Natural Eye Makeup: Brands and Buying Tips

Even if eyes are the "window to the soul," anyone who's had an eyelash stuck in her eye knows how sensitive they can be. This skin around the eyes is sensitive, too, which is why it's especially important to choose safe, non-toxic eye shadow, eyeliners, mascara and other eye makeup.

We spoke with Jessa Blades, natural beauty expert, makeup artist and founder of Blades Natural Beauty. "It's important to make healthier choices with all of our cosmetic products," she said, "especially those we wear everyday and apply directly to our skin — like eye shadow and eyeliner."

For summer, Blades recommends a pink champagne color if you have fair skin, or gold if you have darker skin. She also points out that products work differently for your skin type and the season. For example, mineral makeup works better in the summer than winter. No matter the season, according to the Food and Drug Administration, keep eye makeup clean to avoid infection. When it comes to choosing natural and organic eye makeup, Blades recommends looking for Ecocert- and USDA Organic-certified products, but being wary of potentially hollow marketing claims like "natural" and "hypollergenic." Most importantly, she said, read the label and avoid the following ingredients, which lab or animal studies indicate may be harmful, even if the potential health risk from small exposures from eye makeup has never been studied.

> Parabens, which may appear on ingredient lists as methylparaben, propylparaben, ethylparaben or butylparaben.
> BHA, (butylated hydroxyanisole)
> Talc, a form of magnesium silicate that is common in eye shadows
> Dimethicone a silicon-based polymer also called polymethylsiloxane
> Kohl, a color additive