Foundation (toxic free)

[junglehouse]

I’ve recently downloaded an app (not sure if I’m allowed to say which), but I scan all my beauty products and the app lets me know what ingredients are used in each products and the potential effects each ingredient may have on my health or the environment. It’s been quite an eye opener and I may have delved down a tiny rabbit hole of looking into the ingredients of things I use in my (and my families) everyday life.

I scanned a foundation I have loved and used for many years and wear every day - Estée Lauder Doublewear and was sad to see that it did not score very well (40/100, poor).

I wondered if there were any recommendations for a foundation that is similar but known to use less toxic ingredients. The app has suggested alternatives but I thought I’d ask the trusted Mumsnetters too.

I’m looking for something quite natural looking, and I am also Indian with quite fair skin (Tawny in Estee), so need a brand who has a range of shades too.

Thank you.

You've presumably downloaded Yuka or something similar.

Come back up the rabbit hole and read the opinions of dermatologists and skincare experts on Yuka. Sali Hughes and Nadine Baggott both have great summaries.

Essentially, Yuka started as a food app. In the US.

Two things already- we don't eat skincare and makeup and ingredient restrictions in the US are less stringent than in Europe.

It will pick up things like parabens and tell you the product is bad. Parabens are mainly used in skincare as preservatives.

Dermatologists are noticing an increase in conditions like perioral dermatitis and believe one explanation for a strange increase in recent years is a lack of chemical preservatives in "clean" and natural beauty products.

TL:DR

The beauty industry's products are in some cases as highly regulated and tested as medicines. Nothing is licensed for sale unless its been tested over and over.

Nadine B has an excellent video with a toxicologist debunking the myths of clean beauty and apps like Yuka. It also explains nicely what products penetrate the layers of skin, how and why, and why this useful thing that products do has the clean/natural fans panicking when there's no reason to.

Your DW is fine and you can carry on with it happily!

@ASighWasMadeOfStone well said!

PS almost all the alternatives suggested by Yuka are MLMs.

I wouldn't trust beauty influencers who are trying to sell you stuff (especially Sali Hughes). They don't have the knowledge. Look at dermatologists and Lab Beauty Muffin on Instagram is also good from a science based view.

Oh I agree in general, but SH is spot on about Yuka feeding into people's insecurities.
Nadine is good about the clean beauty bollocks too.