Friday, July 29, 2011

Bellaphoria & Signature Minerals - Cosmetics Review

When going corn-free as a woman, one of the biggest hurdles is our personal look or style. Nothing really has more affect than being denied our facepaint.

Over the last few years, more and more new companies are starting to make good corn-free cosmetics thus making it easier for women with a corn allergy to move to corn-free cosmetics and still feel in "fashion".  Unfortunately most of these products are only sold online, so I thought a review of the products might help you make a decision on which is the best product for you.

I'll be covering two companies in this post.  Bellaphoria & Signature Minerals.

Both companies make pure mineral cosmetics. I managed to finagle some samples of both company's products… Signature Minerals will send you some samples for a small shipping fee. Bellaphoria no longer does samples, I just was lucky they had a few left from a trade show (I think that's what they said).  It is also lucky for them that they gave me the samples. I'm a hands-on type of customer especially with beauty products, so I like to know what I'm getting when I'm buying. Without their sample, I would not have given them a second look and would just have gone with Signature Minerals. (Yes, I am that kinda shopper.)

So you know, I'm a pale-skinned (unless I tan) white girl with dark hair and dark brown eyes. I'll try to be as accurate in my descriptions as possible, but I thought I'd let you know my "base" palette I was working with.

My former cosmetics are Zuzu Luxe - Gabriel sold at Health Food Stores and Whole Foods, which many now contain corn, thus my search for a new makeup. I may make color comparisons for those of you who have Zuzu Luxe sold near you if you wanted to "see" what these two companies colors might be close to.

Also keep in mind, if you're moving from mainstream cosmetics to these mineral makeups you'll have quite a transition period. These mineral makeups do not require as much makeup to make an impact. Start out using 1/3 of what you'd think you'll need on your brush, as these colors can be very intense.

Foundation: 
Signature Minerals (SM): 0 Porcelain  ($14.95)
Bellaphoria: Platinum, Light, Medium ($24.95 each)

Coverage or application of both of these were good. Unfortunately the only shade I had from SM was way too light for my skin so I wasn't able to accurately judge how well it works as a foundation. Bellaphoria won me over with theirs though, as their light foundation matches my skin perfectly, and went on like a breeze.

SM's 0 is nearly exactly the same color as my Gabriel "Bone" eyeshadow. It's an off-white color, and pretty much looks like white eyeshadow on my skin. Bellaphoria's Platinum is essentially the same color, but has just a touch more beige/pink to it. If you're really really white, one of these shades may work for you.

Bellaphoria's Light foundation, I'd describe it as a Neutral Light Beige or Creamy Natural. It is almost exactly the same color as my Zuzu Luxe Dual Powder foundation in D-7 (which now contains corn derivatives). The Bellaphoria has just a touch more pink to it than the Zuzu Luxe, but that didn't show when I applied it.

Bellaphoria's Medium is a little darker, and would work perfectly for me if I had a good tan. It's still "light" though, and should work for those with medium complexions.

Blush:
Signature Minerals: Gleeful  (10g size: $6.95)
Bellaphoria: (Mineral blushes) Citrus Glow, Pink Coral, Rustic Rose, Antique Rose, Luxberry, Mauviene  (10g sizes: $16.95 each)

I have to say I wasn't a big fan of any of Bellaphoria's blush colors, though I am wearing Rustic Rose today. It's possible I was just applying them wrong.  I did however like SM's Gleeful, and if you like shimmer in your blush you may want to look into using SM's Bordeaux eye shadow very lightly as a blush.

SM's Gleeful - This is a very nice med-dark mauve blush (it looks nothing like their website picture). I like my blush to "show" for a relatively dramatic but remotely natural look so it was perfect for me.  SM's Gleeful comparison to Bellaphoria - if Rustic Rose and Luxberry had a child, it'd be SM's Gleeful.

Bellaphoria - (none of these except possibly Rustic Rose looked right on my skin, most looked surreal, but your mileage may vary. These are very strong/bright pigments.)

Citrus Glow - This is an orange based brown. On the website it looks a little bit like a creamy orange/beige or almost like a foundation color. It is not. Trust me. It actually reminds me a bit of a med-light terra-cotta clay. 

Pink Coral - This is a very bright light baby pink. When I put it on, I thought it might look good on very light skinned blondes. I however tried it out as an eye shadow and liked it much better as it added just an extra spunk to my normal use of just lavender eye shadow.

Mauviene - This is a very bright pinkish/purple mauve. By itself, it looks rather pink, but compared to the Pink Coral, this is purple. I also preferred this one as an eye shadow.

Rustic Rose - This is pretty much spot on with it's name. It's a rose + rust color, and one that I may use when doing my face in a neutral brown palette. It looks a little odd when used on my cheeks with lavender or pink eye shadows. (If you use greens or blues as eye shadows this shade may work)

Luxberry - This is a purple mauve color and very dark. I just noticed that it looks similar to my Zuzu Luxe Haze blush but with just a touch more purple.  I also tried this out as an eyeshadow and liked it.

Antique Rose - Also well named, it looks like antiqued rose paint though maybe a little more brown based. It's a very earthy color of pink or rose.

Eyeshadows:
I did not have any Bellaphoria eyeshadows, but from my experiences with their other products, I am relatively certain their eye shows are highly pigmented probably more so than the Signature Minerals.

Signature Minerals: Eyeshadow $5-$8  (Bellaphoria eyeshadows $11.95)

Bordeaux - This is a very shimmery rose pink. It's bright and beautiful. I actually loved it as a blush, but it works great on the eyes too. It is not a shade for the faint of heart as a eye shadow though. (I really wish I had this shade as a lipstick too.)

Eggplant Dk - This is a dirty purple and looks exactly like it does on their website. I'm not sure why it's called Eggplant because it looks nothing like eggplant. It is almost brown/grey though it's clearly a purple. It's a little hard to describe, but it's not a real purple.

Terre Dark - This is a dark warm brown color. It looks almost like milk chocolate. This is a great basic color brown if you're wanting to do a look with neutral shades.

Black Liner - This is black. Just basic black black.

I played around with these nearly all day and didn't have any reaction. I will most likely be using a little of both of these companies, and will be trying out a couple different shades of Signature Minerals foundation to see if I can find one to suit me (the price of SM is much less for foundations).



Link to Bellaphoria's Website
Link to Signature Minerals' Website

If you have experience with either of these companies, please use the comments to tell us what you've ordered, your experience with it, and a description of what the color really looks like to help others. Thank you.

Bellaphoria has offered our readers a 20% off coupon!
Coupon Code: CORN-FREE
Value: 20% OFF (excluding 7 piece set)
Expires: Unknown

Monday, July 25, 2011

NOW foods -Xanthan Gum

Xanthan Gum Powder 6 OuncesA company response from NOW foods posted on our Facebook group verifies that this xanthan gum isn't safe for corn allergies. Use caution.


While many companies do claim all the protein is removed during the processing this is not usually always true or at least many corn allergic persons do react to xanthan gum that is grown on corn. (Soy allergies may also want to avoid this product.)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Enjoy Life Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips -- 10 oz Each / Pack of 12The company claims these to be corn-free, but too many reactions have been reported.  This will be taken off the corn-free list on the next update.

Do use caution with this product.

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Brown Cow Cream Top Yogurt - Plain

Brown Cow's Cream Top Yogurt (plain) is being removed from the corn-free list as it now contains pectin which may contain dextrose or other corny additives in it's production.

This may be added back to the list if it's proven again to be safe through human trials.


Until then use caution with all Brown Cow yogurt products.