I've been hearing about Beautycounter for awhile. Seems tons of my friends from across the country were both using it and selling it. I did't get what the big deal was. I was content going to the mall to buy my makeup and since I'm a creature of habit, never really had any intent of switching what I was using. It worked for me.

Meanwhile, I begin having tons of strange health issues. I was tired of feeling like I'd been driven over by a semi and doctors weren't helping much (read: at all)...so I decided to take the recommendation of a holistic type woman I've been seeing and go gluten free. I was feeling so crummy, I told her, "why not?! I'll try anything at this point."

What she told me next SHOCKED me.

Gluten is like an on/off switch. Either you digest it, or you don't.

I had NO idea!!

First of all, I thought just consuming less gluten would be fine.

And second...

It never. ever. occurred to me that what I put on my skin was important to my health.

So I started doing some research, and you know what I learned??

Mind blown.

The more I learned about Beautycounter, the more I was IN.

 This passion-driven company has a mission for getting safe products into the hands of everyone.

Currently, the personal care industry in the U.S. is self-regulated --the FDA lacks the power to actually regulate it. Companies are legally allowed to use chemicals known to be extremely harmful (lead, formaldehyde, and phthalates) in the products we put on our bodies and on our kids every single day, day after day. (what?!)

Yes...even the higher end ones we love.

Skeptical? I was too.

So I downloaded these two apps that had been recommended to me.

You can either type in the product name or scanned the barcode on the bottle/package.

These helpful apps will tell you the ingredients in the product and break the information down for you...why it's a great choice...or what makes it potentially harmful to your health.

Skin Deep is put out by the EWG and is most accurate and I'd use it first. But if you're not finding your product on the app (Skin Deep adds more products to their library all the time), then use Think Dirty. Shop Clean.'s app.

Even many of my "natural" products were coming up as an 6-8 (high numbers = bad rating)

And my well known luxury anti-aging system was coming up at mainly 9's!!!!!

Insanity.

The exciting thing is though, that Beautycounter has found hundreds of effective--and safe--ingredients to deliver the results we expect our products to achieve.

By banning more than 1,500 ingredients in their products, they have formed the stricest ingredient selection process in the industry. With this brand, we not only know with 100% clarity that our products are safe...but we're still able to use products that are as indulgent and luxurious as many other (less safe) products you may already be using.

 And they really are. I've always had problems with my skin...and since using these products, mine has felt amazing.

Here are more of my favorites...

Shop for products here.

Learn more about this great company here!

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Questions?! I'd love to answer them...either comment below...or email me to teresa(at)hugsandpunches.com