Tarte

As shifting more of the makeup products I use to clean beauty products has become a personal focus this year, I feel like one of the hardest spots hit for me. This honestly stems most likely from my love of lipsticks on complete opposite ends of the spectrum: nudes and deep reds. Do I own in-between those two extremes; yes, though they are few and far between. While finding amazing nude formulas that are vegan, it is much harder to find a nonpatchy, lasting red. This most likely stems from the fact that historically speaking, the red pigments used in makeup products have come from things such as red algae, fish scales, and more commonly cochineal (aka crushed beetles) which is an ingredient still found today in makeup. Vegan formulas obviously don’t use any animal products, which does make it harder to formulate. However, after much searching and testing, I feel like I’ve come up with a pretty good selection of vegan lipsticks.

Live Tinted’s Hue Multisticks

Live Tinted is a relatively new brand out on the market, but so far what I’ve tried, I’ve absolutely loved. I feel like a real standout from this brand is their multisticks; designed for use on the lips, cheeks, and eyes (they’re ophthalmologist tested), I feel like they are perfectly designed for people who don’t like a lot of extra clutter in their makeup bags. I now own three colors, Perk (a peachy pink), Rise (terra-cotta), and Found (deep brick) and have experienced no real difference in the color payoff despite the great variation of colors. They all blend beautifully, are cruelty-free, and are a must in a minimalist’s makeup bags.

Urban Decay Vice Lipsticks (relaunch)

If you have been a longtime lover of Urban Decay, you will have noticed lately a lot of small relaunches and that there’s not as many shades available in the eyeshadows and lipsticks as before. The reason behind this is simply that Urban is slowly but surely making their brand 100% vegan along with being cruelty free as they’ve always been. If you love’d the old formula, don’t worry the new one is just as creamy and pigmented. While there are some new shades in the range, some time true classics have returned as well such as Backtalk, 1993, Bad Blood, Naked and Hex.

KVD’s Everlasting Liquid Lipstick

I can’t talk about vegan lipsticks without talking about the one that started it all for me. I can’t say enough good things about it; the pigmentation, the staying power, I love how thin the formula is. Like I can’t imagine a day when I’m not obsessed with this lipstick. While shade Lolita is definitely a fan favorite and best selling, personally I thick Ludwig is my perfect shade of nude.

Bare Minerals BarePro Longwear Lipstick

In the past, Bare Minerals has a had a certain age demographic, but I feel like that’s certainly changing as they’ve brought in younger spokeswomen (hello Hailey Bieber) and there brand is just really being slept on. I’ve tried the liquid lipsticks (which are okay) and the gloss-balms (I’m obsessed), but what surprised me most was their OG bullet lipsticks. Like, they are comfortable, long-lasting (for a bullet lipstick), and also have sunflower seed and blackberry seed oil to help protect against environmental aggressors. The two standout colors in my mind are cinnamon (warm rosy brown) and raisin (it’s exactly what you’re picturing).

Honorable Mention: Tarte Lip Paint

So the Tarte lip paint has long been a favorite of mine, but it’s no longer available in my local Ulta or Sephora which is why it’s an honorable mention. A quick search let me know that it is still available on Tarte’s website, but there’s definitely not as many colors as I remember (as well as of the the few they do carry, half seem to be sold out, which makes me think the line is being discontinued) . The formula is really similar to KVD’s, however it’s honestly even thinner which I love. Festival and Birthday Suit were always two of my favorite colors, so if you happen to stumble across them, I would snatch them up.

So that’s the post for this week, I hope you all enjoyed. There are definitely more formulas out there that I haven’t tried (and I already have a list of the ones I want to) so there might be an update to this post in the future. Make sure you subscribe if you want to be kept up to date about when I post, and my socials are linked if you want to stay up to date on my life. Hope you have a great week, and see you next Friday!

As people grow more and more aware of the ingredients on their skin, there has been growing push for transparency from brands as well as for cleaner ingredients to be used. Both Ulta and Sephora have begun having collections of brands that they have deemed “clean” according to the standards they have set. This week I want to focus on Ulta Beauty’s “Conscious Beauty Collection”; this collection has five pillars that each brand needs to meet at least two of, they are: clean ingredients, cruelty free, vegan, sustainable packaging, and positive impact.

