Au Naturale Cosmetics: Wear Makeup AND Have Clear Skin

 By Kali Kushner

 

Perhaps one of the hardest parts of dealing with persistent acne is the concept of makeup. If you’re suffering with a few pimples, do you ditch the blush, bronzer, and highlighter to give your skin a breather? Or do you prefer the comfort and confidence makeup can bring when dealing with a breakout? What if I told you that you no longer have to choose!

With clean beauty products becoming more relevant, available, and affordable (yay!) than ever, you can choose to go bare faced or full beat without any worry of irritating your skin or exasperating your current condition. Since I’ve switched to all non toxic products this past year, from my deodorant and shampoo to even my toothpaste, it’s been quiet the journey when it comes to finding (good) nontoxic makeup.

The Story Behind Au Naturale....

Luckily about a month ago I stumbled upon an instant favorite, Au Naturale Cosmetics. Inspired by the same daily struggles we all deal with, Au naturale began when the founder, Ashley Prange, decided that going completely bare faced shouldn’t be the only way to avoid breakouts. Frustrated with a lack of clean beauty options, she researched healthy, natural, and ethically sourced ingredients and quickly  began making her own makeup using her coffee grinder, which she claimed as a “mineral mixer”. It didn’t take long for her friends to notice, and before she knew it she was back ordered from friends and colleagues. In 2011 she began her e commerce business, Au Naturale Cosmetics, and inspired a clean beauty revolution all across the world.

 

Non Toxic Beauty for Glowing Skin 

 

Au Naturale carries a full range of cosmetics for the face, eyes, cheeks, and of course lips! I was lucky enough to test out their foundation, concealer, highlighter, Crème eye shadow, and lip stain- and LOVED every. single. one. From the clean ingredients, to the sophisticated packaging, to the dewy supermodel glow it gave my skin, I just can’t get enough. And I can personally attest after using Au Naturale for a few weeks, it does not break me out! Or cause irritation of any kind, in fact my skin actually kind of looks better after I wear it. So, without further ado here  are my top 3 favorite picks from Au Naturale:

 

Completely Covered Crème Concealer in Shade Beige 5/5

The ingredients (according to the Au naturale website): Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam Seed Oil), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Ricinus Communis (Castor Seed Oil), Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla Wax), Organic Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba Seed Oil), Organic Lavandula Officinalis (Lavender Oil), Manihot Esculenta (Tapioca Root Starch), Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Micas, Zinc Oxide, Silica, Copernica Cerifera (Carnuba Wax). May Contain: Ultramarine Blue, Chromium Oxide Green.

 

My Thoughts:

It’s typically hard enough to find a full coverage concealer, but add to that one that doesn’t clog your pores, look or feel heavy or greasy, and Houston we’ve got ourselves a problem. The completely covered Crème concealer not only covers, but it gives you a glow from the gods as well. I absolutely love that I can wear it alone (as I’m not a huge foundation wearer) and it blends seamlessly into the rest of my skin. It’s soooo natural it almost looks (and feels) like I’m wearing nothing at all, which most of the time is the look I am going for.

I often find it hard to find a shade that matches my skin because I am extremely pale, however, I was miraculously able to pick my exact shade just from looking at the swatches online, which is pretty amazing if you ask me. Typically I could order 3 or 4 shades and have to return all of them because they don’t match so I was pleasantly surprised when I got it on the first try. To me, this means their website is credible and their photos are accurate - being as close as possible to the actual shade and guaranteeing you get what you’re looking at.

The best part, it was soooooo easy to remove. No scrubbing, no masks, I didn’t even have to use makeup remover as my cleanser completely took it off. It didn’t irritate my skin or cause me to breakout, yet it lasted all day and was able to perfectly camouflage a few inflamed spots I had going on. In all it was a win-win.

