Shop Cassandra McClure's Ethical Clean Beauty Routine

Cassandra McClure's fascination with makeup started at six years old and is still going strong today. A professional makeup artist whose work has taken her around the world from Los Angeles to Europe and Dubai, McClure says she used to be a "human guinea pig" trying every product created under the sun on herself before using on her clients.

In 2018, she was diagnosed with severe skin allergies as well as psoriasis and partial vision loss. Her doctors didn't have an answer, but after learning about the harmful effects of fragrance and toxic chemicals in beauty products at a Beautycounter pop-up event, McClure immediately went home and dissected all the products she was using only to find out that they were the culprits of her health issues. 

Facts regarding how the US Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate beauty products have only been widely available on the Internet for the last few years. Thirty ingredients (that's it!) from personal-care products are banned in this country, whereas about 1,400 are banned in Europe. The products we use everyday like face cleanser, shampoo and lipstick are making Americans sick. The saddest part is that so many Americans still don't realize this. 

Within three days of detoxing from all her potentially harmful products, McClure said she felt like a different person inside and out. "It was shocking how quickly I was able to breathe again, sleep better, and literally see,” McClure says. “I was so upset that I had been suffering for so long from something I loved so much."

This awakening set McClure on a path to educate herself on clean beauty and help empower other women to take control of their health through the Clean Beauty Podcast, a weekly show where McClure introduces clean and toxic-free beauty brands to her listeners, and the Clean Beauty Kit, a quarterly subscription full of clean, efficacious and good for your skin products from beauty brands made in the U.S. 

Recently, McClure's never-ending clean beauty quest led her to trying out some ethical and fair trade brands available on Beautyologie where clean, toxic-free products are a given. "What I love so much about Beautyologie is that I've learned about brands I hadn't heard known before," says McClure. Here are her the ones she incorporates into her beauty routine on a daily and weekly basis:

"This is such a luxurious mask. It definitely cleared up my skin and gave me a nice refreshing polished look. The fact that woman-owned brand is gluten-free is everything to me."

"I have always stuggled with clean deodorants. This one definitely works. I like that it is in zero-waste paper packaging. The fresh, lightly scented chamomile is very soothing for my skin."

"I loved this product so much. It smells like cotton candy, and is such a luxury to have in the shower. My husband has celiac and this is gluten-free. We now fight over it."

"I was delighted to find pieces of real coconut shell in this. It really does slough off the dead skin which is perfect for these cold winter months.

The botanicals also make this smell amazing and I LOVE the glass jar. I use this once a week for a thorough exfoliation."

"I am big fan of balms because my skin is so dry and gets itchy easily. This has been the only thing that has been able to calm down my skin lately. I put it on my feet too before I go to sleep. It smells like pure luxury. The Ashwagandha is so healing and the organic Ghee which makes the texture so buttery."

"I love this scrub. It's such a great pick me up. The mint is invigorating and the sugar scrub makes my skin so soft and hydrated."

"This bath bomb made my tub look so Instagram-worthy. It has all these little bits of lavender in it. I'm a big bath bomb fan, but so many have irritated my skin over the years, even clean ones. This one didn't disappoint! It left me soothed and relaxed."