The second highly commended is awarded to Afterglow Mineral Cosmetics for its Organic Lip Love Lipstick. Afterglow combine mineral extracts with certified organic antioxidant ingredients such as grape seed extract and pomegranate extract that have age-defying properties. The range is also PETA and Leaping Bunny approved.
Lifescape - Healthy Ethical Living
Issue: December/January 2009
We all ’suffer’ in the name of vanity. Consider the plucking of eyebrows, or the brazilian - and I ain’t talking about the Duque de Caxias.
We preen and experiment constantly. I’m still making ’surprising’ and ’shocking’ beauty discoveries at the grand old age of 25. I have you know, been accustomed to Vogue and Instyle since day dot - not to mention my constant scrupulous magnifique lookage at gorgeous celebs on the red carpet.
Suffer we do, all in the name of beauty… but it’s not all hit ‘n’ miss. Now and then you discover products that are worthy of a killer gush. I’m talking in league with my favourite Dior lipgloss (sadly discontinued, what were they thinking?), YSL’s great lash mascara and my Givenchy ‘Irresistable’ perfume. It takes a rare product to turn my first preference for bronzer from Lancome to something else entirely - something that’s good for my skin, even, and Afterglow’s pure organic mineral makeup has done it for moi.
The Organic Mineral Glow Bronzer
I’ve tried just about everything, and with bated breath I received a batch of make up from Mookychick (all for free, perks perks!) to try out. If I’m totally honest with you I wasn’t expecting to be wowed. But lo and behold! I was beyond excited when I gave this beauty a go because, as you can see from the photos, the bronzer actually makes my skin glow! Shh… I know it says thats its the job but the people behind ‘Afterglow’ (the make up, not the feeling) genuinely deliver. I loved the mineral bronzer so much I’m taking my samples on holiday!
The issue I generally have with make up, even the posh stuff, is that I never feel like I have make up on. I went partying in the West End last week and by my standards, I trowelled my best paint and potion on because I knew I’d be standing next to girls wearing loads of it (in the nicest way), but I still ended up looking like a naked-faced ghost.
When I put the Afterglow bronzer on I actually felt like I had some colour to me, and it didn’t feel like I’d slathered myself in prosthetic makeup.
The mineral lipstick wasn’t quite my colour but the texture and ease of application were a dream, and the smell fairly neutral and clean (so no-one will be able to smell a strong scent before you get there, unless they’re a cat).
The loose mineral eyeshadow comes in little pots, and they’re faultless to apply. I generally find with many eyeshadow products that they crease on the delicate folds of your eyes, gather attractively in the corner like sleep and generally misbehave, causing embarassing gloop issues. Not pretty… so I gingerly applied the mineral eye powder and as I did so, it sparkled! Yay. Me like sparkles. Also, being a powder it slid on happily and there it stayed.
The Health Bit
As an eczema sensitive skin sufferer, Afterglow Mineral Cosmetics came up trumps again because all of their products are completely free of pesky ingredients normally found in make up such as scary-sounding ‘petrochemicals’, ‘carmine’ and ‘lake dyes’ (eep!!)
Of course, the products are tested on people not fluffy bunnies and if you’re heading towards old age (like me) then the anti-aging properties are an added bonus. Fabulous 
The Final Word
I have to say I will definitely be investing in a pot of the mineral bronzer, though, out of all the mineral makeup products I test-drove. Because it’s pretty awesome.
Lead in lipstick is becoming a serious issue and most of the brands have started to reformulate their lipstick. One of the well known brands dropped its lipstick price from $67 to $9.90 just because it had a high percentage of lead. Lead is a harmful chemical which causes Cancer so the higher the lead content, the greater the chance of getting Cancer. Afterglow Cosmetics offers Lead Free Lipstick which is very safe. Afterglow Mineral Cosmetics focuses on offering the most natural colour cosmetics on the market, free of many of the synthetics, preservatives, bismuth oxychloride, petro-chemical, dyes and fillers found in traditional cosmetics.
Afterglow’s Organic Lip Love Lipsticks are full of certified organic ingredients and they avoid using commonly used ingredients such as carmine, FD&C/Lake dyes and petro-chemicals that may dry out your lips or be harmful to your body. The creamy lipsticks are light-weight, ultra-moist and made with certified organic ingredients like organic jojoba oil, organic aloe vera, organic vitamin E and organic grape seed extract.
Available in 15 luscious shades and also a UK SkyMag Kind Beauty Product Award Winner.
