Lip gloss is one of the first products most young girls use when they start experimenting with makeup. And whether you stick with the gloss your whole life, only use balms or eventually move on to lipstick, what you put on your lips can have an impact on your health.

 

That's because women who regularly coat their lips end up eating the stuff. Over a lifetime, health advocates estimate that we (depending on frequency of use, obviously) can swallow pounds of lip color (That four to seven pound number you may have heard is probably high, but there's no doubt that women do ingest lip coatings).

 

Whatever the quantity, cosmetics are not regulated as food products are, even though they enter our bodies, and so I always like to err on the side of caution and choose all-natural cosmetics — especially those that I use every day. I get sent samples of everything (here's my disclaimer where I say that 100% Pure gave me their products to try, and that the opinions here are my own), and my latest favorite is the 100% Pure Lip and Cheek tint.

 

It comes in a variety of colors, and the applicator fatness is halfway between a lip balm and a cheek color, so it's easy to use on both. I have, and I like the results. The lip color is sheer, but still color-rich, and just a few dots blended with my finger keeps my cheeks rosier. And the company uses only fruit and vegetable pigments to create that color (which they say is a patent-pending idea). Now that's what I call natural. 

 

And 100% Pure isn't kidding about the name. Check out a sample ingredients listing for the Pink Grapefruit version of the tint: Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Honey Beeswax, Grapeseed Oil, Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate), Pigments of Cranberry, Pomegranate, Blackberry, Raspberry, Cabernet Grape, Plum, Strawberry, Cherry, Peach, Apricot, Blueberry, Cocoa Bean, Carrot and Tomato, Strawberry Extract.