Naturalla Beauty

(L to R) Silk Naturals Crazy Love Vegan Lipstick, Silk Naturals Twirl Kissable Cream Lip Gloss, LUVU Beauty Peppy Lip Gloss, Revolution Organics Freedom Lip Gloss, My Beauty Addiction Party Girl Pretty Lil' Puckers Lip Gloss, Osmia Organics Lip Luster

Silk Naturals Organic Vegan Lipstick in Crazy Love

Shrieking Violet is one of Silk Naturals' more popular lip glosses and Crazy Love is what they came up with when a lot of people, myself included, requested a more opaque, lipstick version of that gloss.  It's perfect for when you want a bright, stand-out pink lip, but it also has a slight bit of purple/berry to it as well, which I find makes it a lot more wearable than a straight up hot pink.  

Silk Naturals Kissable Cream Lip Gloss in Twirl   [Review]

I was reminded shortly after I'd taken these photos that Silk Naturals has discontinued their Kissable Cream glosses, so this one is, unfortunately, not available anymore.  These were a lovely formula, but hopefully Silk Naturals will release a similar color in one of their other lines as Twirl really is the perfect milky coral.  

LUVU Beauty Lip Gloss in Peppy 

LUVU Beauty's lip glosses are one of my favorite products from the brand, and Peppy really is the perfect color for spring.  It's a bright coral/poppy color with a small amount of shimmer, though the shimmer is not very noticeable on the lips.  LUVU's glosses are scented with tangerine essential oil, so they smell delicious.  They're also on the thicker side, which means they last really well on your lips too.

Revolution Organics Freedom Lip Gloss in Freedom
Revolution Organics' glosses are super hydrating and feel incredible on the lips.  Freedom is perfect if, like me, you're a little shy of wearing full-on red lips.  It's a gorgeous classic red, but it's sheer and has a bit of pink to it too.  

My Beauty Addiction Pretty Lil' Puckers Lip Gloss in Party Girl   [Review]
The Pretty Lil' Puckers glosses are super shiny and Party Girl is a great bright, mauvey-pink.  My only complaint with these glosses is that, as you can see in the swatch of Party Girl, they've started to separate.  I love the squeeze tube, but I may end up just dumping it into a pot so I can stir it back together!

Osmia Organics Lip Luster   [Review]

In the swatch, this looks darker than Freedom, but on your lips, it's a lot more subtle.  The formula is intensely hydrating and melts into your lips, leaving you with just a slight, hint of color.  

Do any of these catch your eye?  What are your favorite lip products for spring and summer?

  

I'm excited to have actually gotten my holiday gift guide together fairly early this year!  I've decided to split it into three parts, according to price.  Today, I've got my top picks for under $10.

1. Intelligent Nutrients Destress Express Travel Soap ($5)

Intelligent Nutrients products smell phenomenal and this soap has just the right amount of kitsch to go along with it.  Great for that person who's always extra busy or stressed. 

2. Organic Mulling Spice Filled Ornament ($6.50)

This is such a clever idea!  These glass ornaments are filled with enough organic mulling spices to make a gallon of wine or cider.  The store also sells equally gorgeous ornaments filled with different teas and coffee if that's more to your liking.

3. Ecosoapia Peppermint Organic Liquid Soap (£6.00)

Peppermint castile soap: a million and one uses and Ecosoapia's packaging is definitely cute enough to make a gift of it!  Also available in five other scents.

4. Badger Lip Tint & Shimmer ($5.99)

Badger's lovely cocoa butter lip balm in beautiful colours!  One side is tinted and the other is a translucent shimmer.  Four colours to choose from. 

5. SkinnySkinny Grapefruit & Cardamom Mini Dry Shampoo ($9)

As I was typing this, it hit me that dry shampoo as a gift could potentially give the wrong impression, so make sure you're giving this to the right person!  Great between washes or just to give extra texture to your hair.

6. HolyBeth Organics Sugar Cookie Travel Candle ($7.00)

These tinned soy wax candles are free of any petroleum, colorants, or synthetic fragrances.  Scented with peppermint and vanilla, they sound perfect for the holidays.

