Investigating Your Stuff: The Makeup

So the other day I let you take a look inside my shower so we could investigate the relative goodness/badness of my shampoo and soap and stuff. There were some surprises in there, including some Whole Foods shockers, but my bath products are flowers of purity and rainbows compared to some of the stuff I have in my makeup cabinet:

Let's go through the highlights reel first:

Physician's Formula pressed powder:  6.7 from the Good Guide, and only a 2 out of 10 for toxicity. Bonus - it comes in a refillable, bamboo compact with very little packaging. Dig it.

Physician's Formula Organic Concealer Stick: not listed in the Good Guide, but a tiny little 2 out of 10 on the SkinDeep ratings. Works pretty well, too.

Bare Escentuals loose powder foundation: No info on the Good Guide (weird, considering it is one of the best-selling product lines at Sephora), but only a 3 on the toxicity ratings which I consider excellent for foundation. Hooray! No problems keeping it, since it's expensive and lasts a looooong time.

Burts Bees Blemish Stick: 7.7 on the Good Guide, 2 on the SkinDeep toxic ratings. Works pretty well.

And now for the morass of petroleum-based, organ system toxic, highly inflammatory carcinogens otherwise known as "the rest of my makeup"....

Tarte cheek stain: only a 5.5 on the Good Guide, and a 4 out of 10 for toxicity. Tarte now has an eco-line that scores slightly better. Bummer. I've had this stick for a long time, and it works pretty well. I'll probably keep it, since I use so little of it...

Cover Girl Eye Shadow: 5.1 on the Good Guide, and 5 for toxicity. We all know those colors are not found in naturally occurring substances, right?

Olay Regenerist moisturizer: 5.1 on the Good Guide, 5 for toxicity. This made me heave a big sigh. It really does work SO well. But a few months ago, I decided to try out Burt's Bees moisturizer, because it HAD to be better, right??

Burt's Bees Moisturizer: The one I bought is not specifically listed in the Good Guide, but similar products score around 7 (Pretty Good!) BUT, SkinDeep still rates it as a 4 for toxicity. Better than Olay, but not a ton better.

Rimmel mascara: not listed in The Good Guide, but gets a scary 6 out of 10 on SkinDeep.

So, what else is in that mess of a cabinet? Mostly lipglosses. Tarte lipglosses were iffy, with a 6.8 on the Good Guide and a mediocre 4 on SkinDeep. The other odds and ends include items that I couldn't find in either of the listings or didn't use often enough to really ponder. I'll take an "after" picture to let you know what is left after the Big Purge.

The only things left in my bathroom to scrutinize are the medicine cabinet items like toothpaste and deodorant. Both of those could get their own thrilling post, what with all the scary crap they put in toothpaste to make your teeth whiter, your breath sweeter, and your insides slowly melt. And don't get me started on deodorant! We might be rubbing breast cancer into our armpits every morning! Well, we may be. I don't know. I'm going to look into it for us.

In the mean time, get over to www.skindeep.com and www.goodguide.com and take a look at your makeup. I'm beginning to think that the "anti-aging" gimmicks are actually effective just because we are smearing preservatives so faithfully into our faces every morning.