You are what you..uh..slather on your face.

My brain pulled through, and has come up with something to talk about. But you may find it boring. But, this is my blog, so oh, freaking, well.

I would like to think that I am pretty health conscious.

I don't drink milk (usually).

I try and eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables (and typically go for organic...unless it looks like it died before it was plucked).

I try not to eat lots of sugary things (except for this week with Valentine's day, and I'm sorry, but sugar cookies are a necessity) or chips or other junk foods.

I want to LIVE, dang it! For a loooong, looooooong time. And I want to feel good while I am doing it. I know there are nay-sayers out there who like to say things like, "My grandpa had a lard farm and ate 2 pound blocks of cheese with every meal, while smoking three cigars at once, that were dipped in bourbon and chocolate pudding, and he lived to be 213," but quality of living, my friends, is a whole different thing. Living to be 99 and actually being happy, healthy, and full of energy is my goal.

So...that being said...

Today my brain turned to preservatives. I think it was the article I read in the news about kids drinking their weight in energy drinks and the very, very bad badness of it (caffeine is bad for you, and you can't persuade me otherwise...it causes all sorts of problems, which I would explain to you, but I have a feeling that there are some in my audience that have three or four of those grandpas mentioned above).

So, I thought, "Gee, I know caffeine isn't good for your body, but what is wrong with preservatives? I mean, they make it last longer, right? What's wrong with that?" So, I googled it. I love google. I think I would be bored silly during the day's down times if I couldn't google something (Like today, besides googling "preservatives," I googled, "Eclair recipes" and "Creme puff recipes"...it's gonna be good...yum...).

I found many websites about good and bad preservatives. Sugar, friends, is a good preservative. But I think that is a relative assessment. I mean, sugar isn't really good for you...and, in case you wanted to know, they refine it using bone, which doesn't bother me, but bothers some vegans I know and love. Anywho...Salt is another "good" preservative, but again, that is relative.

HOWEVER...

In comparison, those two (which are only a few of many natural preservatives) are the saints of preservatives. The others are the damned souls (can I say that and not be swearing? I'm not trying to swear...) of preservatives.

Why?? Because most of them are carcinogenic.

And, what is carcinogenic, you might be asking yourselves?

They cause your cells to freak out and reproduce in a mutated fashion known as cancer.

That's not good...made me sad...because they are in cereal, and I have a weakness for cereal. Sniff....and chips.

Now, this didn't bother me too much, since I can avoid those things, but then I noticed something in all my googling: most of the sites said that the FDA doesn't regulate what preservatives go into cosmetics. Wait, what..? Cosmetics???

Uh oh...

So, that sparked another google search, and I found a website (worth its weight in gold) that takes everyday products you use and gives all the ingredients, and a rating based on what preservatives they have in them. Yay! Made my life easy. Sorta.

So, I punched into their search engine my facial cleansing products (Burt's Bees...I love their stuff) and I held my breath. The last thing I wanted was to find out that something I loved and spent a whole ton of money on was a bunch of garbage (Burt apparently needs to keep his bees in golden, diamond-encrusted beehives).

And...

Whew...they were good (mostly...I'm not so sure how I feel about titanium dioxide).

Then I decided to look up the other products I use.

Wowzers. I was hoping that by some stroke of luck I would have naturally picked out the best make-up out there. No such luck.

And I thought I was all fancy for buying Revlon products. It was a total leap of faith and bottom line to switch from Covergirl.

Yeah. I've basically being smearing liquid cancer all over my face. I'm just glad I stopped dying my hair. That apparently can cause bladder cancer. Who knew? Kinda weird if you think about it too long.

So, I thought to myself, "Okay, what I have been buying isn't ideal...so...what is?" And of course, the website had the answer: Laura Mercier.

This is a name I am familiar with. I follow a blog called KandeetheMakeupArtist, and she uses their stuff. Swears by it (among other products).

I toddled over to their website, and looked up the typical products:

Foundation: $50

What the...?

Powder: $42

*struggling to breath*

I didn't even bother to look at blush. I knew it would be bad.

The question I have to ask myself is, do I spend $15 on make-up that will make my face peel up and my bladder fall out, or do I spend an arm and a leg on really good makeup? Hmm...And before you say it, not wearing makeup isn't an option. I will wear it until my skin is perfect, and that will be the 32nd of Nebuary.

So, really, you get what you pay for. But, on reflection, little bottles of cancer are kind of expensive. I mean, you can go out and get a sunburn repeatedly for free.

I'll probably end up buying the good expensive stuff.

*making choking sounds*