Haul
I’ve never considered myself an activist in any sense of the word and I’ve never had particularly strong beliefs philosophically, politically, socially, religiously, ethically, what have you, about anything and I still don’t. I know it’s a huge concern to some but I don’t really care if makeup ingredients are sustainably sourced and cruelty free. And I’m not too worried about man-made cosmetics ingredients being harmful to my health. When it comes to makeup, all I care about is how well a product performs and how much it costs. If I were to find out tomorrow that unicorn tears were harvested in the production of my favorite concealer it wouldn’t weigh too heavily on my mind. Just saying.
I don’t want you to mistakenly believe that I made these purchases because I decided to go green one day or for any other lofty reason. No, I was simply searching for makeup that’s good for dry skin and I believe I’ve found some. It just so happens that they’re either all natural and/or cruelty free too.
Haul
For the longest time I’ve blown off “natural” cosmetic brands because I was still stuck in the mindset of the late 1990s/early 2000s when eco-friendly, natural brands were the fad, especially mineral powder makeup. I admit I gave some a try and, honestly, I wasn’t impressed. To me they seemed like mediocre alternatives to mass market cosmetics but that’s what people had to settle for if they wanted to get away from man made ingredients. That was then though. Let me tell you, natural makeup has come a long way since then!
I’m sure many of you follow Tarababyz on YouTube. If you don’t, you should because she does amazing hauls, swatches and review videos. She focuses mostly on high end beauty brands with the occasional drugstore mention but she doesn’t discriminate based on price. Her main criteria in assessing products is performance so I find her reviews very fair. I know I had several more expensive skincare products in mind as future purchases but she crushed them all when she reviewed them and offered a cheaper, better alternative: honey. Love her! Anyway, in one of her haul videos she mentioned picking up the RMS “un” Cover-Up foundation/concealer. She has very dry skin like me so her initial, positive first impression about how moisturizing it is really intrigued me and I purchased one of my own off of blush.com.
I ended up loving the RMS “un” Cover-Up and no wonder. If you take a look at its ingredients they’re practically all plants butters and oils plus beeswax. There’s no silicone, an ingredient I’m beginning to suspect I’m sensitive to and has been exacerbating my dryness. There are also no oil absorbing ingredients like starch, talc and silica. It’s the perfect thing for someone with very dry skin.
With the positive RMS experience in mind I began looking at other natural and so-called “organic” brands with fresh eyes. Gone are the days when natural brands only focused on powder makeup that basically catered to people with normal, combination and oilier skin. It came as a complete surprise, although it probably shouldn’t have, that natural brands now make makeup for people with dry skin. I’m talking cream concealers, cream foundations, cream blush, and creamy lip products that consist almost entirely of plant oils/butters plus beeswax so they’re all incredibly moisturizing with great color payoff.
I’ll review all of the products eventually but for now I just want to share what I purchased:
- Nvey Eco Creme Deluxe Flawless Foundation in 877 Nude
- RMS “un” Cover-Up in #00
- RMS Living Luminizer
- Christopher Drummond Duo-Phase Concealer in Fair (came with a sample of their Veludo Velvet powder foundation)
- NYX HD Concealer in Fair (not natural but it’s cruelty free. I only got it to qualify for free shipping when I bought the Nvey Eco foundation)
Excluding the NYX concealer I’m totally in love with everything else in my haul. I’ve never called any foundation I’ve ever tried Holy Grail. None of them have even been contenders but I think the Nvey Eco foundation may be HG material for me. I’ll definitely have to keep using it to be sure but it’s certainly the closest any foundation has ever come to HG status and that’s saying a lot!
I’m seriously considering doing a complete overhaul of my stash and going entirely natural now. That’s how much these products have impressed me.
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