9 Lies that beauty industry is telling you

Hello gorgeous people!

 Today I wanted to write about something that not only bothers me, but something I've been a "victim" of for a long long time before starting to do my own research and educate myself.

I'm talking about some of the lies that beauty industry constantly tells us. It’s no secret that most cosmetic companies rely on a combination of hope and blatant exploitation of other women’s insecurities to sell their products.

Here I just summarized the most frequent ones.

1) YOU CAN AGE REWIND

Unless you drink some kind of magical potion, you can't age rewind. Let's face it. 

Collagen loss, swollenness, fine lines are just part of the natural aging process to which we are all subjected. We can't stop it by using serums, creams and other miracle products. Of course a good skincare and makeup can help, but will not make you go from 50 to 20. The only real things you can do to slow down the aging process and make it more acceptable are exercising, eating healthy or having some kind of invasive treatments. That's it. 

2) MEN AND WOMEN NEED DIFFERENT PRODUCTS

Let's be real. Both men and women have skin, we are not different in any way. We can have sensitive, normal, dry or oily skin but it's always the same thing for both genders. A product that works for a woman, will perfectly work for a man as well. Beauty industry likes to distinguish products by gender just to sell out more products but ultimately, we all have the same skin. 

3) MORE MONEY=MORE QUALITY

If you do some research you will find out that, unless a product it's made with organic or very rare ingredients, it's not so expensive to formulate a product. Normal ingredients that are found in the majority of the beauty products are cheap. If you are paying a crazy amount of money for a product, you are most likely paying for the packaging and the brand marketing. If a product is cheaper it doesn't mean it's not good. Ingredients are what really matter and the thing you should always look at before buying any product. 

I very often bought drugstore products that far outperform higher-end versions. Learn to read and understand the labels and you will spend your money more wisely. A good example of a quality brand at a very low price point is THE ORDINARY. They invest and put the attention on the ingredients while packaging is simple and essential.

4) NATURAL AND ORGANIC=GOOD FOR YOU

The concept is similar to the previous paragraph. If a product is labeled as natural or organic, it doesn't mean that it doesn't contain other nasty chemicals in it.You have to read the ingredients and learn to recognize the bad ones, if this is something that matters to you or if you want to put just natural products on your skin. Plus, each and every country has a specific regulation regarding organic/natural labeling. If you want to be sure that a product is really natural as it claims to be, search on the packaging the label certificate corresponding to the country you live in. 

The most important international standard on organic and natural cosmetics is NATRUE. I always make sure they have the VEGAN label and the CRUELTY FREE one as well.

5) YOU CAN GET RID OF PORES. 

 Pores not only can't be eliminated, but they depend on genetics. You can minimize their appereance by exfoliating the skin or using pore filling primers..but you can't get rid of them or shrink them as some products claim to do. It's impossible.

6) YOU NEED EYE CARE PRODUCTS

This is one of the biggest lies in the beauty industry. Due to the eye area skin type, which is thinner and more sensitive, imperfections and fine lines are more visible than on the rest of the face. But unfortunately swollenness and dark circles depend on genetics as well so there isn't much you can do about it. Makeup can hide it, for sure, and invasive treatments may help. But putting specific eye contours, serums, masks, pads etc that claim to be making miracles won't help. If you think about it..eye creams are super duper expensive moisturizers inside of a small jar. 

Just use a regular moisturizing cream which is light and not too rich or oily. 

7) HYPOALLERGENIC=NO ALLERGIES

If a product is labeled as hypoallergenic (as most of the products are), it only means that that maker claims its product causes fewer allergic reactions than other ones. That doesn’t necessarily mean it is allergy-proof or gentler for your skin. For example I got a pretty bad allergic reaction (a rush all over my face) after using a product that was hypoallergenic, natural and organic. Maybe the product itself was a good product but my skin didn't react well with one or some of the ingredients.

8) ANTI AGING SKIN PRODUCTS

This one is for sure the nr.1 beauty industry's biggest lie and  money maker..because we all want to be beautiful, have perfect skin and stop the aging process, we could believe in almost everything beauty industry pours us. There are no creams and serums that will get rid of the wrinkles and fine lines. They are just temporary fixes.  

There is just one magical potion that can stop your skin from aging and that is sunscreen.

9) UNSCENTED PRODUCTS

If a product is labeled as unscented it doesn't mean it doesn't contain any fragrance. Infact, such products have other chemicals which are meant to mask and cover the scents, making the product even more likely to irritate your skin. If you are looking for a formulation without any fragrances at all, look for FRAGRANCE FREE products.

Did you guys knew about all these lies that beauty industry tells us? Are you a "victim" of some of them? 

Let me know in the comments! 

XOXO, Antonia :)