Naturalla Beauty

Real Purity is a four generation, family-owned, all-natural and cruelty-free company that's been around since the beginning of the natural product wave. The company makes makeup, skincare, and bath and body items, and specializes in products for sensitive and reactive skin.  I was offered the chance to try a couple products from Real Purity's makeup line and I chose the Pressed Powder* and Desert Rose Powder Blush*.  Real Purity's pressed makeup is made with minimal ingredients and is free of both talc and silicones.  Pressed powder makeup is increasingly available in the green beauty sphere, but inexpensive options are still a little scarce, so I was eager to test these two out!  Keep reading for my thoughts on both...



Desert Rose Powder Blush
I tried a sample of this blush years ago and always intended to come back for the full size.  Now that it's back in my life, I remember just how much I loved it!  The color is a beautiful mauve/plummy-pink unlike anything else I own and Real Purity's blush formula is phenomenal.  Desert Rose is completely matte, and is both pigmented and easy to blend.  Because I'm so fair, I like using a stippling brush to control the amount of product and slowly build the color on my cheeks.  It's super pretty and also very long-wearing.  A lot of blushes tend to fade and disappear off my face throughout the day, but Real Purity's is consistently still there at night when I remove my makeup.

The ingredients are super minimal -- just non-nano minerals, vitamin E, and pycnogenol (pine bark extract).  I genuinely think these are some of the best powder blushes in the green beauty realm and with an affordable $14.99 price tag and thirteen beautiful colors to choose from, you really can't go wrong!  Samples are also available for $1.50.

(L to R) Real Purity Medium Pressed Powder, Desert Rose Powder Blush

Pressed Powder
The Pressed Powder -- again made with only minerals, vitamin E, and pycnogenol -- is a great lightweight powder that can be used on top of liquid and cream products or worn alone, as a light powder foundation.  My first inclination was to pick the lightest shade, but the folks at Real Purity suggested Medium based off my photos and I'm glad they did.  The color looks dark in the compact, but it swatches and applies a little lighter, and anything paler would probably be too light for my skin.  Swatched, the color looks very peachy/neutral, but on my face it leans warmer.  It starts out looking a little too yellow initially, but the powder settles and melts into the skin within about the first half hour, at which point the color looks very natural.

 Check it out beside a few other powder foundations for a better idea of how the color compares:

(Top to Bottom) Real Purity Medium, Honeybee Gardens Geisha, Ecco Bella Fair, Ecco Bella Pale, Everyday Minerals 1N Ivory

The Pressed Powder is matte, but not flat-looking -- more of a natural or satin finish.  Coverage-wise, it gives light coverage, but you can build it up to a decent medium coverage with a couple layers.  Whether you wear one light layer or multiple, the powder really does sit nicely on the skin and doesn't look cakey or overly powdery.  Like the blush, it also wears really well and even does a good job absorbing/controlling oils.  My skin isn't super oily by any means, but I usually blot once in the afternoon and I find it less necessary on days wearing the Real Purity  The powder itself is a little dustier than the blush and it does kick up some extra powder as you apply it, but I think that same soft texture is what makes it so great at absorbing oils throughout the day.  

My only criticism is that, like a lot of smaller natural companies, the shade range is pretty limited.  There are shades for both light and dark skin, but with only four colors, I definitely think there's lots of room to expand.  Personally, I'd love to see a cooler/neutral shade of a similar depth to Medium.



The Bottom Line
Real Purity often falls slightly under the radar in the green blogging sphere, but they're a fantastic company with a long history of making natural products.  I love the brand's emphasis on ingredient purity and on using simple, minimal ingredients to suit sensitive skin, and also that they maintain an affordable price point across the entire range.  The Pressed Blushes are truly some of the best out there, and I also really like the Pressed Powder, although I certainly wouldn't say no to a few more shade options.

Real Purity is offering 20% off site-wide until February 28, 2017 with the code WINTRY.  Alternately, you can shop through my referral link and get $5 off your first purchase.  

I did a full review of Pure + Simple's Taupe Face Colour shortly after I got it, but I don't think I've mentioned it since, or ever talked about the two other shades I ended up picking up shortly after.  The Face Colours are powder products, pressed without talc or silicones.  Depending on the shade, they can function as blush, bronzer, eye shadow, and perhaps even lip color.  

I have three shades, and while I've never tried any of them on the lips, I can readily attest to how well they work on both the face and eyes.


Glow - is a bright, watermelon pink, with a noticeable sheen.  I barely even need to touch my brush into this color to get enough product to use as a blush.  

