While you can count the shades of eye shadows and lipsticks changing season to season, it’s unusual to witness a revolution in the way makeup is formulated. That’s what’s occurring in natural makeup right now. The highlights of this new era of eco-friendly cosmetics? Organic skin-care companies bring their hero ingredients into makeup. Fruit pigments coloring eyeliner and lip gloss. More natural mascara choices than ever. And all-natural cheek tints that multitask as eye-shadow. The pretty truth is, makeup has never been cleaner or more creative than right now.
Face
The “natureceutical” company that uses coffeeberry to help prevent sun damage and skin aging in its skin-care products has harnessed the plant’s antioxidant power for Priori CoffeeBerry Perfecting Mineral Foundation SPF 25 ($45, www.prioriskincare.com). The compact it comes in is all-natural, too—a 100 percent biodegradable plastic made from plants.
Mineral Fusion Pressed Powder Foundation ($39, www.mineralfusioncosmetics.com) contains white and red tea, sea kelp, licorice root and fruit extracts like pomegranate for skin-care benefits in your makeup.
Mineral makeup is a multi-tasker, and Eminence Organics SPF 30 Sun Defense Minerals ($50, www.eminenceorganics.com for spas) is no exception. It evens skin tone, calms redness or irritation, absorbs excess oil or shine, and doubles as a sunscreen. And since Eminence’s minerals are packaged in a tidy dispenser brush, you can be a multi-tasker too, and use it on the go.
Juice Beauty Correcting Concealer ($18, www.juicebeauty.com) is part of the brand-new Organic Color collection for this Sephora-based organic skin-care line. The light-weight concealer, which comes in a tube, contains free-radical-fighting extracts of acai, goji berry, and grapeseed oil, as does the mineral makeup.
Luminizing products that boost radiance are flying out of stores faster than Parisians in August. Dr. Hauschka Bronzing Fluid ($36.95, store.drhauschka.com) contains coconut, shea butter, and macadamia oils that provide the benefits of a moisturizer.
Eyes
Lavera is one of Europe’s most popular natural beauty lines, and this fall the company takes off stateside in Target stores with its affordable makeup. Look for Soft Eyeliners ($13, www.lavera.com) in black, brown, and gray, created with beeswax and topped with a sponge tip for creating a smoky eye with ease and a new Volume Mascara, with jojoba and organic rose extracts.
Josie Maran GOGO Instant Volume Argan Mascara ($22, www.josiemarancosmetics.com) contains the natural makeup artist’s hero ingredient, argan oil, which conditions lashes instead of drying them out, as well as algae and beet root for a formula that’s 80 percent natural.
Organic Glam Mascara ($35, www.theorganicpharmacy.com) uses gentle waxes, honeysuckle flower, aloe leaf juice, and carrot polypeptides to make it odorless (rare for mascaras), and the slim, chic brush helps you reach every little lash.
Three circular eye shadows in Jane Iredale Eye Steppes ($56, shop.janeiredale.com) click together into little stacks—or click apart, making it easy to travel with them all or just your favorite. Three gorgeous no-guess palettes are perfect for blue-, brown-, and green-eye beauties.
Want your favorite Aveda Petal Essence eye shadow in a liner? Aveda New Color Options Eye Shadow Transformer ($25, www.aveda.com), made with Xanthan gum and organic palm glycerin, turns powders into a precise, vibrant liquid liner or a longer-wear cream shadow. Liquid gold.
100 Percent Pure Blueberry Sapphire Gel Eye Liner ($18, www.100percentpure.com) uses only fruit and veggie pigments for color, which gives the apple of your eye a whole new meaning. The newest liquid eyeliner shade comes in a trendy deep-blue jewel tone.
Cheeks
Vapour Organic Beauty Aura Multi Use Stains ($28, www.spiritbeautylounge.com) joins a growing group of gorgeous and green multi-tasking makeup. The all-natural and 70-percent organic cheek stick can be used for a dash of lip and eye color, and it hydrates with nourishing plant oils where it colors.
A point of pride for Afterglow Organic Mineral Blush ($23, www.afterglowcosmetics.com), enriched with grapeseed and pomegranate extracts, is that it contains no nano-size particles or bismuth oxychloride, an ingredient that gives makeup a pearly sheen but may cause itching, rashes, and cystic acne, says the company.
Aubrey Organics Silken Earth Powder Blush ($11.95, www.aubrey-organics.com) gets its name from silk powder, which serves as the foundation for this affordable loose powder that’s garnished with beet and radish powders.
