favorite natural beauty finds at target

it was around a year ago that got serious about wanting to decrease the toxins that my family and i were exposing ourselves to on a daily basis. i started doing an extensive amount of research in my free time (it’s a lot of information) about specific toxic ingredients that are in our every day beauty products and the effect that they have on our bodies. did you know that our skin is our largest body organ and that we absorb everything that we put on it into our bodies due to it being porous?

i honestly wasn’t quite ready to take the plunge and kept putting off getting rid of all of the beauty products in our house (soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, makeup, etc) because they were so expensive. i also had a hard time wrapping my head around why these companies would put products on the shelves that could do such harm to us and our families.

that was until one morning when i noticed my two year old daughter watching me while i applied my makeup. she began imitating me and telling me that she wanted to wear makeup just like mommy. it made me cringe that she was trying to use these makeup products with such toxic ingredients on her own skin and i knew it was just a matter of time before she would be successful (if you have a toddler you know what i’m talking about). i gave most of it away that day and donated the rest. i’m not the type of person that can do something half way, if i’m passionate about something i’m all in. i want my daughter to be able to wear makeup and express herself someday when she’s old enough but i want it to be with products that aren’t harmful to her.

since i decided to throw out all of our beauty products so abruptly, i honestly went without makeup for close to six months. i quickly discovered that finding all natural beauty products that were also accessible (because all mamas out there need accessible) was a huge struggle. luckily my home away from home Target has recently started upping their natural beauty game. however, they unfortunately still have a lot greenwashing happening. greenwashing is when companies claim that their products are natural and non toxic when that is not really the case. target does have a green clean icon (in the picture above) to make finding their natural products easier, but there are still some brands with this icon that i would not personally use or recommend. it took me long time to understand which ingredients are safe and which ones aren’t, i put together a helpful list below of which ingredients i try to steer clear from.

when looking at labels which ingredients should you steer clear from?

aluminum

artificial fragrance/parfum

butylene glycol

camphor

deet

diethanolamine (DEA)

dioxins

formaldehyde

icohol, isopropyl (SD-40)

mineral oil

monoethanolamine (MEA)

para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA)

parabens

phenoxyethanol

polyethylene glycol (PEG)

propylene glycol (PG)

pthalates

sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)

sodium laureth sulfate (SLES)

triethanolamine (TEA)

toluene

triclosan

you can also use skin deep or thinkdirty to help you decide which products you should stay away from and they both also have apps! i use the apps all the time if i’m at the store and want to just scan a product really quick instead of looking over every single ingredient, especially when i have both kids with me. it’s a huge time saver. they each rate products on a scale of 0-10 (zero being the safest and ten being the most toxic). one of my favorite things about the think dirty app is that it automatically assigns a rating of 7 or higher on any product that lists “fragrance” in it’s ingredient list due to a strong correlation between negative health impacts and unspecified fragrance ingredients. on skin deep i usually try and go with the products that are listed as ewg (environmental working group) certified which means that the product avoid’s EWG’s ingredients of concern, the company that made the product has full transparency and good manufacturing practices.

here are a few of my favorite natural beauty finds:

grace & tonic eye serum: this is one of my new all time favorite finds! it’s hydrating and it also has green tea in it which gives you a firmer looking appearance around the eyes.

w3ll people optimist lipstick: this certified organic lipstick is a must. it’s easy to apply + long lasting. what more could you ask for? the soul mate color is my absolute favorite shade.

weleda skin food: winter is right around the corner and i don’t know about you but my skin gets extremely dry. this ultra-rich cream will give some extra love to those dry spots.

cocokind facial cleansing oil: a super gentle cleanser (with only four organic ingredients) that helps to restore + regulate your skin.

honest beauty extreme length mascara + lash primer: i am extremely picky when it comes to my mascara. i want it to look amazing + last all day but i also don’t want it to break the bank. the struggle is real. when i came across this mascara i honestly thought it was to good to be true but it is seriously amazing.

meow meow tweet deodorant: i love that this deodorant uses magnesium instead of baking soda to fight stinky smells (baking soda irritates my underarms), plus it’s sweet smelling essential oils will leave you smelling fresh all day.

dr. bronner's organic lip balm: my husband is obsessed with chapstick, especially in the winter. he will literally buy a jumbo pack of chapstick. it has taken me a lot of effort to get him to try something other than just your average chapstick. he is a HUGE fan of this lip balm and is also a fan of the price.

sailor by captain b. liquid spot facial treatments: if you’re looking for a natural + effective way to treat those pesky little blemishes, look no further. added bonus: it smells amazing.

w3ll people narcissist foundation stick: i am obsessed with this w3ll people foundation stick, it’s extremely lightweight and so easy to apply. i wear the shade medium neutral!

plant apothecary body wash: one of the many things that my husband’s complained about when switching all of our products was that he missed the fresh/clean smell of body wash. this plant apothecary body wash only has 8 ingredients. it’s infused with peppermint + geranium and it is so refreshing.

*affiliate links are used in this post , which means that at no additional cost to you purchases made from the links above will provide a small commission to help support this blog. all opinions are always my own.

xoxo,