honeycomb and Sugarcane (LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE)
Alima Pure Pressed Foundation (I am in the shade Cardamom)
Jane Iredale Smooth Affair Primer for Oily Skin
Jane Iredale Eyeshadow Kit in Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Jane Iredale Pure Pressed Blush in Awake
Jane Iredale Bronzer in Sunbeam (this is beauuuutiful on the skin! Just gorgeous! I also love Rose Dawn as a blush or blush topper!)
What I haven’t found natural versions of that work for me that are really important in my makeup routine: a super black, long lasting eyeliner in a liquid pen, kohl pencil, waterline pencil, and gel eyeliner pot; a very volumizing, jet black mascara; an oil free foundation (many of the natural ones have SO much oil, and I know oil doesn’t necessarily make you break out but they just look so greasy on me an hour in!); an eyebrow gel to lock those babies in; a concealer that isn’t so thick and greasy that it slip slides around on my face (I don’t want a thick, creamy pot, I want a liquid tube + wand!); a highlighter so blingy you can see it from space, an eyebrow pencil that isn’t too oily that it moves around mid-day, but not too hard that you can’t feather in hair like strokes easily; a powder contour kit that isn’t so ashy the shades are gray. I’ve had a hard time with all of these things. Do natural versions of these products exist? Yes. But do they do what I want and need them to compared to my conventional favorites? No.
So, that’s where I stand. I do feel there is a lot of space in the natural cosmetic industry for disruption. I would love for a brand or multiple brands to come on the scene and just completely blow my mind. I WANT these products to work and be good. I would love to replace all toxic cosmetics with natural versions someday. And hopefully the natural cosmetic world can work with new technologies and manufacturing methods to create better and better products that meet conventional performance standards so we can all have everything we want in our makeup. I am constantly evolving, learning, testing, trying, and working towards cleaning up as many areas of my life as possible and plan to keep my eyes open to the world of natural makeup. I hope this answered some of your questions about my thoughts on natural and organic makeup products and maybe got you thinking about exploring more natural makeup products and brands in your own life!
I have lots and lots more natural skincare brands I use regularly and have had great success in that category! Currently, the majority of my everyday skincare is natural and/or organic. If you want to see my picks for skin and body care just let me know!
XO
