The Sunscreen Nighmare

This beautiful sunny weather has reminded me that summer is finally, finally on its way! Yay! But this means that I am going to have to go on the hunt for a sunscreen that meets my new criteria, ‘no ingredients that are harmful to my skin’ eek, its going to be hard!

I have decided instead of being negative, and listing a whole heap of sunscreens that I wont be using, I will go the other way and give you a list of sunscreens that are the least offensive…here goes…

….there are three...YES ONLY THREE!

I went on the Envionmental Working Group's website(check it out at http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen)  and looked at their sunscreens. They recommended heaps, but as usual I was not really satisfied with their rating system, this was mainly due to not wanting Titanium Dioxide or Nonotechnology as part of the ingredients list, so that left just three!

Beyond Coastal Active Sunscreen, SPF 30

it does contain 7.5% OCTINOXATE this is not a good ingredient, but as sunscreens go, this is pretty good, so for once I will have to let it go through.

La Roche-Posay by L’oreal

Not a brand I would usually recommend, as L’oreal is known to use nanotechnology, it would seem however, not in this sunscreen. It does contain 10% OCTOCRYLENE, however while this ingredient is not on my wish list, it is not in the top tier of dangerous ingredients.

Doctor T’s Supergoop! Everyday UV

Includes HOMOSOLATE and OCTINOXATE, however, I think it deserves a mention!

I have come to the conclusion that sunscreen might be the natural product nightmare, how do you block out UVA and UVB rays naturally? With a hat and sarong of course...I know, I know, thanks mum!

Surely there is the perfect sunscreen out there somewhere…I’ll let you know when I find it!

If you want more information, check out http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen as www.rawpolish.com hasn’t yet officially rated any sunscreens.

Love,

Raw Polish

A Blooming Love Affair

I have always been a fan of Bloom cosmetics, I am a packaging sucker, and the Bloom packaging is to die for! I had bloom everything, I say had, as about a year ago, I the products tested against my super sensitive skin, by a naturopath and it come up with not such great results, meaning I had to get rid of every bloom products I owned, and there was a lot! (Don’t tell the naturopath, but I actually didn’t get rid of them, I stopped using them, but all the little containers were so cute I couldn’t bring myself to bin them. I even still go into the bloom shop on chapel street, and look longingly at the gorgeous products, but alas I look from afar, until the other day, when I decided to try the Organics range. And let me just say my love affair with bloom has, well…blossomed. We are now inseparable! Bloom has done really well, they are genuine certified organic products, with little to no chemical content, I am impressed Ms. Bloom.

To check out my favourite products log onto www.rawpolish.com

Love,

Raw Polish

Cosmetifique

I got pretty excited the other day when I found an iphone app called cosmetifique (yeah its quite a mouthful). It’s an app that helps you identify harmful ingredients when cosmetic shopping. “Cosmetifique aims to show you if the ingredients really match the ‘natural’ claim or if they are actually harmful to you or the environment.” The rating system is pretty simple and easy to use with a green bubble for good ingredients going through to red for awful ingredients.

What could be more helpful! There is nothing worse than being in the shop, looking at the ingredient list and being like “wah???” but here it was a little miracle… well not quite…

…The rating system is a bit easy, leaning towards under rating the dangerous ingredients. It’s a great little app for the preliminary run down, or if you’re not sure if it’s a super doper chemical or just a long Latin name, but I wouldn’t rely on this one for the final say. Sigh, once again I would have to do all the hard work for myself, looks like I wont be getting rid of my ingredients dictionary after all.  


for reliable ratings log onto www.rawpolish.com

Love,

Raw Polish

My Beauty Bag

Last year I overhauled my cosmetics bag and started again, I literally threw everything out and started from scratch. I am a make up junky, however after the overhaul my cosmetics bag is looking quite minimalist…. So here is what it now consists of…

Foundation Revlon was replaced by Almay Pure Blends

I loved the Revlon foundation, but I could feel my skin stinging every time I applied it, the Almay replacement is lovely, its so light on the skin, I can almost feel my skin breathing a sigh of relief.

VERDICT :)

Finishing Powder Non was replaced by Nutrimedics.

This is a recent addition, it is a great powder, I am seriously n love with it, but I think it will have to be retired, as the ingredients list is seriously naughty. VERDICT :(

Blush Bloom was replaced by Almay Pure Blends

I had the cutest Bloom Blush compact, and to be honest I still haven’t thrown it out, its just too cute. The Pure Blends blush pigment strength is a touch too light for what I want, I have to put on a few layers before I am happy, but on the bright side I never leave the house with unblended blush!

VERDICT :)

Bronzer Bloom was replaced by the Body Shop

This was really hard to find, in the end I bought a bronzer from the Body Shop, it has a warning on the packaging saying: may contain traces of Titanium Dioxide and Iron Oxide, but this is just to cover themselves incase some of the machines still have residue from other products. It’s a good strong colour,  you have to be careful that you don’t end up with two brown stripes on your face, but with a bit of blending it brings out a lovely sun kissed cheek.

