We Tried 100% Natural Makeup To See How It Measured Up

Makeup is truly amazing, I think we can all agree on that.

But some makeup can be filled with chemicals and preservatives, and comes in packaging that is not great for the environment. More and more brands and products these days are focusing on being cruelty-free, sustainably-sourced, and eco-friendly. And that's GREAT.

So when we had the chance to try lipsticks, mascara, and eyeliner made out of actual FOOD, we jumped at the chance.

These lipsticks, from Luk Beautifood, are 100% natural with no toxins, and are kind of like a cross between a gloss and a balm.

Plus, they're packaged inside a cloth which can be reused as a screen or glasses wipe. Love a bit of upcycling! They come in 12 different colours, but a lot of them are pretty similar.

Most of them range somwhere between nude and deep red, so we tried out a few different shades.

Jemima: I tried the Cranberry Citrus which looks like a really deep red, but went on lighter than I expected. It's definitely more of a balm or a stain than a lipstick, but I like it for the days when I don't want a heavy lip look. Also I feel like it's much better for my lips than the usual lipsticks I use which tend to dry them out. And as a bonus, it tastes and smells amazing. I just wish it would last for a bit longer on my lips, I have to reapply every hour or two to keep the colour strong.

Sohan: I was skeptical about lipstick made out of food tbh. I mean, how good can it really be? I’m a matte liquid lipstick gal at heart so this product was quite different to what I am used to. I tried the Vanilla Chocolate, and it felt a LOT like lip balm, specifically paw paw ointment – except it had colour! And it’s better for you! The shade I chose looked really dark at first – I thought for sure it would apply as a deep brown. In reality, it was so sheer that it looked semi-transparent, which means my natural lip colour was still a tad visible. As you can see, it applies as more of a brown-nude, and actually feels sooooo soft and nourishing.

Michelle: So I don’t normally wear lipstick – I much prefer gloss but hate the stickiness that comes with most of them. Because I have freckles on my lips, and don’t really like covering them up, I picked Chai Shimmer, one of the lightest shades. The lipstick smelled really nice, kind of like cinnamon, and was super smooth and moisturising. My date was late and an hour after I initially put the lipstick on, it was still on my lips feeling moisturising af. Plus it has little specks of glitter that stay on your lips and it’s honestly my favourite thing when lip products do that!

Tahlia: I chose the plum-coloured lipstick as I’m a fan of a darker shade. The colour, however, wasn’t as dark as I would’ve liked, and was more red than a deeper purple or plum shade. I applied the lipstick at about 8am, and it had faded after a few hours – by the time I had finished my coffee, at about 10.30, the vibrant color was gone, but a slight hue remained on my lips. I think if you’re after a subtle lipstick that makes your lips feel soft and hydrated this is a great choice... but if you’re after something more vibrant or with more depth and long-lasting ability it might not be the choice for you.

Next up, we tried out mascara made from black tea and berry pigments.

Jemima: Yes, this is a terrible selfie but I wanted to show what it looked like before and after. I was expecting this mascara to be about as good as a $2 one you get from the discount store, in terms of aesthetics. But it actually went on really smoothly, and managed to do a pretty good job of lengthening my lashes and making my eyes look really open. It also lasted the whole day, without any fallout like you can get with lower-quality mascaras.

Tahlia: The first thing I noticed was the fruity smell of the mascara. When applying it, it took two coats for my eyelashes to look noticeably different, but it was a smooth application and not clumpy at all. I can be prone to adding one too many coats of mascara at times, but this product gave my lashes an overall softer look while still adding length. It also didn't make my lashes look spidery or clumpy. I didn’t take my makeup off until 9pm that night, and my lashes still looked good. Even better, it wiped off fairly easily (a lot better than my usual Maybelline choice) without having to rub my eyes too hard with cleansing wipes.

Then we tested an eyeliner which is 100% vegan and natural.

Sohan: I usually opt for liquid or gel eyeliner, just because it's easier to apply, but I was so surprised at how creamy and opaque this one was! The creamy factor made it so smooth to apply on the top of the lash line. I reckon the trick is to apply lightly, without too much pressure. It's such a rich colour that you don't need to press down hard. The staying power isn't amazing (it does wipe off easily) but honestly you shouldn't be rubbing your eyes when you have makeup on anyway.

