Comments on: Top 8 Safe Cosmetic Brands in the U.S. 2009 + 1 from Australia (Updated 9-3-09)

By: Andrea

Andrea — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:47:39 +0000

Aubrey,
I highly recommend the Terresentials (spelling?) skin care line. It is all USDA certified organic, most of the ingredients are even edible. They don’t even sell makeup because they don’t feel the things that give makeup color are safe. They only sell skin care products. I buy the fragrance free facial cleanse and facial moisturizer as well as the body moiturizer. I believe there is a “fragrance free samples” box you can buy for $10 plus shipping to try it out. I am not a rep. Just a fan on this line. Andrea

By: Danika Carter

Danika Carter — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:59:07 +0000

Thanks for noting the safety of Miessence. ONEgroup, the creator, is a young company but doing some amazing things. (Full disclosure, yes, I am a Rep)

By: Danika Carter

Danika Carter — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:55:31 +0000

I love EWG, but one issue I have with their system is that a product that is certified organic (which means it is certified to food-grade standards because there is no certification for personal care products) is not necessarily ranked higher than a product that is not certified organic, and therefore, could have pesticide residue.

Also, on their sunscreen list they repeatedly note the dangers of oxybenzone, titanium dioxide, etc but give products with that ingredient higher ratings than products that do not contain any of the harmful sunscreens.

But, overall, they do a great job, and the more we keep encouraging them to work on their processes, the better they will get.

By: Aubrey

Aubrey — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:01:39 +0000

I haven’t heard anyone mention Jane Iredale… has anyone tried her line? Also, I am looking for suggestions on face wash, moisturizer, et cetera and wondering where to begin?!

Thanks for this amazing list!

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:08:38 +0000

I will just put it this way. It is not on any of my lists for a reason.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:56:40 +0000

Hi,
Re safe Cosmetic Brands/Companies etc, do you have any information about Neways International?

By: healthyoates

healthyoates — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:37:14 +0000

Thank you for your great information! Keep up the good work! We are like-minded in doing things naturally! I’ve been using a line from Shaklee for many years and have loved the results! It has a patented VitC + E formula to reduce fine lines and wrinkles and firm up skin. Thanks again for all the info!

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:38:34 +0000

Note on Dermablend concealer from someone who just wrote in to me: “I personally have never tried dermablend, I just have a couple of friends who say it is thick and really hard to get a great skin match because of it’s thickness. But I have seen a lot of good reviews so I am not saying they are bad, just that I don’t want to use something really thick!”

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:12:06 +0000

Thank you for your informative comment Andrea! I really appreciate the time you’ve taken to let others know your experience with some of the products listed above. This will benefit many.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:46:54 +0000

Hi,
I have been looking for a very safe foundation powder and blush powder. I had found that by ingredients, Rejuva and Coastal Classic Creations had the best to offer (with just iron oxides as well as either rice or organic cornstarch, respectively, as the base. However, I tried the samples from both these companies for the foundations and the base and found the foundations really didn’t offer much coverage or glide on evenly and the blushes also did not glide on evenly–and were difficult to spread with a cotton ball or makeup swedge. So hence the search continues, as I am so health conscious that I really try to avoid things even like mica, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide–none of which are considered totally safe….Some say that what we take in through the skin is even more toxic to our bodies because it is not filtered through the liver the way food is.

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:52:32 +0000

Thank you for your thought provoking, informative comments and interesting blog post. I love to hear different points of view from passionate people.

By: cookeville

cookeville — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:48:50 +0000

@ Heather:

“You do sound suspiciously like a member of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association!”

No, I’m an analytical chemist. Part of my work is on new ways to detect pollutants and toxic chemicals that are just starting to be commercialized. So I’m not an industry hack or a lobbyist. I’m well aware that many products are found to be dangerous, often only after they’ve been widely used. (Not to plug my own work, but perhaps my article on nanoparticles will give a more balanced view of my position on safety/product testing/etc.) And I agree that efforts such as “Skin Deep” are worthwhile. I very much appreciate their intent to attach a numerical hazard rating to ingredients or products, so that people can eventually assess the risks for themselves. One very often sees a mindset of “avoid even the tiniest trace of ______”, when perhaps this would be excessively cautious even when all the effects are fully understood. (By way of analogy — we all agree that eating refined sugar causes obesity and cavities. But, there’s a big difference between the effects of eating a gram of sugar a day and a kilogram of sugar a day!)

