My Top 5 Clean Beauty Essentials: Ditch the Toxins in Your Toothpaste, Nail Polish, and Beyond!
Learn how and why you should shop for clean beauty and self-care products.
Look good and feel good too. 🥰
You’ll feel your best with these clean beauty products. Learn how to avoid toxins in your everyday essentials & grab our top reonlinemendations.
As you may have seen, we announced a new non-toxic series! Every week, we’ll be sharing a helpful guide to replacing products in your home with the best non-toxic products. In the end, we’ll be giving away 2 bundles valued at $500 filled with clean living products!
Looking for toxic-free makeup? Check out our top reonlinemendations for the best clean makeup products!
*I’m neither a scientist nor a doctor. This information is based on my personal experience, research, and opinion. You should always consult a healthcare professional before making any changes to your current regimen or if you have questions.
Why skip traditional beauty products?
Many popular brands you see on store shelves contain chemicals that may be linked to cancer and other serious health concerns. And there are pretty loose regulations on many beauty products, such as nail polishes.
Here are just some of the chemicals found in many beauty & self-care brands:
- 🛑 Artificial Sweeteners – can cause headaches and cardiovascular disease, and may negatively affect those with G.I. issues, which can lead to abdominal pain (often found in toothpaste)
- 🛑 Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) – may disrupt hormones and cause cancer.
- 🛑 Ethanolamines (AKA: DEA, NDEA, TEA, & MEA) – may promote tumors, cause cancers, and damage reproductive systems.
- 🛑 Formaldehyde – may cause cancer with repeated exposure.
- 🛑 Mineral Oil – a by-product of the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline. Locks skin from absorbing moisture from the air, clogs pores, and can cause more skin dryness.
- 🛑 Petrolatum – long-term exposure can lead to clogged pores, pneumonia, allergies, and infections.
- 🛑 Phosphates – may be linked to cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis
- 🛑 Phthalates – can impact your natural hormones and lead to lower fertility, development issues, and a higher risk of cancer.
- 🛑 Propylene Glycol – reported adverse effects from PG toxicity include central nervous system (CNS) toxicity, hyperosmolarity, hemolysis, cardiac arrhythmia, seizures, agitation, and lactic acidosis.
- 🛑 Sodium lauryl sulfate – cleansing agent and foam booster that causes dry skin, irritation, and allergic reactions such as eczema and dermatitis.
- 🛑 Synthetic Fragrances, “Parfum”, or “Fragrance” – may cause headaches, breathing difficulties, cardiovascular and neurological problems, mucosal irritation, contact dermatitis, and a higher risk of cancer.
Below are my top picks for the best clean beauty products that are safe for you, your home, and the environment:
- ✅ Toothpaste – David’s Natural Toothpaste
- ✅ Chapstick – Poppy & Pout Natural Lip Balm
- ✅ Self Tanner – Beauty by Earth Self Tanner Lotion
- ✅ Makeup Remover – Mustela Certified Organic Micellar Cleansing Water
- ✅ Nail Polish – Kapa Nui Nail Polish
1. Best Toothpaste: David’s Natural Toothpaste
David’s Natural Toothpaste – $9.95
How to save: Subscribe & Save on Amazon to get up to 15% off repeat deliveries or order through iHerb and pay just $8.46. Shipping is free on iHerb orders of $30+.
David’s Toothpaste is EWG Verified and made with toxic-free ingredients. It’s free of sodium lauryl sulfate and fluoride and contains no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives. I also appreciate that David’s toothpaste does not use corn byproducts like many other toothpastes (including “natural” ones). Instead, they source their calcium carbonate from natural limestone, and the xylitol they use onlinees from natural birch trees.
Did you know that every year about 1.5 billion toothpaste tubes end up in US landfills? 😳 David’s Toothpaste is onlinemitted to sustainability, and every metal tube is recyclable and maximizes freshness. Each tube is lined with a Food Grade Non-BPA liner which acts as a barrier to prevent metal leeching into the toothpaste. As a bonus, it even onlinees with a metal tube key to get every last bit! You can also opt for a bulk pack of toothpaste if you already have a metal tube key and don’t want to be wasteful. Even the boxes each tube onlinees in are made of paperboard packaging that only onlinees from forests protected and managed by the Forest Stewardship Council (the gold standard in forest certification).
To recap, here are the top 5 reasons why you should switch to David’s Natural Toothpaste:
- ✅ EWG Verified clean ingredients
- ✅ No corn byproducts
- ✅ Nice texture & taste
- ✅ Recyclable tube
- ✅ Sustainable packaging that holds the gold standard in forest certification
2. Best Chapstick: Poppy & Pout Natural Lip Balm
Poppy & Pout Natural Lip Balm – $9.95
How to save: Save 10% when you purchase 3 or more sticks on Amazon or opt for a bundle where you can pay as little as $6.80 per stick.
