I am a multi-faceted woman, as I’m sure you are as well. You can find me with no makeup, dirty hair, sleeping in a tent and hiking up mountains. You can also find me with my hair done, makeup on and in professional attire. I’m not one to spend a lot of time on makeup and hair, but I do like to feel and look my best most of the time. And I like to take care of my skin no matter what.
In this post, I’m going to review some new to me products that I think you might like to know about. I have a whole separate post coming up soon about dry shampoo so stay tuned for that. I’m currently testing 9 different brands.
For now, I’m going to review nail polish, deodorant and highlight just a couple of my favorite Beautycounter makeup and skincare products. Let’s get right to it!
Nails
You will almost never see me without my toenails painted and I will even on occasion paint my fingernails. I’ve worked for many years to clean as many toxins out of my environment as possible. This has largely included Beautycounter because their skincare and makeup products work well for my skin. I’ve worked with Beautycounter as a consultant for the past three years and continue to love their products. But Beautycounter doesn’t make every personal care product I need or want.
Nail polish is one of those products that Beautycounter doesn’t currently make. There are “clean” nail polishes on the market and I’ve tried many (perhaps all) of them and have been dissatisfied with the results. I would spend so much time on my mani/pedi, just to have the polish chip almost immediately. Then I found Dazzle Dry. This polish has been life changing – as much as a nail polish can be life changing. Let’s keep some perspective and realize that we’re talking nail polish, not world peace. 🙂 But if I’m going to take time out of my busy day to do my nails, then I want it to last. Dazzle Dry is like a gel polish. It lasts weeks. Weeks! And it dries super, duper fast. Anyone else paint their toes and then promptly forget and put on shoes? Yeah, me too. It’s super frustrating, but with Dazzle Dry I just have to remember for about a half hour and then my polish is completely dry. And unlike gel polish, you don’t have to go to a salon to have it removed. You can remove it at home with your regular nail polish remover. Dazzle Dry does sell a polish remover, but I have so much already at home that I decided not to invest in theirs for now. And speaking of investing, these products are expensive. High quality products usually are. For me, a bottle of polish will usually last a couple years and I do use it often, so I don’t mind paying more for something that is 1. not doing me harm, 2. is a joy to use and 3. high quality. The other thing about Dazzle Dry that I love is the shape of their brushes. I’ve never used a brush that was so easy to use and get my polish just where I want it. Usually my manicures end up with polish all over my fingers – which is largely why I don’t paint my fingernails very often. I don’t know what it is about their brushes, but I consider it magic.
I bought the “full system,” which contains the Nail Prep, Base Coat, Top Coat, Revive (which is what you add to your polish as it gets thicker over time to restore the proper consistency) and one polish/lacquer color. This set costs $75. Dazzle Dry has a popup on their website that offers you 20% off your first order so I recommend using that for a discount. One lacquer costs $18. I bought a set of four different shades during their Labor Day sale. So watch for the sales and stock up.
Deodorant
Deodorant was another big hole in Beautycounter’s product line for a long time. They do now have a clean deodorant line that is just releasing this fall, but I already use and love Native brand. I went through many “safe, healthy, natural, non-toxic” deodorants and none worked for me long-term. I used to make my own and that worked better than any other, but after a while, it was no longer effective. Why is that??? Here in the south, we need deodorant and we need it to work.
The issue with buying from a lot of these healthy brands these days is that their products are not sold in stores so you need to find one with a good return policy. Native has an excellent shipping and return policy.
I ordered one of their Travel Sample Sets for $24 so that I could try out several scents. People rave over the coconut and vanilla scent, but it wasn’t for me. Of this set, I liked the scent of the charcoal the best. It’s a light floral scent. My son and husband used all the others. But when I was checking out from that first purchase, I was offered a trial size of a different scent – Peony and Jasmine Tea. I bought it – I think it was $2 – and fell in love with the scent. And I really think this scent actually works better for me than the others. I know the formulas are the same so that really doesn’t make sense, but I feel like this particular scent works the best for me. The charcoal also works well. The jasmine and peony scent is seasonal so I stocked up in the spring when it was available, but even still, I think I’ll run out before it comes back next year (I’m assuming and hoping that it will). If I need to, I’ll buy the charcoal in the mean time. My son and husband like that one the best as well. Native has a line for teens as well and my daughter likes the Loco for Coco. And most importantly – my teenagers do not stink when they wear this deodorant. Non-stinky teenagers – this stuff is worth it’s weight in gold! Plus, I know that from the very start, they’re using products that are not cancer-causing. This brand has been a game changer for us. So even though I work for Beautycounter and genuinely love their products, I don’t think I’m even going to try their new deodorant. As they say, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Two more things – the Native deodorant does not stain my clothes, leave white marks or irritate my skin.
At one point, Native offered some sort of boxed set of deodorant and soap and so I tried their charcoal bath soap and I absolutely love it too. It’s $8 for two bars and these bars last forever. I’m telling you, I used to use Dr. Bronner’s and I’d go through a bar every 2-3 weeks. One of these Native bars lasts me 6-8 weeks. It’s crazy. And they have that same nice scent as the charcoal deodorant. Native describes it as “fresh mineral with citrus undertones.” I guess I get the slight citrus, but the fresh mineral translates to my nose as a very light, fresh floral. You would think the charcoal products would have a more masculine scent, but they’re very neutral and I think slightly more feminine. Anyhoo, as I said, both my boys use it too and they don’t smell feminine when they wear it. 🙂
Wow, this is getting really long and I’ve just talked about nail polish and deodorant. I’m going to highlight a couple of my favorite Beautycounter products and then we’ll wrap this up for today. I continue to try new products as they come on the market because I want to be using the very best my money can buy, both in terms of performance and safety. Just because I have loved Beautycounter up until now, doesn’t mean something new and better won’t come along. I want to keep an open mind because I want to be steering you in the right direction. So please do check back soon for the dry shampoo review and know that I’m continuing to research these personal care products over here and when I hit on something really great, I’ll definitely let you know.
