I was a complete makeup junkie until about a year ago, with about three of everything on the go at any one time and never quite managing to match my skin tone.
As you may know, I cut out shampoo and conditioner last year, I was cleaning up my diet, and around the same time I decided to basically stop wearing makeup.
I mainly did it because by then I’d realised that every ailment has a root cause, so I wanted to figure out what was actually causing my occasional breakouts.
I soon discovered that my main acne trigger was from being insulin resistant after a lifetime of overeating sugar and refined carbs - you know: bread, cakes, rice, pasta - basically anyone else’s idea of a “normal” diet.
Turning my diet on its head cleared up my skin a treat - in case you’re interested, I now eat high protein, fat and veggies, low carb, sugar and fruit, and no processed crap.
In that time I’ve gotten used to seeing my face without makeup, and so I’ve finally chilled out about getting up at arse o’clock in a futile attempt to disguise myself as someone vaguely attractive.
But it’s still important to me that I can use makeup should I feel like it, and of course I’m all abouts mah health and reducing my toxic load, so everything I buy has to have some kind of natural or organic certification as well as ideally being eco-friendly and cruelty-free.
And although I’ve tried to keep the new collection to less than three of everything, I kind of failed in the lipstick department - but some of the ones I’ve tried were a bit too earthy or shimmery for my liking, so let’s just stick to the ones I actually use.
Living Nature
So a few months ago I was fortunate enough to receive my first-ever PR sample - I know, I am totes one of them blagger bloggers now - and the poor buggers have been waiting ages for my unqualified opinions.
The lovely people at Botanical Brands very kindly offered to send me one of Living Nature’s new certified organic and 100% natural lipsticks to try out, in a shade called Wild Fire.
Living Nature are a certified natural skincare company based in New Zealand, and they describe Wild Fire as a “warm, classic red with an orange undertone”, with extra fancy terms like “hand-crafted” and “fortified with organic coconut oil, beeswax and carnauba wax” thrown in for good measure - so pretty tasty like.
Besides NZ and Oz, Living Nature is available in the USA, Canada and of course the UK via Botanical Brands, who only stock products by brands who use sustainable, organic and wild crafted ingredients and whose products aren’t tested on animals - so lots of hippy heart points there.
Here are just some of the snaps I’ve taken wearing this lovely lippy so you can see how it looks:
So I am a complete horror for applying red lipstick. I get more on my teeth than I do my lips, I’m beyond useless. So I was not surprised when this one slid off all over the place the first few times I tried it out.
Luckily there are actual real-life proper beauty bloggers out there far more experienced than I, and way back when everyone else was busy posting their reviews of Living Nature’s new lipsticks I spotted another blogger explaining how they use it as more of a stain than a full-on lipstick, and ta daaaa, it’s be perfect.
When I use it as a stain it’s slightly lighter and pinker than when I’ve gone full force with it, but it’s still bold enough against my pasty white mug to pass as a warm red.
The question is, do I actually use it for anything besides selfies on Instagram? Actually yes, I do like wearing it for special occasions even when Mr Front Camera and I aren’t getting along - here’s a couple more getting ready for mah hen do last weekend and a friend’s birthday we recently took selfies on the way to:
Axiology
Axiology does natural, vegan lipsticks, and about seven or so months ago I grabbed one in the colour “Devotion” from Reina Organics.
I got suckered in by the boxes to be honest - they’re from Indonesia, where paper is collected from hotels, offices and residential houses before being boiled down to a pulp, laid out in the sun to dry, and then hand-decorated.
Plus their little click-in, click-out lid is adorable.
Oh, the lipstick itself? Alright then. It’s very subtle so it’s perfect for everyday use, I really like it against my skin tone and - this is how little I wear makeup - mine still looks like new a year later.
Here’s some selfies so you can see how subtle it is:
Green People
Back when I was all starry-eyed and new to the green beauty scene I bought Green People’s organic Prime & Define Lip Collection.
You get three Instant Definition Lip Crayons, one Enrich & Enhance Lip Primer, and a sharpener.
The crayon colours include Praline, Blossom and Sangria - Sangria’s by far my favourite so if it’s all the same to you I’ma just skip ahead to that.
It’s a deep red with a subtle copper shimmer, and I love it.
Being a crayon it’s drier than a lipstick but it tends to last ages before feeling dry, and even when I slather lip balm on the top it doesn’t budge too much.
Here’s how it looks paired with my “English rose” skin tone:
So yah, those are mah faves.
Is this the part where I’m meant to ask your recommendations? I dunno, considering how unlikely I am to need any new sticks of colour in the next 37 years it feels kind of pointless.
Sorry for being the worst beauty blogger ever. PLEASE STILL LOVE ME.