By: Meghan

Meghan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:50:16 +0000

In reference to the EWG ratings you are speaking of– I’m pretty sure Coastal Classic Creations’ iron oxides recieve a 0 instead of a 2 because theirs are NOT nanoparticles, unlike other companies’ iron oxides that are manufactured small enough to slip into the skin and brain. This is something they discuss on their site. And no, I am not in any way affiliated with the company. I just noticed this while researching various products for personal use. Cheers!

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:55:19 +0000

I have noticed the same thing about the EWG/Skin Deep report….That products will get low scores from 0-2 and then when one examines the specific risks they will say things along the lines of “risk of cancer, hormone disruption, etc” and yet still give such a low score. I use the EWG report as a starting point only and then research from there. It seems that pretty much all makeup has iron oxides to give color. This might have problems but I have yet to find any makeup that doesn’t have iron oxides. If anyone can find some, PLEASE let us know here…..Then there are issues like titanium dioxide, mica, etc, which most people seem to think are safe, but that is not clear. Then most makeup has tons of other ingredients too. So at least the companies noted above in Heather’s blog are the lesser of the evils, if we want to continue wearing makeup. By the way, there is a company called Terresentials that has a very healthy line of skin care products (I use the fragrance free line). However, they do not have makeup, as they don’t believe there is any safe makeup.

By: Heather

Heather — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:37:27 +0000

Thank you for stressing again that “The EWG rating system is not perfect” and people need to research the ingredients in other places in addition. (See the Misinformation of “Skin Deep” on the Sukipure website). Do I hear any volunteers for improving the EWG’s database? We’d love that! I am aware from your blog post “Prove It’s Safe” that you think it is silly to “require manufacturers to prove the safety of their products before they are allowed to sell them”, that profits would disappear if companies are required to test their products, and that the threats have not yet been clearly defined. You do sound suspiciously like a member of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association! So far the EPA’s lax policies have sided with you and favored chemical makers. Unfortunately these days women, (and men) need chemistry PhDs and a lot of time in order to understand what truly could have significant negative effects. We are not talking mere skin rashes. It is no secret that this is not a simple matter. However, thankfully, many of the threats (cancer, male and female fertility/reproductive abnormalities, miscarriages, developmental disabilities) have been more clearly defined and understood over the last couple decades. (See my posts on Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, Dr. Alan Green, Dr. John Peterson Myers, Dr. Richard A. Denison) I am also happy to say that a lot of quality testing and analysis has already been done on many of the ingredients and ingredient combinations used in personal care and cleaning products and much of it is already being used in Europe to help monitor product safety. Investigative Journalist Mark Shapiro talks about this in his great book, “Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products.” It would be wonderful to have a similar system here in the US.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:54:32 +0000

Just to point out – the “safety” data in the “Skin Deep” project is actually missing quite a lot of information. In other cases, the overall product rating doesn’t obviously “add up” from the ingredients.

To take one example, the “Coastal Classics ‘Coral Sea’ Blush” product contains “iron oxide red” pigment. “Skin Deep” notes that “iron oxide” pigments have a “data gap” of “79%”, and that the data available show that iron oxide pigments can be absorbed through the skin and bioaccumulate (persist in the body without being removed). The pigment alone has a “score” of 2. Somehow the product still gets a “score” of 0.

I’m not saying that this product isn’t safe, or that it’s a bad idea to be aware of what we put in and on our bodies. But that means being really aware of it, not just taking someone else’s word for it.

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:44:05 +0000

Great!

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:36:48 +0000

Hi Heather,
I just noticed your question above….No, I am in no way affiliated with the company, nor do I have any friends there. I know the name “Jane” because that is who I spoke to when I called them to ask questions about their products. With more time passing to experiment with the products, I pretty much stand by my review above–some of the products I really love, and others not as much, as described in my previous post.