Tula Balancing Act Toning Pads

As the Texas summer starts to heat up, my skin turns into a grease pit, so I need something to balance that out. I absolutely adore these pads as much as I do all of Tula’s other products I’ve tried. Tula has made a name for themselves with their clean, probiotics based formulas (if you haven’t checked out my post devoted to them, you can click here), but their new toning pads take it to the next level. Instead of glycolic acid like the first one they launched, these use lactic acid as well as witch hazel and niacinaminde to help with oil control. What makes them even better is that they are made of bamboo and biodegradable (hello sustainability), and when you’re done, instead of throwing away the plastic container, you can buy a refill pod to just pop in.

2. Tarte Amazonian Clay BB Cream

My one complaint about Tarte’s Amazonian clay foundation was that while the coverage was amazing, it was so thick that I felt like my skin was being suffocated. This Amazonian clay BB cream though is just enough coverage to hide any discoloration you might be suffering from, but light enough to feel like there’s nothing there. I also love that the formula is vegan, cruelty-free, and has SPF.

3. Drybar Liquid Glass Miracle Smoothing Sealant

Calling all my damaged hair babes that need help containing the frizz, this spray-in treatment is going to be your new best friend. Visiting Drybar is one of my favorite things to do when I visit Austin, and finding out that they’re cruelty-free with clean ingredients and sustainable packaging made me just love them that much more. I absolutely adore the Liquid Glass shampoo and conditioner, but what makes this spray so much better is that it lasts through three washes and gives you heat protection up to 450 degrees F! The entire Smooth Glass line features the iconic Drybar blanc scent with vegan keratin helping to seal, reinforce and smooth the hair cuticle.

4. Peach and Lily Glass Skin Refining Serum

Korean skincare is widely regarded as some of the finest skincare that you can buy on the market (and for good reason), and Peach and Lily’s glass skin serum is a great showcase. One of my all time favorite serums (I’m on my third bottle), this little white bottle is my secret for smooth, glow skin. With key active ingredients like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, peach extract, and peptides, this serum is going to give you hydration, even skin tone, lighten dark spots, and reduce pore size. You can also feel good about using it since Peach and Lily is vegan, gluten free, and cruelty free; it’s also free from any parabens, sulfates, silicons, along with 1,550 other toxic things.

5. St Tropez Self Tanner

As most likely proven about two posts ago, I love a good self tanner, the only bad thing is that they do somewhat have a reputation for not always being the cleanest product to use. So finding out that there’s a self tanner brand being highlighted by Conscious beauty is absolutely amazing. The great thing about the St Tropez line are there are options for everyone, from good ol’ 8 hour tans with guider colors to water-based mousses and sprays to 2 hour express sprays. There’s a fit out there for literally everyone, and one again, no need to feel guilty with clean ingredients, sustainable packaging, and cruelty-free!

6. Pacifica Plantmagic Nail Polish

So fun fact, I am actually allergic to formaldehyde, and about ten years ago when I found out, there were a lot of nail polish brands that unfortunately still used it. Even though as a industry we’ve moved away from using such toxic ingredients, I still never use a nail polish unless it actually says it’s formaldehyde free (you can never be too cautious when there’s a possible hospital visit on the line). I’ve used Pacifica’s skincare in the past, so their new plant based polish really caught my eye. It’s free from 16 of the most harsh chemicals usually found in nail polish (with 80% of the ingredients bio-sourced), 100% vegan and cruelty free, and the polish has lasted just as long on my toes as the other ones I’ve tried. A great thing about Pacifica is their social impact: 10% of all profits go towards cleaning up the Pacific Ocean.

7. Kopari Coconut Deodorant

I love natural deodorant, unfortunately natural deodorant doesn’t always love me. The amount of times that I’ve broken out in a rash from trying a new deodorant is honestly sad. Another problem with natural deodorants is that they always smell, well, natural. I don’t know about anyone else but the whole smelling like lavender and sage doesn’t always work the best with the situation going on under my arms. Enter Kopari: for the people who love natural deodorant but want still smell good. It’s coconut oil based (so great for sensitive skin), and all of their stuff smells nice and fresh and beachy. I actually usually buy the beach scent from them, but they do have a new scent called coastal that honestly also seems like it smells amazing. Kopari is vegan, cruelty-free, with sustainable packaging and clean ingredients.

Thank you so much for tuning in this week, and I hope you enjoyed this post. My socials are all linked if you want to give them a follow, as well as you can follow this blog so you get a notification every time I post (which is every Friday). Till next time!