I just recently discovered a wonderful clean beauty brand from New Zealand that I am delighted to share with you. Aleph Beauty is a cruelty-free brand that is invested in sustainability practices, and they use toxic-free healthy ingredients.
According to Aleph Beauty,
After a career as a top makeup artist, our founder Emma Peters knows this first hand. She also knows that for her to be at one with being part of the business of beauty, her makeup range first needed to be at one with the planet.
The concept of oneness led her straight to the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet—Aleph—an all-encompassing expression of divine oneness.
Aleph is made, owned and operated in beautiful New Zealand.
Aleph is intelligently crafted makeup that is as nurturing as it is flattering. A professional, high-performance, minimal makeup range, Aleph is transparent about every ingredient as well as the complete packaging process.
Consciously formulated with premium vegan ingredients that actively nourish the skin, Aleph is clean makeup but with skincare benefits. Think toxin free, GMO free, cruelty and child labour free, vegan, then add what will support and love your skin as it enhances your unique beauty.
A highly customizable range, every Aleph product is designed to work in synergy with each other to create endless textures, shades and finishes. It is alchemy at your fingertips.
Aleph Beauty Hybrid Eye Pigment in Incense is a gorgeous multipurpose cream-based pigment that can be used on the eyes or brows. It a gorgeous satin bronze brown shade that is perfect for lining the upper and lower lids, or as a stunning eyeshadow. It glides across the skin and deposits color with ease, and it offers beautiful buildable coverage. I have found that once it sets, it remains in place all day without any migration or transfer, but if you have particularly oily eyelids you may want to use an eyeshadow primer.
According to Aleph Beauty,
A multi-dimensional neutral satin brown pigment that adapts to a range of applications, looks and styles for the eyes and brows. A unique and extremely versatile range, this hybrid formulation offers a consistency between a powder, a creme and an eye pencil.
Created with nourishing ingredients, Hybrid Eye Pigment supports skin health and hydration for lasting benefits.
Offering multiple looks with one natural product, Incense Hybrid Eye Pigment can be used as a liner, shadow, and brow pigment.
Pro-Tips:
Brows: apply to the brows in fine strokes to create the desired shape and definition.
Eyeliner: glide along the lash line and build as desired. Smudge for a soft smokey effect or build to intensity for a sharp edge.
Eyeshadow: build a soft wash of Incense across the lids or blend a subtle contour into the crease under the brow bone.
Aleph Packaging: "We are easily as passionate and rigorous with our packaging as we are with what we put in it. Most of it is made from reusable, recyclable glass and our lids from equally recyclable aluminium. When we occasionally need to use plastic we ensure it’s in a recyclable form. Made from FSC Certified paper, Aleph boxes are home compostable as are our postage and packaging materials. Even our wee stickers on the base of the jars can head back to the earth once you’re done with them."
I love dramatic, and fun, holiday makeup– especially for New Years Eve, but let's face it that is hardly the type of makeup that most of us would wear during the rest of the year. For that very reason, and because I am a pragmatist by nature, I see no reason to splurge on expensive luxury makeup for these occasions. Instead, I seek viable alternatives in the aisles of my favorite drugstores.
For a dramatic, and festive, palette of colors plums and grays definitely deliver, and you can find what you need from Rimmel London and Sally Hansen. Here are a few of my current favorites for your perusal.
Left to Right: Stay Matte Liquid Lipstick in Plum This Show, Midnight and Shadow. Magnif'Eyes Mono Eye Shadow in Show Off and Scandal Eyes Eye Shadow Stick in Guilty Grey.
Rimmel London Scandal Eyes Eye Shadow Stick in 004 Guilty Grey ($3.79- $4.99 for 0.11 oz. from Walgreens, Harmon, and Walmart): I love this formula, the silky smooth cream eyeshadows glide across the skin effortlessly, deposit color evenly and have enviable color payoff. Guilty Grey is a gorgeous shimmering gunmetal gray that can be used as an all-over the lid color or as a liner.
Sally Hansen is my favorite drugstore nail polish brand, and it never disappoints!
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat ($9.99 from Ulta and Walgreens): "A Breakthrough in Gel Nail Polish. Get the Salon Look at Home. The New Miracle Gel Nail Polish. The ONLY true 2-step gel manicure with no light needed. Shades that wow! And it's only from Sally Hansen. Leading the revolution in gel technology."
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Greyfitti 799 and Stilettos & Studs 839 ($9.99 from Ulta and Target): "A breakthrough in gel polish! Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish, the true 2 - step gel manicure with no light needed, up to 14 days of color and shine. Create a look that feels professional yet is easily achieved and removed at home."
Sally Hansen Color Therapy in Exotic Acai 400 ($7.99 from Ulta, Target and Harmon): "Sally Hansen Color Therapy Nail Polish provides nail color, while also delivering on key care benefits, which is the #2 insight across all ages in the US. Up to 10 days of wear!"
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Plum's the Word 280 ($7.99 from Ulta and Target): "All you need is one! Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, the one bottle that does it all with a flawless finish brush for a salon perfect mani for up to 10 days. Create a look that feels professional yet is easily achieved at home."