Hard-working natural Revolution Organics Freedom Glow Beauty Balm ($35, www.revolutionorganics.com) is a giant stick that adds a hint of dewy color to cheeks, lips, and décolleté, which saves you money as well as room in your handbag.
Bella Floria Perfect Organics Lip and Cheek Shimmers ($18.99, www.bellafloria.com) come in a slim lipstick-size tube. All the better to get a natural glow—courtesy of non-GMO vitamin E and organic argan oil—right where it’s needed.
Lips
Rocker-model Theo Kogan names her natural Armour Beauty Lip Gloss ($19, www.armourbeauty.com) for famous female figures with cool factor. For fall, a new opaque coral is named for Ann Margaret, a shimmery blue magenta honors Grace Jones, and an opaque bubblegum pink is a shout out to Hello Magazine and Hello Kitty.
No matte, crevice-creeping color here. Lavanila The Healthy Lip Shine ($14, www.lavanila.com), which comes in five shades favors a glossy look and luminous lips. The natural oil like apricot and jojoba and shea butter lend slippery thin (not clumpy) coat.
Hurraw! Balm in Black Cherry ($3.79, www.hurrawbalm.com) is a tinted lip balm handcrafted with cold-pressed nut and seed oils. It gets its color from plant bark, roots, and fruit zest. Three cheers, indeed.
The cult-favorite color line by New York makeup artist Rose-Marie Swift debuts new RMS Lip Shines ($30, www.rmsbeauty.com) in pale pink and warm brown for fall. As little as possible is done to the high-quality ingredients, such as certified organic moringa oil, to preserve their integrity and purity.
Priming dry lips with GloMinerals goLip Ritual ($15, www.gloskincare.com), a nourishing plant-oil-based stick with a surprisingly soothing blend of anise and clove essential oils, conditions them for color, such as gloLiquid Lips ($14.75, www.gloskincare.com).
Natural Polishes
Just a few years ago, most nail polishes contained several potentially and proven toxic ingredients. Now nearly about 80 percent of all polishes are “three-free,” meaning they’re made without formaldehyde, and DBP. Spa Ritual (www.sparitual.com), which is also vegan, was an early favorite of natural-leaning spas. Priti (www.pritinyc.com) started as a small New York eco-friendly brand and now regularly coats the nails of fashion week models—and comes in kid-friendly sizes. Acquarella (www.spiritbeautylounge.com) distinguishes itself as a water-based polish line that’s virtually odorless. A Beautiful Life (www.abeautifullife.com) makes cool shades for Urban Outfitters, like Juiced, an intense orange crème, and a great soy polish remover. Rococo (www.spacenk.com) isn’t polish—it’s nail apparel—as well as the hot house brand of Space NK stores. And Butter London (www.butterlondon.com) makes mini polishes in very of-the-moment colors like All Hail McQueen, named for the legendary designer, Alexander McQueen, that’s a taupe with multicolored sparkles.
Makeup Tools
Eco Tools, which launched the first environmentally friendly makeup brushes, just followed up with a very affordable Eco Tools Brow Grooming Set ($7.99, www.target.com), made with recycled materials. Following suit is Aussie organic line Nvey Eco, which debuts certified compostable makeup brush handles (made from corn resin), including the Powder Brush ($54, www.spiritbeautylounge.com). Aveda uses flax and post-consumer recycled resin for the handles of its new Flax Sticks Special Effects Brush Set ($55, www.aveda.com). To keep brushes clean, try Youngblood’s no-rinse, botanically based Pro Brush Cleaner ($18, www.ybskin.com). How do you sharpen biodegradable eye pencils? With New Zealand’s Living Nature Pencil Sharpener ($6, www.saffronrouge.com). Kaia Naturals Bamboo Facial Cleansing Cloths ($21.50 for 30 wipes, www.beautyencounter.com), dipped in organic honey and essential oils, act as a cleanser, makeup remover, and a skin-calming toner in a super soft face cloth. When it comes to makeup removal, we also like the Swisspers Organic line of USDA certified organic cotton puffs and rounds (www.swisspers.com). How to carry it all? The Christy Coleman Organic Cotton Makeup Bag ($28, www.bellafloria.com), designed by the eco-makeup artist, is a perfect little clutch for your natural and organic makeup.
Peel Off Your Polish?
Sula redeems what’s usually considered a bad habit with a deliberately paint-and-peel nail polish that’s also non-toxic. The colors, which tend toward the trendy, come off easily—but not too soon. Because the concept makes using nail polish remover a moot point, it’s a boon for those who change their colors constantly or who travel a lot and do their own mani-pedis on the fly.