What motivates you for better beauty?
Are you passionate about vegan products?
Are you only interested in cruelty-free beauty?
Do you use only organic skincare and makeup?
Are you fine with added fragrance?
Do you care about PEGs? or Propylene glycol?
Do parabens or phthalates matter to you?
There is no right answer. Everyone is trying to figure it out. Your preferences may change. You are allowed to change.
Most days, I just want no scents. No scents whatsoever. Besides the aggressiveness of fragrances (even “natural” scents or essential oils), I also don’t like them and parabens for their endocrine disruptive tendencies – I don’t need any more hormonal issues! And I have sensitive skin, but it’s certainly not as sensitive as my friend’s who is even sensitive to glycerin!
Do I care about animal testing? Yes. And I should care more because I love my fur baby more than anything.
Do I care if my products are vegan? It’s nice when they are, but not on my main criteria right now.
I try to avoid talc because it irritates me. Could it possible be bad for me or you? Maybe, but I’m more focused on the fact that it irritates my eyes and the skin around my eyes.
Do I care of my products are made with organic ingredients? I would absolutely love to be all organic. And I have many organic products. But, organic isn’t always right for me. There are many organic products I’ve tried that are HEAVILY scented. I love the idea of Tata Harper products, but I can’t use any of them at night because they are so aggressively scented that I can’t fall asleep. Organic doesn’t mean non-irritating. Organic doesn’t mean unscented.
So when it concerns beauty, what does green..Non-toxic..Clean..Natural..Eco… even mean? Is cruelty free or vegan also natural and non-toxic? I think we are all trying to figure it out and what is most important to us as individuals. Notice I’ve always focused on the idea of “better” beauty here and on my Instagram, and the definition of better changes product to product, day by day, person to person (I love that Teri Miyahira has recently addressed her changing perspective, priorities and adjusted business mission statement). I’m also very choosy with my Instagram hashtags. If I feature a picture or have a picture about a post that is an organic product, I will use #organicskincare and #cleanbeauty, but not when I’m talking about how well Kevyn Aucoin sensual skin enhancer covers melasma and dark spots.
The best part about there being no right answers and so many different personal preferences? There is plenty of opportunity for big brands, small brands, old brands and new brands to please the spectrum of beauty consumers.
A few weeks ago some of us were deeply engaged by an intriguing series of posts by Sarita Coren. She highlighted a few situations where comments from “hot” clean non-toxic beauty brands were making generalizations about the industry / other brands out there. One of the examples was Tiffany Masterson founder of Drunk Elephant quoted in W Magazine talking about leaving out irritating ingredients like essential oils. Then Sarita had a follow up post about essential oils, but what some of us readers pointed out in the comments across these posts is regardless of their benefits, essential oils can still be aggravating and stressful as scents in their own rights.
Because of their effective formulas, lack of scents and other blacklisted ingredients, I really enjoy trying products from the Drunk Elephant line. I also love mini anything! Especially when it comes to skin care – it’s a great way to test new products! Not ready to shell out $80+ for Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum? No problem! Sephora still has mini Drunk Elephant sets in stock! When I bought them a few months ago I bought “day glow” now called Rise +Glow and the Drunk Elephant Night Bright minis set.
Kumquats (my new obsession) and 2 Drunk Elephant mini sets: Rise+Glow and Night Bright featuring Drunk Elephant C-Firma, B-Hydra, TLC Framboos Glycolic night serums and virgina marula luxury facial oil.
Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum Review
Well now I understand why beauty brands add scents some times – the natural aroma of this high concentrated vitamin C serum is a cross between fresh leather and cooked bacon. I generally love that Drunk Elephant doesn’t add any scents – even essential oils – but this unadulterated scent is hard to get used to. I would strongly suggest buying this rise + glow set if you are looking to try this vitamin C serum – or you should at least ask for a sample from Sephora first. I’m using a lot of vitamin C serums right now so it’s still hard to tell how this one works compared to others. This vitamin C serum also contains ferulic acid, which is recommended by Dr. Whitney Bowe for melasma.
Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Gel Review
I first got a mini of this as a VIB rouge award last summer and I just didn’t get it. The problem was I was expecting it to have the effects of a moisturizing cream – but it’s just not. It’s a serum it has a different purpose. I have a new found appreciation for it and would recommend this product. My makeup goes on so smoothly after I have this on. You should at least get this as a makeup primer! I went with my Sephora skin care specialists recommendation of mixing the B-Hydra gel and C-Firma – that is how I tend to use both.
The B-Hydra intensive gel reminds me of the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Hydrating system, but if I had to choose one, I would recommend the B-Hydra from Drunk Elephant.
Drunk Elephant TLC Framboos Glycolic Night Serum Review
Much like it’s intensive treatment counterpart Drunk Elephant Sukari Babyfacial, I LOVE this serum. It’s less sharp / vinegar-y scented than Ole Henriksen invigorating night treatment (although that is just AHA treatment). This night serum is definitely less stingy than Sukari Babyfacial so if you aren’t used to resurfacing treatment, I would try the Framboos glycolic night serum first.
This non-toxic resurfacing serum does not contain retinal and has a lower strength than the Sukari Babyfacial (12%AHA/1% Salicylic acid vs 25% AHA/2%BH of the Babyfacial).
Drunk Elephant Virgina Marula Luxury Facial Oil Review
Not to sound too overzealous about this brand, but this Drunk Elephant marula face oil is AWESOME. This luxury face oil is cruelty free and only contains marula oil, also known as sclerocarya birrea. There are so many face oils out there, it’s hard to keep up! But this absorbs so quickly, leaves my face feeling moisturized all night and it doesn’t have a strong inherent scent. I know Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil and the Herbivore Phoenix and Orchid oils have fabulous ratings and special purposes, but I would choose Drunk Elephant marula oil any day. I’m also partial to no scent vs the very strong natural scents of the Sunday Riley and Herbivore face oils – I can’t even concentrate or relax those scents are so strong.
I know Josie Maran argan oil has a lot of fans too. While I love her organic SPF moisturizer, I’ve always thought the argan oil was just ok. I happened to get a mini of her special edition reserve argan oil at the same time as the Drunk Elephant marula oil. While I like the Josie Maran special edition much better than the regular argan oil, Drunk Elephant marula is still the winner to me.
If your looking for other face oil options I love Lilfox maracuja face nectar and One Love organics and Maya Chia oils too.
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