Sigh. It’s been forever since I’ve written a post regularly. Sorry! A lot going on here…
Personal Update: On top of normal life with kids and business, my hubby and I are preparing for a trip to Ukraine this summer to serve in and learn about English language camps, which are a ministry of a local church there called the Grapevine. We are really looking forward to this adventure and seeing what God has in store for the trip.
Sooooo… To jump start myself back into writing, I thought I’d share with you a recent conversation I had with someone on Facebook.
People often send ingredient lists to me and ask me to give them a once-over to spot yellow- or red-flag ingredients for them. I’m always happy to help anyone evaluate labels of any brand. But this conversation was both extra fun – because there were quite a few lists to investigate – and extra timely – because I had been procrastinating on finding a new mascara also.
Those who know me know that I’m pretty low maintenance. I don’t wear much make-up at all, if any. When I do, it’s usually just a bit of foundation and some mascara because my eye lashes are so tiny and light-colored (in other words… invisible!). And maybe, MAYBE, a little lip color if it’s a special occasion.
When I first found Miessence, I was really impressed with their mascara. And I still really love it. Which is why I guess I was procrastinating on finding a new one. I suppose I was in some sort of denial. Or, really, more likely, I was just too busy to do the research.
Why do I need to find a new one, you might ask?
Sadly, Miessence doesn’t have a mascara currently because Narelle (the formulator… nice to have a ‘first-name relationship’ with the product creator… it’s a family-owned and operated company…) wants to make improvements to it. But it’s way down on her R&D priority list at the moment because she is working intently on the real-food-only nutritional supplement products, not to mention a number of other huge projects.
So, my most recent wand of Miessence mascara was very nearly dead, and I kept trying to stretch it hoping Narelle would bring it back sooner rather than later. But she told me it’ll be indefinitely later. 🙁
At just the right time, along comes a Facebook message from my friend Heba over at My Life in a Pyramid, asking for some help evaluating ‘natural’ mascara options. (I almost always put ‘natural’ in quotes because you just never know these days!)
Ready to test your label reading skills with me? How would you rank these?
Here are the options she had found:
Ingredients: Purified water, vegetable glycerin, beeswax, copernicia cerifera (carnauba) wax, vegetable glyceryl stearate, lecithin, vegetable stearic acid, safflower oil, glycine soja (soybean) oil (and) aloe barbadensis leaf extract, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, silica, cellulose gum, tocopherol, xanthan gum, chamomilla recutita (matricaria) flower extract, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit extract and phenoxyethanol.
Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Alcohol*, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil*, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sorbitol, Tricaprylin, Hydrolyzed Jojoba Esters, Sodium Cetearyl Sulfate, Hectorite, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Wax, Lysolecithin, Xanthan Gum, Jojoba Esters, Rosa Damascena Flower Water*, Tocopherol, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Fragrance (Parfum)**, Citronellol**, Geraniol**, [+/- Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Iron Oxides (CI 77491), Ultramarines (CI 77007)] * ingredients from certified organic agriculture ** from natural essential oils
Ingredients: Purified Water, Beeswax, Kosher Vegetable Glycerin, Candellila, Cellulose, Pure Plant Extracts, Iron Oxide
Ingredients: water, candelilla wax, organic beeswax, glycerin, glyceryl stearate (coconut derived), aloe vera, proprietary herbal extract blend, grapefruit seed extract, iron oxide, mica. GLUTEN-FREE
Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Alcohol, Sorbitol, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract, Euphrasia Officinalis Extract, Hectorite, Hydrogenated Jojoba Oil, Beeswax (Cera Alba), Rosa Damascena Flower Wax, Fragrance (Parfum), Citronellol*, Geraniol*, Linalool*, Xanthan Gum, Lysolecithin, Maltodextrin, Silica, Carmine (CI 75470), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Ultramarines (CI 77007) *Component of natural essential oils
After Glow Cosmetics Pure Soul Mascara:
Ingredients: aqua (purified water), fructose (organic, made from corn)*, euphorbia cerifera (wildcrafted candelilla) wax, caprylic/capric triglyceride, cera alba (organic beeswax)*, glycerin (vegetable), glyceryl stearate, stearic acid, mica, aloe barbadensis (organic aloe vera) gel*, citrus grandis (organic grapefruit) extract*, rosmarinus officinalis (organic rosemary) extract*, usnea barbata (wildcrafted lichen), arnica montana (organic arnica) extract*;May Contain [+/-]: titanium dioxide (77891), iron oxide (77492, 77891,77499), ultramarine blue (77007) *certified organic
So? How’d you do? What did you observe? What yellow or red flags were raised in your mind? Did you rank them?
Here were my thoughts back to Heba…
1) I’m really not a fan of phenoxyethanol. It’s the toxic synthetic chemical companies are using most often nowadays instead of parabens. Look up the MSDS on it. I wouldn’t buy the Honeybee mascara because of that (even though I was pretty impressed with their nail polish ingredients… I’m not a big fan of nail polish in general, but I do have a 6 year old girlie-girl princess who loves it, so I need to find the safest options. Went with Keeki a couple years ago and still have it because I don’t let her use it that often, but it’s running low and I might give Honeybee a try… Another post for another day!)
2) Lavera has some obvious synthetics but none that jump out as red flags. Couldn’t say though whether they’re in the ~10% that have been more closely evaluated and deemed safe thus far or in the ~90% that haven’t been very well studied. Since their “fragrance” is from essential oils, it should be fine. Narelle also mentioned it to me as a possible alternative, and I trust her judgement completely.
