Hey y’all-happy Friday! If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve already heard my exciting news-this past week I became a Beautycounter consultant! In case you’ve never heard of Beautycounter, their mission is to get safer personal care products into the hands of everyone. Beautycounter carries skincare, body care, makeup, and haircare products that are free of known harmful and questionable ingredients. But as the card that came with my Beautycounter products says, “We’re not just a beauty company. We’re a movement.” Beautycounter advocates for increased regulation regarding the cosmetics and personal care industry in the United States. Since their founding in 2013, Beautycounter has sent 88,000 emails to elected officials, and helped pass four better beauty laws. Beautycounter products are effective and high-performing as well. Now that I’ve given y’all a little intro this amazing company, I’m going to share more about the current state of the US cosmetics industry, and why I switched to Beautycounter.
January 2021 Update: Beautycounter is currently offering new customers 20% off almost everything. If you’re resolving to use safer products or take better care of your skin this year, then email me for a special discount code!
Lack of Regulation in the US Cosmetics Industry
The FDA regulates what ingredients can go in our food and drugs. However, the beauty industry is virtually unregulated. In fact, US laws regarding ingredients in makeup, skincare, and other personal care items have not been updated since 1938. That blows my mind! Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, the US severely lags behind other countries with respect to cosmetics safety.
All Beautycounter product formulations undergo a rigorous ingredient selection process above and beyond the current safety standards in the US beauty industry. Beautycounter’s “Never List” consists of 1500 harmful or questionable ingredients that you will never find in our products. This includes over 1400 chemicals that the European Union has either banned or restricted in their personal care products. I find it scary that the US still allows these ingredients in our personal care products. These chemicals include carcinogens and hormone disruptors. Some of the items on the “Never List” have been linked to birth defects as well. Read more about Beautycounter’s “Never List” here.
Why I Switched to Beautycounter
Prior to switching to Beautycounter this week, I had been using the same premium skincare regimen for over four years, and was very happy with it. I frequently got compliments on how I don’t look my age. However, over the past months, I kept seeing more and more info about Beautycounter and the safer beauty movement in my social media feeds.
At first I didn’t think anything of it, but looking back I know God was planting seeds. About a week and a half ago, I all of a sudden just could not stop thinking about Beautycounter and their mission. It really hit me that my skin is my body’s largest organ, and what I put on it can be directly absorbed into my bloodstream. Also, I have an increased risk of breast cancer due to a strong family history. Despite being in my early 30’s, I began annual mammogram and breast MRI screening this past fall (read more here). I can’t control my family history of cancer, but I can control what I put on my skin. And although everyone in my family has tested negative for breast cancer mutation genes, I still want to be careful.
Next, I did some research, and even crowd-sourced my Instagram followers. I received only positive feedback about Beautycounter from my Instagram poll. And majority of people who replied were customers rather than consultants. At this point, I was sure I wanted to switch to Beautycounter.
Next Steps
Then I reached out to Natalie Lewis, who is now my Beautycounter mentor. I first followed Natalie on Instagram back in 2015 because of her encouraging content for single Christians. Natalie just celebrated her third wedding anniversary, but before she met her husband, she was a 30-year old single woman living in the Deep South. In the meantime, her identical twin sister had already gotten married AND had a baby.
God then did an amazing work in transforming Natalie’s heart. She decided that instead of being bitter about still being single, she was going to make the most of this season. God actually called her to write a devotional for singles. In her “Wholeheartedly” devotional, Natalie encourages single women to make the most of their single years, via snippets from her personal story and references to Scripture. Although Natalie is now married, she still encourages single women. Furthermore, she encourages women in all seasons of life to keep an eternal perspective. You can check out Natalie’s website here.
Anyways, I knew that Natalie had become a Beautycounter consultant in August 2018. She naturally incorporated her passion for Beautycounter and safer beauty into her Instagram content. After I told Natalie I wanted to learn more about Beautycounter, we Skyped for over an hour on Sunday afternoon. Once our Skype session ended, I knew that I was all in and ready to become a Beautycounter consultant. In addition, I felt like I was talking to a long-lost friend!
