This month for Product Reviews, I’m going to be focusing on makeup and skincare. I think this was one of the more daunting changes for me. It took me forever to get a make-up routine down that included more natural products. To find natural AND low-waste seemed a lot! So, hopefully this helps you out a little bit when you go to make some changes.

The first thing I tackled when I switched was moisturizer. I used to have oily skin and then I turned 30 and my skin and I had a bit of a breakdown. I handled becoming 30 by going to Disney and pretending I wasn’t an adult. My skin decided it was going to dry out. I now have combination skin- I have very dry skin across my nose and cheek bones and yet, I get break outs across my chin and forehead. It’s great.

For a day time moisturizer, which I will be discussing today (check back next Tuesday for my evening moisturizer), I wanted a moisturizer that was mostly all natural ingredients, had SPF and was in low-waste packaging. A low price tag would also be nice but I thought maybe I was asking too much if I made that a priority! I actually really lucked out and found a really good moisturizer my first try.

Enter the Raw Elements Certified Natural Sunscreen Tinted Facial Moisturizer.

Raw Elements Tinted Facial Moisturizer has been my go-to daytime moisturizer for the last few months and I’m a big fan. The moisturizer had all three of the things I was looking for and the relatively low price tag as well. Be still me heart!

For the ingredients, the Tinted Facial Moisturizer only has 12 ingredients- non Nano zinc oxide, sunflower oil, green tea, black tea, coffee bean, hemp seed oil, cocoa butter, mango butter, bees wax, rosemary oil extract, vitamin E and iron oxides. If you check out their website, you can see most of these are also organic and that their ingredients page boldly states “if it isn’t produced by mother earth, it isn’t in our sunscreen”.

Additionally, the moisturizer has SPF 30, which I love! Skin cancer runs in my immediate family so this was non-negotiable for me and something I really struggled finding in natural moisturizers. Raw Elements, though, is a sunscreen company so it’s clearly something they prioritize as well! Their founder was a lifeguard looking for a healthier sunscreen for people and the planet. As an added bonus, their sunscreen is also reef safe and they have founded World Reef Day. As someone who lives in New England where it’s cold for roughly 9 months out of the year and who goes into the water maybe once a year, reef safety wasn’t exactly on my list of priorities in my moisturizer. That doesn’t mean I don’t love that the company is considering the welfare of the ocean, though, and I’m looking forward to giving their Face+Body sunscreen a try in the summer.

And last but not least, this moisturizer comes in a 100% zero-plastic container. The tin is aluminum, which is very recyclable and reusable and doesn’t include any hidden plastic, like lid liners or anything. The website suggests reusing it as a container for headphones or jewelry. As you can see, I’m almost out of this one so I think I’m going to keep mine in my gym bag to hold my rings. Though, homemade lip balm in on my To-Do and this container would also work well for that.

As for the application, I use my fingers to apply my moisturizer and foundation and this goes on smoothly. I can’t speak to how it would go on with a brush or sponge. My skin is so dry that using my finger has always worked best. I read some comments that users found the moisturizer was too solid and it made it difficult to apply. I have left mine in the car before and it does get pretty firm if it’s cold. I found it warmed up quickly, though, as I began to apply it and have never had any problems with application.

Compared to traditional moisturizers (I used Coola prior to this), it does initially feel a bit oilier, which is to be expected with the ingredients list. It has never made me break out, though, and I find that it does absorb quickly into the skin. I use a light hand when applying and find that a little goes a long way.

As far as I can tell, the company doesn’t specifically have a facial moisturizer with SPF that ISN’T tinted. I think the closest they have is that Face+Body SPF, which isn’t advertised as a moisturizer but it does have almost all the same ingredients. I was pleasantly surprised by the tint in this moisturizer, though. I have fairly light skin and found this provided a very subtle color that blended into my skin well on days I didn’t want to wear foundation. Obviously, I can’t speak to any other skin tones so please leave comments if you end up trying this.

For my Boston readers, I purchased this item in store at Cambridge Naturals in Porter Square. For my CT readers, it’s available on line at Raw Element’s website and on Thrive market (it’s actually cheaper on Thrive and they offer carbon-neutral shipping so you can pick up a few groceries as well).

Tune in next Tuesday as I tackle two nighttime moisturizers I tried: One was a winner and one, not so much!

(This post is NOT sponsored.)