Hey Green Junkie,
I talk about clean beauty a lot on this podcast, but there is always something new in the green beauty space.
Between new research on harmful ingredients and creative ways, companies invent reusable packaging, the beauty industry is full of innovation – and I’m here to discuss it.
Molly Hill, the owner of Maison Pur, is joining me today to talk about the latest news in the beauty industry and how you can green up your makeup counter.
In this episode, we will touch on the following:
- Apps to help you identify clean products
- Common ingredients to avoid
- Where the most common harmful ingredients are hiding
- Best affordable clean makeup brands
- How to re-purpose makeup containers
- How to dispose of makeup properly
If you love this podcast be sure to leave a review and share a screenshot of this episode to your IG stories. Tag @thisisstephaniemoram so I can shout you out and publicly say thanks.
Thanks for listening and being here.
Your green bestie,
Xoxo Stephanie
Hang With Molly
Previous Episodes Mentioned
#41. The Hidden Secrets of the Beauty Industry With Lorraine Dallmeier
#59. Formulating Your Own Beauty Products With Lorraine Dallmeier
#62. The Toxic Chemical Rebellion with Kirsten Pelchat
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Wanna go the extra green mile? Binge (and download) my complimentary audio series to reduce your waste and learn how to consume less in just five days!
Produced by: Alecia Harris
Music By: Liz Fohle
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TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISDOE 66
Stephanie Moram 0:08
Hi, Green Junkie, it's Stephanie Moram and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Molly Hill, the founder of the blog Maison Pur. On her blog Maison Pur, Molly reviews the best performing natural beauty products along with sharing safer products for the whole family, and advocating for change in the personal care industry. She's passionate about arming people with knowledge, so they can confidently choose safer products for the whole family. You can head over to my Instagram and TikTok @thisisstephaniemoram to follow me, and if you want to reduce waste, and learn to consume less in just five days, you can binge my complimentary audio series, you'll find the links in the description. And don't forget to subscribe to the Green Junkie Podcast on whatever platform you get your podcasts. That way you will never miss another green living episode.
Stephanie Moram 1:02
Hi, Molly, thank you so much for being here.
Molly Hill 1:05
Hi, Stephanie. Thank you so much for having me on.
Stephanie Moram 1:07
Of course, of course. I know this is gonna be a fun conversation. I've been following you on Instagram for a long time. And I feel like I know you really well. I just follow you along on social. You know, sometimes when you follow somebody, and then you meet them, you're like, didn't we already know each other? And you're like, No, No, we've never met in person.
Molly Hill 1:29
Yeah, it's one of those weird things about the social media these days, you feel like you know people, right?
Stephanie Moram 1:35
So you are so passionate about the beauty industry and like in your bio, like arming people with the knowledge so they can make their own choices. And I think that's so important. Because you can tell people the information. And if they make a choice that let's say they ended up choosing a different deodorant that you might not recommend, but at least you gave them the knowledge that they could make that choice. Right?
Molly Hill 1:59
Yes, well, I think it's really important as consumers that we know what we're we're buying. I think so often, you know, people fall prey to marketing. And now of course, I think a lot of brands know that natural and green sells. So unfortunately, we're getting a wave of, you know, people trying to look natural, when actually if you turn over the product and look at the ingredients, it's not actually that natural at all, I think it can be overwhelming for me just to say you need to start looking at ingredients. But really, the truth is always going to be on the label. And while a lot of us don't have that ingredient knowledge, while we're just walking around at the store, there are a few great apps out there that can help. And I find with time, you kind of get used to seeing some of the more common ones that are more pervasive in products. And you can kind of pick that out on your own. So some of the apps that I like, they're not perfect, because they pull from databases. So of course, sometimes they might overlook certain bad ingredients. Or you might find that two different apps rate things, two different ways. But this is probably just for beginners a great easy starting out point just to have in your pocket is this app on your phone that you can actually scan the products as you go. And it kind of can guide you for what you're looking for and the ingredients and if the overall product is good or bad. So I like skin deep. And that one, you can scan the products with the barcode. The other one is think dirty. And on both of those, not only do they give you an overall product rating, but I like that you can go in depth on all the different ingredients. And if you're kinda like, why has that ingredient being flagged as bad, you can dive a little deeper in the app, and it'll tell you more information. So it's kind of easy to use, but also teaches you as you go.
