I recently got the chance to try out a green beauty brand called Elate Cosmetics. The Elate Cosmetics team was gracious enough to send me some of their products to try out. I tried these items: Elate Essential Mascara, Elate Vibrant Lipstick – Blaze, Sunkiss Bronzer, Full Tint Foundation – Chestnut, Universal Crème – Bliss, and Elate Brow Balm- Raven.

As a dark skin Black woman, I have an added challenge in finding green makeup that matches my skin tone. By some kind of magic, Elate Cosmetics manages to be Vegan, Cruelty-Free, Toxin Free, Gluten Free while actually get the job done. I found that using Elate Cosmetics gave me a natural no-makeup look.

Watch my full review here:

I was very impressed with Elate Cosmetic’s packaging. The items were sent in a cardboard box, nestled in compostable packing peanuts.The only amount of waste created was from the label stickers. Elate Cosmetics chose a beautiful bamboo for their brushes and compact cases. I especially loved the fact that the bronzer I got had a magnetic insert that I could switch out and use in the compact case. I was delighted every time I saw the products inside my bag. They were gorgeous to look at.

I loved seeing recognizable ingredients like castor seed oil, jojoba oil, rice bran, coconut, etc. The green ingredients lent themselves to a skin-like finish on the makeup. The mascara is so simple but gives my curly lashes a wide-eyed and natural look. The coverage of the foundation was full and not too heavy, which I liked. I wanted to love the Eco-Brow balm because of it’s beautiful packaging but I wasn’t a huge fan of the way it filled in my brows, rather than sculpting them. For those who want a more natural brow look, the Eco-Brow balm might be perfect.

I give this rating fully acknowledging that Elate Cosmetic has carefully curated collection of makeup products. As I was looking for a suitable shade for my skin tone, I found that there were typically two dark options (a medium and a dark brown). The problem I had was with the undertones of both shades. I once went outside wearing full-tint foundation in the color chestnut, and I noticed it had an orangey-red tone to it once it oxidized. I felt like the deep options needed a little more formulating to fit deeper skin tones. On top of that, there are 3 concealer shades, none of them exactly suitable for people with deeper skin tones. I am not personally replacing my foundations/powders just yet because of the undertone issue but those whose skins tones are offered might not have an issue.

Do you have a favorite green makeup brand? Drop your faves in the comment section!