Organic makeup: A plea for help

There are studies that say the average woman consumes 6-9 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime, and many lipsticks contain lead. This is especially concerning for me because I am not the average woman. I may have already consumed 20 pounds of lip product in my first 25 years alone.

Since high school, lipstick has been smeared daily on my mouth. I would’ve worn it every day in elementary school, but Mumsie forbade me to do so as I was not a pageant toddler (thank you, Mom). However, one of my nicknames has always been Meggie Boo Boo (thanks again, Mom).

Do you ever have it happen where you know that in a few years, you will inevitably change your lifestyle in some drastic way that will involve pain and sadness? Well, this is how it’s been for me with makeup. It’s obvious, to some, that what you eat will have an effect on your body, for the good or the bad, and if you’re eating lipstick on a regular basis, take precautions. The same is unfortunately true of your exterior self. Your skin absorbs more than I’d like to realize, including the nasty chemicals found in other makeup, too.

That being said, the foreshadowing winds of change have finally thrown me up in the tornadic tunnel of realization, and the weight of the matter has guilted me into researching organic beauty products.

I’ll be honest with you; I’m a makeup junkie. Today, after I begrudgingly decided the time to act was now, I went without lipstick for a couple hours. Right before a meeting, I checked to make sure I didn’t have any stew on my face (thanks for the yummy food, Mom), only to see my naked, undefined lips. The lack of color disturbed my sensibilities. I dug through my purse knowing I wouldn’t find any organic, natural lip wear, besides my Burt’s Bees chapstick, but I pathetically scavenged. As the logic of my memory had already informed me, there was none to be had. I got 99 lipsticks, but an organic one — nope, not one.

Out of the eight lipsticks in my purse (I’m not joking), I looked at my Victoria’s Secret tube (in my favorite shade, “True”) and gazed at it. I then heard myself saying to me, “Just a little won’t hurt,” like a true makeup addict. Sure enough, I caved. This is going to be a long, hard, gravelly, rock-ridden road for me.

Don’t get me wrong. I regularly go without makeup — well, kind of often, sometimes — just to remind myself that my worth isn’t based on how much better my face looks with foundation, powder, blush, mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner and lipstick — oh, and brow pencil. The last time I went makeup-less to work, someone walked in my office and questioned my identity.

As a natural strawberry blonde, my skin is light. My eyebrows and eyelashes are even lighter. They’re a honey shade that makes my face a blank canvas, excellent for experimenting with makeup, my paint of choice. I look like a Scandinavian 12-year-old without some art made on my face.

Needless to say, I would like the paint I use to be free of chemicals and lead. That’s not asking too much, is it?

If you have favorite organic, natural, gluten-free products, let me know. I’m on the prowl. Organic products aren’t cheap. They’re not in the price range of the clearance lipsticks I buy at Target, and they’re often more expensive than the yearly splurge I make at Merle Norman. That being said, I don’t want to buy the first thing I see, hoping it won’t look and feel like crap. I’m not made of money, and I don’t own a field of money trees.

I’m not interested in looking like a humanized piece of chalk or a tangelo, so please, let me know if you have any recommendations on organic foundations, specifically.

Life and beauty aren’t all about makeup. Makeup just makes life more vibrant and attractive. The daily purpose is to enhance the features God already gave you, adding to your put-together look and confidence. Help me find the best and most cost-effective organic makeup products, so I can highlight the eyelashes the Lord gave me and not scare my coworkers.

Let it be known that I will still gladly accept free makeup with a bittersweet heart from anyone, even if I save it for special occasions.