I have a troubled past with makeup. When I worked in magazines I was beholden to the beauty industry, forced to get excited about skin whiteners and lash extenders. It killed me. Well, it wore me down, one blush stroke at a time (previous to editing Cosmo, I’d never worn makeup, never had a blowdry, never plucked my brows). Then, a few years later, I wore toooo much of the gunky stuff while working in TV and literally poisoned myself. When I got unwell I realised I had to do something about this and swerved to chemical-free beauty and makeup products. To read about my favourites, click here and here.
But there’s also the eco argument that’s worth considering in all this. Not all chemical-free products are ecologically sound. Not all organic products are chemical-free. It’s like food shopping: a knotted ball of competing messages.
But boiled down, it can be simple.
Yes, keep it simple and you generally land at the most organic, eco and chemical-free option.
But to be sure, I asked Maria Hannaford to give her take. Melbourne-based Maria works for an environmental organisation that’s all about sustainable food, and her site Econest keeps popping up on my radar in all the