Thursday, March 22, 2012

Plastic-Free Eco Mascara: TWINK!

I wear makeup. Yep, blotchy skin (hello rosacea) and under eye circles mean that every day I put on concealer, mineral powder, blush a bit of eye shadow and mascara. Those are the basics. Unfortunately I have had the most difficult time greening my makeup routine. Most affordable eco-makeup just doesn't live up to the toxic chemical filled stuff, or if it does it's because it's an in between-er.
(mascara coated lashes, photo by Roomic Cube- Flikr)

Why should you care about your mascara/makeup ingredient list?

  1. If you're an EcoYogini who wears makeup, you're sweating those ingredients into your skin. Mascara, eye shadow and eye liner all are applied close to your eye. Do not tell me you've never gotten face paint into your eye before. Or rubbed your eyes? Our skin (and eyes!) can absorb the makeup ingredients into our system. Sweating opens the pores to allow even more ingredients to be absorbed. 
  2. Cosmetics are not regulated well by the FDA (or at all really). Although there are some restrictions on what chemicals can be added to makeup, the term "ingredient" is pretty loosely defined. Chemicals that are used in the manufacturing of the cosmetic that could contaminate the product do not have to be included- so we'd never know. The FDA has no authority to require cosmetic companies to test for safety (Skin Deep- Myths on cosmetic safety).
  3. If you wear makeup every week day (5x a week) for years think of all the bioaccumulation of the ingredients. We also really don't understand how chemicals interact with each other in our body, especially what would happen over time. Sure the dosage might be small that one time, but every day for years....we just have never exposed ourselves to that many chemicals for that length of time. It's like we're our own chemical soup guinea pigs.

Ok, so my precious MAC makeup is not ideal for my long term health. However, finding "clean" makeup that works is challenging on my wallet and my patience. I've tried Suncoat mascara and was disgusted with how easily it ran (all under my eyes with one small rub or mist- and Halifax is a misty place!). I've tried vegan eye shadow- STRIPT and was not impressed with the lack of luster or colour. Dr. Hauschka, a supposedly top of the line clean mascara rates a 4 on Skin Deep- a Moderate Health Concern; super expensive and not even very green!

Recently, on My Plastic-free Life, Beth Terry mentioned a sans plastic mascara- one that comes in a packed "cake" form in a tin! I thought... why not?

T.W.I.N.K. beauty (Two Women In Nature's Knowledge) is based in Florida with the two founders creating all cosmetic products by hand in their shop! No sketchy ingredients, no plastic in the tins. I ordered mascara (black), a pretty bronze mineral eye shadow and "almond" face powder.

 (cute tin with my mascara gunked finger prints all over it. Please ignore random clothing on the floor in the background....lol)

I will say that the mascara tin is SUPER cute and fun! I was prepared for the crappy "wand" and rigged up my own new brush from an old MAC mascara (if you bring in six products MAC will recycle them for you and give you a free eye shadow. So I had some lying around).

Mascara ingredients: purified water, aloe vera, candelilla wax, acacia gum, iron oxides, vitamin e, vitamin c, grapefruit seed extract and potassium sorbate.

Yesterday was day one. Honestly, opening the tin is a pain. That said, it was easy to kinda rub the brush around and then apply. (although, I guess you're SUPPOSED to put in a drop of water... who knew? I suck at reading instructions).
(My lashes at 9:30pm, application at 7am, significant walking around in high twenties heat)

Verdict-Mascara: Day One lasted through a full day of work, intense walk home in 28 degree Celsius freak Halifax heat, 1 hour of Yoga in the Park. Yep, no running at all! AND it was SUPER easy to wash off. Today- even better. My only complaint? Figuring out what to do with the mascara wand. I've decided I just have to wash it after every application- which really only takes a few extra minutes.

The eye shadow? LOVE! It's beautiful, rich and vibrant and also lasts all through my work day.

The face powder? Meh. Sadly, ordering from coloured dots on a webpage doesn't result in the most accurate skin match. It wasn't quite my skin colour and doesn't really last as long as my other mineral face powder.

I am happy to say that I can now phase out my MAC mascara with a new, affordable eco lash paint that will survive work, sweat and Yoga!

article and not otherwise specified photos copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

8 comments:

  1. Apparently, cake mascaara is vintage, which ups the cool factor IMO. I don't wear makeup very often, usually only wear it 1 or 2 a week, so I haven't made the switch to green makeup--plus my makup is so old, since it doesn't get used up. I've tried an eco-friendly mascara once (can't remember the brand), but it awful stuff. It didn't stay put and had a strong smell--perhaps it had gone bad?

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  2. I have had such a hard time trying to eco-fy my makeup as well. I have found Physicians Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Jumbo Lash Mascara to be pretty good. It comes off super easily and sometimes flakes throughout the day if I rub my eyes. Interested in this tin mascara though. How do you stop it from clumping?

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  3. OMG lady, you just made my day with this post. Mascara is a sore spot in my make-up routine. I've tried Bella, Dr Hauschka, Lavera (which really bothers my eyes), and none of them last longer than a couple hours. Yay! I'm so going to try their mascara.

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  4. Tarte makes a great mascara w/o any junk in it. I tried cake mascara, too gunky and high maintenance for me.

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  5. @Grace: I know! Vintage rocks :) I would say it probably went bad if it was strong smelling... :S

    @Christine: My issue is that "natural" or "organic" mascaras can actually be not that chemical-free (for example, search Skin Deep's database for Physician's Formula's rating... it isn't that great). It's frustrating to say the least. Re: clumping- I think if you add the drop of water it's less thick, but I usually just use my fingers to even out clumping- and that applies to all mascara.

    @Faye: Yay!!! I hope you like it!

    @Kim: ahh, i don't find it that gunky once it has the drop of water, and although an extra step of washing the brush put me off at first, it really just takes two seconds to rinse. :)

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  6. Wow, I haven't seen cake mascara in many years! My mom used to use it but I am sure it was not eco-friendly back then.

    Thanks for the review; I will definitely give it a try. I also tried Suncoat and was extremely disappointed. I also tried Dr. Hauschka makeup and it made my eyes itch and burn so I tossed it. What a waste because it is so expensive.

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  7. I will definitely have to try this stuff!

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  8. I wish society didn't pressure women into wearing makeup, and I hate that people treat you differently if you don't conform to this standard.
    Iron oxide, which is an ingredient in the mascara, appears to be "safe" based on EWG's website, but if you actually take a look at the MSDS for that compound, it explicitly states "avoid skin and eye contact". Now, granted the eyeshadow or whatever is going to have a small amount of iron oxide in it, so maybe the effects won't be so severe. But how can you willingly trust any person/group/company who's soul purpose of creating cosmetics is to make money of off it? Is it at all possible they have your best interests at heart?
    It took me 15 years to realize that the very idea of "needing" something on your face to make you feel better about how you look or to increase your self confidence was absolutely ridiculous. I don't judge women for wearing makeup, but I do like to encourage them to identify the true reasons they're using it.

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