Rose Gold - is a bronzy peach, also with a pretty heavy sheen.  I like to use this one on the cheeks - again, with a light hand - and since I also love doing peachy eye looks, I regularly use it as an eye shadow too.

Taupe - is an interesting medium brown shade.  It looks like a cool-toned brown in the pan, but on the skin it has a golden glow that warms the colour up a good deal.  Of the three shades, I've definitely used this one the most.  It's a very versatile, medium crease shade  and works great to blend out almost any eye look.  I find myself reaching for it all the time.  



Pure + Simple's Face Colours are some of the most pigmented pressed makeup items in my collection.  If you're fair like me - and maybe even if you're not - you really need to be careful not to pick up too much product when using them on the face.  Otherwise, you can very easily end up in clown cheek territory.  In all three shades I've used, the shimmer is very finely milled, so while the colours give off a beautiful sheen, there's no actual sparkles or glitter on your face.  They're also buttery soft and blend easily, so even being so pigmented, they aren't a difficult product to work with. 

Have you used anything from Pure + Simple?

A few weeks ago I set out to try my hand at pressing eye shadows.  Using loose shadows isn't a problem for me, but there are definitely times when having a compact palette of pressed shadows is much more convenient.  Plus, there's something really aesthetically pleasing about looking at the colors all together in a palette.  





The Basics
Pressing eye shadow is awesome because you only need three ingredients: loose shadow, fractionated coconut oil, and rubbing alcohol.  Fractionated coconut oil is coconut oil that's been expeller pressed and refined.  It's food grade, but it has a longer shelf life than unrefined coconut oil and it stays liquid, even in colder temperatures.  You could definitely use another oil, but FCO is great since, with its indefinite shelf life, you don't need to worry about it going rancid.  I used 99% isopropyl alcohol to press these, but anything over 70% should be fine.  You don't want to introduce too much water into your shadow, so I wouldn't recommend going below 70%. 

I bought most of my supplies from TKB Trading, though the alcohol is from the drugstore and the loose shadows I already had in my stash.  In the two palettes I made - one neutral and one with brighter, more fun colors - most of the shades are colors I created by combining multiple shadows, but I didn't make any completely from scratch.

Since a lot of the shadows I was working with were samples, I used small, 15mm pans.  They're roughly the size of a dime, so pretty tiny, though you'll still need a good amount of shadow to fill them - between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoon.  The amount varies because shadows from different companies will have different ratios of pigment to base ingredients, which makes them compact differently.  In loose shadow terms, a 3-gram jar holds roughly 1/4 tsp, and a 5-gram, 3/4 tsp, so you'll need, at minimum, the equivalent of a 3-gram jar.



Getting Creative
I think the best part of the whole endeavor was taking colors from my collection that I don't use much and turning them into new favorites.  For example, I mixed Noella Beauty Works Milk & Honey, which I find a little too yellow and Silk Naturals Cloudberry, which I've always wanted to have a little more pizzazz and created a warmer, more metallic peach shade.  Neither of these shadows were big hits on their own, but I really like how they turned out blended together!



Does Pressing Change Colors?
When I first started talking about pressing shadows, a couple people asked me if it altered the colors, but I haven't found that to be true.  I didn't have loose leftovers from all the colors, but I've compared those I had, and while the pressed ones are perhaps slightly darker, I don't think it's enough of a difference to be noticeable on the eye.  The pressed also adhere a little better without a primer, as you can see in the below photo (all swatched over bare skin.)  The top row is the shadows after being pressed and the bottom is in their original, loose form.

(L to R) The Starshine Company Sea Foam, Madd Style Cosmetics Hold Fast, Cheeky Cosmetics Sun Goddess, Shiro Cosmetics Master Sword, Shiro Cosmetics Vileplume

The Bottom Line
I'm really happy with how this experiment turned out!  The whole process was a lot easier than I expected and the shadows are smooth and creamy with awesome color payoff.  They do tend to kick up a bit more powder than your regular, silicone-filled pressed eye shadows, but I've found the same thing to be true of natural pressed eye shadows I've bought. 

I'd originally hoped to include some kind of photo tutorial of the process with this, but I didn't manage to get it together in time and I didn't want to delay the post any longer.  Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing a more in-depth tutorial in the future.  In the meantime, Oxana124 has a video on pressing with fractionated coconut oil that you can check out.  I followed the same process, but I used much less oil - only 2-3 drops per shadow, compared to the 12-14 she uses in the video.  

