PB Approved: Clean & Fresh Cosmetics, River Organics
When it comes to makeup, we all want products that will make us look our best and help us feel confident. Makeup is a form of art used to help the everyday individual express the desired look. However, we often forget the products we put on our skin and how it affects our skin. Going clean with makeup products can be a hard search, since most of the big-name makeup brands that are best-sellers use chemicals and components in their makeup that are dangerous for the skin. However, River Organics has made it easy for us to have clean and fresh cosmetic products to put on our bodies.
River Organics, an independent beauty company located in Wilmington, North Carolina, has as its goal: deliver products that are sustainable, made from all natural ingredients, and guaranteed to provide hydration to customers. Husband and wife and founders of this brand, Corinne and Fabien, see hydration as an absolute necessity when it comes to skincare and beauty. After living in France and traveling in Europe, Corine saw that oils were the ultimate solution needed to achieve glowing and healthy skin. Through this discovery, they built a vegan beauty brand out of using all natural and clean ingredient oils to make healthy products for the skin. Not only are their products clean, but so is their packaging. Their product packaging and presentation is all 100% sustainable and uses as close to zero waste as possible. Even the shipping packages are sustainable! Every little detail of this brand is all clean and organic.
When I received the package in the mail, I could tell the shipping package it came in felt different than my regular Amazon shipping package. It looked like cardboard but felt stiffer and more structured. When I opened the package, I could immediately tell how sustainable everything looked. The product’s packaging is made of this bamboo-looking material that is smooth and has the company logo on it. In the mail, I receive a plethora of products. I gratefully received the two-brow wax’s, two concealers, two bombs, a bronzer sticker, a mascara pomade, and a half eyeliner half eyebrow brush. I was so excited to play with all these products because these were all the products, I needed to do a full face of makeup. So, I got to experimenting with them as soon as I could.
I don’t use a lot of makeup, and my day-to-day makeup routine consists of only a few essential products: mascara, brows, lipstick, and a little bit of bronzer. So, when I saw that this company sent me every single one of those products, you could understand my excitement. First product I played with was the bronzer stick. This bronzer’s packaging came in as a chubby stick applicator that you apply directly onto your face, and then blend out with a brush or your fingers. When I first applied the bronzer to my skin, I noticed that it had a bit of shimmer to it and was making my face glow. The shade matched my skin perfectly, and was not super pigmented, which gave me a very elegant all-natural glow and bronze, and who doesn’t want that? I applied it along my cheekbones, jawline, and on the top of my forehead right next to my hairline. This product gave my face a very structured look and made me look like I just got home from a tropical vacation. Bronzer is such an important part of the makeup routine this time of year, since all the color from my skin fades as I hide away in my sweaters and cardigans. This product helped bring life back onto my face. Next up I tried the concealer. I received two shades: one in shade 02 and the other in shade 04. After applying both, I saw that shade 04 was a better fit for me. I applied it with one of my fingers under my eyes and on some dark spots I have on my skin, and then blended it out with one of my own beauty sponges. It did a wonderful job of covering up any discoloration on my skin and helped brighten my under eyes and made me look more awake, which is definitely something I look for in a concealer. Next, I tried the brow wax. I was excited to try this because I do my brows almost every day, and I am always looking for new products to help improve my brow game. I used the brown wax in the shade medium brown, which ended up being the perfect shade for me. The wax came in a pomade-type presentation, so I had to use the brow application they sent with it to apply. As I was applying it, I noticed how precise I could get with my brows using the brow pencil, and I could easily shape out how I wanted my brows to look. I have never used a brow “wax” before, and I loved the idea of this and how it ended up turning out on my face.
To follow up with the eyes, I next tried the mascara, which is, without a doubt, the product I use most in my makeup routine. I wear mascara pretty much every day, so trying a new one made me trilled. What is interesting about this mascara is that it does not come in your traditional stick and wand applicator. It comes in clay form and is made with coconut oil. Since it came as a clay, I had to apply it with the eyebrow brush and spoolie that I used with my eyebrows. I rubbed the clay onto the spoolie and made sure there was a lot of products on it. Then, I brushed it onto my lashes, just like I would with a mascara wand. I first noticed how pigmented this product was. It made my eyelashes very dark, and made them standout, which I personally love on me. The product felt smooth and did not feel rough on my eyes at all. Even though it was not the most traditional way to put on mascara, I genuinely loved the outcome of this mascara clay and how it made my eyes look.
Last but not least, and personally my favorite product to use, the lip balm. I received two in shades “rouge” and “nude.” I love darker and the look of more pink lips, so I went with the shade “rouge,” since it is a warm and more bold shade of pink with some red hues to it. I applied it on my lips, and I immediately fell in love with how it looked on my skin tones. I have never enjoyed the way nude lips look on my personally and have always loved a lip product that can make my lips pop and add life to my face, and that is exactly what this product did. I felt like a movie star with these lips, and like I was ready to walk to runway. My all-natural River Organics look was complete, and I felt so confident to start my day. I was delighted with the way everything turned out, and what made it better was knowing that everything I put on my face was 100% vegan, all-natural, and not harmful to my skin.
River Organics is changing the beauty game with its products, showing the world that a full makeup look can be done while still using products that are both affordable and all-natural. River Organics offers its consumers products that will keep skin safe and will also not hurt one’s bank account. Its products range between $15 to $30, which is almost unheard of in today’s cosmetic world. These products have it all: affordable, clean, and functional. I would recommend these products to anyone who it is looking to make a change in your beauty routine and to achieve a cleaner and healthier lifestyle. Simple alternations in your day-to-day life, like switching to an all-natural and sustainable brand, really makes a difference not only in your own life, but for the environment as well. After seeing how easy it is to achieve such a great look with such amazing products, I know for sure I will be making these alternations in my day-to-day life from now on.
Website: https://riverorganics.org/
Instagram: @riverorganicsbeauty
Where to Buy: https://fave.co/3wAApm6
Article by Grace Polk, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Alexa Dyer, Graphic Design Intern, PhotoBook Magazine
*All images provided by River Organics.
