Need a reason to kiss your old lipstick goodbye and get a new, natural lipstick? If lead in lipstick isn’t enough to get you moving, here’s an appeal to the bargain shopper in you: Lavera, a natural cosmetics company based in Germany (with a North American office in Washington state), is offering a $10 coupon to customers who send in their old (and probably unnatural) lipstick to the company.
Here’s how it works: Send your half-used, barely touched or most-hated lipstick to Lavera, along with all your contact information (including your email address). Lavera’s color specialists will find their closest match to your old lipstick and send you an email that says, “You’ve Been Matched!” Inside the email, you’ll find a $10 promo code to order your new natural lipstick online–that’s more than 50 percent off the usual $19 price tag.
Send your info to:
Lavera Skin Care North America
12015 115th Ave NE, Suite E110
Kirkland, WA 98034
The promotion ends August 29, 2009.
Lavera is a leader in the crusade for safe cosmetics. On the Lavera website, the company has a tab devoted to “education” that details the importance of strictly regulating ingredients in cosmetics. Lavera points out, as I have before, that cosmetics manufacturers in the United States are not required to list all product ingredients. Lavera follows European Union (EU) standards and lists all ingredients–you can find out what’s in your natural lipstick before you buy!
This Lavera natural lipstick is loaded with organic shea butter, jojoba and almond oil–I’m always drawn toward this beautiful berry color! Photo Courtesy Lavera.
“A lot of lipsticks contain lead or other ingredients that are not good for you, along with animal byproducts and petroleum,” says Annette Abraham, Customer Support Manager at Lavera. “We are creating an awareness with this promotion and stand by our mission to create pure, beautiful products for our health and safety.”
Raise your standards. Demand that all personal-care products disclose all ingredients, and support companies that use high-quality, natural and organic ingredients. Call or write to your favorite conventional beauty companies and tell them that lead-free products with natural and organic ingredients are important to you!
If you own these lipsticks, hang on to them–in 2007, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics deemed them suitable; each lipstick contains less than 0.02 parts per million (ppm) of lead:
Lipsticks with non-detectable levels of lead (less than 0.02 parts per million)
Avon: Ultra Color Rich Cherry Jubilee
Body Shop: Lip Colour Garnet
Body Shop: Lip Colour Garnet
Clinique: Long Last Lipstick Merlot
Dior: Replenishing Lipcolor Red Premiere
Estee Lauder: Maraschino
MAC: Matte Lipstick Viva Glam 1
Revlon: Superlustrous Love That Red
Revlon: Superlustrous Bed of Roses
Revlon: Colorstay Lipcolor Red Velvet
Tarte: Inside Out Vitamin Lipstick
Wet N Wild: Mega Colors Cherry Blossom
Wet N Wild: Mega Colors Cherry Blossom
These lipsticks had higher detectable levels of lead–from 0.03 ppm to 0.65 ppm. If you own any of these, consider swapping them for a $10 Lavera coupon so you can get a new, natural lipstick:
Lipsticks with detectable levels of lead but less than 0.1 ppm lead (the FDA-recommended limit for candy)
MAC Matte Lipstick Viva Glam
Revlon Love That Red
Cover Girl Queen Collection Ruby Remix
Clinique Long Last Paprika
Dior Replenishing Lipcolor Red Premiere
Body Shop Garnet
Wet N Wild Cherry Frost
Clinique Angel Red
Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer Merlot
Lipsticks with lead levels higher than 0.1 ppm
Maybelline Moisture Extreme Scarlet Simmer
Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor Maximum Red
Peacekeeper Paint Me Compassionate
Maybelline Moisture Extreme Midnight Red
Maybelline Moisture Extreme Cocoa Plum
Dior Addict Positive Red
Cover Girl Continuous Color Cherry Brandy
L’Oreal Colour Riche True Red
Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor Maximum Red
L’Oreal Colour Riche Classic Wine
L’Oreal Colour Riche True Red
I think it’s time for me to go through my lipstick stash! What will you be swapping?