Michelle: Normally, my favourite type of eyeliner is pen – I find gel can be too fiddly and pencils are normally too rough and tend to tug on your skin. But this pencil eyeliner was actually surprisingly soft and smooth. It was a little difficult to get the wing point as sharp as my normal pen does, but it was nice for a more subtle look. I used an angle brush to soften it and it gave a nice soft line that was still crisp. However, by the end of the night there was quite a lot of smudging going on so I wouldn’t recommend it for any ~situations~ where you sweat a lot. Lol.

So, what's our verdict?

Every product we tried definitely exceeded our expectations. They were all surprisingly high-quality given their totally organic ingredients, and had pretty good staying power. The downside – they're a little more expensive than the usual cosmetics we buy. But we'd recommend them if you want something less synthetic or if you have sensitive skin. You can get all the products we used here.

A guide to buying makeup online

Those of us who have chanced purchasing a foundation from the Avon catalogue only to discover, when it arrives, that it makes us look like a jaundiced Oompa Loompa, will know the perils of buying makeup without trying it out first.

While 60% of shoppers regularly head to the internet to buy books, music, movies and video games, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers 2017 Total Retail Survey, a relatively modest 37% now purchase health products and cosmetics online rather than in-store. Now, with the online fashion powerhouse Asos announcing the launch later this month of its first colour makeup range, featuring an array of alluring products and shades for less than £10, that picture looks set to change.

But when it comes to cosmetics, how can we safely make the move from the counter to the keyboard?

Shop around

"The rise of respected beauty sites such as Beauty Bay means people aren't just shopping for products but for ideas," says Gina Kane, makeup artist to celebrities including Victoria Beckham and Sienna Miller. "If you go to a branded counter in a department store, you are never going to get the same range of unbiased information." But how to discover something new without getting stuck with a product that doesn't suit you? "There are sites where you can fill in information about yourself and what you usually buy, and over time they will send you testers for products they think you might like," she explains.

Try before you buy

When it comes to foundation – and to a lesser degree, lipstick – Kane advises sampling the product first. "It is so personal, depending on the oil content and pH balance of your skin," she says. "I could give the same product to 10 people with ostensibly the same skin-type, and within half an hour it will look different on everybody. For that reason, the testers you can buy on eBay are a really good idea."

Colour match

"Getting the colour right is so important, and it is very difficult to see the true colour of a product on a computer screen, as it will never be exactly the same," says Kane. "Sites such as Match My Makeup will match up your current shade of foundation to another brand, and will also give comparisons on quality of products and share dupes."

Read the small print

Burberry makeup artist Jessica Clark recommends checking a brand's customer service tools: "Some retailers [such as Feel Unique] will send sample products if you cover the cost of postage. Otherwise check the returns policy first; many will take the item back or exchange it for a better shade."

And keep reading

A number of companies, Clark adds, use professional makeup artists to answer questions from customers. "If you upload a picture and describe the finish you want, they'll give you their expert opinion." Some online retailers, including Maybelline, Smashbox and Sephora, use technology that allows you to "try on" new shades, virtually. "But personally I think these are still unsophisticated and more a bit of fun than anything useful," she says.

10 Super-Moisturizing Lipsticks That Won’t Dry You Out

We love lipstick. It's more of an obsession, really. We love the way it wakes up our face. We love how it can take our look from day to night in literally, like, 10 seconds. We love being able to add a pop of color on an otherwise dreary day. We love the way it feels. OK, that last one, not so much.

There's a million things to love about a great lipstick, but the tight, flaky, dry feel it usually delivers sucks. Unless you happen to find an ultra-moisturizing brand that delivers both color and hydration, that is. It's kinda our own little version of heaven.

The bonus: The best moisturizing lipsticks we've come across run the gamut from $6 to $60 and everywhere in between, so you don't have to worry about sacrificing your quality of life in favor of the quality of your lipstick—talk about a win-win.

You'll find the makeup artist favorite Clé de Peau Beauté Extra Rich Lipstick at the crosshairs of lush hydration, outstanding color selection, and packaging fit for a queen. We expect greatness from a splurge, and this smooth, long-lasting formula certainly delivers on all counts.