VERDICT :)

Mascara Still looking….

I am currently using a Nutrimetics and a Maybelline mascara, neither of them are natural, but I just haven’t been able to find a natural mascara that has the wow factor, still looking.

VERDICT :(

Eyeliner M.A.C was replaced by Living Nature

Living Nature eyeliner in black and brown, they have a nice texture and melt on to the eye lid (with a little help from my hair dryer)

VERDICT :)

Eye shadow hundreds were replaced by one Almay Pure Blends

Almay Pure Blends Eye Shadow in copper, the colour is ok but the range is pretty basic, I am still looking for a range that rocks the colour like Napolean Perdis.

VERDICT :)

On the whole I’m pretty happy with the quality of the products, there are still a few things still on the wish list though

THE WISH LIST....

 A natural liquid eyeliner…do they even exists?

More eye Shadows, more colours!

Finishing Powder, this one is super hard as all natural powders have Titanium Dioxide in them.

Check out the top rated products at www.rawpolish.com

I’ll keep you posted on my hunt for the complete natural beauty bag.

Love,

Raw Polish 

The Story of Cosmetics

A shameless promotion

Normally bloggers only shamelessly promote a product if they have been sponsored, i.e. given the product free on the basis that they write nice stuff about it. Raw Polish isn’t quite at that stage yet, although hopefully soon, we will be…hint to natural cosmetics companies…

Any way, I was rating Dr. Alkaitis products for the Raw Polish site and I was just so impressed with the range that I am writing about it here in the blog, a first for this blog actually, if you are listening Dr. Alkaitis, I am damn impressed, so much so that the products actually got a consistent 5* rating! Dr. Alkaitis upholds everything that Raw Polish stands for.

As a research scientist investigating cancer treatments using plant life, Dr. Alkaitis concludes that there is indeed a correlation between our society’s dependence on synthetic chemicals and the rapid increase in people suffering from cancer, disease and other degenerative illnesses. He also states that chemical derived ingredients do not support the skins natural ability to heal. This last point is especially important because it is so often over looked; a synthetic Vitamin C is so not the same as the real thing!

So often with cosmetic ranges, the philosophy and the actual ingredients in the products really do not match up, but in this case I was not disappointed.

My 3 favourite products were:

The Organic Eye Creme

The Organic Day Crème

And the Organic Nourishing Treatment Oil

The masks were also pretty impressive, actually who am I kidding the whole range was impressive!


for more ratings visit www.rawpolish.com

Its refreshing and encouraging to find Skin Care ranges that actually do care for your skin!

Love, 
Raw Polish

Look out at the Cosmetics Counter!

When you’re at the cosmetics counter its easy to get persuaded by the gorgeous girl at the counter who answers all of your questions just as she knows you want to hear them…

    ”Yes of course its all natural, all our products are!”

But then you look at the ingredients list and ask,

    “What’s Paraben?”

And she says

    “Just a preservative, all cosmetics have them so they have a longer use by date”

NO NO NO NO NO! Parabens are extremely harmful, often interfering with your hormone levels, and yes, while lots of products do contain them, not all do. You should be looking at ones that don’t! But how are you supposed to know what to look out for? Well here is a starter list of ingredients to avoid when buying beauty and skin care products.

Ingredients to avoid:

DMD Hydantion and Imidazolidinyl urea- common preservatives used with Paraben in cosmetics. The effects of these ingredients have been proven to cause cancer, due to their toxic nature. 

Synthetic Fragrances- look out for synthetic fragrances, 95% of the chemicals in perfume are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum These fragrances can cause allergic reactions, cancer and can slowly eat away at your nervous system.  That being said essential oil fragrances or natural fragrances are a different story and are safe.

Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone-

Use-Again a preservative in skin care and cosmetics.

Effects- it has been largely removed from cosmetics products because of its irritating nature to both skin and membranes, in some cases chemical burns. However it still is used in products that do not have a long skin contact duration, such as rinse off products.

PEG and Eth-

Use- used as a thickener in many products,  that you would use several times a day such as toothpaste!

Effects- It is carcinogenic, neurotoxic and causes mutation of DNA

Sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate (SLS, SLES)-

Use-Scarily this chemical is also used in heavy duty cleaning products, and is used in clinical tests on skin healing, not in a good way though, it is the product they use to harm the skin in the first place! 

Effects-It causes skin irritation and because of its ability to penetrate, the skin absorbs it very easily!

Triclosan and triclocarban-

Use-Found in soaps and other personal hygiene products as an anti bacterial ingredient.

Effects-Triclocarban disrupts reproductive hormone activity and triclosan interferes with cell signaling that occurs in the brain and heart. It is especially dangerous for Thyroid problems.