Stephanie Moram 3:41
And you would say those are like your top two ones that if somebody is I don't I just know, fragrance is bad. And I like you know, I feel like I'm pretty versed when it comes to ingredients. But I do use the Google and I do use other apps just to be like, I'm not 100% sure of this ingredient. So I'll quickly google it as well, you know, or I'll use like skin deep or think dirty or whatever other apps out there. So I think you know, like you said, not everything is perfect. They're just really good baselines, really good baselines to pick the kind you want to buy?
Molly Hill 4:19
Yeah, I mean, I think like if you're just going in blind and like you said, Maybe you just know that fragrance is bad. You know that you don't want to be stressed and overwhelmed trying to pick products. So this is such an easy tool that you can use.
Stephanie Moram 4:34
Right? And it kind of just takes the guesswork out a little bit for that person that might be new at buying ingredients, right? And so talking about ingredients and you know you're using skin deep or dirty to kind of figure out what products it is that are good or might be bad. What are your top ingredients where you're just like if this is on the label, just don't buy it like it's just not worth it. Don't even look in the app. Like just have it written on like a little post it note, have it in your pocket. I don't buy ingredients that have these, like maybe your top five, or like top four.
Molly Hill 5:09
Okay, yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head with fragrance. Unfortunately, fragrance is considered proprietary in most countries so they don't have to disclose what it's made out of which is typically many, many chemicals, it can be well over 101 of the most common ingredients would be dilates, which is a type of chemical that it's a plasticizer, but also helps to make things stick. So that's kind of what makes fragrance stick around for so long and kind of stick on to you. If you hug somebody that has a strong fragrance, you might smell your hair or clothes later. And now it's kind of on you as well. So dilates are known to really be huge with disrupting hormones, especially in developing children specifically, and boys, there's notable difference in young boys who are exposed to mass amounts of them. But even well beyond that, there's people who have kind of gone down in the lab and broken down what's in some of these fragrances, many carcinogens and other things. And basically, it's a mixed bag because you don't know what's in it because they don't have to disclose it. So I would say overall fragrance is for sure, a no go. And sometimes it can be listed as perfume or perfume on there. But anything with synthetic fragrance I would avoid. Another common one would be pegs where you might see a combination with PG or PPG on there, that's really common, those are a no go be ha or BHT, I would also avoid another big one that has made its way into all sorts of things is chemical sunscreen, which now they're putting into face cream and makeup and lip balm, all sorts of products. It's It's hard because there's so many different chemical sunscreens and not all are as bad as some of the others. All of them, though have been shown to have some negative health effects. One of the worse is oxybenzone. And that and a couple others are being banned in some coastal areas just because their effects on aquatic life and killing coral reefs that it's just as toxic for you it's actually stays around in your body and bio accumulates, that means your body doesn't really have a way of breaking it down and getting rid of it. So that would be another one just because of the sheer exposure you're getting from all these different products. And because your body can't get rid of it, and it has been shown to be so toxic. If I had to choose one more, I think I would choose ethoxylate ingredients, those are going to be a little bit sneakier. Just because if you don't have a list handy, encompasses a large amount of ingredients that go through a process of ethoxylation. And during that process, there are some chemical byproducts that are present in the final product. And those are carcinogenic, and it's not listed on the label because it's just a byproduct within that ingredient. So that's another one that that I would avoid. And you can if you Google that if obsoleted ingredients, there's several lists that will pop up and you can even save it to your phone or print it out.
Stephanie Moram 8:23
And out of these ingredients like where what products would you most likely find some of them like fragrance you we can just say you find it everywhere. It is unfortunately Yeah, cleaning products, skincare makeup, like just it's everywhere. But the other two ingredients that you like to avoid and you recommend people avoid as much as possible. Where do you where do we find them? Like what are the biggest players? Is it mostly makeup? Is it creams? Is it you know, where would we find them?
Molly Hill 8:53
Definitely creams and lotions. But honestly those are you know, I was trying to pick ones that are the most commonly found and so those are found in a lot of things. Especially well actually both of them I was going to pick out one that both of them could be in a variety of products from haircare to body care to certain types of makeup to skincare, things like that. You know the chemical sunscreen blocker as I mentioned, you'll obviously find that in sunscreen, but they're kind of being sneaky. Now I'm putting sunscreen and a lot of things. So any product, whether it be makeup, or even just a moisturizer that says you know it has an SPF, I would double check the back usually, at least here in the States, there's a separate box up at the top of the ingredient list that has to mark it as an active ingredient. So it's pretty easy to spot.
