Product-analysis: Juice Beauty SPF 8 Lip Moisturizer in Naturally Clear

Personally speaking, the one thing more difficult than finding sun protection that plays nice with my sensitive skin is finding a SPF lip product that plays nice with my sensitive lips. I’ve known my lips to be severely allergic to chemical sunscreens since I was 11. I graduated from playing with mom’s old makeup that year and discovered the world of drugstore makeup. Of course, it made sense to buy lipsticks with SPF protection. Little did I know I was about to experience a nasty bout of allergic reaction. I’ll spare you the gory details. Since then, I’ve been horrified of chemical sunscreens.

A lip balm with 100% mineral sun protection (titanium dioxide and zinc oxide) is hard to come by. If you’re lucky enough to find one that doesn’t contain chemical sunscreens, mineral SPFs are usually so pasty and chalky that it’s far from pleasant to sport in public, which defeats the purpose of a SPF lip balm. I recently found a lip balm with the goods I want with none of the bad. Juice Beauty SPF 8 Lip Moisturizer is a great lip balm that contains enough sun protection for daily wear. I know the SPF is not terribly high, but I think that’s why it’s not chalky or pasty (yay!). The organic ingredients are great and it has this subtle mango-passionfruit scent that comes naturally from the fruit extracts in the product. I have the Naturally Clear and it comes in 2 tinted shades, which I can’t wait to get my hands on!

Here’s my disclaimer: I write extremely researched reviews after extensive, self-conducted testing. I do not review products I dislike; it's a waste of time and typing skills. This review contains gratis sent by company due to interest in feedbacks. My first priority is to my readers; company gratis does not guarantee placement. Affiliate and non-affiliate links may be provided to inform readers of where to purchase products. All in all, you can be sure that items seen on my website are the very few products that qualify for recommendation after rigorous testing.

Beauty Myth-busting: BB Cream Part 2- Make your own BB cream!

Think of an ideal BB Cream as 1 part treatment and 1 part color/coverage. Essentially, mixing your tinted moisturizer (my favorite is the 100% Pure Fruit- pigmented Tinted Moisturizer) with your favorite treatment serum would yield the same results. Below is another recipe to try your hands at.

What you need:
You favorite daytime moisturizer
Aromaleigh Nocturne Overnight Mineral Treatment or SunCat Sundown Night Treatment

Starting with 2 pumps of your favorite moisturizer in the palm of your left hand, add about a 4 pea-size amount of either powder mineral treatments. Blend the mixture together using your ring finger until mixture is smooth. Apply to cleansed skin. You can adjust the amount of either products to your liking.
Mixing the mineral treatment and the moisturizer together allows the minerals to spread evenly onto skin, creating a coverage that is extremely light/natural with a subtle light-diffusing quality. In addition, now that the mineral treatment is in liquid form, it creates better adhesion and absorption between the beneficial ingredients and your skin. As always, the mixture should be used immediately; DO NOT premix 2 products and keep in another container because there aren’t enough preservatives to keep the product’s integrity.

If you’re not familiar with these mineral night treatments, please refer to each link because I think both websites did a great job explaining the products. Long story short, they’re a powder-form treatment similar to the bestselling Bare Escentuals RareMinerals Treatment without the hefty price tag or the irritating ingredients. For people with oily or acne-prone skin who are afraid of moisturizers, these are great alternatives to help nourish the skin. Despite how it’s advertised, I recommend using this in the daytime. I don’t think it’s good to apply cosmetic ingredients before you sleep at night.

If you are uncertain about which mineral treatment to choose, use the following guideline:
Aromaleigh Nocturne Overnight Mineral Treatment
- It contains trace mineral concentrate, which is what Bare Escentuals touts as their secret ingredient. This is almost an exact dupe of Rare Minerals without the use of irritating Bismuth Oxychloride. When mixed, this one has a finish that’s slightly grainy (due to the trace minerals). I don’t mind it so much because the applied look is still quite nice.
- Comes in 2 colors, LITE and Original medium
SunCat Sundown Night Rejuvenating Treatment
- While this version doesn’t contain trace mineral concentrate, the formula is mica-free (great for those who are sensitive to it). Suncat Minerals estimates that this treatment has approximately SPF 30 (this is a one-woman business so she can’t afford SPF rating tests). It also contains amino acid-rich silk powders.
- This version comes in 3 shades.

Once you make your selection, you are ready to make your “BB Cream”- Enjoy!

Here’s my disclaimer: I write extremely researched reviews after extensive, self-conducted testing. I do not review products I dislike; it's a waste of time and typing skills. This review contains products I purchased. I was not paid to write this review. My first priority is to my readers; company gratis does not guarantee placement. Affiliate and non-affiliate links are provided to inform readers of where to purchase products. All in all, you can be sure that items seen on my website are the very few products that qualify for recommendation after rigorous testing.

