Yesterday afternoon, I did something I'd never done before-- went shopping at Walmart. Truthfully, it would have happened sooner if there had ever been a store close by, but until recently, that wasn't the case.
Despite my understanding of the hidden costs of such places, I wanted to see what it was like, and besides, we needed laundry detergent. One shopping trip of mine wasn't likely to destroy the world, and it's not so close to home that I'd be there every week anyway.
My secret excuse was, I hoped to find some fantastic makeup prices.
No such luck. Walmart is a gigantic waste of space for a person like me: I don't have room in my house to stock up on vast amounts of frozen foods, and the makeup was priced exactly as it would be anywhere else, at basic retail cost, with nary a sale in sight. In fact, the overall pricing seemed slightly higher than at Target, while the range of brands was much smaller, and less varied. The makeup shelves were messy and disorganized (remember, this is just my local Walmart I'm speaking of) and many products had clearly been misplaced by customers that had opened and tried on items not meant for trial usage. The stuff you or I might have bought to wear, if it wasn't already wearing a giant, dirty fingerprint.
It was kind of a makeup massacre; but just before I walked away, dispirited, a package caught my eye. It was a brand I hadn't seen, that used simple brown cardboard made from recycled materials; reading further, I saw that even the plastic parts of the products were made from corn, a renewable source. This wasn't the first time I'd encountered such responsible packaging-- but the last time had been for a food product. This was a mascara. Made without parabens, but with nettle and sage. In soft shades of blue, brown and grey. There were other items too, of course, but it was the mascara that caught my eye, since an odd color like grey isn't easy to find in stores. I'm not sure I've seen grey anywhere, ever.
The whole line, I knew immediately, was aimed at young teens and pre-teens. But why let that stop me?
I like naturally-sourced makeup made from gentle, skin-loving ingredients that don't irritate. I enjoy soft, sheer colors that wash off easily and still don't cost a mint. And I'm on a sort of crusade to help the beauty purveyors of the world see that we, the consumers, do want to keep the planet looking as good as we do when we use their products.
My feeling is, if Josie Maran and some of her competitors, as well as this brand, geoGirl, can make earth-friendly packaging, there's no reason for any company not to. And they can all pay a bit more attention to the chemical processes that create our beauty products.
Do we really want to pollute the damn oceans for the sake of flirtier lashes?
I don't. In fact, I'm researching the issue, in hopes of creating a petition that the best and biggest makeup companies will take seriously. It may be a long haul, but I think we can do it; and each time I see a hopeful sign like this lovely grey mascara, I know that responsible beauty is possible, and not just for the rich and famous.
So let's dish on the product itself.
Pros?
The Grey is a dark charcoal, softer than black but with enough oomph to stand out against a wide range of shadow colors. It went on smoothly, with a medium long, straight wand-- no clumps, and it's supposed to wash off with makeup remover; but in fact dissolved well when rubbed with a smidge of water between my fingertips. It's light, and gave my lashes that long, thin feathery look that goes so well with both sixties-style dramatic eye paint, and more natural looks as well. Several coats do help thicken somewhat, but the best use of this delicate looking mascara is clearly to get long, slim, young-looking lashes. The inside of the package opens to give a mini-tutorial on usage, and explains that the makers give a portion of net profits to support girls' causes. The whole line is also formulated without any animal products other than (asserted) cruelty-free honey, beeswax, and lanolin. Oh, and all this was a whopping $3.98 USD.
The cons? Well, the products are aimed at, and therefore better serve young girls than they do older women, at least in the scope of choice, and color. (Though it could be argued that we who are losing pigmentation need soft, sheer tones just as much as the middle-school set.) Nothing here is made to be long-lasting. And the brand's entire website reads in the parlance of our times-- youthful text-speak, which is enuff to make U want 2 throw UP, if U spend 2 much thyme there.
You know what I'm sayin'.
But other than that, from what I can see, it's a decent, healthy-skin brand overall. There are anti-oxidants and sunscreen in the products, to ward off enviromental damage, and we can use that, can't we? I'm enjoying my new mascara, and especially that I can count the purchase as Noble Research-- well, at least as research. I thoroughly encourage you to try one of these pretty, sheer geoGirl products for yourself, and DO report back-- the more discussion here, the better.
Have a beautiful weekend!
--Mari
Despite my understanding of the hidden costs of such places, I wanted to see what it was like, and besides, we needed laundry detergent. One shopping trip of mine wasn't likely to destroy the world, and it's not so close to home that I'd be there every week anyway.
My secret excuse was, I hoped to find some fantastic makeup prices.
