Inika Nurture Mineral Powder Foundation Review
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It's not that we want to be all au natural as such. It's just that we cannot bring ourselves to smear foundation full of chemicals on our skin. So far we haven't found any chemical-free foundation that works the way we want it to -- until now.
This shimmery powder foundation is made in Australia by Inika, a natural cosmetics company that also makes bright-coloured eye shadows. Normally glittery make-up contains bismuth oxychloride, which is in the same chemical family as arsenic. But Inika's stuff is all made from minerals and oils found naturally in the Australian soil, and it doesn't contain any chemicals or synthetic ingredients at all. Inika offsets all transport emissions and although, we're not big fans of off-setting in general, it does make us feel less bad about it coming all the way from Australia.
Since we have had problems getting foundations to look natural in the past (no caking, no lines, no odd colours developing throughout the day), we are really impressed with Inika's powder foundation. It's shimmery (very glam) but still looks natural, it covers blemishes really well but lets our skin breathe, it compliments any skin-tone and makes skin look even, without the horrible mask-like effect of most foundations. It does need to be reapplied if we go out after work, but we're fine with that. It does get slightly darker the older it gets so if you plan on keeping it for long, buy a shade lighter than you think you need.
Why doesn't it get full marks then? Well, despite its being very good quality, we do feel that £23 for 8g is a little dear. Also, the pot it comes in gets on our nerves. It doesn't close tightly and is therefore not practical to carry around in a handbag. Every time we take the lid off, quite a bit goes on the dressing table and the floor or on our clothes. Not only is it annoying to have to clean up all the time, but with expensive 'magic dust' like this, we really don't want to waste any.
And while we do trust Inika, we would have liked a little more readily available information about both the environmental and ethical side of the brand. An organic certification, for example, wouldn't have been bad. Although we sort of expect ethical and green beauty brands to think about their packaging and not test their products on animals, we are still pleased to say that Inika ticks the boxes that say, "recycled or sustainably sourced packaging" and "100 per cent certified vegan (even the brushes)".
Quality
Value
Ethics
Green
