Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Skin (eye) Irritants













In my never ending search for something to correct my disgusting eye problem I requisitioned my best friend who is a nurse to help. She has very sensitive skin too and was able to offer a short list of common skin irritants, often inactive ingredients in skincare and makeup, to avoid. Now, of course I have no idea what these things are but if they are making my eyes do this, they better stay away from me if they know what's good for them! Beware imidazolidinyl urea and diazolidinyl urea, fragrances, sodium lauryl sulfate, mineral oil, MEA, TEA, toluene, and DMAE...I'm coming for you!

When I was doing a bit of research I discovered that most commercial makeup lines use some or all of these ingredients in their products to give them a longer shelf life or better staying power! I did confirm that Clinique uses at least a few of them:( I question the hypo-allergenic claim if I am allergic to your ingredients. I know that Clinique tests every product on 1,000 people and if any of them have a reaction they reformulate. The deal is, if I had totally normal skin to start with and was exposed just once, I might not have a reaction right then either. FLAW IN THE SYSTEM!

I found a cool website called http://www.lesstoxicguide.ca/index.asp?fetch=personal that has a list of the top contributors to contact dermatitis and recommendations for what are the best alternative brands to reduce the irritation! I admit, the thought of not wearing a prestige brand of makeup and using prestige skincare makes me a little sick but I know that's silly and I would much rather have normal eyes again and wear non-prestige makeup than keep this hot mess going! From this websites information it looks like the brands with the least chance of making me want to scoop my eyeballs out with a grapefruit spoon are Lavera, Burt's Bees, and Aubrey Organics. Other than Burt's Bees I have never heard of these but am definitely willing to give them a try!

So, I just went online shopping, how fun! I ordered from Lavera and Aubrey Organic. I will give a full report when I receive and have been using this stuff for a while. Hopefully, I will be able to report that my eyes are back to their normal sparkling selves!! I got EVERYTHING I might need. Actually, it would be such a relief if I could only use these products. Just think about it. I wouldn't have to make choices. I would use one eyeliner, one foundation, one eyeshadow...you see where I'm going with this. YAY! There is hope! From Lavera I ordered mascara, eye liner, eye shadow, concealer, and pressed powder. From Aubrey Organic I ordered 3-step skin care for normal skin, face mask & scrub, makeup remover, blush/bronzer, foundation brush, eye creme, and foundation.

If this new skincare/makeup does work out at least I'll have TONS of stuff to put on Makeup Alley. Then I can stock up on haircare and my favorite fragrances. FUN!

Keep your fingers crossed y'all!

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