Here is Round 2 of my switch to ingredient-conscious and this time I’m working on my red, berry, and purple lip products. Keep reading to find out what had to go and why, and what made the cut.
As with my Round 1 post, I used EWG’s Skin Deep database to choose which products to keep and which have to go. In order for me to keep them all ingredients must rank 0 to 2 on the scale.
This round I started out with 62 products and ended up with 25 keepers, 36 that have to go and just one that needs to be trashed. I also had a bunch of samples that I didn’t count, but they were all keepers as well, thank goodness.
What Had to Go & Why
So this time around Phenoxyethanol was still a pretty big factor. But I wanted to look into a couple other ingredients that I know I’ve seen a few times.
The first one is BHA also known as butylated hydroxyanisole. This ingredient ranks as a 5 to 7 on the EWG database and is used a preservative. The concerns include endocrine disruption, but there is some disagreement between agencies as far as bioaccumulation and environmental toxicity.
What contained it? My brand new NYX High Voltage lipsticks and NYX Macaron Lippies
Another ingredient I came across in Round 1, but that I didn’t really focus on was Talc which ranks as a 3 on EWG. Talc is mainly a contamination concern as it may contain asbestos which can cause respiratory toxicity and cancer, and it’s also been shown that even talc that doesn’t contain asbestos may still be carcinogenic or toxic. This is a fairly common ingredient, particularly in drugstore projects.
What contained it? My NYX matte lip creams and NYX lip cream/lip crayons.
What Made the Cut
I have to say that I am quite pleased that I still have some lovely purples to choose from after making the cut. Part of this is because I’ve been searching for purple lip colors from indies for a few months, so I had a head start. My Beauty Addiction and Brazen Cosmetics both have some really lovely purples. And of course I still have plenty of berries left too. What suffered the most was my collection of reds, but I still have a decent selection. Here are the brands that made the cut:
Alba Botanica – lip gloss
BareMinerals – Pretty Amazing lip color
Bite Beauty – High Pigment Pencil
Brazen Cosmetics – liquid lipstick and lip gloss
Burt’s Bees – lip gloss and lip crayons
Erzulie Cosmetics – lip/cheek color stick
My Beauty Addiction – lipsticks and lip paints
Pacifica Beauty – lip tints
Tater Rounds Beauty – lip gloss
Ulta – lip gloss
After Round 1 I was surprised to find a BareMinerals product left in the keepers. The Buxom and Marvelous Moxie lip colors were all cut, but the Pretty Amazing lip color in Pizazz was actually okay. I’m happy for that because I really love that raspberry pink shade!
I’ve already given away some of the products I don’t want to use any more so I’m feeling pretty good about this change. I even placed a couple orders to round my collection of more natural products out again.
If you enjoyed this post make sure you check out my first post: Making the Cut: Round 1.