Vanity Rehab

Price: $18 for 2 gms/0.07 oz.

About the brand '100% Pure': Founded by Susie Wang in a Napa, California farmhouse in 2005 and now based in Silicon Valley, 100% PURE® is an organic cosmetics beauty firm focused on providing healthy skin care, color cosmetics plus bath and body products which are completely free of all harmful toxins. All of them are 100% natural, 100% cruelty-free and 100% free of artificial colors, artificial fragrances, synthetic chemical preservatives and all other toxins. Beauty, as pure as it is powerful. Truly, health food for your skin.




Simplified ingredient list: Rice Starch, May Contain Pigments of Carrot, Squash, Apricot, Peach, Papaya, Cocoa, Pomegranate, Blackberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Coffee, Black Tea, Acai, Vanilla, Lavender and Tomato Fruit/Leaf/Stem, a-tocopherol (Vitamin E), Rosehip Oil,Pomegranate Seed Oil, Avocado Butter, Cocoa Butter, Red Wine Resveratrol (Wine), Ascorbyl Palmitate (Vitamin C), may contain Mica (natural shimmery mineral). For the list along with scientific names, go HERE and click on the 'details' section.



Shade: It is a pearl finish gunmetal gray with undertones of a real ripe fig inside out i.e., brown, plum and copper undertones. It is a very versatile shade of gray which is rarely available in natural formulations.


Pigmentation: Fairly pigmented but not as saturated as it's conventional counterparts coloured with synthetic dyes.

Texture: Buttery smooth and highly blendable.


My experience: I bought this eye shadow from ariva.com purely based on it's ingredients. I was so curious to see how a powder eye shadow pigmented from fruit performs and i must say that i was really impressed on how well it did. At first, i was disappointed on how faintly gray it turned out on my skin but when i tried it with a thin layer of blended out RMS beauty 'un' cover-up as a base to grab the pigment, it really showed it's true colour. On a black base it looks even more fantastic. The shade is very versatile and suits many Indian skin tones. 

However, it does not show up that well on dark skin tones and hence properly useful only on fair to fair medium skin tones. It has a buttery smooth texture and blends out super easy. Fall out is minimal. It does not irritate dry lids as it contains nourishing oils and butters. It works great as a metallic liner when layered on black kohl/liner and also makes regular smoky eyes interesting. This shade complements brown and green eyes beautifully. The only minus point is that it does not last long on oily lids. It fades out after 1-2 hrs and i had to touch it up a little. A good primer is must.

Pros:

• Made with 100% natural origin and organic ingredients.
• Coloured completely with fruit based pigments and mica.
• Versatile shade which is rarely available in cosmetics with natural formulations.
• Suits many fair-fair medium Indian skin tones.
• Fairly pigmented for a naturally formulated product.
• Safe and Completely free of chemical based dyes.
• Contains no harmful preservatives.
• Bio-degradable.
• Eco-friendly on all levels.

Cons: 

• Pigment is not as saturated as i would like in a dark coloured eye shadow and it does not show up on dark skin tones. I hope they'll work on it.
• Fades out quickly if you have oily lids.
• Availability. Not available in India. You can find it on ariva.com which ships to India. Easy to find 100% pure products if you live in U.S or Singapore.

My conclusion: There is no brand out there which colours it's makeup with fruit and so this, you can't miss. They say their products are 'Health food for our skin' and i won't deny it. Go grab it if you are on the lookout for natural formulated eco-friendly makeup that really works. Now i am eyeing and dying to get my hands on the shades Golden honey, Hazelnut, Cashmere and Pewter.

Use as a foundation or a light concealer as it visibly melts into the skin while covering imperfections and redness. Provides even coverage for flawless looking skin that will never look heavy or dry. Moisturizes and heals, resulting in a beautiful second skin. 

Please avoid using synthetic and/or chemical laden moisturizers under rms beauty products and opt for a more natural/organic one. rms beauty oil was created to work synergistically with all rms beauty products, especially the "Un" Cover-up.
This brand is created by 'Rose-Marie Swift' who was a makeup artist for over 35 years. Her work has been featured in top magazines and ads. Her portfolio includes many famous faces and she has worked with some of the top fashion photographers in the world.

Several years ago, Rose-Marie began to experience some health issues and after an extensive series of tests, she learned that her blood contained toxic levels of heavy metals including aluminum, barium, cadmium, lead and mercury as well as high levels of pesticides and other chemicals.

Rose-Marie was surprised when the technician asked if she worked in the cosmetics industry. Until then she had no idea that cosmetics could contribute to serious health issues. After years of rebuilding her own health, Rose-Marie realized that she wanted to help other women claim their right to healthy beauty. To achieve this goal she created RMS Beauty, her acclaimed line of organic color cosmetics.

Read more about Rose-Marie Swift in detail HERE


My Experience: I discovered this product while searching for natural makeup products online and this product had so many rave reviews that i had to buy it ASAP. I bought it from futurenatural.com (which is no more). It comes in a frosted glass jar with white metal lid. This product is supposed to work like a light foundation and also concealer. But, for me, it just did not work in any form. Firstly, because of oils and butters used, it fails terribly to perform in tropical hot weather of India.You can see how it almost melted like butter in the pic above. And no matter how much less i use, it made the face shiny and tacky within few minutes because of the hot and humid weather of Chennai. I tried to set it with a light setting powder but even after 2 applications, the product sucked it up like it had an infinte thirst. Any more and my face starts to look caked up and clogged.

