Well about a week ago on Facebook, I was checking my newsfeed and came across a discussion on The Green Beauty Team’s page about how its founder and international makeup artist made the decision to trash thousands of dollars worth of professional paraben and other chemical-containing makeup, and replace it with safer products. I asked her what she found to replace it with, and she responded that it has been an ongoing discussion, and pointed out how if you are a makeup artist your needs are different from if you are just shopping for yourself. So true.
The Case:
The Green Beauty Team’s founder and editor-in-chief, international makeup artist Kristen Arnett, wrote an article for GalTime with some examples of safe brands that are great for personal and professional use, and I noticed that Youngblood was one of their picks for makeup. What? So I quickly double checked my palette box…yup still said parabens. I went to what I thought was Youngblood’s website and found the link for the ingredients in the Artiste palettes. Yup…it listed parabens. This left me very confused…why would Kristen Arnett list a product with parabens on a list of products that don’t contain harmful chemicals?
The Investigation:
I decided to ask her. I responded “Great post...but I noticed you listed Youngblood...they have parabens in some of their products...eyeshadows in particular...” on her Facebook page. I didn’t hear back right away, but then she responded: “Hi Rachael, I wanted to get back to you on this because I just worked with Youngblood this weekend a few times and double checked their ingredients...Good news! No parabens to be found! And their eyeshadows really do rock (no talc either). –Kristen”. This, of course left me even more confused.
I went back to the website I found and realized that I didn’t notice the “.au” after the dot com. This was the website for their Australian distributor. Oops. I checked Youngblood's US website, which does not list the Artiste palettes, and every other product is listed as paraben-free (yes I checked them all).
So I responded to Kristen: “Hi Kristen, thanks for getting back to me! I just realized that the website I was looking on was their Australian one...which lists parabens in their ingredients...plus I just received one of their eyeshadow palettes as a gift that also has them. I went to the US website and it says that they don't have them so I am guessing that they are newly paraben-free and just have to update some of their other distributors' sites?” To which she replied: “Rachael, I continued to research this for you and the marketing folks at YB had this to say: ‘We began going paraben-free in 2007; that’s a very lengthy process…no new formulations contain the bad stuff, and everything else was reformulated nearly 15 years ago— what do remain are a couple of eyeshadows + blushes (namely in the Artiste palettes). Those are the only items we need to phase out of to be 100%.’” How awesome is Kristen that she did all that research because of my inquiry! Love her.
The Evidence:
The Verdict:
The Paraben Police officially considers this case closed. Way to go Youngblood for having professional quality, natural, and SAFE paraben-free products that perform beautifully. You get a Holistically Haute™ Thumbs Up!
Next time I need to replenish any of my personal or professional makeup, I am going straight to Youngblood. Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics are available for purchase at numerous better salons, spas, medi-spas, and doctors’ offices. You can either use the Store Locator on their website, or you can purchase Youngblood products directly from their online store.
6 comments:
I LOVE your blog! You provide so much great information and so many good ideas. I couldn't decide where to put my comments because each post has so much to recommend it.
I decided on this post because I'm impressed with how far you were willing to go to make sure you got the correct information. Very impressive.
I'm very new at blogging and always looking for inspiration. I sure found it here! Thanks so much.
Mina thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it and am so glad you like it. As for the research for this post, I had lots of help :) But I do take research very seriously so I can provide accurate information. Thanks again!
Have you not considered the rest of the not-so-good ingredients though? Silicones, PEGs, EDTA, etc. etc...
There are other not-so-good ingredients in their products... hardly holistic. Giving them a thumbs up because one bad ingredient isn't there is like saying a pool is pee-free because one out of ten pool users didn't pee in the water. If the other nine did... do you want to get a mouthful next time you jump in?
Anonymous thank you for your comment and your colorful simile. First of all, this post, and the thumbs up is in terms of parabens, not other chemicals. Youngblood does not claim to be a holistic line, but most of their ingredients are much safer than other professional, as well as commercial makeup lines, and many of them are natural. They have taken out several other harmful ingredients in addition to the parabens.
In terms of silicones and PEGS, there are many different ones out there and they are used in many different ways. Not all of them are toxic, and their level of toxicity often depends on the other chemicals with which they are combined.
I never said Youngblood is a perfect line, but in terms of performance and safety I feel it is an excellent option for a professional/camouflage makeup line. If you compare their ingredients to those of many of their competitors, they have made a lot more changes and improvements to their formulas in terms of safety than many of the competitors, without compromising the quality and performance of the products.
I'm glad my simile gave you a smile.
Regarding your answer, there's a decent explanation about PEGs over at David Suzuki's site, so I'll beg to differ with you on your belief that they're not a 'bad' ingredient. In fact, virtually anyone with an 'ingredients to avoid' list will have PEGs listed.
My concern is with how so many people are willing to overlook one 'evil' because another 'evil' was refrained from, and as a result, some of these products are ending up recommended as 'green' choices (currently happening by a pro makeup artist) when there are better alternatives to be found. Many people out there won't or can't do the 'homework' to know how to differentiate products and so rely on those who do make reviews and give recommendations. I believe there's a very big responsibility then, on those who make those endorsements, to be super diligent in giving all the information, not just some. Your posted philosophy is "as long as it is done in a way that is safe; and that works with the functions of the body, not against them." One could certainly argue that recommending products with ingredients that are proven to work against our body, isn't holistically haute.
I mean no disrespect, just wish to encourage you to recognize that if people are reading your recommendations and placing trust in them, you bear a great responsibility to those people. ;-) I would like to thank you for the grace and class with which you posted and also replied to an opinion that others might have seen as opposing... and thus just deleted. You get my (huge) thumbs up for that!
Regarding EDTA - I'll quote from the author of the chemicaloftheday site. "EDTA is in such widespread use that it has emerged as a persistent organic pollutant. It degrades to ethylenediaminetriacetic acid, which then cyclizes to the diketopiperizide, a cumulative, persistent, organic environmental pollutant."
That's just the couple of ingredients I mentioned. There were a couple more I'd consider questionable, but I think this is enough to make my point.
(Here's the url for the David Suzuki info.)
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/chemicals-in-your-cosmetics---peg-compounds-and-their-contaminants/index.php
Thank you for the information. Again, it is not a perfect line. There are very few perfect products out there, so I do the best I can to recommend some of the lesser evil ones. I absolutely recognize my responsibility in making product recommendations and do the best I can to recommend products that are safe, but ALSO effective and that perform well. I won't recommend a product that doesn't work or isn't effective no matter how safe it is.
It's much easier for skin care/personal care products but makeup is a tricky one since often, the safest ones do not show up on the skin or wear well. Or they have ingredients that may be safe and natural, but are heavy emollients that will clog pores and cause breakouts. I always encourage my readers to read labels, check the EWG's database, and educate themselves.
Additionally, not all products that are natural are safe or necessarily better than others...several natural ingredients will cause irritant or allergic reactions. It is hard to find good ones that are safe that actually do what they say they will do.
If you know of a professional makeup line that performs well and has a safer formulation than Youngblood, please let me know.
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