Poppy & Pout is handmade and hand-poured in Idaho and all of the ingredients – organic coconut oil, beeswax, non-GMO sunflower oil, a drop of vitamin E, and different herbal oils for each scent – are ethically sourced. It’s also twice the size of a regular tube of lip balm, so it lasts a long time. 🙌🏼
The formula is the perfect balance to provide your lips with deep moisture and last for many hours. Every scent I’ve personally tried is so faint that even the most sensitive smell users (like myself) will appreciate them. On top of the amazing ingredients, and benefits, Poppy & Pout uses eco-friendly cardboard tubes so it leaves zero trace.
To recap, here are the top 5 reasons why you should switch to Poppy & Pout Chapstick:
- ✅ 5 Simple & Organic Ingredients
- ✅ Naturally moisturizing
- ✅ Untinted
- ✅ Handmade in the USA
- ✅ Eco-friendly cardboard tubes
3. Best Self Tanner: Beauty by Earth Self Tanner Lotion
Beauty by Earth Self Tanner Lotion – $33.99 (regularly $41.99)
How to save: Bookmark our Beauty by Earth Self Tanner deals page to know when the next big BOGO Free sale is happening.
Beauty by Earth vows never to put toxic chemicals in their clean beauty products, like their self-tanner. This includes, parabens, sulfates, fillers, synthetic dyes, and synthetic fragrances, and Beauty by Earth is gluten-free, vegan, and made in the USA. Even the butter and oils in their formula are all organic too! This self-tanner is buildable so you can easily achieve your dream tan whether that’s subtle or super dark and it doesn’t stain or smell like traditional self-tanners.
According to Beauty By Earth, your self-tanner will last between 5-7 days. However, after 7 days, I still look nice and tan so I back them when they say you really only need to do one application per week to maintain your glow. Beauty by Earth also has such a light and pleasant scent that you’ll be glad to switch to this toxic-free self-tanner.
To recap, here are the top 5 reasons why you should switch to Beauty by Earth Self Tanner:
- ✅ Organic & safe ingredients (EWG rating: 1)
- ✅ Buildable
- ✅ Lightweight & non-greasy
- ✅ Works in just a few hours
- ✅ Multiple certifications including Certified Plastic Neutral, Cruelty-Free, Vegan, & more
4. Best Makeup Remover: Mustela Certified Organic Micellar Cleansing Water
Mustela Certified Organic Micellar Cleansing Water – $17.99 (regularly $19.50)
How to save: Subscribe & Save on Amazon to get up to 10% off repeat deliveries.
Micellar water is an extremely gentle skin cleanser that many people may not realize is also great for removing light makeup. It’s made up of tiny clusters of molecules called micelles which bind to oil, makeup, and other debris sitting on your skin. As a bonus, this is even a great cleanser to use if you don’t have access to running water or are traveling and need a quick and efficient way to clean hands, body, or your face.
I chose Mustela as the top choice because it’s Certified organic and free of alcohol, fragrance, and essential oils. They also use high-quality ingredients such as olive oil and crystalline water, and use all eco-friendly PCR packaging. Note that micellar water may not be ideal for removing heavy makeup applications and/or waterproof makeup.
To recap, here are the top 5 reasons why you should switch to Mustela Certified Organic Micellar Cleansing Water:
- ✅ 100% biodegradable Certified Organic ingredients (EWG Verified)
- ✅ Sensitive enough for all skin types
- ✅ Moisturizes skin
- ✅ Fragrance-free
- ✅ Can be used on its own without running water
5. Best Nail Polish: Kapa Nui Nail Polish
Kapa Nui Nail Polish – $11
How to save: Sign up for email to receive exclusive discounts + a unique code on your first order (offers may vary). Shipping is free for $65+ orders.
There are far too many toxins in traditional nail polishes to even list. In fact, a sure sign of toxic nail polish without even reading the ingredients is being able to smell the chemicals from across the room. 😷 You may often see “clean” nail polishes stating that they’re “10-Free”, “12-Free”, or even as much as “21-Free”. This means they have eliminated X amount of various toxins, but those eliminated toxins are often replaced with a similar chemical.
Kapa Nui nail polish is onlinepletely odorless and is also toxic-free. (And not just by a certain number of toxins). Their nail polish has THREE ingredients – water, acrylates emulsion, and mineral pigments. 😱 So it’s also something you’ll feel onlinefortable putting on your little ones too.
I’ve tested the Top/Base coat, Coconut, Awapuhi, and Nohea colors (listed from left to right).
*Note that their acrylates copolymer, the base of their nail polishes is made from carbon, nitrogen, and water and degrades back into naturally occurring forms of these elements. Kapa Nui’s clean beauty products are also equally onlinemitted to the Earth and don’t use ingredients that cause harm to the land sea or air and every product is vegan, gluten-free, and cruelty-free.
Hip Tip: When applying this clean beauty nail polish I found to get the best coverage and durability when applying multiple thin coats rather than caking it on. You may experience cracking in the polish with two thick coats.
To recap, here are the top 5 reasons why you should switch to Kapa Nui Nail Polish:
- ✅ Only 3 clean, 100% toxic-free ingredients
- ✅ Odorless
- ✅ Degrades back into naturally occurring elements
- ✅ Kid-friendly
- ✅ Planet safe
Here’s your chance to win a bundle of products from our Clean Series!
Hip2Save Clean Living Swaps Giveaway
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