 

All Glowing Crème Highlighter Stick in shade Celestial 5/5

The Ingredients (according to the Au Naturale website): Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam Seed Oil), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Ricinus Communis (Castor Seed Oil), Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla Wax), Organic Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba Seed Oil), Organic Lavandula Officinalis (Lavender Oil), Manihot Esculenta (Tapioca Root Starch), Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Micas, Silica.

 

My Thoughts:

So back in the day, which actually isn’t as long ago as you may think, I used to work at Ulta. That being said I wore a full face beat of makeup almost every single day, one of my favorite products being highlighters. I had a collection, probably 100 highlighters all together, because it was my absolute favorite part about getting ready. A finishing touch, icing on the cake so to speak. So when I went rouge, selling all my makeup (highlighters included) I was a little saddened by my no longer shiny button nose. To top it off, I haven’t really been able to find any highlighter that didn’t make me breakout at least a little- until now.

I’m serious as can be when I say, I’m never going back! This highlighter is everything I’ll ever need. It’s got the perfect undertone for my skin, and gives me a very subtle glow. Not overdone, not glittery, it literally makes you look like you’re glowing from within- dare I even say dewy? The biggest takeaway here is that It doesn’t clog my pores. I’m so happy to be wearing makeup again without the fear of breaking out, it almost feels unreal. I never thought I’d see the day where I can use my favorite products again without constantly worrying about wether or not I’d have to sacrifice my skin for 8 hours of glamness. Again, the highlighter  is super easy to remove and doesn’t even look like you have anything on (which I am totally here for). It’s definitely another winner in my book.

 

Su/Stain Lip Stain in Shade Salsa 5/5

The ingredients: Ricinus Communis (Castor Seed Oil), *Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba Seed Oil),*Hydrogenated Palm Oil, *Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa Seed Butter), *Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter Fruit), *Organic Flavoring, Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Micas, Manganese Violet, Tocopherol (Vitamin E) derived from Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower Seed). *denotes organic ingredients

My Thoughts:

Okay so you probably understand why face products are important in terms of being all natural, less likely to clog pores, disrupt hormones, non toxic, yada yada yada. But what you’re putting on your lips is still just as important. Hear me out for a sec. For a while there I didn’t realize this, or maybe I didn’t want to come to terms with purging my collection of 200 colourpop lippies, either way I wasn’t worried when I was using toxic lipstick (and I definitely should have been).

I made several lifestyle changes, diet changes, even stopped completely wearing makeup except for lipstick but I still experienced breakouts around my mouth. It never failed and looking back now I feel so silly for not realizing it was my lipstick causing these issues! It only took me about a month of being lipstick free to realize- hey, I’m not breaking out around my mouth anymore?! After that life changing experience I swapped out my shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, and of course skincare to all nontoxic products- and with each switch I noticed my skin would clear up just a little bit more, and more, and more!

So in short, yes non toxic lipstick is relevant to maintaining clear skin. Unfortunately some of our favorite formulas and colors have yet to be recreated in nontoxic versions. Or at least that was my version of the story until I tried the Au Naturale lip stain in Salsa. It’s a deep beautiful classic red color with a formula made out of straight gold. I wore this bad boy all night on New Years, had quiet a few drinks, ate dinner, danced, and of course had my New Years kiss- and it still did not budge. That’s pretty stellar quality if you ask me.

In addition, it didn’t insanely dry out my lips or make them crack like some other formulas typically do. AND despite it being budge proof, it was sooo simple to take off with just a little jojoba oil. I’m not lying when I say I’ve already ordered and got  a few other shades on the way. I can’t wait to try out a few other shades and see how they play out!

In conclusion…

I love Au Naturale Cosmetics! I will definitely be repurchasing from them again, to stock what now I consider my essentials and try out a few other products as well. I didn’t find that any of their products irritated my skin or caused breakouts, in fact once removing my makeup I usually felt that my skin looked and felt much better! I love everything they stand for and the strides they are making for a clean beauty revolution!