Like many expectant mothers, I spend a lot of time reading mommy and baby magazines and blog posts. A topic that comes up frequently here: warnings about the dangers of ingredients in daily-use products. One day I’ll read about some scary compound that causes birth defects. The next I’ll read about the top three ingredients in your shampoo that can give you cancer. C’mon, now. As if the responsibility of impending motherhood weren’t enough to keep me up at night!
Fatigued though I may be, I still find the energy to obsess over the products I use. On any given day, you may find me standing in a store aisle, beauty product in one hand, phone in the other, as I Google ingredients one by one. (Pro tip: diazolidinyl urea, which happens to be a preservative commonly used in cosmetics, isn't very good for you).1
And don’t get me started on ingredient names. Methyl Gluceth-20 sounds like an industrial-grade paint thinner but is actually a perfectly harmless skin-conditioning agent. On the other hand, the "perfume" you see on many labels — familiar and seemingly innocuous — can actually portend a whole host of toxic effects.
I shouldn't need to be a chemist to buy a moisturizer!
Which brings me to Life's Abundance Moisturizer, which I love for many reasons — among them the fact that it contains no mystery ingredients that require a visit to Dr. Google.
As for the product itself? Glorious. I adore the matte feel, which is of particular importance to those of us who live in warm, humid clients. This product smooths and conditions my face without leaving it shiny, making it an excellent base for a powder-based and liquid foundation — whichever I feel like wearing that day. And the scentless formula is great for me. It doesn’t interfere with my other skin-care products’ fragrances, and it doesn’t overwhelm my senses, which are, shall we say, a bit heightened right now.2
And as a mother-to-be on a budget, the best part may very well be that a tiny amount goes a loooong way, which means less frequent re-ordering and more money for baby clothes (and shoes for mama).
Sasha Stephens, Executive Project Director
REFERENCES:
1. https://www.ewg.org/guides/substances/1735-DIAZOLIDINYLUREA#.W23mE9hKjOQ
2. https://www.babble.com/pregnancy/smell-pregnancy-nausea/