Little did I know when I first started following Natalie that several years later we would be working together and connecting on a deeper level through Beautycounter. Social media can be a rough place sometimes, but it can also be a beautiful thing when used wisely. It’s so cool how God works like that!
My Beautycounter Products
So between getting my Beautycounter consultant kit, as well as a handful of other products I ordered when I signed up, this week has been like Christmas. Since I literally just got these in, I haven’t had a chance to try them all yet. But I absolutely love the ones that I have tried. So I’m going to wrap up this post by sharing what’s currently in my Beautycounter stash!
Consultant Kit
From the packaging to the contents, I was extremely impressed with the Beautycounter Consultant Kit. It includes a nice tote bag and zipper pouch to promote the Beautycounter brand and mission. There are also some gorgeous product catalogs, a consultant workbook, and some business-card sized copies of the “Never List” to hand out. In addition, the kit comes with two Beautycounter products, the resurfacing peel and the color intense lipstick.
I’ve hard great things about Beautycounter’s Overnight Resurfacing Peel, and I am excited to try it out tonight! It’s one of their best-sellers.
I seriously feel in love with the Color Intense Lipstick after one application. It contains peppermint oil, so when you apply it honestly feels like a tinted peppermint lip balm. It also goes on smoothly, and the color stays on for several hours, even after eating and drinking. The shade that came in my kit is called “9 to 5”. This is seriously the best lipstick I’ve ever used, and I’m planning to order more shades ASAP.
Countercontrol Clear Pore Cleanser and Toner
Although I don’t have major issues with acne, I do have oily skin, particularly during the warm months. And I still get random pimples, especially during certain times of month. So I’m looking forward to trying the cleanser and toner from the Countercontrol line for oily and acne-prone skin.
Travel Size Body Essentials
I decided to start off with this travel size body essentials set to see how I liked Beautycounter’s body wash, hand cream, body lotion, and soap. All of these have a citrus mimosa scent, but no harmful artificial fragrances. I will definitely be ordering the full sizes in the lotion and body wash ASAP. This cute little travel set would make a great gift too. It reminds me of the travel size toiletries they put in hotel rooms. And anyone who know me knows I like to stash those when I stay in hotels.
Nourishing Eye Cream
I haven’t used eye cream in way too long, so I decided to give Beautycounter’s Nourishing Eye Cream a try. This provides moisture to the delicate eye area.
Dew Skin Moisturizing Coverage
The Beautycounter Dew Skin Moisturizing Coverage is perfect for providing SPF 20, plus light coverage to even out skin tone a bit. You can wear it alone if you don’t want to wear a full foundation (which is what I did today), or layer it underneath your foundation.
Mineral Sunscreen Stick
Wearing SPF on your face even on days you will mostly be inside is my number anti-aging skincare tip. So I’m excited to try Beautycounter’s SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen Stick, both at the pool and beach, and on days when I don’t feel like applying face makeup but still want to protect my skin.
Updated: January 2021 Beautycounter New Customer Offer
So if you’ve read this far and you’re interested in trying something from Beautycounter, then you’re in luck. If you’re brand new to Beautycounter, you can save 20% off almost everything all month long! Please email me if you need the discount code. You can also shop all Beautycounter through my personal website here. If there’s anything specific you have a question about, don’t hesitate to let me know!
In addition, if you want to save 25% on Beautycounter products all the time, you can sign up to become a Consultant. The sign-up cost covers your personal website and back-end office for the year. And the two products and awesome Beautycounter swag you get pretty much pays for itself. I’m happy to answer any questions you have about becoming a Beautycounter consultant as well.
Thanks so much for reading! If you’ve tried Beautycounter products before, let me know your favorites in the comments!
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Have a great weekend!
-xoxo Liz