In the interest of time, I’m just going to talk about two of my Beautycounter favorites, one skincare and one makeup product.
Skincare
For skincare, I use the Countertime line and absolutely love it. It has transformed my skin. I never had beautiful, smooth, even skin. My skin is blotchy, I have lots of freckles, get really bad melasma (hyperpigmentation splotches) in the summer and have huge pores. I do believe that all the products I use have helped, but the Countertime line is the majority of that. I use a couple treatments products too, but not as regularly. We can talk about those in another post.
The Countertime Regimen includes 6 products, all formulated to work together to make a complete skin care system. This set costs $382. I use 2-3 bottles of the cleansing oil each year, but all of the other products have lasted me an entire year or more. Here is a description of each product in the regimen:
Countertime Lipid Defense Cleansing Oil (150 ML / 5 FL OZ): Inspired by Asian beauty rituals, this luxurious, lightweight cleansing oil gently yet effectively removes makeup and other impurities without stripping essential lipids from the skin.
Countertime Mineral Boost Hydrating Essence (150 ML / 5 FL OZ): Lightweight but deeply nourishing, this milky moisturizing essence delivers vital nutrients to the skin’s moisture barrier—instantly boosting hydration and radiance.
Countertime Tripeptide Radiance Serum (30 ML / 1 FL OZ): This transformative rejuvenating treatment visibly increases skin firmness and elasticity, while reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Countertime Antioxidant Soft Cream (50 ML / 1.7 FL OZ): This velvety revitalizing cream improves skin’s barrier function and boosts hydration, which helps protect it from daily environmental stressors.
Countertime Tetrapeptide Supreme Cream (50 ML / 1.7 FL OZ): Supremely rich and deeply hydrating, this cream supports elasticity and visibly firms while smoothing skin texture to minimize the look of fine lines and wrinkles.
Ultra Renewal Eye Cream (15 ML / 0.5 FL OZ): This high-performance eye cream revitalizes the eye area and reduces the appearance of under-eye shadows and crow’s feet for a smooth, firmed look.
Makeup
The one makeup product I want to highlight is the Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer. This was one of the very first Beautycounter products I tried and I have been a devotee ever since. One tube costs $45 and lasts me about 6 months and I use it every single day. To me, the Dew Skin offers just the right amount of coverage so I feel like I’m smoothing out any imperfections and also protecting my skin with SPF.
This is how the product is described on our website:
This sheer-coverage tinted moisturizer helps even skin tone as it protects against sun’s damaging rays with SPF 20 mineral sunscreen. The formula features a blend of black currant seed oil, peony root extract, and vitamin C to help brighten while leaving skin looking radiant. With continued use, skin will feel firmer and look more luminous. Offers sheer coverage, luminous finish and glow-boosting ingredients. Has been clinically proven to increase skin firmness and elasticity.
I really wanted to highlight our new Skin Twin Concealer but it hasn’t released yet. The consultants had the opportunity to preview it and it is the concealer I’ve been waiting for. It goes on smooth, doesn’t cake into fine lines, is buildable so you can get a little more coverage in a specific area, and comes in so many shades that you will definitely be able to find just the right shade for you. This past year has been extremely busy and stressful for me and that stress has shown up in dark circles under my eyes. I feel like I’ve tried all the “clean” brands of concealer and don’t like any of them. I found one that does cover well, but it’s really thick. So thick that it hurts a bit to rub it in well and then it settles into those fine lines under my eyes. (It’s called Fitglow Beauty, if you’re interested in giving it a try, $42) All that to say, I’m thrilled with Beautycounter’s new concealer and can’t wait to introduce it to you! The new concealer launches October 20th and will be $31. If you have been using our Touch Up Concealer Pen, the new concealer will contain 160% more product!!! It’s a great product and a really great value.
I realize these safe skincare products are expensive, but they are worth it. I save money in other places – we camp rather than staying in hotels, we cook at home rather than eating out, I don’t get many haircuts, I do my own nails, etc. I think you have to decide where you’re going to put your resources. Are you going to invest in health care or sick care? You can either spend your resources on staying as healthy as you possibly can, inside and out or you can save money on food and personal care products and then spend your money treating your resulting illnesses. I’m sorry if that feels a little preachy and I don’t mean it that way. I guess I still feel a little hesitant about sharing that my family pays more for high quality food and personal care products because a lot of people still don’t buy into this lifestyle to that degree. But we’ve been doing this for a long time and it works for us. And by works, I mean that we are healthy. Sure, we get a cold or two in the winter time, but that’s it. I have a serious, chronic, autoimmune condition, that has been in remission for years. My husband does too. Whereas he will always need medication (insulin) because it is vital for life and his body doesn’t make it anymore, he is otherwise healthy and has no complications. So we’ve decided that these expenses are worth it. I’d love to talk more with you about environmental toxins if you’re interested in cleaning up your home and your personal care routine. I’ve been researching these topics for years and have lots of experience with the good, the bad and the ugly.
Thanks for reading today and I hope you found this helpful.
Disclosure: My links to Dazzle Dry and Native are not affiliate links, meaning I make no income from you clicking on these links. Native offers free shipping and free returns. Their customer service is awesome. I don’t have a discount code for them, but if you place an order, you will get on their mailing list and will receive special offers and notice of sales. I stock up during their sales. Dazzle Dry offers a 20% off coupon if you sign up for their email list. The Beautycounter links are for my personal website as I am an employee (independent consultant) for that company and make a commission on any sales. I appreciate your business!