Glow All Year with Au Naturale Cosmetics!

Thursday, October 8, 2015 - Posted by Unknown at 11:10 AM
I have a confession to make: I am a pack rat.

Since I started blogging my makeup purchases as opposed to just ferreting them away to my bathroom they often sit in boxes near the computer for way too long. This package of wonderful from Au Naturale came to me back in May, so this post has been a long time coming! I have been using these products for quite some time and loving them, so it is time for me to actually share them with you!

I have been a big fan of Au Naturale for several years. Fun fact: Au Naturale operates out of my father's hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin. That has no bearing on my opinion of the company, I just think it's cool.

What I do have an opinion about is that Au Naturale consistently produces some of the most pure cosmetics I have come across, and they continue to be ridiculously gorgeous. Last winter I reviewed some amazing holiday products from Au Naturale. Because I had a few problems with my lipstick palette they offered me some holiday credit. My order didn't didn't ship for some time due to the way the credit code worked, so Au Naturale was incredibly generous and sent me a bunch of full size products instead of the sample size products I had ordered! Major thank you to Ashley and Courtney of Au Naturale!

No, that deserves a few more exclamation points.

!!!!!!!!!!


Left to Right: Highlighter Stick, Bronzer Stick, Sherbert Blusher Stick

Top to Bottom: Sherbert Blusher Stick, Bronzer Stick, Highlighter Stick

Organic Creme Highlighter Stick - This is a gorgeous cream highlight color that provides a gorgeous glowy highlight to your skin. I like to put this under my eyes to look more awake. I also use it to highlight my nose and cupid's bow. This is super pretty and a new staple. Au Naturale's colors are super pigmented so this is a much more pigmented highlighter than something like RMS Beauty Living Luminizer.

Organic Creme Bronzer Stick - My big worry with bronzer is always that it will be too dark and for some reason I feel like cream bronzer takes that worry away. This is a very beautiful shimmery copper bronzer that compliments the highlighter stick wonderfully. It is not too dark on my not-quite-light-not-quite-medium skintone and looks especially wonderful when I'm a bit tanned. I don't believe it contouring (seriously, I don't get it!) so I just use this anywhere the sun would naturally hit and it looks dewy and fabulous.

Sherbert Organic Creme Blusher Stick - This is an intensely pigmented peachy apricot cream blush shade in stick form. It has the glisten of a cream blush but no shimmer in this one. This is beautiful and goes quite nicely with my skin. A little goes a long way so this will probably last me forever!

Kissed Bronzer, Luminous Bronzer, Apricot Blusher, Pink Lady Blusher, Nectar Blusher, Highlighter Stick, Bronzer Stick, Sherbert Blusher Stick
Top to Bottom: Nectar Blusher, Pink Lady Blusher, Apricot Blusher, Luminous Bronzer, Kissed Bronzer


Kissed Bronzer - This powder bronzer is my new favorite bronzer because it is so light and subtle. I feel like so many bronzers look great on darker skintones and look ridiculous on me. If you are fairly light you will love Kissed Bronzer! It is gorgeously pigmented by subtle with very subtle amounts of shimmer.

Luminous Bronzer - This is the bronzer for beach bunnies. It is a gorgeous shimmery rose gold shade. This is the one I reach for when I'm not feeling subtle! I also plan to use this a lot in the fall and winter for holiday sparkle!

Apricot Blusher - This powder blusher is very close to being the powder version of Sherbert Creme Blusher. It is a tad lighter and therefore a softer color, but very close. It is also very pigmented. Much like Kissed Bronzer Apricot has a tiny amount of very subtle shimmer.

Pink Lady Blusher - This powder blusher is a very light subtle lavender pink shade. It is sheer but buildable and incredibly wearable. This one also has very faint shimmer. It is best suited for light skintones.

Nectar Blusher - This powder blusher is a beautiful rose lavender shade with subtle iridescent purple sparkle. This one is also quite pigmented but as long as you are not heavy handed it will look good on pretty much anyone!

I wanted to be able to tell you favorites, but honestly, some colors will work better than others for me but I love all of them and am so grateful to Au Naturale for sending them to me! It is an amazing thing to be expecting sample sizes and to receive full sized products instead!




Left side swatches over Highlighter Stick. Top to Bottom: Lace, Tupelo, Chai, Ballet, Luna, Cedar. 

The Natural Eye Collection features six eyeshadows and two brushes. It was released for Winter 2014. After loving the Bold Eye Collection I was excited to try another eye collection. For one thing, it meant having another All-Over Shadow Brush and Angle Liner Brush, which is wonderful because I use my All-Over Shadow Brush every day! Here are the six gorgeous neutral shades: Lace, Tupelo, Chai, Ballet, Luna, and Cedar.

