Honest Beauty: Jessica Alba proves clean make-up can look natural

Effective and safe

If you’d asked me before trying Honest Beauty what I thought of clean make-up, I probably would have told you it was best left on a dusty shelf in a health food store.

While the latest natural skincare has ingredient hounds like me purring with delight, the struggle has been real to find a clean make-up line that actually looks natural on my skin. Coming from someone who is known to rummage through the office bins, diligently separating recycling from regular rubbish, it pains me to say that.

Past experiments with clean make-up have resulted in cream blushers so hard to blend I looked like I was constantly embarrassed. With a few exceptions, I haven’t fared much better with mineral make-up either, as most leave me looking so chalky I could be mistaken for an extra from the movie Twilight. So Honest Beauty has come as a very welcome addition to my make-up bag, not least because Jessica Alba is the creator and who doesn’t want to look like her?

While most people only remember Alba as hip-hop dancing sensation Honey Daniels, Stateside she is renowned for being a serious champion of clean beauty - one free of parabens, mineral oil, synthetic fragrances and other ickies. To be clear, Alba avoids tags like ‘natural’ – her vision for Honest Beauty is to create cosmetics that are as clean as possible and use more natural ingredients and fewer harsh chemicals. To that point, the company also publishes a list of chemicals it won’t allow in its products.

The UK has finally caught on and, after fours years of waiting, Honest Beauty’s collection of skincare and make-up is now available to buy at Boots.

My pick of the best Honest Beauty make-up

Honest Beauty Extreme Length Mascara + Primer, £19, Boots

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This 2-in-1 mascara with a mini primer wand on one end deserves a special mention as it creates really thick, perfectly glossed lashes. No wonder it’s the No.1 bestseller.

Honest Beauty Lip Crayon - DemiMatte, £15, Boots

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Another immediate ‘add to basket’ product is this lip crayon in Fig, which combines hydrating botanicals such as murumuru and shea butters with pigments designed to last through even the most wine-filled dinner.

Honest Beauty Cream Foundation, £25, Boots

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I love that this dewy foundation comes in a compact handy for touch ups during the day.

Honest Beauty Crème Cheek Blush, £16, Boots

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Swipes on a dream for a pretty dewy tint.

Honest Beauty Luminizing Powder in Dusk, £25,Boots

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With just the teeniest hint of bronze shimmer, this light-reflecting baked powder gives skin a bona fide sun-kissed glow.

Honestly, having been won over by the make-up, I can’t wait to add the face oil, balm and cleanser to the mix. See you in the queue…

Fiona Embleton has been a beauty editor for over 10 years, writing and editing beauty copy and testing over 10,000 products. She has previously worked for magazines like Marie Claire, Stylist, Cosmopolitan and Women’s Health. Beauty journalism allowed her to marry up her first class degree in English Literature and Language (she’s a stickler for grammar and a self-confessed ingredients geek) with a passion for make-up and skincare, photography and catwalk trends.