Save money on nontoxic, healthy cosmetics

The Body Shop’s Aloe Gentle Face Wash ranks a 1 on the Environmental Working Group’s ranking of safe cosmetics.
By Aimee Heckel
You shop organic and don’t put pesticides into your belly. But you may be consuming potentially dangerous chemicals anyway — through your skin.
Many of the most popular cosmetics — lipsticks, perfumes, shampoo, even sunscreen — contain ingredients that are banned from other countries’ products, due to their potential health risks. The American government is significantly less stringent with the list of acceptable ingredients in cosmetics sold here; in fact, it doesn’t require health studies or even testing on the chemicals on cosmetics before they hit the shelves, according to the Environmental Working Group.
That means, it’s up to you to make sure you’re buying and using safe products.
Here are some tips on how to find the safest products and save money on them, too:
1. Check your cosmetics in the Environmental Working Group’s database, which ranks products on a scale of potential risk. Aim to keep the products in your house below a 3.
2. Shop for cosmetics on websites that already do the filtering for you, such as truegoods.com. Sign up for TrueGoods’ newsletter and get 10 percent off.
For example, The Body Shop has a variety of products that rank low on the EWG list. The Aloe Gentle Face Wash, Aloe Soothing Day Cream and Aloe Soothing Night Cream all rank a 1, which is pretty hard to do. The Body Shop’s All In One BB Cream is a 2. Save money at The Body Shop with these coupons, plus get 8 percent Cash Back from ShopAtHome.com and 50 ShopGold Rewards points.
3. Don’t forget nail polish. Beware of potentially dangerous ingredients in nail polish, such as toluen, DBT, xylene and formaldehyde (also listed as “formol”). There are plenty of nontoxic options out there, such as essie, Zoya, Piggy Paint and some Opi polishes.
4. Choose lotions and creams that contain SPF, to further protect your skin from the sun’s rays. Avon’s Ideal Flawless BB Beauty Balm Cream contains an SPF of 15, and it ranks a 3 on the EWG’s Skin Deep database. Save money on Avon products with these coupons, such as get free shopping on orders of $35 or more, paired with 6 percent Cash Back from ShopAtHome.com. Plus, get 50 ShopGold Rewards when you purchase an Avon product through ShopAtHome.com. Read more articles about saving money on Avon products here.
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