Dr. Haushka Rose Day Cream

I was first introduced to the Dr. Hauschka line—strangely enough—in a Sephora fourteen years ago. The salesperson was baffled by its at stringent and out-there manufacturing standards. "All the employees have to pray before they start work," she explained, wide-eyed. "They go out to this rose garden and pick rose petals and bless the bowls they mix their formulas in with a ceremonial feather." I kid you not. I have no idea of knowing whether this was an apocryphal rumor started by an overzealous brand rep or if they indeed go that far.

What I do know is that the ingredients are top notch, and that Germans have a heritage of bathing, spas, and clean simple skincare. This cream by Dr. Hauschka is akin to Weleda's Skin Food in how relentlessly nourishing it is, it's thick and white and takes a bit of effort to work into the skin. But put it on in the morning and you'll still be feeling dewy by the afternoon. It's rich, but not oily. And the rose scent is really special.

Because there's no SPF in it, I use something else in the mornings, but stash a tube of this in my handbag during winter months. I love this cream for traveling and cocooning my face against dry airplane cabin air, and for touch ups during the day—particularly when I was pregnant and would get incredibly dry in the afternoon. I love dabbing this on the cheekbones to impart a little glow, or to take down my makeup down a notch if I'm feeling too done up. (Kind of like that Chanel adage, where you look in the mirror and take off one accessory before heading out the door.)

What's in it? Rose hips and rose petals. And not from your average roses, but Ethiopia's famed Damask roses (apparently, the quality of roses there is on par with Bulgaria and Turkey). The hydrating ingredients are shea butter, avocado oil and rose petal wax. Plus, holistic ingredients like St. John's wort and marshmallow extracts to calm inflammation and soothe.

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Alcohol, Althaea Officinalis Root Extract, Rosa Damascena Flower Water, Rosa Damascena Flower Extract, Anthyllis Vulneraria Extract, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Bentonite, Beeswax (Cera Alba), Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Lysolecithin, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Bran Extract, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Fragrance (Parfum), Citronellol*, Geraniol*, Linalool*, Limonene*, Citral*, Farnesol*, Eugenol*, Xanthan Gum, Rosa Damascena Flower Wax.

$42.95 / Pharmaca

 

RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek

During a stint at MAC Cosmetics, I had the fortune of an all-day training onsite at one of their stores. We spent a lot of time discussing eye makeup—MAC's eyeshadows are legendary both in color range and color payoff—but towards the end, I was growing overwhelmed with the sheer number of color choices. Decision fatigue is the aptly coined termed for the ambivalent, I want it all, I don't know what I want, someone help me decide, it all looks good stream of thought that renders me hapless when getting ready in the morning.

"All these eye looks are great," I ventured to the training manager, "but what about lips and cheeks? Some of us look sickly without some color, but how do we pull off lip, cheek and eye makeup without looking like clowns?" She nodded knowingly. "It's really easy. The trick is to—no matter what—make sure that your lips and cheeks match. You can pull off any combination of eyes, lips and cheeks, as long as the latter two are the same shade."

And she's right, of course. But powder blushes render this very hard to maintain, and in the spirit of less is more, using one product to satisfy both needs makes much more sense. And after becoming wise about what's actually in it, who wants to ingest their blush?

Demure: a soft pink rose with a hint of mauve

Here's where the clean beauty industry makes things very easy. There are a few brands out there with color that are safe enough to use on the lips, including RMS Beauty, Vapour Organics Li, and Tata Harper. RMS's Lip2Cheek is buttery and sheer. Its principle ingredient is coconut oil, so there's no stickiness, but it does soften upon application once it hits the skin and warms up.  RMS Beauty has gone mainstream, now offered at both J.Crew and Anthropologie (yaaay!). I've added the latter's impeccable swatches, which are very true to life. 

Here's to looking pulled together, easily and with minimal effort. 

Smile: a sheer coral with a retro feel

Demure (also used just on the cheeks) Used on a fresh day look on the wonderful website, sophiedahl.com

Beloved: a true red with just a hint of poppy

Demure (used just on the cheeks) from a J.Crew shoot. Photo by Brian Derballa.

Here, on Miranda Kerr, Rose-Marie Swift used Lip2Cheek in Rapture on her lips, with a slight bit added over the apple of her cheeks. (Photo from Vogue Australia.)

 Here, Lip2Cheek in Promise is used as a blush on the cheeks. (All products used here are by RMS Beauty, check out their blog here for details on what else was used.)

Ingredients:

*Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, *Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, *Cera Alba (Beeswax), *Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Fruit, *Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, *Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, * Mauritia Flexuosa Fruit (Buriti) Oil, Tocopherol (non-GMO), Helianthus Annus (Sunflower) seed Oil, Propolis Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, *Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Extract, and may contain: [+/-Titanium Dioxide CI 77891, Iron Oxide CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499, Mica CI 77019] 

*CERTIFIED ORGANIC 

$36 RMS Beauty, The Detox Market, or Anthropologie.