Woman in Real Life

I buy natural cleaning products, natural shampoo and body wash and lots of organic foods, yet most of my cosmetics are of the conventional variety. I'm not sure why, but I think it has to do with a bad experience I once had with natural mascara. When I applied the mascara, it immediately began flaking and large flakes of it landed beneath my eyes throughout the day. Not the look I was going for.

Probably not a very good reason to give up on natural cosmetics entirely, though, mascara especially. After all, you apply mascara (and eyeliner for that matter) right next to your eye, and some of it ends up in your eyes when you're washing it off. In most cases, that means we are getting toxic chemicals right in our eyes, just like the poor little bunnies they test cosmetics on.


That's why I was intrigued by Earthlab Cosmetics. Earthlab was created by a mother-daughter team with a mission to develop "clean" makeup using the finest natural minerals and raw pigments derived directly from nature. Not only did they want their cosmetics to be safe to use, they actually wanted them to benefit the skin. The resulting makeup is free of additives, fillers and preservatives.

I just had to try Earthlab's raw mascara. It is paraben-free, botanically enriched and made of ingredients you can recognize like aloe barbadensis leaf extract, cucumber and minerals. The packaging promises no clumping, no smudging and, of course, no flaking. Not that we all trust packaging, right? But, in this case, the package is correct. I found the mascara went on smoothly and cleanly, with no clumping. As the day went on there was no smudging and...no flaking!

The mascara gives a light and natural look, which I find perfect for summer days. It's not going to give you thick, dramatic lashes for a night out. If that's what you are looking for, you could use this mascara in the daytime. It's light enough that you could apply your heavy mascara right over it in the evening.


While the mascara contains beeswax, the vegan mineral pencil is...well, vegan. I'm the first to admit I'm not very skilled at applying eyeliner. I found that Earthlab's vegan mineral pencil goes on nice and smoothly, meaning minimal mistakes. The pencils are made "fresh to order" according to Earthlab's website. Like the mascara, the mineral pencil washes off easily, making my evening skincare routine less of a chore.


Earthlab Cosmetics are handcrafted in West Kelowna, BC. Find a retailer or order by phone here.

Watch the Earthlab team pitch their products on CBC's Dragons' Den. Will they get the $90,000 investment they're looking for?

Do you use natural cosmetics?


*I was provided with products for review purposes. All opinions are my own.