7. Weleda Skin Food Cracker (£5.47)

Weleda's award-winning Skin Food, is super festive and all dressed up for the holidays!   I don't see these on the U.S. Weleda site, but they're available with free shipping from Naturisimo.  They've got crackers of a few other Weleda products too.

8. Crazy Rumors Gingerbread Lip Balm ($3.49)

Crazy Rumors makes fantastic vegan lip balms all year round, but the gingerbread flavour is a limited edition for the holidays, so if gingerbread is your thing, I suggest picking it up soon.

9. My Beauty Addiction Pretty Lil' Pucker Lip Creams ($5)

I reviewed these a couple months ago and they remain one of my favorite lip glosses.  Beautiful colours, affordable, and they feel great on the lips.

10. Shiro Cosmetics Mini Eye Shadow in Whiteout (3.50)

Or really, any mineral eye shadows.  Most indie shadows will cost you less than $6, but I love how Shiro offers mini jars for even less.  Other great brands include Darling Gift Cosmetics (which also offers mini jars), Silk Naturals, and The Chequered Lily Apothecary.   

I hope this was helpful if you're on the lookout for natural and non-toxic gift ideas.  Parts 2 and 3 will be posted over the next few days.

 

  

 I've reviewed a couple of their other products before (here and here), but I have to say, I think these lip glosses are my favorite thing I've tried from My Beauty Addiction.  I received two of these in a gift exchange and I liked them so much that I recently purchased the other two myself.

Product Description: Our Pretty Lil' Puckers are a thick creamy gloss that is very emollient and highly pigmented. 

Packaging: Soft, slanted tip squeeze tubes.  

Price: $5.00 for 10 grams of gloss.

My Opinion: Fantastic lip glosses at a super affordable price!  I love the squeeze tube packaging, which lets you control how much gloss you want to apply.  I usually just go for it straight from the tube, but it's also simple enough to use a lip brush if you prefer to apply that way.  

MBA's Pretty Lil' Puckers are thicker than a lot of other natural glosses and they have a great, shiny finish.  Of any natural gloss I've tried, I think these come the closest to that shiny, almost vinyl look that some petroleum-based glosses have.  And, while they aren't sticky, they're fairly long-lasting and manage to keep everything feeling hydrated the whole time too!  In fact, my first thought on trying them was how much they reminded me, in terms of feel, of my beloved Revolution Organics lip gloss that I've been resisting repurchasing ever since it ran out towards the beginning of the summer.

Colours: I have four of the eight available colours, and pigmentation does vary amongst them.  Rumors (bright electric coral) and Party Girl (medium pink with hints of mauve) definitely live up to MBA's highly pigmented claims and have almost the pigmentation of a liquid lipstick.  The lighter colours, Candy Baby (light, slightly frosty pink) and Buff (light nude) are more sheer and let a good deal of my natural lip colour peek through.  All four have some shimmer in them, but it's most visible on the lips in Buff, and barely noticeable in Rumors and Party Girl. 

The Bottom Line: These glosses are definitely a product I would repurchase.  They work nicely both on their own and layered over other lip products and the price really can't be beaten!  I've also received only the best customer service from My Beauty Addiction, which can be purchased either on etsy or from their independent website.  If you do plan on ordering, I recommend checking out MBA's Facebook page first, since there are often sales and specials that are only advertised there. 

  

The second thing I got from My Beauty Addiction was a lipstick palette.  As I mentioned in my first post, My Beauty Addiction offers a lot of specials on their facebook page.  When I ordered, they were offering this palette free with purchases of $15 or more.  I'd already been eying their lipsticks, so I was excited to try out a few different colours out this way!

Included in the palette are Drama Queen, Heliotrope, V.I.Pink and Stargazer.  

Drama Queen is a vivid fuschia pink.

Heliotrope is a very vivid pink with a strong purple undertone

V.I.Pink is a deep magenta pink.

Stargazer is a vibrant violet with a magenta/fuschia undertone.

