Heavy Metal

Posted by: Emily

Here is a really interesting, scary study about lead and other metals in lipsticks.

http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2013/05/study-lead-metals-lipstick-top-20

People often ask me what the big deal is about chemicals and other “bad stuff” in cosmetics. This article is a great example of why what is in our makeup matters to our health. Please read and share.

In honor of this article and of making our makeup more healthy, we’re giving away a Vapour Organic Siren Lipstick to one lucky reader. Comment below to enter, and share on Facebook and twitter for extra chances to win. Contest ends Sunday, May 12 at 11:59 pm. Good Luck!

MakeUP SmackDOWN: Physician’s Formula Organic Wear Lash Boosting vs. Benecos Maximum Volume Mascara

Posted by:  Jordan

This edition of a MakeUP SmackDOWN is comparing two natural mascaras.  The contenders are:

 Benecos Natural Mascara

VS.

Physicians Formula Organic Wear Lash Boosting Mascara

Not long ago, I review Physicians Formula Jumbo Lash Mascara, but after getting a tip from a reader that the Lash Boosting formula seemed to smudge less, I decided to give that one a shot to compare.  So really this SmackDOWN is comparing all three of those mascaras, but you can read the detailed review of the Jumbo Lash version here.

On with the competition!

Ease of Application:  Physicians Formula is the clear winner here (both Jumbo Lash and Lash Boosting versions) due to the big, fat brush and smooth formula.  The Benecos brush is pretty standard but it requires a few coats.  

The Look:  I prefer the look of Physicians Formula to Benecos.  Between the two PF versions I slightly lean toward the Jumbo Lash version (in the metallic neon green tube) because it makes my lashes extra full.  The Lash Boosting version doesn’t have quite the same volumizing effect that the Jumbo Lash one does, but both lengthen and define my lashes nicely.  Benecos does a great job too, but just gives a more natural look.  Also, I find that Benecos clumps slightly, so I often have to run my eyelash comb through my lashes after the mascara dries.

Ingredients:

Benecos

 Water, Grain Grain Alcohol*, Beeswax*, Glycerin, Polyglyceryl-5 Laurate, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Acacia Senegal Gum, Polyglyceryl-3 Stearate, Carnauba Wax*, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Glyceryl Caprylate, Jojoba Seed Oil*, p-Anisic Acid, Rosemary Leaf Extract, Sunflower Seed Oil*, Sodium Hydroxide, Limonene, Vitamin E, Fragrance (Natural),Aloe Vera Leaf Juice Powder*, Citral, Linalool, Iron Oxides

* indicates Certified Organic Ingredients
** for natural essential oils

Physicians Formula Lash Boosting

Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Fruit Water*, Glycerin+, Iron Oxides, Water, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Beeswax*Oryza Sativa (Rice) Extract*, Tapioca Starch*, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnuba) Wax*, Oryza Sativa, (Rice) Powder*, Jojoba Esters, Stearic Acid, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Yogurt Extract*, Saccharomyces/Copper Ferment, Saccharomyces/Iron Ferment, Saccharomyces/Magnesium Ferment, Saccharomyces/Silicon Ferment, Saccharomyces/Zinc Ferment, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil*, Olea Europaea (Olive) Leaf Extract*, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract*, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract*, Glyceryl Caprylate, Glycerin, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Superoxide Dismutase, Soybean Peroxidase, Leuconostoc Ferment Filtrate, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, May Contain: Titanium Dioxide

I’ll leave that up to the reader to make an informed decision on which ingredient list they prefer, but I’m feeling good about both of these mascaras.  Both are free of phenoxyethanol, which is rare to find in mascaras–even natural ones.  So that makes me happy and I’m declaring this round a tie.

The Wear (or How Do These Mascaras Hold Up and Will I Look Like a Heroin Addict By The Time Happy Hour Rolls Around?):  To test this round out I wore Physicians Formula on one eye and Benecos on the other.  My rule was that I wasn’t allowed to wipe under my eyes at all the entire day so I’d be able to see which mascara smudged less after a full day of wear.  The winner here was Benecos!  There was hardly any smudging at all!!  This is clearly a great everyday, need-to-get-ready-quickly-and-get-out-the-door mascara.  Physicians Formula wasn’t horrible , but there was definitely some noticeable Raccoon Eyes (Also, in regards to the reader who found that the Lash Boosting formula smudged less for her than the Jumbo Lash one, I didn’t find one smudged less than the other for me, unfortunately).

Price: Benecos is $16. 49 on Amazon whereas Physicians Formula is $9.95 on drugstore.com.  You can also find Physicians Formula products at most local drugstores.