Stephanie Moram 9:43
Right? Yeah, we have the Health Canada does the same thing where you have to have like that active ingredients. So yeah, it is a little bit easier to spot when you know that's what you're looking for.
Molly Hill 9:52
Right.
Stephanie Moram 9:53
And so, you've been reviewing and testing and trying and finding You know, the best performers and like makeup and skincare, are able to touch on a couple of brands or, you know, just because a brand makes a really good lipstick doesn't mean it makes a good blush right? On that, but they're like a couple of brands or maybe a couple of specific products within a brand where you're like, it's super clean. You know, it's somewhat reasonably priced compared to conventional. But if we honest, like I find even conventional makeup and skincare is also not cheap.
Molly Hill 10:32
Right? The pricing can be confusing, because if you are switching to natural after only shopping at say drugstores, there's, it's just incredibly hard to make super cheap, organic products, because they're sourcing better ingredients. And there's oftentimes if they have any type of certification, they have to pay quite a bit for that. But if you're shopping, say kind of a mixed variety of maybe you're going to do you guys have Sephora in Canada, that might be an ignorant question.
Stephanie Moram 11:01
Yeah, yeah.
Molly Hill 11:04
I'm sure it's everywhere. But you know, if you're shopping like that's the type of place I was shopping before I switched over. So I wasn't as like shocked with the prices because I would say not everything is super expensive, but it's also not dirt cheap. But you know, as far as some of my favorites, hey, organics, they make the best lip balm I've ever tried conventional or otherwise, it's, it's so good. They have one that's in a twist up tube and then one that's also in like a little pot, and it's just really great for the cold winter nights that are coming up. Another one that I really like for lips is there's the makeup brand called Kosis. And they have a lot of great products. But I especially like their it's called Wet lip oils, it's actually a gloss but they have beautiful colors and the texture if anybody out there likes lip gloss, you know the texture can be it can make or break it. Because it can be super sticky or gross. And I just find that they have the best textures. Both of those are fairly reasonable, RMS eyeshadows are great. The one like kind of splurge that I always buy is the agent editore vitamin C duo. It's just a powdered version of vitamin C and calcium, it's super high quality. So you can mix it into any serums you have or even just with a toner or water and apply it so it lasts a really long time. But that's really effective for vitamin C in general is just like a great ingredient to have in skincare. So those are some of my probably top products that I've repurchased millions of times.
Stephanie Moram 12:39
And what was the last one, the powdered vitamin C.
Molly Hill 12:42
Yeah, that's from a brand called Agent Nateur and all of their skincare is wonderful there, they have a natural deodorant that is one of the most pricey I've tried, I think it's like $20. But, it works so well. But the rest of their skincare also is really really nice, but I I would say many of their items are probably worth the splurge. But like for me, I think it's a good value for the vitamin C duo just because it lasts for so long. And since it's powdered it doesn't, it has a longer shelf life as well.
Stephanie Moram 13:15
And when you're looking at you know the different products so you're getting like RMS or other brands that you might like, do you also take into consideration like their packaging and what that would look like, on that side of the coin versus just okay, these are great ingredients, but like it's wrapped in so much plastic and this and that. You also look at that, that component of the packaging.
Molly Hill 13:40
Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, I think a lot of it here's the tough part. The brands that are a little bit more reasonably priced do tend to still use plastic quite a bit Although, I've noticed some recently changing over to the paper, like even the eyeshadow palettes and stuff will be like it's not quite cardboard, it's like a pressed paper palette. And some brands like eighth or beauty developed a palette that can be fully recyclable. It doesn't have a mirror there's no adhesives or anything that needs to be removed before you can recycle it. And I've seen some brands thinking outside the box too because like mascara has been a tough one where it's really hard to find plastic free mascara. Aaron's faces makes one of the best mascaras I've ever tried and it's their macho mascara. And it actually has a glass tube which is so cool and it actually I don't know it just feels nice it's like a feels sturdy you know which I thought that was really cool that they were able to kind of think outside of the plastic box as you know as it is but the the wand you know it's we're definitely far from plastic free makeup totally. I don't I don't know is going to be like kind of the tipping point to get all the plastic because some of them I, it's maybe hard to find good solutions for though. I know. Are you familiar with axiology? Yes, a little bit. Yeah, they've done a really great job though of kind of really thinking through their products. They make a lot of lip products, lipsticks and stuff. And they've been able to kick plastic out of like products that I've never seen plastic free before. So they're doing a great job with that.
