Clean Kissable Lips

The most difficult beauty challenge for me since I began my new lifestyle was to replace my lip glosses and lipsticks with “cleaner” ones. I was very attached to the colors and brands I had been using for many years, and finding lip glosses and lipsticks that I loved took a lot of time and money; but, hey, I’m a princess so this was a very important mission for me!

There has been so much controversy surrounding lead content in lipsticks. The “Campaign For Safe Cosmetics” has been unsuccessfully pushing the FDA for safe limits in lipsticks for quite some time. Apparently, the same lead amounts in candy have been been found dangerous by the FDA but not dangerous for lipsticks. The FDA rationalizes its standards by contending that it would be different if lipsticks were ingested instead of used topically. Does this really make you feel comfortable using your same old lipsticks? Who knows how much of your lip products are getting into your mouth and ingested?

Here is a simple test you could use to determine if your lipstick contains lead…

1. Put some lipstick on your hand

2. Use a 24k-14k Gold ring to scratch on the lipstick

3. If the lipstick color changes to black then you know the lipstick contains lead

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to share with you my absolute favorite lip products which I have been using regularly. Please note that I am partial to lip glosses instead of lipsticks, but I sometimes use both. While colors show up differently on everyone’s lips, I will differentiate the colors which I believe would work on anyone’s lips. Also note that I love everyday pinkish colors. Here is the list in the order of my favorites…

1. Korres Cherry Lip Gloss in #23/Pale Pink is hands-down my favorite lip gloss. Whenever I wear it, my husband says “you look really good.” This is an everyday gloss which would also work well at night with a dark smokey eye shadow. This product smells great and I truly believe that it is a universal color which would work on anyone’s lips.

2. Tarte’s LipSurgence natural lip luster in the color “Frisky.” You already know how much I love Tarte cosmetics and this lustrous lip product is no exception. This color is somewhere between a medium pink and a hot pink. If you like pinks, this color is for you. If not, I suggest that you go to Sephora to sample the other LipSurgence products because the texture and feel on the lips is perfection.

3. La Bella Donna Lip Gloss in the color “Seduction” combined with La Bella Donna’s Mineral Lip Sheer in the color “Truffle.” This was the first switch I made when I began to look for safer lip products. Apparently, I got it right from the start. I wear this combination of lip products mostly at night when I go out and I always get compliments on my make-up when I wear it. The color “Seduction” is sort of a raisin-y deep color which I love, but I usually feel a little more comfortable cutting the color with the “Truffle” mineral lip sheer. I purchased these products on La Bella Donna’s website and they are sold at various spas and other locations around the country. I know that they had a counter at Bergdorf Goodman’s in NYC but I’m not sure if they are still there. They might be.

4. Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in the color “Show Off.” This is also a great everyday “baby pink” color which I believe would work on anyone’s lips. Some other Bare Minerals lipgloss colors which I use regularly are “Wild Honey,” “Sugar Cookie,” and “Apricot Nectar.” Please note that not all Bare Minerals lip products are chemical-free. You have to ask the sales help at their store about the purely natural ones.

5. Gabriel Cosmetics’ lip glosses in “Ambrosia,” “Diva,” and “Nectar.” I have been buying the Gabriel products at Whole Foods for almost three years and I think they are very good. The “Ambrosia” lipgloss is an everyday frosty pink, whereas the “Diva” and “Nectar” colors” are neutral brownish colors. I have also used their lipsticks in the colors “Wild Orchid” and “Copper Glaze” which are pinkish and pink/purplish, respectively, and they are worth testing out at your local Whole Foods.

Anyway, there you have it…my top picks for clean lipglosses and lipsticks. If anyone has any other good suggestions, I would love to hear  your comments about them. Stay beautiful!

*NOTE: Since this post, I learned that Bite Beauty has beeswax and carmine in it and is, therefore, not vegan. I apologize for this error, and request that you ignore the Bite Beauty lipstick in the photo below.