Alima Pure Makeup.

A few months ago, I saw something on instagram about the junk that is in many of our beauty products and it kind of startled me. I spent the following weeks researching more about makeup, learning how not-so-wonderful some of the ingredients are, and I decided to be a little more careful about the products that I'm putting on my face every morning.

I only really wear foundation, bronzer, and mascara on a regular basis, so I knew an overhaul on my tiny makeup drawer wasn't going to be much work. But after lots of reading, I decided to make the switch from (apparently, not-so-bare) Bare Minerals to Alima Pure.

Since I love lists, here are the reasons why I decided to switch...

• They're certified pure! No preservatives, irritants, bismuth oxychloride, gluten, or dyes. Just natural, hippie-approved minerals. 
• Their products are cruelty free - never tested on animals. Their brushes are vegan as well!
• An extremely wide selection of foundation colors are available. I really think there's one to match anyone's skin tone. Even paler than pale girls like me, haha.
• Samples of their products are available for only $1.50 so you can try them out without having to splurge on a whole jar and risk not liking it or getting the wrong color. 
• They're based in Portland and they put birds on things, proving Portlandia to be totally spot-on with their "Put a Bird on it" skit. Which is hilarious.

I snagged myself quite a few samples before purchasing any full-sized orders. I tried primers, blush, bronzer, eyeshadow... the whole nine yards.

While I plan to buy more of their products in the future, my first (full-sized) haul consisted of...

bronzer, satin matte foundation, & color balancing powder.

It's been about a month since I started using them and so far I'm really happy with the outcome.

I know this is something silly and small, but it feels really good to be able to take control of some part of my health and do something a little better for my body. So much of the time, I just have to deal with what my body does to itself, but there are things that are under my control - ways that I can treat my body a little more gently and nicely. And it feels good to be doing more of that lately with foods, exercise, and even frivolous things like makeup. ;)