natjtan Happy October!
Beauty Finds is back with my July August finds! 
When it comes to cosmetics and skin care I have a few requirements. No animal testing, no selling physically in China, no nasty ingredients such as petroleum, SLS’s, parabens etc. No palm oil as I like orangutans more. Petroleum and palm oil are sneaky, so many aliases I’m learning as I go along. 4th, 5th generation petroleum derived ingredients I usually make an exception to depending on ewg.org toxicity rating. I’m a bad vegan eating honey but I draw the line at propolis and royal jelly. Honey and beeswax I’m okay with. Snail slime, forget it. I prefer as natural ingredients as possible however with makeup this is hard so I go with what I can get. So many make up ingredients are petroleum derived. Skin care it’s a lot easier. My love for Korean products is still going strong!
I’m no beauty or skin girl expert. I prefer the natural look albeit with a kitten flick. My make up skills are kinda basic as I’m not a full on glam girl. I love a smokey eye look, just never attempted it myself as I know what I’d end up looking like. A panda. My skin type’s fair, undertone neutral/cool – strawberry blonde, hazel eyes with blue veins. Skin concerns are oily combination, acne and anti ageing.
Huda Beauty 3D Highlighter Palette Pink Sands
When Sephora España launched Huda Beauty I was one excited girl as I have another cruelty free brand to try! The eyeshadow palette I decided was too wild for me with it’s warm rich glittery colours. My excitement was for the highlighter palettes. I could play more with them. A little sparkle on the eyes as well as the cheeks. The Pink Sands palette is perfect for fair to medium skin tones with beige undertones. The verdict?
(Please excuse the some of the photo’s quality. For weeks where I take product photos, morning clouds or haze and I hadn’t quite got the hand of some settings vs viewfinder. Excuses eh!)
I find Santorini hard to blend out as an under the brow highlighter due to the fact quite shimmery and the pigment isn’t as fine milled as say Tarte eyeshadows. It isn’t subtle! It is meant to be a highlighter not an eyeshadow Nat! I like multi products okay. All the colours swatched beautifully on my inner arm however on my eyelids Azores’s a much more dark yellow gold which I didn’t like so much. It’s effect made my eyes look older and brown. I like my hazel green eyes to pop. This maybe be due to the base shadow underneath. I prefer them as highlighters, a light dusting on my cheeks as I’m not an full on all glam girl. Every now and then I use Capri, the only cream one as I prefer cream highlighters as I find they don’t caking as much. It’s meant to be a base all over highlighter to layer foundation etc on top so it needs blending out not to look as if I mixed up contouring (which I don’t do) and highlighting. Or I use it as the base cheek highlighter and with one of the others layered on top. Azores and Santorini stay on all day (I like to layer them) even during a sweaty HIIT workout, but I only apply a little as they be difficult to blend out or cake slightly over BB cream and concealer. I have a feeling the powders may cake slightly if applied heavier. I usually skip powder so maybe they don’t cake as much a layered on top of powder.
I’ve found with my skin apart from the cream they apply better with a brush than fingers. With fingers they don’t seem to blend out easily. End verdict, I don’t I like it enough to buy it again (and both formulas have polybutene in, though it registers low owg.org for overall hazard). If you love full on glow, light up the room highlighters, I’m sure you’ll love this.
NYX HS22 Chandelier Lustre and HS57 Diamond Lust Individual Hot Singles Eyeshadows
I’m so happy I gave NYX a try after initially going pah, some products contain petroleum derived ingredients. While I have a few eyeshadow palettes I like individual shades as I can select my own. I also like NYX as some of the mix and match shades to make you own pallets the packagings great for zero waster’s. Only one tiny piece of plastic film to recycle, not a compact. Sadly I couldn’t find these colours in the mix and match selection.
I also like NYX as it’s great value for money. I think both of these were around €4. Chandelier’s a dark champagne sparkly shade that I love over the lid as a pop of shimmer. I’m too chicken to go full on with it but even a litter shimmer makes my eyes sparkle. The only issue I have with it is that I have to apply it after liquid eyeliner. If applied first, liquid eyeliner doesn’t adhere well.
