#HelloBeauty Whole Foods “Beauty Week” Products Review
Whole Foods Market recently hosted it’s inaugural Beauty Week (March 20-22, 2015), in which they highlighted their growing Whole Body section of skin care and beauty products. My favorite part of the week was the #HelloBeauty bag filled with sample sizes of natural skin care and makeup products. I’ve been waiting for my mascara to run dry so that I could search online and find a company that makes vegan or naturally derived mascara. As soon as my regular mascara was empty, I found out about this #HelloBeauty bag which has what? Mascara! A more “green” mascara, to be exact. But let’s also talk skin, since this is a skin care & beauty bag.
I’ve always been convinced that my skin has been out to ruin me, ever since I hit puberty. No matter what I purchased or used, it was always like “girl, no.” No matter how much water I drank and the fact that I didn’t drink cokes (“soda”/”pops”), skin still said “girl, bye.” Use a new product for a while – if it worked at all, good results would certainly end soon. Switch it up and buy something new, skin didn’t care. Breakouts and irritations galore! Chin gets a pimple, nose gets a pimple, forehead gets a blackhead – everybody gets a breakout! #OprahVoice. That is until VERY recently in my adult life that I said forget these over the counter facial products, let’s get back to the earth. What mud, potion, grass, lemon, tomato, carrot healing power can release me of the evil attitude of my skin? And oh, I’ve tried the lemons, honey, tomato rubs, vinegar as astringent. It wasn’t until I discovered “black soap” that my skin started to improve, especially on my face.
My usual skin care regimen consists of: washing with black soap twice a day, moisturizing with a light shea butter lotion in the morning and pure shea butter at night before bed. My life also changed on the day that I found a proper exfoliant. Frank Body coffee scrub gives my body life! Everything I use is either found online or at the most random back woods type of stores, but definitely not at a big box store.
Back to this beauty bag, though… This is the first time that I’ve purchased items from a store and felt great about it! My face has not dried up (you know, the over-minimilazation of pores), break outs have been minimal, and the products feel and smell very nice. I’ve worn the mascara, eyeshadow and bronzer (as part of my eyeshadow) to all of my events and for all of my photos recently. I am in love with this #HelloBeauty bag. It has broken my long fear of buying over the counter beauty products because I can rest assured that there are brands out there that think about the earth and use the purist forms of the earth in their products. My face and sensitive skin stand for nothing less than wholesome beauty products, and I’m so happy Whole Foods stands that same ground.
The #HelloBeauty bag, for $18 (with a value of $60) includes:
• Derma E Microdermabrasion Scrub – this is a great exfoliant and it smells so good! It doesn’t irritate my skin like other over the counter scrubs I’ve purchased, and it has left my face smooth and gotten rid of some blemishes before they had a chance to grow huge and make permanent marks.
• Acure Cell Stimulating Facial Mask – go green! For real. I’ve used it once and you don’t have to apply a lot. It foams when you wash it off after letting it sit for 5 minutes.
• Trilogy Vital Moisturizing Cream – it does what it says, it moisturizes lightly (but thoroughly) and leave my face feeling free and not weighed down. It smells lovely, and its contents include rosehip seed oil, marula oil and orange flower.
• Giovanni 2chic Blackberry & Coconut Milk Ultra-Repair Shampoo – I used this shampoo and let my hair air dry with some shea butter. My curls were popping with this sulfate free shampoo that is filled with botanical compounds!
• Gabriel Mascara – this mascara smells good. Random, I know. The good stuff: the formula includes plant waxes and vitamin B-5. It is great to have a more natural mascara considering that this is something we place so close to our eyes which provide one of our most pertinent senses – sight.
• Pacifica Eye Shadow Duo (or lipstick) – I received the eyeshadow and it is so pretty! I believe they chose the perfect color combo to match several different skin tones. It is 100% vegan, paraben free, and the company is sustainable. Parabens are considered to be a carcinogen (cancerous), but studies neither confirm nor deny that. Better safe than sorry!
• RIJIGreen Beauty Bag – this bag is made from organic cotton and the company is committed to ending human trafficking. And it is too cute!
I recommend that everyone gets a #HelloBeauty bag before they are all gone. I just went back and purchased one for a recent contest winner here on the blog, and I hope she loves it. It is a great way to break into green beauty products, and promote a more healthy, sustainable lifestyle. One step at a time and together, y’all.
Are you going to incorporate natural beauty products into your skin care and make up regimen? If you already have, let me know what products you use!
xoxo, dolls & dudes 🙂
The Comments
alyssa
I love it when good make up is also, well, good for you!
Addie
alyssaright? It’s the best thing ever, Alyssa =)
Madaline
That mascara looks amazing!!!!! Also, I’m loving your oprah voice! hahahaha. How I miss oprah!
Addie
MadalineThank you! I’m loving it =) Oprah is perfection lol 🙂
Louida
I’m trying hard to start using more green products on my skin. I know the stuff I’m using now is not good for me.
Addie
LouidaYour skin looks gorgeous, Lou! I bet green products would make it feel better to you, too 🙂
Miranda @ Miranda Writes Blog
I had no idea Whole Foods did a beauty bag! I love the makeup case that it comes in. I haven’t experimented a whole lot with natural beauty products but I might have to give this a try!
Addie
Miranda @ Miranda Writes BlogDefinitely try it out, Miranda! They have a whole beauty and makeup section that I need to explore thoroughly and report back to the blog about 🙂
Brittany
You have basically done all the research I needed to do! Thanks! 🙂 Great products!
Addie
Brittanyhahaha, that’s what I want to be here for, I’m glad I’m able to!
Holly
Love this!! I am always on the hunt for more natural beauty products!! I’ve heard so much about frank, I’m going to have to get me some of that Because it seems to be blowing up!!
You look glowing 🙂
Addie
HollyThank you, Holly 🙂 Frank is the bomb and the best exfoliate I’ve ever used, head to toe. And their instagram feed is HILARIOUS (@frank_bod)
Stephanie
Great post!
Addie
StephanieThanks, Stephanie!
Nina
Great review! I’d definitely like to try the scrub and the mask.
Addie
NinaYou should definitely try them, Nina. The scrub is my fav 🙂
Lauren
I’m loving all of the goodies in my bag too! Black soap is amazing! I used it for years, and I really need to go back to just using it again. There’s nothing like it.
Addie
LaurenBlack soap is my holy grail of skin purification lol. I’m so glad we snatched those bags up. Can’t wait to get together again! 🙂
Whitney
Thanks for sharing this. It’s nice to get feedback on these products before trying them.
http://www.Fashionabella.com
Erica @ Coming Up Roses
This sounds great! I didn’t know Whole Foods was expanding into skincare and beauty…how fun! The formula for the mascara sounds awesome. I might have to make a switch soon, too!
cominguprosestheblog.com
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