Naturalla Beauty

Brand Background

Those of you who've been with me for a while will likely recall that I used to write a lot about indie makeup and, even though I'm still a huge proponent of supporting smaller makeup brands, it's not something that's been very represented on the blog in the last couple years.  I'm hoping to change that going forward, starting with today's post on Ashley Morgan Cosmetics.  I discovered the company in a Facebook group and when I saw they had super promising clean ingredients and a free sample offer -- still going on here! -- I was quick to submit an order.  

Ashley Morgan Cosmetics is a new company that launched earlier this year.  Created by makeup artist Emily Eads after her own struggles with migraines, endocrine disruption, and other symptoms of toxicity, the company creates high quality makeup completely free of harmful ingredients and designed to really work.  

I've been trying out several products over the last couple months and I'm eager to share my thoughts on everything!



Liquid Mineral Foundation
First off, this foundation smells exactly like cotton candy to me.  It's super sweet and vanilla-y, but, even as someone who's often sensitive to strong scents, I don't find it ever crosses the line to sickly or cloying.  The coverage is a very natural looking light to medium and the foundation, which is pretty thin in consistency, feels very lightweight on the skin.  It does a great job evening out skin tone and covering minor imperfections, but it's not something that's going to offer a flawless full coverage.  Personally, I usually prefer a more natural, skin-like base anyways and I liked the formula a lot, but Natural Ivory was, unfortunately, not a great color match for me.  As you can see in the swatch below, it's both too dark and somewhat too yellow/warm-toned for my skin.

Natural Concealer
The color of the concealer, on the other hand, was great.  Pure, the lightest shade, is nice and light and also runs more peachy/neutral, which is perfect for me.  The concealer has a very creamy and emollient texture and stays that way until set with a powder.  In terms of coverage, I'd put it at around a medium coverage.  My favorite use has been on blemishes and imperfections on the face, as it covers well, blends easily, and, once set with a powder, truly does stay in place all day without budging.  It works okay under the eyes too, but I usually prefer a bit of a drier/less emollient concealer for that area.     

High Definition Powder
The HD Powders are invisible silica-based loose powders great for setting liquid and cream products.  They can also be used on their own for a slight blurring effect.  I tried both the Translucent (untinted) and the Light, and to be completely honest, I don't notice much difference between the two.  Both shades are very finely milled and silky and are basically imperceptible on the skin.  I don't notice any whitecast from the Translucent and I similarly don't notice any discernible color from the Light.  Silica powders are great for soaking up oil and the HD Powders work really well for setting foundation and concealer while slightly blurring fine lines and imperfections.  I'd be cautious using them for flash photography since silica is notorious for that dreaded flashback effect, but otherwise I think they're great.

(L to R) Natural Ivory Foundation, Pure Concealer, Light HD Powder, Rose Tinted Lip Balm

Organic Mascara
Possibly my favorite out of everything!  With a traditional bristle brush and a thicker formula, this mascara does a fantastic job building volume.  I've been layering it with my longtime favorite Zuzu Luxe mascara the last few weeks and the two together create some seriously impressive lashes.  I'm loving the combo, but the Ashley Morgan also works great by itself.  I love that it doesn't irritate my eyes in the slightest and that it stays put throughout the day without flaking or smudging.  

Organic Tinted Lip Balm 
There were these mineral lip tints that I wore way back in my early high school years and this balm is nostalgically reminiscent of those for me.  It feels nice on the lips and offers a pleasant minty tingle along with sheer but buildable color.  Rose is a warm pink shade, with some coppery and reddish tones running through it.  It looks pretty shimmery or even metallic in a swatch, but on the lips, it's much more subtle.  I love tinted balms in general and I like this one a lot. 

The Bottom Line
Ashley Morgan Cosmetics is a brand to watch!  Ingredients are top notch and the products consistently perform well.  I'd love to see an expanded shade range in the Liquid Minerals Foundation, but beyond that, I was super happy with everything I tried.  
  

It's always fun trying new makeup, but the chance of something going wrong or needing extra fiddling means that I'm much less likely to experiment on days when I have to be somewhere within a given time frame.  Today I found myself just hanging out at home, so it seemed like the perfect time to play with a whole bunch of new makeup bits!