Mixing colors was fun and I have this compulsion to press all my shadows now!  I love looking at the finished palettes, but aside from that and the obvious ease for travel, in a lot of ways I prefer using loose shadows.  What do you think of pressed vs. loose shadows?  Have you ever tried pressing your own?  

If you've ever searched for pressed makeup that's free of silicones, you'll already know it's one of the hardest natural products to find!  I first heard about Jane Iredale's Eye Steppes when Mary of Pure Makeup reviewed the goBrown set.  The Eye Steppes are free of silicones and other harmful ingredients, but I do want to mention that they are a different formulation from Jane Iredale's other eyeshadows and pressed makeup products, which do contain dimethicone.  I was sent the goWarm palette to try out and I'm excited to share it with you guys!  

The first thing that stood out to me was how this was packaged.  It arrived in an unassuming cardboard box, but as soon as I opened it, I felt like was opening a beautifully wrapped gift.  Inside the box, the palette was wrapped with confetti and tissue paper, then sealed with a sticker and a sprig of dried lavender.




As for the product itself, the Eye Steppes are small, stackable eye shadow palettes.  Each contains a mirror and five shades, divided amongst three levels.  The levels swivel out like a staircase and can also be taken apart.  Then, they can be mixed and matched and recombined with other Eye Steppes and also with Jane Iredale's My Steppes, which contain lip glosses, blushes, and bronzers.  

Jane Iredale Eye Steppes in goWarm

The eye shadows are lovely.  The palettes are coordinated for either your eye color (Blue, Brown, Green) or your skin tone (Cool, Warm), but I'm a firm believer that anyone can wear any of the colors.  My skin is cool toned, but I chose goWarm because warm neutrals tend to be my favorite eye shadow colours.  I wanted something I'd get a lot of use out of and I'm not disappointed in the least!  The shades are all nicely pigmented and apply beautifully.  In terms of intensity, wear, and amount of fallout, these definitely benefit from having some kind of primer or base underneath, but they're certainly wearable without one as well.  

goWarm contains one shimmery colour, one matte with glitter, and three satin shades.  I have plenty of eye shadows in my collection, but I really don't have anything comparable to the three satins.  In my experience, most natural eye shadows tend to be either full on shimmery or completely matte, so the softer, satin finish of these is pretty unique.  

Jane Iredale goWarm: (L to R) Beach, Sunshine, Steamy, Mojito, Sandals

Beach is a light cream shimmer with a hint of gold.  It's light enough that it can be used as a highlight, but I also love wearing it all over the lid.  In a swatch, I can see a few  glitter particles, but they're not noticeable on the eye.

Sunshine is a pale gold satin with a soft sheen.  Beautiful on the lid.

Steamy is a warm corally-salmon color and is a standout for me, as the bright pop of colour in an otherwise very basic neutral palette.  It's still subtle enough for work and everyday wear, but great for adding that little extra interest to your eye look.  You can keep it at full intensity or blend it out for a softer effect.  I love using it on the outer half of the lid and bringing it up into the crease.

Mojito is a medium brown with the same beautiful satin finish as Sunshine and Steamy.  It blends like a dream and is gorgeous in the crease.  Probably my favorite shade in the palette.  

Sandals is a matte warm chestnut brown with gold sparkles.  Great as an eyeliner, in the crease, or even on the lid for a smokier look.  Definitely has some glitter, but it's still not super in your face visible once it's on the eye. 

The Bottom Line 
As far as I'm concerned, the only deterrent from rushing out and buying multiples of this product is the price.  At $56US/$68CAD, Jane Iredale's Eye Steppes are definitely a high-end, luxury item.  That said, my Zuzu Luxe pressed eye shadows retail for $15.25, so five of them would end up costing even more.  I'm definitely impressed with the quality here and pressed eye shadows with completely clean ingredients aren't the easiest thing to find, so if you have the money, I do think they're worth the price.  They apply beautifully, wear well, and I do find the satin finish of Sunshine, Steamy and Mojito to be fairly unique in a market saturated with predominantly shimmery eye shadows.  I could see myself splurging on another Eye Steppes one day (goCool, I'm looking at you), and if Jane Iredale were to ever extend this formula into blushes and bronzers, I'd definitely be interested in checking them out! 

Ingredients: Mica (CI 77019), Boron Nitride, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Pinus Strobus (Pine) Bark Extract, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Extract. May Contain: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77489, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Carmine (CI 75470), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Chromium Oxide Greens (CI 77288)


Have you tried anything from Jane Iredale?  What are your favorite products from the line?




Disclaimer: Product provided for my honest review.  I was under no obligation to write a positive review in return for free product, nor was I compensated for this post.  All opinions are my own.