SICKA THAN AVERAGE

Launched by Eric Sakas, the makeup guru who co-founded Kevyn Aucoin Beauty  and later worked as the Director of Color for Philosophy, Vapour Organic Beauty features a range of all-natural color cosmetics with ingredients that are at least 70 percent organic. All of the cosmetics are packaged in retractable, roll-on sticks that you can just glide on to your skin for a hint of color. The cosmetics have a light, creamy texture, and provide a sheer, barely-there color that accentuates and highlights any existing features.

From foundation sticks to concealers, highlighters, blushes, cream eye shadows, lipsticks, and lip glosses, Vapour Organic Beauty’s products provide the desired color while also nourishing the skin with antioxidant ingredients like green tea and Tulsi, as well as anti-inflammatory agents like frankincense and chrysanthemum, and hydrating ingredients like myrrh and lotus flower.

Here’s a look at some of the products available, along with color swatches and more details on each!

Siren Lip Stick

This creamy lip stick features a distinctive petroleum-free hydrating base: a natural polymer made with flash-heated plant oils. Each Siren lip stick contains lemon balm to heal chapped and damaged lips, myrrh to hydrate them, the anti-microbial botanical Iceland moss, and the antioxidant green tea. The lip sticks are available in five hues — all variations of pink, red, mauve and earth tones.

All the colors are pretty sheer, so they’ll barely be noticeable on the lips —there will just be slightly more color being deposited on the lips than you’d get from a tinted lip balm. The hues include: Tempt, a nude pink;  Hint, a deep, coral-y pink; Desire, a cool purple-tinged pink; and Knock Out, a dark wine color with golden brown tones. Below, you’ll find some swatches showing you what the colors look like on my skin.

Siren Lip Stick Swatches (from top to bottom): Tempt, Hint, Desire, and Knockout

Vapour Organic Beauty Siren Lipstick, $19 each. Visit VapourBeauty.com

—–

Elixir Lipgloss

Like the Siren Lip Stick, the Elixir Sheer Lip Gloss does not use a petroleum base — instead, it relies on the aforementioned co-polymer created with natural castor and beeswax by flash-heating plants in a vacuum.  The Elixir glosses are, of course, stickier than the Siren lipsticks and they have way more shine, but they’re incredibly sheer so I’d advise layering them atop the Siren colors of your choice if you’re going for a more textured, richly pigmented look. The glosses are available in five hues: Hush, an understated nude pink hue; Enigma, a violet hue with pink tones; Twinkle, a cool pink; Sultry, a warm russet hue; and Hypnotic, a deep sangria color.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend wearing these alone, since I found that they have a very odd, almost watery consistency that prevents them from evenly distributing color (you can actually get a sense of what I’m referring to from the pics below). On the lips, the colors tend to migrate to the corners of your mouth, which can be rather irksome.

That being said, I love how the cooling, soothing sensation they create on the lips, so I’m hoping that, with a little tinkering, they’ll perfect the formula so I can’t have any complaints about the way the color is distributed on the lips.

Swatches (from left to right): Enigma, Hypnotic, Sultry, and Hush

Vapour Organic Beauty Elixir Lipgloss, $20 each. Visit VapourBeauty.com

—-

Aura Multi Use Blush

My grandma would sometimes apply some lipstick along her cheekbones and blend it with her fingertips — she said the color gave her a much more natural glow than what she got from powder blushes. The Aura Multi Use Blush is based on that same principle — each of these color sticks is meant to be rolled onto cheeks (or eyes or lips) to give these features a bit of a glow.

The Aura Blush is available in three shades: Crush, a perky light pink; Spark, a warm peach-y shade; and Torch, a sheer deep pink. The colors look rather vibrant in their packaging but when you apply them onto the skin and blend, they’re way more subtle. Similarly, as you blend, you’ll notice the texture change slightly — from a creamy consistency to a silkier, softer texture. Below, you’ll see what the three shades look like on skin. All of them can be blended with your fingertips or with a professional brush, but I’d recommend going the old fashioned route and letting your fingers do the walking.

Aura Multi Use Blush Swatches (from top to bottom): Crush, Spark, and Torch

Vapour Organic Beauty Aura Multi Use Blush, $28. Visit VapourBeauty.com

—-

Illusionist Perfecting Concealer

These mineral concealers feature soothing ingredients like: frankincense, an anti-inflammatory; Tulsi, an anti-oxidant; and lotus flower, a hydrating botanical. Silica and lysine, meanwhile, add a velvety finish. Vapour Beauty’s concealers provide a fair amount of coverage, while also soothing the skin and reflecting light so as to create an optical illusion that further conceals any existing imperfections.

My one concern with these concealers is that they’re only available in three shades, which can be kind of tricky considering that so many women won’t fit within such a limited spectrum. And sure, you can blend them and try to create a color that better suits you — but, even then, the undertones may not work for you, plus there’s only one dark shade available.

Illusionist Perfecting Concealer Swatches (from top to bottom): 010 Light, 020 Medium, and 030 Dark

Vapour Organic Beauty Illusionist Concealer, $20. Visit VapourBeauty.com

—-

Mesmerize Eye Color Treatment

These mineral pigments deliver just a hint of color to lids and include gentle botanical ingredients like chrysanthemum, eyebright, and horsetail, which also help to reduce puffiness and to increase circulation so as to firm the eye area and minimize the appearance of fine lines.

In terms of a colors, the range focuses mostly on earth tones with varying pink or red undrtones (with the main exception being Storm, a charcoal-y gray color). They’re all rather sheer so, once again, the idea is to simply accentuate the eye are, liven it up a bit, and give you a well-rested, youthful, vibrant appearance that looks entirely natural (like a warm glow). Your best bet with these colors is to blend them with your fingertips but again, you should keep in mind that the effect will be minimal (and that that’s the goal). That being said, then, contouring the eye and pulling off more accomplished looks is rather tricky with these shadows (even if you’re using professional brushes), so I’d suggest only using these for very simple looks.

There are five shades available: Charm, a light peach pink; Flash, a taupe with pink tones; Smolder, a brown with russet tones; Storm, a charcoal-like gray; and Trance, a deep mahogany brown.

My main dislike with the Mesmerize Eye Color Treatment shadows is that, unlike some creamy shadows, which develop a more powdery consistency once on the lids, these stay creamy the entire time you wear them, which makes them more prone to smudging and streaking (plus, you don’t get that dewy finish). I’d suggest setting the shadows with a bit of powder but, even then, avoid touching your eyes when you rock these.

Mesmerize Eye Color Swatches (from top to bottom): Charm, Flash, Smolder, Storm and Trance

Vapour Organic Beauty Mesmerize Eye Color, $16. Visit VapourBeauty.com