FACE

This was my first time trying Suki's Tinted Active Moisturizer in Porcelain and it was a little odd.  I don't know if this is normal - maybe my sample was old - but the moisturizer came out of the sachet an orangey shade with little dots of lighter pigment throughout.  Porcelain is the lighter of Suki's two shades and it blended fine on the skin and didn't look orange once on, but it also gave very little coverage.  I topped it with Honeybee Gardens' Pressed Mineral Foundation in Geisha, which, as you can see, is well loved.  It works well with my skin, has good coverage, is incredibly quick to apply, and looks pretty natural.  Une Beauty's Skin Glow Pencil in G02 - possibly discontinued - is yellow-toned and great for covering dark circles.  I set it with Silk Naturals' Light Peach Sleep in a Jar, which brightens up the under eye area and gives a tiny bit of extra coverage.  I used Au Naturale's Creme Concealer in Beige, which came in the November Petit Vour box, to cover a couple small blemishes.  



EYES

I received the Lily Lolo Laid Bare Palette* just a couple days ago, so this was my first time working with it.  First impressions are really good: the three shadows I used were all nicely pigmented and went on really smoothly.  Lavera's Eye Shadow Base is a relative new addition to my makeup bag, although I've been playing with it for a few weeks now.  I prefer something a bit tackier for extra shimmery or sparkly shadows, but for everything else, I've been really happy with how it performs.  I've had Pacifica's Eye Pencil in Bare for a good few months now and I like using it to brighten up the waterline.  I picked up Jet - the black shade - very recently, and it's great too: creamy and dark black.  For today's look, I just smudged it lightly into my lash line.  Zuzu Luxe Onyx Mascara is nothing new to me, but what is new is the Zuzu Luxe Cream Brow Pencil in Russet.  I'll be the first to admit that, when it comes to brows, I really don't know what I'm doing, but I wanted to experiment a bit more with filling them in, so I picked this up.  The color works pretty well, but I need to play with it more to fully decide what I think.


When I break it down, it seems like a ton of products, but it all amounted to a pretty natural, everyday-type look.    

Makeup selfies are hard guys.  I don't know how some of you do it!

What do you think?  Are any of these products favorites of yours?

With skin as pale as mine, it's very easy to overdo it with blush and end up looking like a clown.  For that reason, it's taken me a while to fully embrace wearing blush, but I think I'm officially a convert.  Today I want to talk about three fairly new-to-me blushes I've been loving.


The All Natural Face Desert Sand Glow
Technically this one is an all over face glow, not a blush, but it's way too dark on my skin to use all over.  Instead, I love using it as a subtle blush.  It's a nude pink color that goes with just about any makeup look.  It works equally well to tone down an otherwise dramatic makeup look, or just as an easy blush to grab when you're in a hurry or can't decide what color to wear.  

Pure Anada Fresh Mandarin Blush
Peach blushes are always a favorite around here and Fresh Mandarin is a pretty, burnt orange shade that seems especially fitting for fall.  I've mostly gotten used to loose blushes, but the added convenience of a pressed blush definitely comes in handy sometimes.  One drawback of this product is that it has a weird, putty-like smell, but according to the company, this is just the scent of the raw, unrefined jojoba oil that's used as a binder.  Would I like it better without the smell? Definitely, but it only smells in the pan, not on your face, so it isn't enough to stop me from enjoying such a pretty blush shade.

Silk Naturals Abstract Sheer Blush
Abstract is a pale, plummy pink shade with a nice, luminous finish, but no actual shimmer or glitter. The base is a cool-toned pink, but it has a slight gold sheen that warms it up nicely.  Seriously, I've been using this color almost non-stop these last few months and I just love it.  Silk Naturals' blushes are fantastic for us lighter skinned folk, because they go on sheer (at first) and blend very easily.  They're still very buildable though, so I don't think darker skinned ladies would have any issues using them either.  


The Bottom Line
The swatches of these three paint a pretty clear picture of how I like my blushes: not too dark and not too pigmented.  I'll reach for a more vivid blush on occasion, but for everyday, I usually go for a fairly subtle cheek color, somewhere along the lines of these three.  

What's your go-to blush color?