Lace is a sparkly pearly champagne highlight shade.

Tupelo is an ultra shimmery rose gold shade. This one is a knockout!

Chai is a gold satin. No glitter in this one, but satin shimmer.

Ballet is an almost matte mauvey dark pink with the tiniest bit of shimmer.

Luna is a satin pewter color with very subtle shimmer.

Cedar is a satin chocolate brown with very subtle shimmer.

I love all of these but Tupelo is my absolute favorite!



In this photo I am wearing Lace, Tupelo, and Ballet Eye Shadows over The All Natural Face Magic Vegan Eye Shadow Primer with Herban Luxe Cosmetics Superlash Black Mascara, Au Naturale Organic Creme Foundation in Sand, Pink Lady Blusher, Kissed Bronzer, Organic Creme Highlighter Stick, and Au Naturale Cora Lipstick.

September Empties

Wednesday, October 7, 2015 - Posted by Unknown at 5:48 PM



Method Limited Edition Sunset Beach Hand Wash 12 oz. - This is a stretch on "September". I'm not sure when it got used up but I think it was months ago and I found it and realized it had missed the last post. Oops. I continue to buy Method soaps despite the SLS I would like to be avoiding because they smell so good!

Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Hand Soap Basil Scent 12.5 oz. - This is the one I did use up in September. I think these have cleaner ingredients than the Method soaps and I love the Basil scent. I also use a lot of household cleaning products from both of these brands.

Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Cream Cleanser with Clary Sage 6 oz. - I took the end of this camping and finished it off. I really wanted a cream cleanser for hydration. I was using a pretty drying pink clay cleanser before this one so I really noticed the difference. I got a good deal on this on Amazon and while I don't feel like I definitely need this one again I might get it again. This was a relatively gentle cleanser but I might find another one that is more hydrating.

Burt's Bees Sensitive Facial Cleansing Towelettes with Cotton Extract 30 Towelettes - I keep buying these. I think it's almost impossible to find a cleansing towelette that has absolutely NO irritation, but these generally are comfortable and they are inexpensive. I have 3 more of these waiting for me right now!

Real Purity Roll-On Deodorant 1 oz. - Holy grail deodorant. I took 3 of these travel size deodorants to China and this is one of those. Over time my body does get used to the formula and I try something else for awhile but I always come back to this one!

Trader Joe's Anticavity Peppermint Toothpaste 6 oz. - I don't love the flavor of this but I keep buying it because I go to TJ's a lot! It's also inexpensive compared to many other natural toothpastes.

Pur Minerals Big Look Mascara with Argan Oil .12 oz. - I retired this one after about a month. I really liked the way this mascara looked on me after a second coat but after about a month the formula started to irritate me. I never know how long a mascara will work for me but I rarely can go a whole 3 months. I would probably try this one again at some point.

Silk Naturals Slick Stick Bramble, Silk Naturals Velvet Matte Lipstick Merlot, Real Purity Pearl Mocha Powder Blush, Gourmet Body Treats Natural Eye Shadow Gun Metal Gray


Silk Naturals Slick Stick Bramble - I absolutely adore this light wearable lavender gloss. It is beautiful and I would definitely repurchase it. This tube got pretty grainy and separated at this end as I hadn't worn it in awhile. Noticing this inspired me to search through my Silk Naturals colors and clean out the old ones!

Silk Naturals Velvet Matte Lipstick Merlot - This wasn't used up so much as the tube stopped advancing. Silk Naturals quickly sent me a replacement tube!

Real Purity Pearl Mocha Powder Blush .2 oz. - I'm always kind of amazed when I actually finish a powder cosmetic product because it happens so rarely. This has been my favorite blush for so long. I have a lot of blush right now so I won't repurchase right away, but I will definitely get another in the future. This is the most perfect light pink color that goes with everything and can't be overdone.

Samples:

Gourmet Body Treats Natural Eye Shadow Gun Metal Gray - I've had this sample forever. It is a sparkly buildable gray. I have never tried anything else from this brand. I wouldn't feel the need to buy this as I have several sparkly grays. Like most dark mineral colors this got EVERYWHERE.

Giovanni Ultra-Sleek Conditioner .25 oz. Packet - I took this sample camping just to have a conditioner. It worked fine but I don't feel the need to buy this one.

Acure Cleansing Gel Facial Cleanser - This one felt fine but it is for normal to oily skin so I would probably choose something more hydrating.

Acure Brightening Facial Scrub - I still love this stuff! It manages to make my skin feel ridiculously soft without over-scrubbing or irritating as long as I don't use it too often.

Acure Night Cream - This was very nice and hydrating. I would definitely consider this in the future. Loving Acure more and more all the time!