No such luck. Walmart is a gigantic waste of space for a person like me: I don't have room in my house to stock up on vast amounts of frozen foods, and the makeup was priced exactly as it would be anywhere else, at basic retail cost, with nary a sale in sight. In fact, the overall pricing seemed slightly higher than at Target, while the range of brands was much smaller, and less varied. The makeup shelves were messy and disorganized (remember, this is just my local Walmart I'm speaking of) and many products had clearly been misplaced by customers that had opened and tried on items not meant for trial usage. The stuff you or I might have bought to wear, if it wasn't already wearing a giant, dirty fingerprint.
It was kind of a makeup massacre; but just before I walked away, dispirited, a package caught my eye. It was a brand I hadn't seen, that used simple brown cardboard made from recycled materials; reading further, I saw that even the plastic parts of the products were made from corn, a renewable source. This wasn't the first time I'd encountered such responsible packaging-- but the last time had been for a food product. This was a mascara. Made without parabens, but with nettle and sage. In soft shades of blue, brown and grey. There were other items too, of course, but it was the mascara that caught my eye, since an odd color like grey isn't easy to find in stores. I'm not sure I've seen grey anywhere, ever.
The whole line, I knew immediately, was aimed at young teens and pre-teens. But why let that stop me?
I like naturally-sourced makeup made from gentle, skin-loving ingredients that don't irritate. I enjoy soft, sheer colors that wash off easily and still don't cost a mint. And I'm on a sort of crusade to help the beauty purveyors of the world see that we, the consumers, do want to keep the planet looking as good as we do when we use their products.
My feeling is, if Josie Maran and some of her competitors, as well as this brand, geoGirl, can make earth-friendly packaging, there's no reason for any company not to. And they can all pay a bit more attention to the chemical processes that create our beauty products.
Do we really want to pollute the damn oceans for the sake of flirtier lashes?
I don't. In fact, I'm researching the issue, in hopes of creating a petition that the best and biggest makeup companies will take seriously. It may be a long haul, but I think we can do it; and each time I see a hopeful sign like this lovely grey mascara, I know that responsible beauty is possible, and not just for the rich and famous.
So let's dish on the product itself.
Pros?
The Grey is a dark charcoal, softer than black but with enough oomph to stand out against a wide range of shadow colors. It went on smoothly, with a medium long, straight wand-- no clumps, and it's supposed to wash off with makeup remover; but in fact dissolved well when rubbed with a smidge of water between my fingertips. It's light, and gave my lashes that long, thin feathery look that goes so well with both sixties-style dramatic eye paint, and more natural looks as well. Several coats do help thicken somewhat, but the best use of this delicate looking mascara is clearly to get long, slim, young-looking lashes. The inside of the package opens to give a mini-tutorial on usage, and explains that the makers give a portion of net profits to support girls' causes. The whole line is also formulated without any animal products other than (asserted) cruelty-free honey, beeswax, and lanolin. Oh, and all this was a whopping $3.98 USD.
The cons? Well, the products are aimed at, and therefore better serve young girls than they do older women, at least in the scope of choice, and color. (Though it could be argued that we who are losing pigmentation need soft, sheer tones just as much as the middle-school set.) Nothing here is made to be long-lasting. And the brand's entire website reads in the parlance of our times-- youthful text-speak, which is enuff to make U want 2 throw UP, if U spend 2 much thyme there.
You know what I'm sayin'.
But other than that, from what I can see, it's a decent, healthy-skin brand overall. There are anti-oxidants and sunscreen in the products, to ward off enviromental damage, and we can use that, can't we? I'm enjoying my new mascara, and especially that I can count the purchase as Noble Research-- well, at least as research. I thoroughly encourage you to try one of these pretty, sheer geoGirl products for yourself, and DO report back-- the more discussion here, the better.
Have a beautiful weekend!
--Mari
I've been wondering about these, but I think the name always stops me. As a pale blonde I'm constantly looking for good not-black mascara.
ReplyDeleteI understand that!
ReplyDeletePlus, how can you tell, before buying, if makeup aimed at children is going to be of any quality? I find that half the time, it's unusable-- bad texture, awful colors, staining. What tipped me off here that that might not be the case, was the case. I have some ballpoint pens made of recycled brown paper (from terracycle.com), and that gave me hope, which luckily was rewarded.
You might also want to try the fruit pigmented mascara from 100% Pure (https://www.100percentpure.com/FRUIT-PIGMENTED-MASCARA-s/184.htm)
--they have a lovely blueberry color, a blackberry, and a chocolate brown, and are wonderfully good for sensitive eyes. It's a more expensive mascara, but it lasts a long time. If you like, do a search of this blog for my full review of that product.