The Overall Winner:  I’m going to have to go with Physician’s Formula, but I think I like the Jumbo Lash (in the green tube) a little bit better than the Lash Boosting (in the black tube).

The Wild Card: Applying Jane Iredale’s PureLash Conditioner prior to any natural mascara makes it stay on all day, smudge-free, and gives my lashes an extra oomph.  So really, I’m declaring this as the all-time winner for my favorite natural mascara (even though it’s really a pre-mascara)!  It’s worth the extra time and expense to not worry that you look like a true Junkie by the end of the day.

Everyone’s a winner… but some of you are getting Lipgloss, too!

Posted by: Emily

This was our most entered giveaway, ever, between all the entries on Facebook, Twitter, this site, and via email. I wish we could give a lipgloss to everyone who entered, but that’s just not possible. So, here are a list of winners, and please stay tuned for more giveaways coming soon!

Gloria M.

Susan I.

Leo E. (who wrote a very sweet email about entering for his mom for Mother’s Day!)

Jenny L.

Mary Ann C.

Ginger G.

Kassie H.

Congrats, Winners! Please email us at productjunkiesrehab@gmail.com with your mailing address and we’ll send you your lip gloss!

Also, we want to introduce you to a fantastic program, coming from one of our favorite websites, Gloss48.com. The program is called Gloss Boss, and you should DEFINITELY apply. (I did!). Details below, and at Gloss48.c0m. Good Luck! 

 

The great LipGloss giveaway

posted by: Emily

If you haven’t entered our LipGloss: The Gateway Drug Giveaway yet, you have one more day to do so, and SEVEN chances to win!

Seven lucky readers will each win one of the following natural lip glosses:

Jane Iredale NEW PureGloss in Snow Berry (reviewed here by Emily)

Jane Iredale NEW PureGloss in Red Currant

Jane Iredale NEW PureGloss in Beach Plum

Vapour Organic Elixir Plumping Gloss in Coax (reviewed here by Jordan)

Vapour Organic Elixir Plumping Gloss in Bolt

Bare Minerals 100% Natural Lip Gloss in Bronze (reviewed here by Emily)

Revolution Organics Freedom Lip Gloss in Vibe (reviewed here and again hereby Emily)

A few “legal” details”:

- contest open to continental US residents only

- contest ends at 11:59pm Monday, April 29, winners will be announced during the following week

- 7 readers will each win ONE gloss. Winners will get to choose the gloss on a first-reply-first-served basis.

We are making it so easy to enter this giveaway. Here’s how:

All you have to do to enter is comment below and tell us you want to enter the giveaway. For bonus entries, share this link on Facebook, tweet it, or post about it on your own blog. You can also email us at productjunkiesrehab@gmail.com if you don’t want to post in public. FOR SPECIAL DOUBLE BONUS ENTRIES, refer a friend to our blog. If you get a friend to subscribe, you each get 2 chances to win a lip gloss. Email and tell us who you referred.

One last thing:

In case you’re thinking, “I don’t wear lip gloss,” just remember that Mother’s Day is coming up! And I can’t speak for all mothers out there, but this Mama LOVES lip gloss, so enter to win and give a gloss to your mom!

LipGloss: The Gateway Drug for Natural Beauty Junkies

posted by: Emily

Happy Earth Day, everyone! Earth Day feels especially important for those who want to incorporate more natural products into their lives, as natural cosmetics don’t only benefit our health, they benefit our planet.

To celebrate Earth Day, we are doing a few things:

1. Giving away SEVEN, (7), yes, seven! LIPGLOSSES (details below)

2. Telling you about some great Earth Day deals (also below)

3. Announcing the winner of our Nourish Body Butter giveaway: Tonya! Congrats, Tonya! Please email us at productjunkiesrehab@gmail.com so we can mail you your prize! We are certain you will love it.

Back to the title of this post: Lipgloss is indeed the “gateway product” for many people trying to go green in their beauty routine. It’s the first thing that Jordan and I tried when we began this chemical-free, organic journey. It started  years and years ago, when I read something about how women eat an enormous amount of lipstick in a lifetime. So when I saw a new gloss containing “vitamins,” I bought it for Jordan. Soon we realized that it wasn’t just about an opportunity to consume an admittedly tiny amount of extra vitamins; here was a chance to eliminate toxins, parabens, and, especially lead, from the makeup product we “eat” the most of. Of course, we know now that all make up and beauty products are absorbed through your skin as if you were eating them, but we started small. And here we are, 4 Earth Days later, giving away 7 fantastic lip glosses FOR FREE!

