The Green Beauty Guide

What they claim: Shine Refined.

Full list of ingredients:
Polybutene, pentaerythrityl tetraisostearate, C18-36 acid triglyceride, tridecyl trimellitate, bis-diglyceryl polyacyladipate-2, silica dimethyl silylate, linalool, geranoil, calcium aluminum borosilicate, calcium sodium borosilicate, eugenol, sodium saccharin, silica, limonene, citral, synthetic fluorphlogopite, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, benzyl salicylate, alpha-isomethyl oilone, hexyl cinnamal, isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben, butylparaben, bht, fragrance.

Beware:

Along [...]

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What they claim: Allergy tested. 100 per cent fragrance free. Winner of Cosmopolitan Beauty Awards 2006.

Full list of ingredients:

US Version: Water (Aqua Purificata) Purified, Mineral Oil (paraffinum liquidum), Sesame (Sesamum Indicum) Oil, Propylene Glycol, TEA Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate, Lanolin Alcohol, Petrolatum, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

UK/EU Version: contains more of natural ingredients but is abundant on triethanolamine. Still, [...]

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Benzyl alcohol, a popular ingredient in natural beauty products, is an aromatic substance naturally found in essential oils including jasmine, hyacinth, and ylang-ylang.

Even in small dosages, benzyl alcohol may cause various toxic effects including respiratory failure, very low blood pressure, convulsions, and paralysis.

MSDA Safety Data Sheet for Benzyl Alcohol: “Toxicology: Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or [...]

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Do you know that some of the most popular fragrance ingredients are clinically proven strong irritants? Let’s take a look at Lyral, chemically known as Hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde, the most allergic fragrance chemical currently used.

Lyral is most commonly added to floral fragrances with fresh, romantic notes of muguet. If you sense “soft delicate, floral, [...]

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In my book, THE GREEN BEAUTY GUIDE, I give you lots of theory on why certain cosmetic ingredients are bad for you. However, some people cannot believe things are really that bad with their trusted brands that you can find anywhere, in distant villages and gorgeous supermarket chains.

In the next few posts, I want to [...]

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The current European legislation requires all cosmetic manufacturers using essential oils to list all constituents of essential oils such as limonene, linalool etc on the label.

However, conventional cosmetic makers can simply put “fragrance” or “perfume”, and that’s it. But if you really look into the ugly stuff that goes into some of the most popular [...]

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