Curses!

I find it strange that I willingly have taken to historically "feminine" pursuits. I love to cook, I knit/crochet almost constantly, I adore dresses, and I crave shoes. However, there is one part of femininity that I have never mastered: makeup.

Maybe it's my Nova Scotian farm wife heritage, but I never really had a need for make up. My daily toilette includes mineral foundation with SPF 15 and if I'm feeling particularly invested in how I look, L'Oreal's Bare Natural's mascara. In the winter, I add gluten-free lip balm out of necessity. When I was a pre-teen, I dabbled in lip gloss but I always hated the sticky texture that it had and I always put on too much, causing a sheer pink glossy streak all across my lower lip whenever I pressed my lips together. I played around with eyeliner, but being incredibly near-sighted made it difficult to see what I was doing . I would either have to hold a hand mirror 3 inches away from my face, which would get in the way of my hand, or I would bend over the bathroom sink and my back would hurt before I was done with one eye (no contacts).

I realize that most makeup skill is acquired through practice, and since I never really practiced that much it would account for my inability to apply liquid eye liner. However, ever since I started dating my boyfriend I was a little relieved that I would never be expected  to wear that much make up. In truth, I was dreading learning how to apply lipstick and was putting it off for the longest time. However since I couldn't be sure what was exactly in the lip stick, I could just forgo the whole ordeal.

And then curiosity killed my cat. I decided to see if there were any allergen-free cosmetics on the market and I came to find out that there are a few companies who are gluten and allergen free. It seems like the gluten-free market has reached into cosmetics!

I haven't looked at too many companies thus far, but one that caught my eye was Afterglow. What I like about them is that they list their ingredients right on the web site and most of their ingredients are organic. In fact, I love this quote from their website:
"Full disclosure - we disclose every ingredient in every product we sell. Since the FDA allows companies to conceal and not list the true ingredients in items listed as “fragrance”, “flavors” and any ingredient under 1% of the total formula – you never know what you might be using." 

Another cool thing is that they don't use preservatives, which although it reduced the shelf life of the product, means that they are even further committed to safe ingredients. Plus, they are also free of petro-chemicals, which is reducing the dependance on oil. Sure, fossil fuels are being used to ship the product all around the world, but at least it's not being put on your face! 


The absolute thing that I appreciate about this company is the fact that they are gluten-free. The founder has family members with Celiac disease and is therefore committed to making safe products for people with similar problems. In perusing the ingredients list for the products, I see that there are no soy, casein, or nut products in there and the company states that most of their products are free of major allergens. There is some corn in a few of their products, but it is clearly labeled. For example, their Color Lock says that it contains fructose, however after that it says (organic, made from corn). Awesome! That saved me an email asking if there were any potential corn derivatives! 


This company is so sensitive to allergens and it's great that they spell everything out in case there are any questions. With sensative skin or allergies, you don't want to spend money on a product, test it out, and then find that you got a reaction from it. Letting people know up front what they are in for so that they can decide to take that risk makes the process easier. 


Although I am now in love with this company's message, now I begrudge them for making such a safe product. Now I might have to start wearing lipstick!

The inevitable result.

(images from here and here)