Beautycounter: safer skincare & cosmetics

When my friend and Balanced Bites Podcast partner Liz Wolfe tells me to try something, I try it.

Liz is an expert when it comes to natural, safe skincare. She has helped me (and thousands of others) with tons of skin questions over the years.

She's all about ditching ingredients that have a high toxicity factor or high potential for irritation, and using natural products instead – much like what I help people do with food.

That said, Liz and I are different.

Liz is a major skincare hippie.

She likes trying all kinds of natural stuff, from using henna to dye her hair to ditching nail polish altogether.

Some of those things, I'm just not going to do. The end. (Love you, Liz!)

I've got my routine. It works for me.

I like my manicures. I like my colorist. And I really like my high-performance makeup.

(And I'm going to wear makeup sometimes. That's just the truth. Don't tell me not to wear makeup. Just give me a better option.)

The fact is, I'm not interested in making a ton of big changes or adding a bunch of stuff to my routine.

BUT, if I can make some simple swaps to something safer without sacrificing performance, I'll do it. And if it works, I'll tell all of you!

Case in point: Liz made me try Beautycounter's Tint Skin Foundation and Concealer (for under my eyes). They were excellent. Here's why:

1. They are traditionally high-performance, while still being safer. This makes me feel better about my makeup-wearing. (They're free of ethoxylated ingredients that can carry the toxin 1,4 dioxane, BHT, and ingredients studied to be potential systemic irritants or hormone disruptors.)
2. The foundation contains hyaluronic acid, which helps maintain my skin's moisture balance while making my skin look smoother. The coverage is also buildable, which keeps it customizable.
3. The concealer, which resembles YSL's amazing concealer pen, brightens under my eyes without settling into the smile lines (I smile a lot, apparently)

Beautycounter has a rigorous screening process for all ingredients and their supporting (or non-supporting)science; most products rate a 1 or 2 with the Environmental Working Group.

Plus, Beautycounter's color cosmetics are also batch tested for heavy metals three times before they become available. 

And most importantly, Liz gives them the thumbs-up, and I trust her recommendations.

Before finding Beautycounter, she planned to create a line of skin products and cosmetics that were more traditional, yet without the most dangerous ingredients that are in most cosmetics. She wanted to bridge the gap between hippies like her and people like me, who are open to safer cosmetics but don't want to sacrifice traditional products or performance.

Then, she realized that Beautycounter beat her to it. So she started recommending their products instead. (Good news! That means we don't have to wait for better products.)

Not everyone wants to ditch the high-performance products. Beautycounter bridges the gap for me.

My thoughts are – why NOT switch to something safer if it fits into my life seamlessly?

You can check out the Tint Skin Foundation here, the Concealer Pen here, and other safer high-performance makeup here.

My vacations must-haves are the sun protection line, available here.

Here are a bunch more of my current MUST-HAVES favorites from Beautycounter!

I love far more than these, but I'm trying to limit what I'm calling out for now so I don't overwhelm you!

1. Charcoal Cleansing Bar – my #1 favorite thing ever from Beautycounter
2. Charcoal Mask – I'm obsessed with this not only as a treatment mask, but as a spot treatment overnight on pimples! It seriously gets them to be less inflamed and red – LOVE.
3. Winter Dream Palette (limited edition) SOLD OUT!!! – The Winter Dream Palette is now sold out, but the Desert Sunrise set is gorgeous!
4. Color Pinch Cream Blusher – I use the powder blushers but I truly love how natural this blusher looks – a few dabs on the cheeks, then blend. Perfect for a minimal makeup look.
5. Glow Shimmer Oil – this one is admittedly a bit frivolous, but what better time for frivolity than the holidays?! Perfect on your skin for a holiday party or anytime you're going out to have that finished look in a sleeveless shirt or on your neckline. I used this on our book tour all the time and felt it gave my skin a pretty finish.
6. Sun Protection line – my vacation must-haves are all of the sun protection line.

I seriously love all of the lip glosses in the Love & Luster gift set as well (3 of them are pictured above), they smell like vanilla and aren't too sticky… and the lip conditioner in peppermint (not pictured) is so lovely. Sorry, I could go on and on…! I'm stopping now…

Shop Beautycounter now.