For a reliable, easy-to-wear formula packed with pigment regardless of shade, the luxurious-feeling Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick has you covered. The color goes on vibrant and opaque in one swipe, and the shea butter infusion will leave lips feeling creamy, not chalky.

We like anything that claims to follow through on two promises, and Dolce & Gabbana Passion Duo Gloss Fusion Lipstick does exactly that. A glossy high-shine core is surrounded by a saturated matte pigment with a super-smooth feel. The former hydrates and adds depth, while the matte color allows for that color-pop wow factor, especially in the show-stopping brighter shades.

All hail cupuaçu, the unpronounceable tree nut responsible for the miracle butter that gives Jouer Hydrating Lipstick its incredible moisturizing properties. There's nothing to not love about this gloriously smooth formula—it's so good we use it in place of a clear lip balm when we want to double down on hydration and color (which we do, often).

There's a substantial reason the chunky, easy-to-use Tarte Power Pigment pencils have developed a steadily growing cult following over the past few years. While many moisturizing "lip tints" compromise pigment in favor of the hydration factor, this go-to stain does no such thing. There's a shade for every imaginable circumstance—we'd be hardpressed to choose a favorite.

The subtly plumping By Terry Rouge Terrybly covers all the bases when it comes to soothing, repairing and imparting gorgeous, long-lasting color on the lips. If you have fine lines or loss of lip volume, this one's for you: It's packed full of the brand's anti-aging firming technology to give lips a youthful makeover.

As with all of the innovative brand's moisture-rich, guilt-free lip products, the incredibly pigmented formula of Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick, which is creamy and luxurious-feeling on lips, is also teeming with healthy antioxidants and food-grade natural color. That's a win-win situation if there ever was one.

You don't need to be a glamour girl to get down with the ridiculously good line of Tom Ford Lip Color. Take your eyes off the gorgeous packaging just for a second: Rare nut butters and gently fragranced flower oils are responsible for the soft, creamy glide of this covetable lipstick. The finish is one of our favorites—it has just the right amount of sophisticated satiny glow to make it not quite fully matte.

We hear so much about the amazing hydration benefits of omega fatty acids, so we figure it's about time that someone put them in a lipstick. For full coverage, saturated color that's more vivid than it has any right to be, the buttery bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick takes the cake.

Who knew? It turns out that one of the most pigmented moisturizing formulas we've ever had the pleasure of applying can be found at the nearest drugstore for under 10 bucks. We're obsessed with the more dramatic colors in the Colorlicious Lipstick collection—they seriously rival most of our pricier lipsticks in how often we reach for them in the morning.

This Nail Polish Makes My Toes Look Instantly Healthier

As temperatures climb and we enter the season of exposed feet, we're here to help, with all the best tricks for keeping your feet presentable, as well as comfortable. While this week happens to be the start of Fleet Week, we're doing our own take as summer begins. Welcome to Feet Week on the Strategist.

The idea of brightly painted toenails fills me with revulsion. I know I'm in the minority here, but for whatever reason, spackling one's gnarled stubs of foot keratin strikes me as the modern-day equivalent of people from the Middle Ages bathing biannually, and otherwise attempting to mask their own stench with what was almost certainly rancid essential oil. Feeling gross? Cover it up! It's just too crude a solution.

That said, if you're going to walk around all summer in open-toed shoes, you have to do something about your feet. In an ideal world, you give yourself a pedicure every week, but nobody has time for that. A good hack is Dior's Nail Glow, which I'm pretty sure I first discovered in an airport duty-free store. The copy in the advertisements for the product says it's a "nail enhancer," which I'm tempted to mock, but it's actually an accurate product description. The varnish is a translucent magenta in the bottle and goes on rosy-clear. By the time it's dried, the pink part of your nail is a little pinker, and the white part is a little whiter. The process is mysterious. How does a magenta polish make the white parts whiter? I don't know, but it does. (Dior calls it an instant French manicure, and I'd agree.) The chipping is basically invisible, and having naked-seeming toenails makes your feet look tanner in comparison.

The effect is that clean-looking appearance your feet get after a day at the beach: repeatedly rinsed in salt water and incessantly exfoliated with sand. Nail Glow is all I use in the summer. I've never gotten a compliment on my feet, per se, but I've also never been ashamed of them, which is good enough for me. Just a few weeks of Nail Glow'd toes will make your past pedicures seem downright medieval.