My New Relationship with Clean Beauty
For almost the last two years of our TTC journey I have become more educated on the things I put in and on my body. It’s not easy at first. This usually means parting with a few things that you call your go-to’s and finding their clean doppelgänger isn’t always painless. But when you are TTC you come to learn how important what you put on your body is in addition to the food you eat and what you drink (or don’t drink)
There is a lot of information out there about fertility diets, and I could go on for days about this, but this post will focus on beauty products. Find the diet I follow here…and If you haven’t read Aimee Raupp’s book Yes, You Can Get Pregnant: Natural Ways to Improve Your Fertility, Now and Into Your 40s open a new tab and head to Amazon now #addtocart. Full disclosure, I struggled with this category the most in the process of switching to a clean lifestyle. Gluten?…still a complicated maneuver but I’ve managed pretty well. Dairy?…I still miss it but enjoy many great replacements like coconut, almond, and oat milk. Ask me to switch shampoos and all the sudden I’m a toddler who missed nap time. And when it came down to my beauty products and facial routine I think I tired it all and tossed more than half after I gave it a good college try.
Here are the skin care and beauty products that made my list & keep reading for a big clean announcement and discount code below.
I was introduced to the Eminence Organics brand at Aura Spa + Beauty Studio last summer. The products are organic, indulgent and smell amazing. My favorites are the Stone Crop Oxygenating Fizzofoliant and the Arctic Berry Peptide Radiance Cream. Both of these products I covet like gold because while they are amazing and indulgent, and the cost is as well. I still love them and would love to try other products from this all-organic brand.
Another splurge product I use is the Arcona Eye Dew +Plus. I picked it up one time on a trip to Chicago at Nordstrom and have made it last; a little goes a long way. It is ultra-concentrated anti-aging, has vitamin C, and is also made with “liquid crystals” which give it a pinky-pearlescent texture that literally light your eyes up. I also pat what’s left on my fingertips on my lips before finishing my routine. It’s a splurge like I said, but made without parabens, perfumes, dyes and other additives that make it a clean splurge.
I’ve mentioned the Beautycounter sunscreen before in this post. It’s so hard to find SPF that isn’t greasy , white or chalky and clean and this one checks all the boxes. I leave it in my bag and the stick is the perfect easy-app carry-size.
I still like Mineral Fusion and can buy it at stores like Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Natural Grocers. I have used the Pressed Powder Foundation for over a year now. Since I use a tinted spf BB cream this powder offers a nice coverage and smooths things out before using my bronzer. And, I also love their bronzer! I recently purchased the Luster Bronzer Duo and love that it offers a deeper matte shade with a shimmer highlighter.
I have always had skin prone to breakouts and struggle with finding a facewash that provides pore cleaning while treating me like the adult that I am AND has clean ingredients. I’ve found it in the Countercontrol Clear Pore Cleanser by Beautycounter and will never (ever) run out. It gently exfoliates therefor revealing fresh new skin cells aka anti-aging benefits as well. With ingredients like wintergreen and rosebay extracts it feels grown-up but keeps your complexion fresh-faced and youthful. In this line I also use the Instant Matte Toner and the Matte Effect Gel Cream which I refuse to ever live without either. Besides living with age-confused skin, there’s also no way I could survive the new 2020 fashion trend current times have brought us without this line #maskne. The Counter+ Overnight Resurfacing peel is also a game changer. I use it a few nights a week, sometimes more, and wake up glowy and hydrated…NOT oily. I just ran out and am about to order more!
My everyday beauty formula is pretty simple = Brows + bronzer + lashes + lips. The older I get the more I appreciate a pretty fresh faced look. I also love a quick standard procedure and just don’t have the energy or motivation for eyeliner or other tedious beauty tasks anymore. And I’m okay with that.
So the other Beautycounter product I can’t live without is the Brilliant Brow Gel. I ran out of this one time and then it was sold out. I tried literally every other brow gel out there that was considered “clean” and NOTHING compared. I will never do that again. When it came back in stock I ordered multiple just to be sure. It’s fast, thickening, a great color, and stays put! Plus it’s not stiff like all the others I tried. I like to use the Medium in the summer and the Dark in the winter to change up my look for the season. When I am really on top of my brow game I fill in with the Color Define pencil and finish with the gel. I love the pencil too because it has the little spooly brush on the end to blend quickly and then the gel sets, thickens, and adds a super finished look. After bronzer and brows, I swipe on a few coats of mascara and a conditioning lipstick in a nice nude and I’m out the door (or logging online!) My everyday go-to is the Sheer Genius Conditioning Lipstick in Twig. It’s like a balm with creamy buildable color and is made with organic vanilla. It’s lovely.
So I have to confess that I use Clinique’s BB Cream and love the Chubby line for eyes and lips but am currently phasing these products out of my makeup drawer. After becoming more educated on clean beauty, this top brand - known for clinically proven safe ingredients: no parabens, phthalates, no fragrance - is still clean but not clean enough for TTC. I still respect Clinique for their trailblazing efforts in the dermatologist-tested skincare world. So what am I replacing it with?
That’s the big announcement!
Scroll down for details and a promo discount off for new customers!
It is no surprise that I love Beautycounter since I’ve already raved about this brand. I can tell you that over 1,800 questionable ingredients are never used in their formulations and they fully disclose al ingredients which is actually not required in the beauty industry. See the Never List here. They are responsibly sourced, are Leaping Bunny certified, and EWG verified. All of this to say, the guess work is omitted. I know that these products cover me for fertility so I never have to read ingredients and investigate. That’s a load off!
It’s because of this commitment and my own personal obsession with the products that I’ve decided to sign up as a consultant and sell to friends, family, and readers like you! Anyone going through fertility treatment knows the financial toll it takes. So yes, after we discovered we were looking at an extra retrieval for banking, the fifth in our IVF journey, we started to think about supplemental income. I had a lightbulb moment one day while washing my face and thought what a great way to share products and support our IVF journey. I am excited to try more Beautycounter and utilize this platform to share those products with readers. Knowing every product is fertility friendly and pregnancy safe is at the heart of this new relationship and I want to share this with you plus a discount code for your first order with me. If you are like me, the initial cost of some of the products made me a little reluctant to make the switch (although in comparison to some of the other brands earlier discussed, Beautycounter is extremely affordable). But after you try the products and learn more about how important clean beauty is to fertility the difference is clear. Sometimes a good promo is all we need to give something a try. So here it is! Just click the link below to receive a promo code for 10% off your first order!
I can’t wait to share some of my new favorites soon with you - Skin Twin Featherweight Foundation, Beyond Gloss, and the Melting Body Balm.