Triethanolamine (TEA) –

Use-used as a pH balancer in various beauty products, including face and body moisturizers. 

Effects-It is an irritant, especially to the eyes, ironic seeing as its frequently used in mascara, it is also known to have carcinogenic effects, although the studies have been in conclusive.

Sorry it’s such a long list, but really its just the surface of the harmful ingredients out there! but familiarize yourself with these ingredients for starters, as they are the basics you should look out for! 


For a more extensive list log onto www.rawpolish.com

Good Luck, and if you have any questions feel free to ask, either through the Blog or via our facebook page

P.S Next week I am going to talk about Nano technology, one of the scariest technologies used in your skin care and make up, what’s even scarier is it doesn’t even have to be listed, even though it has the potential to change your DNA! It’s so complicated it needs a whole post to itself, but I just thought I would give you a heads up now!

Love

 Raw Polish

Nanotechnology

This is a pretty complicate topic, but I am going to try to keep it as simple as possible. I promise it wont read like a scientific manual!

So what is Nanotechnology well, according to a scientific report in April 2009 Nanotechnology is…

…actually no that definition was like 10 pages long. I am going to give you my own definition, it wont be quite as scientific, but it might actually make sense! Nanotechnology, in the cosmetics industry is the way that we absorb things through our skin.

For example, you know when you rub sunscreen into your skin, and it just sits on the top, making this ugly white, greasy layer, well that is because the particles that make up the sunscreen are too big. That’s where Nanotechnology comes in, it is a scientific way of making the particles smaller, and so the sunscreen soaks into the skin, making you look less like a pale ghost.

Ok….so how is this bad, you might ask, Well, here is the catch; The particles can become so small that they don’t just soak into the first layer of your skin, they can keep going, and we have no way of knowing (yet) where they actually stop. The nano-particles are so small there is a huge risk of these nano-particles integrating into your blood stream and cell structure, potentially playing havoc with your DNA! Eek!

A European study, showed that 5% of cosmetic companies are already using this technology and even promoting its benefits, but without the proper scientific research on its long-term effects, we don’t really know what it is doing to us.

Again, its the beauty industry self-regulating, for maximum profit, they really do do things backwards, until a ingredient or in this case technology proves to be harmful, it can stay on the market, and doesn’t even have to be stated on the pack! Frighteningly (there is always one of these), A UK-based consumer group, published a report titled “Small Wonder? Nanotechnology and Cosmetics” in November 2008. In this they contacted a number of cosmetics companies about their use of nanotechnology. Only eight companies agreed to give details of their product! Hello does that not scream “DO NOT USE NANOTECHNOLOGY!”

The SCCP (EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Products) have called for changes to be made to legislation, with more research and nano-particles being listed as an ingredient mandatory, however this will not come into effect until 2012, so until then, be very careful!

Companies known to be using nanotechnology:

Boots,

Avon,

The Body Shop,

L’Oréal,

Nivea

Unilever.

for brands with real natural content log onto www.rawpolish.com, and check out what we have rated as the best natural products.

See even cosmetics companies you though were safe, like the Body Shop aren’t, because not everything is as it appears; the Body Shop is owned by L’oreal, so of course they are sharing ingredients and technologies.

Hope this article made sense! I'll keep you posted

Love,

    Raw Polish

An Introduction!

Welcome to the first Raw Polish Post. So excited to finally be here!

First we thought we should share with you a little information on what exactly Raw Polish is, and does.

We are four Final Year Uni students who are passionate about natural beauty and skin care products. While there are a lot of so-called ‘natural’ products out there, because the beauty industry is self-regulated, it is hard to know what’s what , in the beauty world. Just because a product claims to be ‘natural’ doesn’t actually mean it is. Beauty brands can claim something is natural with only 5% natural ingredients! Same goes for Organic ingredients, you have to look out for the Certified Organic Symbol, because the term Organic gets thrown around quite a lot in the beauty world.

So how is one supposed to know what to look out for when buying ‘natural’ beauty and skin care products?! Well that is where the Raw Polish Blog comes in!

This blog will aim to educate you on what to look out for, good and bad, when buying ‘natural’ beauty and skin care products. The Blog will keep you up to date on new developments in the beauty industry, new products available, and current issues.

Look out next week for a basic cosmetics guide: ingredients to look out for! And remember dont trust claims like 'dermatologically' tested, 'organic' and the most misused of all 'natural'! Look at the ingredients list to see what really in it! next week's post will help with knowing what to be on the look out for.

And if you are looking for more specific information on a brand or even an individual product, go to www.rawpolish.com. where we rate the naturalness  as well as the product's quality, so don't worry. You'll never have to sacrifice quality for natural ingredients again! The site also includes stockists, prices and a full ingredients list.

Love,

Raw Polish