3) I would confirm with Real Purity that this is the complete list. Vagueries like “pure plant extracts” beg more questions, including “how are they extracted?” It’s important to know the extraction methods a brand uses for it’s ingredients. If they are not extracted via some nasty chemical process and that is the complete list, it looks good.
4) Same sorts of questions on Earth’s Beauty. Plus… “Is it vegetable glycerin?” And… “Derived HOW from coconut?” “Derived from” is always a yellow flag. Lots of things are ‘derived from coconut’ in very toxic processes. Also, ‘gluten-free’ claims on skin-care and cosmetics are generally considered irrelevant and misleading because gluten cannot be absorbed through the skin (though, I suppose this could of course be important in the case of very severe topical or airborne-type allergies to gluten, but I’ve not heard of that happening with gluten as it does with say, peanuts. Does that happen with gluten? Anyone know?).
5) Interesting to see “Fragrance” in Hauschka. They’re generally pretty good though, as far as I know, so it’s probably fine (from essential oils), but I usually stay away from ‘fragrance’ unless it is clearly specified to be from essential oils, since it’s such an industry loophole word for ‘potentially hundreds of chemicals.’
6) After Glow has some synthetics in it, but nothing that I’ve seen ‘red flag’ research on – again with the ‘have they studied those synthetics fully or not’ question, and in the line up I probably wouldn’t choose it as my first try since I prefer ‘the more natural/organic the better.’
___
So, what did I actually choose to buy and try?
Drumroll please…
I ordered the Real Purity mascara, and then also picked up Lavera at the grocery store for comparisons sake. So far, although I know some may call me biased, I still prefer the old Miessence formula both for the…
Ingredients: certified organic aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, certified organic rosa damascena (rose) essential oil, certified organic oryza sativa (rice) bran extract, black iron oxide, certified organic simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, non-gmo lecithin, sclerotium rolfsii gum, aqua, certified organic rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, certified organic butyrospermum parkii (shea) fruit butter, certified organic unrefined cera alba (beeswax), certified organic ethanol (sugar cane alcohol), citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) fruit extract
… and for its performance. It just worked better, at least for me.
But alas, it’s not an option at the moment, and I’d say both the Real Purity and the Lavera are working fine for now.
What other brands of ‘natural’ or truly natural mascara have you found out there, tried, and liked?
Great post! Very timely since I too am looking for new mascara! On the gluten issue, many with Celiac disease can’t even touch gluten or use products with gluten in them. They break out in rashes and such. They have to make certain that their personal care products are all gluten free. A lot of products contain wheat protein which is a definite no-no.
Hey Sarah – thanks for the insight into the gluten bit. Very interesting. I’ve heard of people getting skin rashes and such from *consuming* gluten, due to their sensitivity or allergy, but had not heard of that happening just from touch. Have read about folks getting sick from touching it, but not because it reacted on their skin – rather because it ended up in their mouth somehow and was therefore consumed (ie, stuck under the fingernails, finger licking, or breathed in flour dust). And of course, in those cases where someone is so sensitive/allergic that even the chance of them ingesting it somehow (cooking and licking a finger after putting on a moisturizer with their hands earlier in the day or something), **it should be of course be avoided and is therefore helpful to be labeled as such.** But, every source I’ve seen so far says that it cannot be absorbed by the skin and so is not a problem topically – again, except for when topical can end up accidentally internal. Do you know of any sources that confirm it being an allergen topically (assuming it does not also get ingested accidentally)? Would love to read more about it. 🙂
Hmmm, this post talks about reactions from touching it, but doesn’t really discuss whether in those cases it is certain it wasn’t accidentally ingested…
http://accustomedchaos.com/gluten-free-myth-you-just-cant-touch-it/
Hmmm. At any rate, yes, folks who are that sensitive should obviously avoid it altogether.
Ha! But this is going to turn into a gluten conversation instead of a mascara one! I’ll do another post on that in the next week or so.
To all – maybe hang on to the gluten comments for now. 🙂
What mascara brands have you tried and liked? Would love to hear your recommendations too. 🙂
I kno there are parabens in Ecco Bella, but it was the best mascara I could find at the time. It performs well for me, makes my lashes noticeably thicker, doesn’t irritate, and stays on until I remove it. I only use it a few times per year, and never in the summer. I do like the little mirror built into the tube!
When it runs out, I will refer to the suggestions above for a new brand.
As an aside, I use organic extra virgin olive oil on an organic cotton ball, cotton swab, or tissue to gently remove the mascara. Gets the gunk off and makes my skin look great!
I have also read to not “pump” the wand in the tube. It adds air (& presumably, bacteria), which dries out and could contaminate a very pricey tube of mascara. Not scientific, but I never pump and my mascara stays moist and clean, even after longer-than-recommended storage.
Thanks, Maria, for the removing and no pumping tips! I agree – I don’t pump my mascaras either and they last a long time. : )
Great tips and insights here; thanks Lacey! I too love and miss the Miessence Mascara 🙁 Lavera is the brand I’ve been using instead and I think it is pretty good.
Hi there.
I have a horrible time finding a good mascara so I was really excited to read this post thinking Miessence had one. Sigh,
Mine always run.
I currently am settled on Being True. It’s very nice. Pricey but nice. Any updates on them coming out w/ a mascara?
I hope so.
Hi Adrienne, yeah, sadly, Narelle says it’ll be 18 months or more. She’s intently working on nutritional products for the next 12-18 months. Wouldn’t be surprised though if the mascara were on the top of the list after that though – lots of people have been asking for it to come back. 🙂