Beauty Myth-busting: BB Cream

There is a new cosmetic/skincare craze sweeping the Asian beauty industry- BB Cream. The name stands for Blemish Balm Cream, but from what I’ve seen BB Cream makers claim that it does EVERYTHING. Imagine a product that erases the look of pores, spots & lines, treats blemishes (albeit slowly), fights aging, contains ingredients likes caviar and diamond while leaving your skin looking flawless under any type of light using coverage lighter than a tinted moisturizer.

If it sounds too good to be true, it is. The coverage is extremely light, it won’t cover bumps and spots. BB cream typically comes in this lackluster shade of light grey and it’s oxidizes to match your skin tone. No, thank you- grey is simply not a flattering color on any skin tone. It oxidizes and turns skin-color because it becomes exposed to air and the natural oils on your skin. However, if your skin is on the drier side, you might end up wearing that mortuary tint longer than expected. I also suspect that it makes skin look porcelain-like because the grey tint literally counteracts all color from the skin. As for everything it claims it does, I dissected a popular BB Cream’s ingredient list and there’s nothing magical about it. If anything, it contained a number of pore-clogging irritants. It really is just a craze.

I was genuinely curious when I ask a friend of mine why she loves her BB cream. She couldn’t offer anything but “it’s all the rage amongst Asian celebs right now!”. When I offered her my synopsis of BB Cream, she became thoughtfully quiet for a moment and replied “…that might explain why I’m breaking out…!!!” Hmph, the things we are suckered into buying! *shakes fist at the beauty industry* BB Cream’s popularity really boggles me. With that said, the concept is great! Stay tuned as next week, I’m setting out to make my own version of the BB cream, a BB Cream with the perks and none of the setbacks.

Product-analysis: 100% Pure Fruit-pigmented Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20- Peach Bisque

I am always looking for products that can multi-task superbly. As a self-proclaimed beauty product snob, “multi-purpose” products often fall short of my expectations and land straight in the marketing gimmick bin. I much rather discover a great product and think of ways to multi-task with it.

My newly-bloomed obsession with 100% Pure has got my brain cranking with innovative ways to use their truly natural skincare and cosmetics. I’ve had my eyes set on their Fruit-Pigmented Tinted Moisturizer ever since I started using their fruit-derived shower gels (which I also LOVE as a sweet-smelling shampoo). When I finally got my hands on one of these babies, my first impression was its generous size, which I’m a huge fan of.

Of course, I couldn’t resist running my eyes over the ingredient list. Organic pigment of peach sat proudly as the first ingredient followed by a delicious combination of pigments from pomegranate, apricot, Cocoa Bean and more. The short & sweet list of ingredients includes a chockfull of good ingredients like Vitamin C and Acai Extract, but “Water” and silicones were nowhere to be found. While most conventional foundations consist of confusing blends of water, fillers and very little pigment, this little gem is so concentrated with natural fruit pigments. And yet, they made it possible to purchase this at a totally reasonable price. To top it all off, not using water in their Tinted Moisturizer allows them to avoid irritating preservatives.

Forgive me for being awe-struck and losing my writing skills temporarily, I must reverse my train of thought and rave about the fruit pigments. While cosmetic companies still use FD&C and synthetic dyes (yuck!), many have started using mineral-derived iron oxides as pigments. The jury is still out on whether iron oxides have any real benefits. 100% Pure is literally the only company that uses fruits to pigment their products. When it comes down to it though, what does really that mean?

Imagine a thin slice of a perfect Georgia peach. Now imagine holding that peach slice under a light. The harsh light will filter through the peach slice, setting it aglow with the freshest shades of peach and nude. That is exactly what it did when I applied it to my skin. The farmgirl in me chose a color (Peach Bisque) that was too tan for me, but I applied it nonetheless. Miraculously, it absolutely did not look like it was too dark. Rather, I looked like I just took good advantage of a well-deserved vacation! NO blending skills necessary, the liberal application melded flawlessly into my skin. After a few seconds, a seamless, light-medium coverage appeared from nowhere and my shiny complexion gave way to a soft focus glow. The non-greasy, mineral-based SPF 20 is the cherry on top. I was less oily but what really impressed me was how radiant and well-rested I looked all day! Who knew the wrong shade of makeup can look so good? Something tells me the secret is in the pigments.

I can talk forever about this product. I get like this when I’m much too excited. Let me end my rambling by saying I totally qualify this as a superb multi-tasking treatment moisturizer+sunblock+foundation+complexion perfector. My obsession with 100% Pure is at a point of no return and I urge them to encourage that obsession by creating more amazing products!



Here’s my disclaimer: I write extremely researched reviews after extensive, self-conducted testing. I do not review products I dislike; it's a waste of time and typing skills. This review contains a product I purchased and it originated as gratis sent by company due to interest in feedbacks. My first priority is to my readers; company gratis does not guarantee placement. Affiliate and non-affiliate links are provided to inform readers of where to purchase products. All in all, you can be sure that items seen on my website are the very few products that qualify for recommendation after rigorous testing.