Using the EWG to Find Natural Skincare and Beauty Products

Do you ever read the ingredients on your skincare products? Like actually REALLY read them? Go now and do it. It can be scary to see the amount of un-pronouncable ingredients and I’m often wondering “what the heck is this?” when I read the back of product labels. It can also be tricky to distinguish between harmless ingredients and toxic ones if a company uses their scientific names. So what’s a concerned consumer to do?

Using the EWG to Find Natural Skincare and Beauty Products

My first suggestion is to check out the EWG SKIN DEEP Product Safety Guide. “What’s that?” you ask. The EWG, which stands for Environmental Working Group, is an amazing organization working to ensure consumers are informed about what’s actually in the skincare and beauty products they use. It’s a super user-friendly online guide, where you can search from thousands of products to find the one(s) you’re looking for. It then gives you a score rating from 1-10 to let you know how safe (or toxic) the product in question really is, including a list of ingredients and any known harmful ones red-flagged. It goes further by explaining why exactly a particular ingredient is considered toxic. I use it all the time, for everything from concealer to sunscreen. They also have the best sunscreen guide out there, in my opinion. Products that I first thought were actually really natural and safe can be misleading and the guide does an awesome job at clearing up any uncertainties.

When Chorus Supernatural sent me some of their products to try, I was pumped to see that they have the lowest and safest average score on the EGW compared to some of the top natural brands out there. They are an amazing natural skincare company producing some of the safest products out there. What I especially love about them is how totally transparent they are with the ingredients they use. They want the consumers to know exactly what’s in their products (yay!) and what each ingredient is used for (double yay!) This is my kind of company. Included in my package was a list of ingredients that they exclude, all known carcinogens which are unfortunately in many other skincare brands. These 8 ingredients are some of the most dangerous out there and include:

SLS (sodium-laurel sulfate)
Mineral oil
Propylene/butylene glycol
DMDM Hydantonin
Parabens
PEG (polyethylene glycol)
Synthetic colours
Synthetic fragrance

I’ve been looking for a good, natural eye cream for a while. Honestly, I’ve never used an eye cream before. But, with children and aging comes tired eyes and under-eye circles. I figured it was time to start protecting this area so I was very excited to try the all natural cream from Chorus. I’ve been using it every day and really like how light it is and how little I need to use each night. I’ve also been using the facial scrub they sent me. It’s really light and calming and also perfect for this time of year, when the colder weather and heat is starting to dry out my skin. Summer time, I miss you! The revitalizing serum is also wonderful and lightweight and can be used under makeup and also at night before applying moisturizer. It helps reduce aging, which I think happens 10 times as fast once you become a parent:)

I’m excited to have found this amazing Canadian natural skincare company, amongst the others in the Green Moms Green Beauty Month, that is working hard to ensure we have safe and natural options. Knowing that they rate so low and so well on the EWG SKIN DEEP Guide also puts my mind at ease. If you’re looking to green your beauty routine or curious about the ingredients in any products, be sure to check out the guide and see how it rates there.

Don’t forget to enter the amazing giveaway going on now for the month of October. And join us for the Twitter party on October 30th! Details can be found here.