If I could tell my younger self one thing, it would be to take care of my skin. Growing up and in my 20s, I always had clear, glowing complexion. You don’t think about aging in your 20s, and I definitely didn’t take good care of my skin.
In my 30s, I’ve tried to make up for that lost time by trying a melange of product. Basically, if someone said something “worked” on them, I was ready to try it, without giving much thought to what might be in it, so long as it would make me look good. (Hey, I’ve never been anything but honest.)
But then my mom got diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November 2015, and of course I started freaking out about carcinogens and what I was putting in my body. I’d heard of BeautyCounter a bit through the internets, but it wasn’t until I went to an Uplift event that I really understood why what they do is so important. Besides, after adopting healthy eating and exercise habits, this was the logical next step.
Did you know that there are 1400 banned cosmetic ingredients in the EU, and only 11 in the U.S.? That’s messed up, y’all. Here’s some of the top dangerous ingredients banned in the EU but not here. A great way to check if your cosmetics use safe ingredients or not is this tool from the EWG.
I don’t want to get into politics on here, but it’s pretty scary to me how under-regulated our beauty industry is and the dangerous ingredients we’re putting on our skin just in the name of looks.
I’ll admit, I was pretty naive and had no idea about any of this, but I think what we put on our skin is as important as what we put in our mouths (insert awkward joke here), so I decided to become a Beautycounter consultant so I could share this with all of you.
Here’s what I love and personally use every single day. I’m still in the process of transitioning some of my color cosmetics over, but my skincare is all Beautycounter now:
Nourishing Cream Cleanser: Legit, this is the best face wash I’ve ever used. It is so gentle, and my face feels soft and clean after I use it. I used to exfoliate the crap out of my face, using a scrub every day, but now I’m much much more gentle on my skin.
Nourishing Night Cream: I’m 34. Must. Use. Night. Cream. This one is rich and nourishing (hence the name!), but not so heavy that I feel all oily getting into bed.
Rejuvenating Day Cream / Tint Skin Foundation : My days involve lots of sweating, so my day face products need to be light so my pores don’t clog.
Touchup Skin Concealer Pen: I have awesome dark circles to begin with and insist on wearing purple eyeliner and rubbing my eyes, so a good concealer is super important to me, and this one is light and effective, and also, the pen format is fun to click because I am 34 going on 4.
What questions do you have for me? How have you made health changes beyond just what you eat and how you work out?
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I use their cleansing balm and love it! I hope to/plan to switch to more, but kind of need my wallet to ease into it!
I was a teenager in late 80s and couldn't get dark enough! We even used baby oil and iodine to get a certain shade. I now use SPF in my moisturizer and regularly apply 60 all the time. If anyone younger is reading this...sunscreen!!!!
Hi Theodora! I ordered some great beauty counter products, through your link and was wondering about the extra charcoal cleansing bar or sunscreen!
Hi Sarah! :) I'd seen your order but not an email, so I'm glad you commented. I'll follow up via email!
Wow, surprised at those numbers for Europe vs USA. Do you have any idea if Asia is more or less strict? Asian beauty products are super popular these days, so I kind of wonder. I know for some food ingredients, things that are allowed in Asia are sometimes banned in the US, and vice versa.
@Dawn: Hi Dawn1 There are some organizations works for that. For example in the USA, FDA restricted some ingredients which they found not good for skin. The European Union also banned some. But I don't think that any organization like that is working in Asia.