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Seize the Gray 470 ($4.99 from Ulta, Target and Walgreens): "Nail color covers in just one coat, brilliantly. The Perfectionist Brush contours to any nail, so color always glides on precisely, quickly, flawlessly. And, the exclusive Flexiglass Complex combines beautiful, brilliant shine and super-strong wear. So simple, so Sally."
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Mini Sets ($9.99 from Feel Unique and national retailers): If you are looking for more traditional, and less bold polishes, then this holiday set of minis is perfect! This holiday collection is described as a, "quaint quartets of festive polishes in festive hues." The colors include: Red My Lips, Let's Son, Wine Not and Fools Gold. It is ideal for stocking stuffers, gift exchanges or for yourself!
Sally Hansen Vitamin E Nail & Cuticle Oil in Vanilla Buttercream ($4.99-$6.99 from Target and national retailers): According to Sally Hansen, "for a limited time only, Sally Hansen’s Vitamin E Nail & Cuticle Oils come in two delicious holiday scents. The oils are available in either tasty vanilla buttercream or refreshing peppermint....Your cuticles and nails crave moisture and protection during the cold holiday season, so grab these Sally Hansen Vitamin E Nail & Cuticle Oils for the perfect stocking stuffer gift."
Overall Assessment: It is definitely worth the trip to your local drugstore to pick up some Rimmel London makeup and Sally Hansen nail polishes for festive holiday looks, and for last minute stocking stuffers.
I am an absolute SHU UEMURA fangirl, and I am always thrilled by their makeup collections. Their limited edition AMBUSH Collection is absolutely stunning, and I have two pieces to share with you.
SHU UEMURA Rouge Unlimited Supreme Matte Lipstick in Ambush Life ($30.00 for 0.11 oz. from SHU UEMURA): This limited edition comfort matte lipstick in Ambush Life, from the SHU UEMURA X AMBUSH Spring 2017 Collection, is a gorgeous vivid orange that is perfectly on-trend for the season. While a true matte, I find that this formula is comfortable on the lips, long-wearing and non-drying. It glides across the lips effortlessly, deposits color evenly, and it neither bleeds, nor settles into lip lines. Furthermore, when it does fade, it does so evenly.
According to SHU UEMURA,
Edgy, provocative yet extremely wearable, indulge in instant gratification of vivid shades. the new matte lipstick is the perfect combination of extreme matte and ultimate comfort with moisturizing ingredients to deliver the smoothest matte finish with all-day comfort.
Ambush life: orange supreme matte
SHU UEMURA Eye Foil in Bronze ($32.00 for 0.18 oz. from SHU UEMURA): This limited edition metallic liquid eye shadow, from the SHU UEMURA x AMBUSH Spring 2017 Collection, is a stunning metallic bronze that has the most gorgeous metallic finish. The easy to use applicator gently glides across eye lids, depositing color effortlessly, and when it dries down it has a stunning foiled metallic finish. It can be used on the eye lids as a shadow, but also can be used to line the eyes.
According to SHU UEMURA,
The eye foil's texture will provide you with instant watery sensation and turn into a long lasting foil-like veil on your skin.
Directions: "The ring applicator is carefully selected by SHU UEMURA Atelier to have the best finish with easy application. By using different sides of the ring applicator, you can create a different finish use the wider part of the applicator for shadowing. Use the side part for the lining."
SHU UEMURA Eye Foil in Bronze and Rouge Unlimited Supreme Matte Lipstick in Ambush Life
Overall Assessment: Just gorgeous! If you have yet to try SHU UEMURA makeup, I highly recommend trying their lovely gems.
Jane Iredale Smooth Affair for Eyes Eye Shadows are sheer, cream-to-powder eye shadows that give eyelids a gorgeous lightly pigmented, luminous glow. They are formulated to serve as both a primer and a cream eye shadow, but people with oily eyelids will probably want to use an added primer to avoid creasing and migration, and for added longevity. The creamy formula glides across the eyelids effortlessly, deposits sheer color evenly, and once it sets it stays put on my non-oily lids for about 5-6 hours before fading. If you are seeking an opaque, super pigmented cream eye shadow, be advised that this formula is intentionally sheer and luminous. In fact, if you love the more natural, no-makeup makeup look– then Smooth Affair for Eyes Eye Shadow is a perfect choice.
According to Jane Iredale,
Jane Iredale Smooth Affair for Eyes is a cream-to-powder texture that will leave eye lids with luscious color. Formulated to also be a stand-alone primer, these shades are very versatile. Created with cocoglycerides and mineral powders, shadows go on smooth and even for long-lasting color.
Ingredients: Isododecane, Cocoglycerides, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Polyethylene, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Copernicia Cerifera Cera, Tocopheryl Acetate, Propylene Carbonate. May Contain: Mica, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77489, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Carmine (CI 75470), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163).
Left to Right: Canvas, Gold and Iced Brown
Overall Assessment: These shadows are very pretty, and are lovely for a light wash of luminous color.
