Makeup & Pregnancy

All that a pregnant woman should know to succeed her makeup

Chances are, seeing that positive pregnancy test has propelled you into clean living mode—you’ve re-stocked your fridge with organic foods and swapped regular cleaning products for toxin-free options. But did you check the contents of your makeup bag?

The truth is, those innocuous-looking tubes and bottles in your medicine cabinet could be filled with chemicals that might affect your pregnancy and growing baby. Even products with labels like “natural” and “organic” could contain harmful ingredients. And since your skin absorbs about 60 percent of what you put on it, you’ll need to be extra-careful. So what’s a mom-to-be to do?

Start by reading the fine print on packaging and labels. “Lists are always ordered from largest to smallest in terms of ingredient quantity,” says Mary Irwin, New York–based makeup artist. “Remember, the first three things listed will be the most active. Also, the smaller the list, the less likely you are to have a reaction.”

Words like “triglyceride” and “retinyl palmitate” can trigger chem class nightmares, but you can easily decode the scientific terminology on the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database. Bonus: This organization has evaluated almost 74,000 products, giving each a safety score, so you can check how your current skincare and makeup products measure up.

Here’s a cheat sheet of the ingredients common beauty products often contain that you’ll want to skip, at least until baby is born—and some suggestions for pregnancy-safe products to try instead.

In this app :

Foundation, concealer and exfoliators

Lipstick and blush

Eye shadow and mascara

Nail polish

Sunscreen