Stephanie Moram 15:30
Yeah, I've seen a couple of brands where they use or they're going blank right now not lip balms, but like glosses where instead of having a plastic tube with glass, yes, that can be recycled. And then I've seen a couple of brands where you buy, you know, like, it was one, I think the company I saw at my local stores called a late it's a Canadian, you know, cleaner beauty company. And they have like these bamboo containers, and there's magnetic magnets on it, yeah, and you just have to buy the actual little container that it comes in. So then you're just reducing the amount of that packaging, you're just buying that little piece of metal for the blush, or this or that, which I really liked. And the last thing was going to see for ones, anyone that's listening, if you use a lot of mascara, and you don't know what to do with those ones, go to Google, a lot of like rescue places that have small animals, they need ones and they use the ones to like brush the animals, I did not know this. And you can clean them and collect all the ones. And I found a place in Florida that you can send them to and you just box it up and you send them the ones and they we use them for these small animals that, you know, can't you can't use like a brush on us like, just super cute. And I found one not far from my house. So I've been like collecting ones. And I just have a box. And I'm just and they're all nonprofits too, right? So yes, you are paying the shipping. But at least that wand is not ending up in the trash. And if you Google it, there's way more nonprofits and rescue places that take wants, because there's more of them. So you can Google it, save your ones, you know, they asked that you clean them, and then you send it off to them, and they will reuse them for wildlife that had been rescued, which I think is super cool.
Molly Hill 17:21
Yeah, that's a great solution.
Stephanie Moram 17:23
Well, you know, I don't know what the solution is for for mascara ones to not be made of plastic. I mean, you can use bamboo, but that part where you're brushing it on your eyelashes, I you know, it's like sometimes it's plastic. Sometimes it's like, you know, other fibers. But it's tricky with glass. You know what I mean? It's tricky for some stuff. You know, I had this conversation probably 10 years ago, I had a conversation with a brand. I said, Why isn't your stuffing glass and they said most people bring it in the shower. And if they bring this in the shower, and it breaks, that's a whole other problem. Like yeah, can hurt themselves, they can cut themselves. So again, you know, using a mascara and you make it a out of glass, you know, Is there potential that someone could cut themselves? You know what I mean? So it's it's finding that balance of like, what's I always talk about, like, what's better for the planet is not always better for the people. And what's better for the people isn't always what's better for the planet? You know, sometimes it's hard to find both. Yeah, that's true. It's hard to find both. So I think looking for sustainable packaging is definitely part of the conversation when it comes to beauty. And I think more brands are realizing that stuff just wrapped in plastic, just because it's like no longer acceptable to people. Right. Absolutely. And have you seen you know, before we close up, like, have you seen you know, while you're reviewing products, have you seen some like really cool, innovative stuff outside of what you spoke about, that brands are doing, you know, using something maybe that's similar to plastic, but it's not made of plastic or anything like super interesting?
Molly Hill 19:00
Well, I mean, you mentioned the shower, and that's definitely a problem. And I think a liability for people to put stuff in glass. But I've noticed more and more brands switching their shampoo, conditioner, body wash that type of product into a aluminum container. And there's even a few brands that you can get refills you can either go if you have a local store, you can refill it or some you can clean the bottles and send it off and like swap it for a filled bottle, which I think is pretty good because then you're though the ones that I think swap it or refill it, then you don't even have to really worry about the pump because of course that's going to be plastic, you know, you can just wash that out on your own but you don't have to throw that away because you're reusing everything. And otherwise, I mean, I'm trying to think is I I did think that the glass mascara two was pretty cool, but, you know, maybe if anybody's curious, I would definitely check out what axiology He's doing just because I've been really impressed with how far they've come. I mean, they've made it from the from the start, they've tried to use as little amount of plastic as possible. But I feel like each year they've just like, you know, up the ante and like, keep getting better and better.