(Descriptions from My Beauty Addiction)

All of these colours are fairly bright, great for when you want a more bold lip.  Drama Queen and V.I.Pink are beautiful pinks, and Heliotrope is a great berry shade.  Stargazer is the only one I have a hard time wearing - it's just a little too purple for me!    The formula of these is great as well, giving vibrant colour without drying out your lips.  I do find it takes a little work to build them up to full opacity, but I think that's just due to the palette form.  In a regular lipstick tube, I'm confident you wouldn't have that problem at all.

 

These specific palettes were a special, but you can purchase lipstick duos for $8 or mini trios for $5.  They are also available in regular lipstick tubes for $8 (or 3 for $20.)  Another fun thing is that My Beauty Addiction will make lipstick out of any of their (lip safe) eye shadows, so if there's an unusual lipstick colour you've been looking for, you just might be able to find it here.  The duos and trios can also be customized.

  

If you use more natural makeup, then you probably already know how rare it is to find pressed eye shadows without ingredients like talc and silicones.  When you do find them, it's usually only from higher end brands, and as a result, the price point can get fairly high.  If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you also probably already know that I'm not someone who is usually willing to spend $15-30 for a single eye shadow.  This is where My Beauty Addiction comes in. 

My Beauty Addiction has an extensive line of makeup, skincare, and bath and body products, but what really caught my eye was their pressed eye shadows.  They are available in the same shades as their loose shadows, excluding their line of matte colours, and are pressed to order using only fractionated coconut oil.  I've considered pressing my own shadows in the past and done some research on what doing so would entail, so it's really interesting to me that My Beauty Addiction is able to press shadows with only this one ingredient.

The shadows are packaged in individual swing arm compacts.  Initially I was concerned that they would pop open, but they snap closed tightly and I haven't had any problems.  They're labelled with the company name on the top and colour name and ingredients on the bottom.  The compacts can also be clipped together in a stack.  They sell for $7 each, or $20 for 4.

Presumably from the oil, these are very creamy shadows.  In the compacts, the shadows are fairly soft and do kick up a bit of dust as you use them.  My Beauty Addiction recommends using foam tip applicators, but I had no problems using my regular brushes - the shadows are pigmented and apply smoothly.  In terms of colours, although the pressed shadows are available in the same range of colours as their loose shadows, My Beauty Addiction states that the texture can change from the pressing process.  They say that these are not glittery or sparkly, but rather more of a velvety/satiny or metallic texture, which I found to be true of the four colours I purchased.  Swiss chocolate does have a bit of shimmer though.  Also, it's worth mentioning that one of the four shadows I ordered did arrive broken (I blame the post office, since these were very well wrapped), but Sherrie, the owner, was kind enough to send a replacement. 

The only place these fell a little bit short was wear time, since for me, they don't last as long as most loose mineral shadows.  I start getting creasing after 5 or 6 hours and it becomes fairly obvious after 8 or 9.  For comparison, with Detrivore Cosmetics' primer and loose shadows, I usually wear my makeup for a good 12 hours and only have minimal creasing when I take it off.   My guess is this is due to the oil content, which isn't there in a loose shadow. 

The Bottom Line

If you're someone looking for the convenience of a pressed eye shadow without the high price point a lot of natural brands carry, I'd highly recommend My Beauty Addiction's pressed shadows.  There is a huge range of colours (125+) and the four I chose are all beautiful.  If you're someone who doesn't have problems with eye makeup creasing or someone who wears their makeup for less time, you probably won't have any problems with these.  For me, I tend to avoid these on work days when my makeup will be on for longer, but I've been using them for night looks, which don't need to last as long, and they've been working fantastically.  They'd also be great for travel, where loose shadows can be a hassle.

My experience as a customer was really positive and I'm definitely interested in trying more products from My Beauty Addiction.  I'd also recommend checking out their facebook page before you order, since they regularly post sales.  In fact, if you order today, you can get free US shipping in their etsy store with the code 'SHIPFREE.'  International customers will receive discounted shipping with the same code.