As it turns out, what’s in your makeup matters—and it goes far beyond breakouts and skin irritation. After realizing a thyroid condition she suffered from was likely linked to the ingredients in her beauty products, makeup artist Deanna Boyd has spent the last eight years of her three-decade-long career preaching the gospel of clean beauty. In addition to application lessons and services, Deanna offers a Makeup Bag Update & Detox service, in which she’ll go through your skincare and makeup regimens product by product and offer cleaner alternatives. “Educating others is my favorite part of what I do,” she says.
Makeup artist Deanna Boyd’s tips for curating a clean beauty bag:
Utilize apps that do the screening for you.
Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep app is Deanna’s favorite.
Be mindful of generic labels.
“Just because a product is labeled ‘natural’ doesn’t mean you won’t have a reaction to it,” she says.
Avoid her top four “no list” ingredients:
- Fragrance
- Parabens
- Phthalates
- Avobenzone/oxybenzone
Be mindful of expiration dates and shelf lives.
Most skincare products’ labels feature a jar icon that indicates how long it’s safe to use after opening (3M means three months, 6M means six months, and so on). For makeup, beauty experts have generally agreed-upon durations. For example, Deanna says, “I always suggest to clients to swap out their mascara tube every three months.”
Don’t expect perfection.
“Find the balance between the not-so-clean products you love, and slowly clean-swap them out,” says Deanna. “It can be overwhelming if you don’t remember to have balance.”