Stephanie Moram 20:16
Yeah, and it's cool to watch brands as they evolve as well, to see what changes are being made. Because once one brand, two brands, three brands start leading the way of like, Yeah, this isn't acceptable anymore. And we really need to change, the other brands have to catch up eventually. Yeah, absolutely. people that care about the packaging, because most of the time, you start off maybe by caring about the ingredients, but then you realize how much packaging is involved and you slowly start caring about with the packaging is and then you might people might start moving away from certain brands, because they're just like, doesn't seem like they care about the disposal. And I just want to mention, cuz I mentioned this, like, pretty much in every episode, I talk about TerraCycle. But in the United States, TerraCycle has, is is friggin amazing compared to what they offer in Canada right now. So if you love makeup, and you use a lot of skincare, go to the TerraCycle website, and look at what free programs they have. Because there's a lot of like, brands that I wouldn't particularly buy their products, but they do sponsor, you sending back your makeup, but no specific brand. Because sometimes it TerraCycle has to be a specific brand that you send back. Like if I don't know, RMS was like sponsoring a box with TerraCycle for free, you can only send RMS stuff back, but a lot of bigger brands will sponsor any makeup. So if you're not quite sure what to do with your makeup, I really suggest TerraCycle. And then if you google, google how to dispose there's another emerging brand, I guess kind of like TerraCycle that just does beauty and I can't remember what it's called. Oh, interesting. And I've seen it mentioned other brands have mentioned, like, Hey, you can like dispose of our products this way. But I just think TerraCycle if you are by makeup, just at least dispose of it properly. And, and TerraCycle can take that and transform it into something else. So it's just not ending up in a landfill. And like I said, the state, the United States has so many free programs compared to unite compared to Canada, personally, which I've witnessed. And all you do is like you collect your makeup in a box. And once it's full, you print off a label off their website and you mail it back to them. Yeah, that's really cool. So if anyone out there doesn't know what to do with their makeup, and personal care, the TerraCycle. And you'll probably find a program that will allow you to like get the stuff that you can't put in the regular recycling. They'll take it for you.
Stephanie Moram 22:35
So I just wanted to mention I talk about TerraCycle all the time. Don't forget about TerraCycle. Don't forget about TerraCycle. They should be be sponsoring my podcast because I'm talking about them all the time. Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for, for coming on and having this conversation. I like having conversations with people about the beauty industry because it's just such a really big industry. And every time I speak to somebody, there's always something new in the conversation. So I really appreciate this conversation with you. And before we sign off, can you let people know where they can find you and where they can follow you and all that jazz?
Molly Hill 23:13
Yes, of course. First of all, thank you for having me on here. It's an honor to talk to you today. And you said my name prettier than than I usually do. So I'm from the south. But I'm the same everywhere you can find my website and maze I'm Peridot calm and I'm on social media all at the same handle at Nissan her and then I tried to think if I'm different anywhere else, I'm on Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, Pinterest, all those but you should be able to find me on any major platform under that name.
Stephanie Moram 23:49
The reason I say that is because it's my French accents coming out. So anyone wondering may Zola's house in French, so what does that word mean? It means house so it means pure house?
Molly Hill 24:02
Yes. So when I had to explain it to a lot of people when I started they're like, wait, what?
Stephanie Moram 24:11
It was like my French accent my Quebec or accent. So again, thank you for coming on. I really appreciate it.
Molly Hill 24:17
Yeah, thank you so much Stephanie.
Stephanie Moram 24:20
For more sustainable living inspiration, I have a couple of episodes that you might care to listen to episode 56 is called the hidden secrets of the beauty industry. Episode 59 is formulating your own beauty products. So if you don't want to go in and buy your own products, there's ways that you can make your own products and these two episodes are with Lorraine Dallmeier and episode 62 Is the toxic rebelling the toxic chemical rebellion, with Kristin, Pelleshaw. You can listen to those and get a little bit more information. And please share this episode with your friends, your co workers, your mom, your dad, your uncle, your cousin seriously anyone you think that might benefit from this conversation? Thank you nectar with me on Instagram and TikTok @thisisstephaniemoram. Don't forget to subscribe to the Green junkie podcast on your favorite platform. And you can download my complimentary audio series. Everything we mentioned about the products I will link in the description. Thank you for listening, and I'll see you next Tuesday.
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