Here’s what we’re giving:

Jane Iredale NEW PureGloss in Snow Berry (reviewed here by Emily)

Jane Iredale NEW PureGloss in Red Currant

Jane Iredale NEW PureGloss in Beach Plum

Vapour Organic Elixir Plumping Gloss in Coax (reviewed here by Jordan)

Vapour Organic Elixir Plumping Gloss in Bolt

Bare Minerals 100% Natural Lip Gloss in Bronze (reviewed here by Emily)

Revolution Organics Freedom Lip Gloss in Vibe (reviewed here and again here by Emily)

**All you have to do to enter is comment below and tell us you want to enter the giveaway. For bonus entries, share this link on Facebook, tweet it, or post about it on your own blog. You can also email us at productjunkiesrehab@gmail.com if you don’t want to post in public. FOR SPECIAL DOUBLE BONUS ENTRIES, refer a friend to our blog. If you get a friend to subscribe, you each get 2 chances to win a lip gloss. Email and tell us who you referred.

And, as promised, here are some great Earth Day deals from Brands We Love:

Vapour Organic Beauty

John Masters Organics

Vine.com

And, while they aren’t cosmetics, Organic clothes are always fun, too:

“Don’t it always seem to go…

… that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” — Joni Mitchell

Posted by: Emily

This post, especially the way I’m using the quote in the title, feels a little frivolous and silly now in light of the terrible tragedy in Boston this afternoon. But I have learned, as I am sure you have, that the only way to go on in life, past these horrors and events, is to, well, go on. So, we go on.

A few days ago, I was trying to clean the top of my dresser, and knocked one of my 14 lip balms off of it into the deep, dark, unreachable corners behind it. This dresser belonged to my great grandparents, and to say it is heavy and unmovable is a tremendous understatement. I got down on the floor with a flashlight (okay, it was really just my iPhone) shining under the bureau to try and see where the lip balm had gone. I didn’t see it anywhere. 

So I did a little inventory of the remaining dresser-top balms to see who had been lost. There were the 2 Splurge Skincare Lip Buttahs I adore (Lemon and Peppermint), the Vapour Organic Beauty Lux Organic Lip Conditioner, a Revolution Organics All-Over Body Balm that I use exclusively for my lips, (because seriously, I can’t use one on my elbows and then on my mouth– ew!), a Weleda Everon Lip Balm, and… you get the idea. I have a lot of lip balms. 

I quickly realized which one was missing– my Honest Company Organic Lip Balm in Lavender Mint. (See– this is what I get for cleaning! A lost lip balm! Not fair!)

Given that I still had more than a dozen lip balms within arms’ reach of my bedside, I decided, seeing that the Lavender Mint was nowhere to be found, that I could, and would have to, just go on with my life. 

What was I thinking? Over the course of the next several days, I found myself reaching specifically for that Lavender Mint Honest Lip Balm over and over and over. I had never realized, till I dropped it in a dusty, cobwebby corner, how much I ADORED it. 

This weekend, determined and armed with an actual flashlight, I got down on my stomach and reached my fingertips into the corners behind the bureau. And, when I came up with nothing, I REACHED UNDER THERE AGAIN! I pulled out some dust bunnies, and, finally, my beloved Lavender Mint Lip Balm. 

All this to say that it is really terrific. I am a big fan of all things Honest Company, and of this scent combo. Luckily for me, Honest also just released the scent in a soy candle! (100% GMO-free, no synthetic fragrances, hand-poured in small batches, etc– basically, PERFECT. I bought the Gardenia Jasmine one– wow– but clearly I need the Lavender Mint! Also comes in Orange Vanilla!)

Another new favorite, Nourish Organics, has a Lavender Mint collection. My favorite product is the Organic Body Butter, but you really can’t go wrong with Nourish. Clearly, this Lavender Mint trend is catching on, and I’m really happy about it. 

In honor of Earth Day approaching, Nourish sent us a body butter to give away to one lucky reader! It’s not Lavender Mint, but as I said above, you can’t go wrong with anything from Nourish! The flavor is Wild Berries, and I promise you will adore the texture of this amazing, ultra-hydrating body butter. 

Comment below to win the body butter! In your comment, tell us if you’ve come across a Lavender Mint scented product, or, if not, what your favorite scent combos are these days.

Winner will be announced at the end of this week. More contests to come! And all our love goes out to the people of Boston today and always. (Especially to Boston-based Splurge Skincare and Gloss48.com).

Winners of Poetic Pits Giveaway

Excited to announce our two winners of the Poetic Pits natural deodorant giveaway.  Congratulations to both of our readers!  Please email us your mailing address so we can send out your deodorants asap!

Winner of Radiant Earth: Shell

Winner of Petal:  Jessi