Want to know what's in your beauty products?

I've been on the quest to try and avoid excess chemicals in or on my body. So. . . .I've started to do a little purging of my stash of beauty products. For those of you who know me well, I'm bit of a beauty product whore. I love shower gel, make up, and creams. My mom was really into that stuff, so I think it connects me to her even though she's passed on. I only wish I were really into that when she had been alive.

Anyhoo. . . . one of the chemicals I'm trying to get rid of in my beauty regiment are Parabens. There is a neat-0 spot on Sephora where you can look up what the ingredients are in your cosmetics and what they are for. I think it's pretty swell. I also like to support my local companies and farmers. So--I try to get my coffee from a local roaster instead of going to Starbucks. Or I try to shop at the Downtown Grocery when I can instead of hoofing it to one of our big box grocery chains. I don't do it all the time, but I try hard to do those things at least 1/2 the time. My point? Well, one of the ways that I'm cutting out those nasty Parabens and supporting a reasonably local business is by slowly converting a majority of my skin care regiment to L'Bri Pure n' Natural. My pal, Julie, became a consultant for them and I really like the product. My favorite item is the Rejuvenating Facial Peel. My face feels great after I use it! Julie says I should try it on my feet too. I haven't quite mustered up the courage to do that, but when I do I'll let you know how it goes!

I'll be honest, there are some things that I have not found a paraben-free substitute for, neither on Julie's site or anywhere else. For instance, I LOVE Smashbox Photo Finish Primer. At this point, I haven't found a substitute for it. I hope that I will be able to, because for myself, a primer makes a world of difference in how my skin looks. Perhaps, as my skin improves, the need for a primer will decrease.

Thankfully, Burt's Bees, one of my other favorite cosmetic companies is also Paraben-free.
My favorite items are their lip balms and their lemon butter cuticle cream. I tend to break out from their facial cleansers and moisturizers, but I have had fantastic results with almost everything else.