(Beauty)
The Real Reason Why I Only Use “Clean” Concealer
I used to be a that girl who wore makeup everyday, applying a full face of foundation and red lipstick to run across the street to CVS. Later, after dealing with some serious skin issues, I revamped my entire routine to live that clean beauty life and my vibe was more along the lines of no makeup shall ever touch this precious face again. But I could only hold out for so long — the beauty editor within me still craved a good spot concealer and sparkly highlight. Now, I’ve found a happy medium: clean makeup products, made with ingredients that don’t clog my pores but do offer subtle coverage (not to mention a creative outlet — which was always my favorite thing about wearing makeup, anyway).
There is one downside to choosing natural makeup, though: It gets expensive to experiment. Natural, organic, and clean beauty options tend to be priced a bit higher than their counterparts — these brands are more focused on sourcing stellar ingredients than cutting costs — and it's not like you can really grab something cheap from the drugstore in a pinch. For this reason, once I find a product I love, I don’t feel the need to look any further. I’m a loyal fan forever.
So far, six brands have made it into my permanent lineup: ILIA Beauty, BeautyCounter, and KOSAS Cosmetics all fall within the clean category — meaning their ingredients, while not 100 percent natural, have been proven to be safe for the skin and body. Living Libations is my go-to natural beauty brand (that is, formulated only with materials straight from nature). Finally, RMS Beauty and Kjaer Weis are both certified organic — in other words, the ingredients in these products are both natural and grown and harvested without any chemicals or pesticides.
While safe formulations are, of course, key in this category, the real reason I'm a fan of these brands is because their makeup straight-up works. Ahead, the ten clean beauty products always in my makeup bag.