Diamond Lust I use as a highlight colour under the outer brows for a little lift, inner corners of my eyes to make my eyes seem less close together and on the one eyelid near the outer crease to make it appear as wide as the other eye. Make up’s all about illusion! The only issue I have is that it doesn’t blend out easily under the brow, so use the least amount possible or remember not to be heavy handed. I think is because like Huda’s powder highlighters it’s not that finely milled. Both contain polyacyladipate -2 which lists low on ewg.org and tocopheryll acetate (gluten allergies) with Chandelier containing nylon-12. Like I said with make up it’s hard to find natural make up that works so I go with what I can.
Tarte Gifted Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara
It’s hard to find a good petroleum free mascara says what it does on the tin mascara. This does and it’s vegan! It makes my lashes appear longer and fuller most of the day. Whoop Whoop! It’s claim:
A top rated vegan Amazonian clay-infused lengthening mascara that treats your lashes and delivers soft volume. Boosts thickness, length and curl with a blend of antioxidants and conditioners while Amazonian clay replenishes without making lashes feel crunchy or heavy. The formula delivers soft, weightless volume while it nourishes for stronger healthier lashes.
And it delivers! It’s lightweight, touch up’s after the gym’s always needed, no gym it does well. No smudging under the eyes throughout the day, my allergies haven’t reacted to it and it’s still going strong after 2 months. 2 coats longer fuller lashes!
The cons: I’ve mentioned before I’m not that impressed with Tarte’s packaging. They say they care for the environment by giving back to communities who supply ingredients which I’m sure they do. Long term with the packaging they don’t. The packaging again I’m disappointed with. The tube’s really is beautiful. Bamboo covered. Which makes it hard to recycled unless you can with a saw/remove the bamboo! Sometimes I think it would be great if mascara was like cushion compacts. Just purchase the refills. Go to the make up counter and they refill the tube and sterilise the brush. But there’s no money in that. And yes I know buying cosmetics adds to the plastic problem as not all plastic in the recycle bins is recycled. Which is why I’ll never be 100% zero waste.
Other cons; it can clump on application after a month so an eyelash comb’s needed and the cost. I purchased it direct from Tarte’s USA as it’s not for sale in stores in Europe and ended up paying just as much in shipping as I did for the mascara. I can get it from QVC UK which I may do next time depending on shipping or if there are other Tarte products I want to try or if there’s a promotion as I would by it again. That said it does contain palmitic acid and ascorblyf palmitate which could be palm oil derived, propylene glycol and isopropyl alcohol, both petroleum derived which list low on ewg.org of overall health hazard.
3CE Style Nanda Back to Baby BB Cream SPF35, PA++
Korean BB creams mostly come in either 3 shades or 1 shade fits all. Fortunately I’m on the pale end of the skin tone spectrum and can just get away the shades available. If 3 shades in a line are available I’m usually the darkest. This is one of the one shade fits all as it colour adapts claiming it leaves skin with a back to baby skin like appearance. It’s slightly darker than some I’ve tried which I like. I didn’t look a phantom as with other one shade fits all bb creams. In fact it was a great match. I looked alive! It gave a nice glow for a few hours before it oxygenised badly. I also didn’t like how it felt drying on, but that said it did give off that healthy Korean dewy effect without being sebum oily later. If it didn’t oxygenise badly and could also survive a HITT workout with out streaking, it would be a keeper. Yes I go to the gym in makeup. I usually have to be places afterwards and haven’t time to apply it afterwards including skincare again or luggage/bag space to carry everything around save the touch up essentials.
Sierra Bees Organic Shea Butter ands Argan Oil Unflavoured Lip Balm
This is where I’m a bad vegan. I eat honey (I buy either honey from protected natural areas or organic as I hope those bees are cared for) so use products with beeswax and honey in. I draw the line at royal jelly and propolis. I originally purchased this in a Sierra Bees multi pack of lip balms from iherb.com with this flavour my favourite. Containing only 5 ingredients, extra virgin olive oil, beeswax, shea butter, argan oil and non GMO vitamin E (the only non organic ingredient) I find it soothing, hydrating with a neutral scent that doesn’t smell stale after a while. Plus the packaging’s cute! The only con is more I keep loosing it around the apartment which I do with all my lip balms!
What’s your latest beauty find you can’t live without or could live without? Please share in the comments below!