Simply Beautiful
Natural Lipstick

---

Are you eating your lipstick?

Try natural lipstick it's better for you.

Rough estimates have been made that we consume at least 4 lbs of lipstick in a lifetime. Wouldn't you rather that be ingredients you wouldn't mind ingesting.

It's one makeup product I think most of us can't be without. We might leave the house without makeup but draw the line at lipstick. After all we need just a little bit of color. We use it almost everyday making it one of our most frequently used makeup.

Lately there has been quite a bit of debate over the safety of some of the ingredients used to create regular lipstick. Actually, the safety of any products used on the skin is an on going concern. Perhaps the one causing the most concern has been the issue of lead in lipstick.

Lipstick Ingredients

Most of the lipsticks we use everyday contain petroleum by products like mineral oil, synthetic chemicals, dyes and fragrances. In some cases we really don't know exactly what is in our lipsticks. The "trade secret loophole" allows skin care manufacturers to use a generic term like fragrance and not say what that means. (see nontoxic skin care)

Lipsticks can be made quite simply. There are three main ingredients, wax, oil and coloring. Of course most lipsticks are made with many others, these are the essentials.

Natural lipstick usually contain beeswax or plant wax like carnauba or candellila, which give it body, oils like jojoba, sunflower or chamomile for spread ability and pigments or coloring.

Pigments can be organic or natural herbs(turmeric), vegetables (beets), insect (carmine or cochineal, a pigment from crushed beetles) or mineral based (titanium dioxide or iron oxide). FDA approved colors like D&C Red or FD&C Yellow, though approved are not usually used.

What About Iron Oxide?

Sometimes when I am researching I'll find myself wondering about some bit of information that I come across. This was the case with iron oxide.

The wording on some products made me wonder if the iron oxide being used in lipstick was a natural product but after checking I found that there are two forms of iron oxide, a natural and a synthetic variety.

Iron oxides in nature combine with toxic metals like lead, arsenic and mercury. It is very difficult to remove these metals from the iron oxides. The FDA which regulates cosmetic colorants approves for use iron oxides with toxic levels that are considered safe.

Some companies that make natural lipsticks choose to use synthetic iron oxides. While synthetic iron oxide is not a truly natural product mined from the earth, it is a safe one with no toxic metals.

Not all companies state which form of iron oxide is used but both are considered to be safe.

Where To Shop

Aubrey Organics has a line of lip colors that come in little pots to be applied with a brush. These vegan lip colors offer shine and color and have been found to be safe for people with sensitivity to ingredients in regular lipstick. See the selections available at Aubrey Organics

Downbound's products which are vegan, organic and sweatshop free include a wide range of different items. Among them is natural lipstick and lip gloss from the Organic Makeup Co. A company that takes great care to provide cruelty free, organic cosmetics that work beautifully. Check out the cosmetic page at DownBound.

Lip-Ink is natural lipstick that guarantees to be smear proof.

Lip-Ink is natural lipstick that guarantees to be smear proof. Staying on until you take it off. This is not your traditional lipstick. It is a lip color system designed to be applied in a couple of easy steps. For new customers they recommend starting out with a kit which contains everything you will need. To get a better idea about this new natural lipstick watch their videos. Just click on the image to the left.

All Natural Cosmetics carries several different brands of lipstick with lists of ingredients included for each brand. They provide icons so it is easy to see at a glance if a product is vegan, fragrance free, organic etc. Samples are available which is a real plus when ordering online.
All Natural Cosmetics

I have begun using a new lipstick by Primitive Makeup. The beautiful, flattering colors, creamy non sticky texture and mild vanilla scent and taste along with the great ingredients make this a nice addition to your lipstick collection. Check out Primitive.

Natural Solutions carries many different brands of natural lipsticks. They include all ingredients, offer affordable samples, tell you if a product is vegan, even include some suggestions to using their products. Great site that carries a wide assortment of natural products. Primitive can be purchased here too. See the selections at Natural Solutions.

Don't waste time worrying about unwanted ingredients in lipstick. Choose natural lipsticks. They do more than make you look pretty. Moisturizing and nourishing ingredients give you healthy, smooth, long lasting color.