At the weekend I went to the Allergy + Free From show at Olympia in London. This is an annual show, where products suitable for people with allergies are exhibited. These include food and drink, skincare products and cosmetics.
Judging by the number of visitors at the show, it seemed to me that there are many people who suffer from allergies and some have bad reactions to cosmetics. How sad, I thought, that they can't wear the lovely makeup that I so often write about. It isn't all doom and gloom though because I found that there were some good alternative products available to them, made by UK companies, which are free from the ingredients that commonly cause such bad reactions.
My first stop was the Green People stand. Based in West Sussex, this firm received an award in the 2013 FreeFrom Skincare Awards.
They produce an excellent selection of natural and organic skincare and makeup products. I am going to focus on makeup. They offer a pressed mineral powder face makeup, a mineral powder blush, a concealer, a pencil eyeliner, an eyeshadow duo, a mascara and a lipstick.
Their colours, which are updated to suit contemporary looks, are soft, subtle and flattering. For example, there are some good eyemakeup shades for achieving fashionable "smokey eyes".
Eye Duo eyeshadow colour choices are City Sky (Slate Grey/Hazy Beige), Night Forest (Tawny Owl/Mink Brown) and Royal Tea (Peacock Teal/Fondant Pink).
Anti-Age Pencil Eyeliner comes in City Grey (deep grey) and Forest Brown.
Volumising Mascara is available in Black or Brown Black.
Eco Lipstick is currently available in Cherry (soft red), Cinnamon (warm brown) and Candyfloss (soft pink).
Judging by the number of visitors at the show, it seemed to me that there are many people who suffer from allergies and some have bad reactions to cosmetics. How sad, I thought, that they can't wear the lovely makeup that I so often write about. It isn't all doom and gloom though because I found that there were some good alternative products available to them, made by UK companies, which are free from the ingredients that commonly cause such bad reactions.
My first stop was the Green People stand. Based in West Sussex, this firm received an award in the 2013 FreeFrom Skincare Awards.
They produce an excellent selection of natural and organic skincare and makeup products. I am going to focus on makeup. They offer a pressed mineral powder face makeup, a mineral powder blush, a concealer, a pencil eyeliner, an eyeshadow duo, a mascara and a lipstick.
Their colours, which are updated to suit contemporary looks, are soft, subtle and flattering. For example, there are some good eyemakeup shades for achieving fashionable "smokey eyes".
Eye Duo eyeshadow colour choices are City Sky (Slate Grey/Hazy Beige), Night Forest (Tawny Owl/Mink Brown) and Royal Tea (Peacock Teal/Fondant Pink).
Anti-Age Pencil Eyeliner comes in City Grey (deep grey) and Forest Brown.
Volumising Mascara is available in Black or Brown Black.
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| Eye Duo in Night Forest |
Eco Lipstick is currently available in Cherry (soft red), Cinnamon (warm brown) and Candyfloss (soft pink).
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| Eco Lipsticks |
For more details about ingredients and how to buy the products, see their website: www.greenpeople.co.uk
Next, I visited the NATorigin stand. Based just outside Banbury, this is another firm that produces a very good selection of natural and organic skincare and makeup products.
I will concentrate again on makeup. They offer a compact face powder, a loose powder foundation, a powder blusher, lipstick, pencil eyeliner and lengthening mascara. In the FreeFrom Skincare Awards they received a Silver for their NATorigin Pencil Eye Liner and a Bronze for their NATorigin Lengthening Mascara.
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| NATorigin Mascaras and Pencil Eye Liners |
These mascaras and eye liners are available in an impressive range of colours.
Lengthening Mascara comes in black, brown, blue and green.
Pencil Eye Liner comes in black, brown, blue, green, grey and lilac.
For more information, see their website: www.natorigin.co.uk
I then discovered an exotic and vibrant little treasure trove - Bohemian Chic Minerals.
This company from Slough offers an extensive range of pure mineral makeup, "suitable for Vegan and Halal use". There is a really good selection of products for complexion, eyes and lips. I was quite excited when I saw the little pots of eyeshadows in so many different colours. In the photograph below, I have selected three shades - Green Aqua, Ocean Blue and Monday Blues (dark navy). Now these are shades like this season's vibrant and tropical colours!
Although their eyeliner is not available in these colours, I was told that an effective line could be achieved by using a dampened eyeliner brush with these eyeshadows.
For more information, see their website: www.bohemianchicminerals.co.uk
I have not given details of the ingredients contained in the products described. I would recommend that anyone looking for hypoallergenic makeup should study the websites indicated above to find out whether these cosmetics are suitable for their own specific allergies. I do think it's heartening though that there are cosmetics which may enable allergy sufferers to not only wear makeup but achieve both natural and high fashion looks.