However, i tried it in air conditioned room for a day. It was not as tacky to touch or shiny and my skin looked and felt so healthy, plump and healthily dewy. Hence proved that it is suitable only for cold and dry climates. It applies best when dabbed a tiny amount of it on a small area/spot with fingers and keep patting lightly which makes it melt and blend in to the skin seemlessly. Gives the best 'No-makeup look'! Any other method of application just does not work and if you have a dry spot or flaky skin, it catches and accentuates them. It is nicely saturated with pigment for a makeup product with a natural formulation and also does not contain any kind of shimmer or pearl which most mineral cosmetics usually do. But, since you have to apply as minimal amount as possible, it gives a very light coverage(checkout the red patch on skin in the blended swatch pic) and hence utterly "un" fit for heavily blemished skin. Given the indian climate, there is no scope of layering either. And if you thrown in 'oily skin' to the mix, then it's pure disaster. So, you have to have almost flawless, normal and soft skin to begin with.

Lasting power is not really great either. It lasts for 2-3 hrs in A/C environment and disappears within half an hour or even within few minutes in hot weather.

Shade options are very limited and no.33 was the best match for my medium olive indian skintone. This shade has some yellow undertones but it's still too peachy and warm for my yellow beige skin. But since it is sheer, it blends off with my skin tone nicely. Hence suits anyone with MAC NC 30-35 skintone.

And secondly, this product contains 'coconut oil' as it's main ingredient which ranks very high on the comedogenicity(tendency to cause acne) scale and i've already had bad experience with it in the past. This was no different. It broke me out after just 3 days of continuous usage. There ends the fantasy of "Un"veiling angel skin. Given the hefty price tag, i tried number of ways to make it work but failed each and every time.

The only plus point of this product is that it's made with all natural eco-friendly ingredients without any harmful preservatives.
This product is so ridiculously overpriced for the quantity provided and highly un justified as it contains no fancy ingredients either...just some basic regular ones.

I spent almost 3000/- INR(with shipping) on this and what does it "Un"veil??? Acne? Shiny/Sticky/Clogged up skin? No. Just an Empty credit card!

So, no matter how gorgeous Miranda kerr looks with this on, it's utterly useless even on her if the conditions are not right.

Rating: 4/5 in suitable conditions and 0/5 in unsuitable conditions.

My Conclusion: So, if you have oily skin or live in a hot and humid climate then avoid it like plague. Buy this only if you have almost flawless skin, not allergic to coconut oil and live some place cold and dry. Otherwise, don't even bother. But, please try to get hands on sample first before buying the full size if you can. Get it only if you think you both can justify each other or else, be ready to "Un"veil a hole in your wallet.

Price: 270/- INR for 4.25 grams.

Packaging: Mini, classy and sturdy black plastic casing.

Key ingredients: Certified organic clarified butter (cow ghee), Bees wax, Kokum butter (garcinia indica), Honey and Colours(mineral).

Ingredient safety: All the mentioned key ingredients are Safe. Don't know about the rest of the unmentioned ingredients.

Fragrance: Mild Floral Ghee.

Certification: No.

Availability: Available at Naturalmantra.com



My experience: The formula is to die for. It's so deeply moisturising and so comfortable and non-cakey(even with multiple swipes) that your lips are going to thank you every single time you wear it. It's that lovely. It gives a satin finish and contains no shimmer or pearl in it. The lipstick is moderately saturated with pigment. But, what you see on the bullet is what you get on the lips. You need not swipe it multiple times to get the colour to show up on lips. Two swipes will usually do the job. The bullet sure sweats in hot weather and feels a hell lot uncomfortable to wear in hot and humid weather. But that's just ghee and other butters oozing out (Now you got proof! ;D). So, that makes it a perfect winter/dry weather lipstick. I like how it smells of mild ghee and flowers but this may be an issue for those who find the ghee odour unpleasant. It does not taste of anything though. The only tiny minus point is that the colour does not last long. You have to keep on touching up every few hours.

This is a wonderful nude lipstick which suits a wide range of skin tones based on the undertone of their lips. But, not for me.. since my lips have that purplish gray dried rose undertone already, this lipstick makes my face look dull and almost on the verge of dead. But, nothing a little tinted lipbalm or gloss can't fix.

Pros:

• Deeply moisturising, comfortable and non-cakey formula.
• Contains Clarified butter, Kokum butter and Honey.
• Very budget friendly in the natural makeup category.
• Universally flattering n*de shade unless your lips have that purplish gray undertone like me.

Cons:

• Not long lasting.But, i guess, they did not use any chemicals to make it sit there for hours together. So, that's one thing we will have to deal with (most of the times) if we want cosmetics with all natural formulation.
• Full ingredient list not mentioned.
• Some people may not like the mild ghee odour present in it.

My Rating: 4/5.