The Choosy Chick: A one-stop-shop for your nontoxic needs

The Choosy Chick is one of those select few places where they carefully curate everything they sell so you know your products won’t have any nasty synthetic ingredients. Everything that is sold at The Choosy Chick conforms to their stringent guidelines as it’s designed to take off the guesswork for your nontoxic beauty and lifestyle needs. 

I personally find this to be a genius idea! In a world filled with bogus natural claims and strange marketing verbiage, it can be daunting to start a cleaner beauty routine without a Chemistry degree.

The Choosy Chick sent me a package with four of their bestselling goodies, and Margot, one of the co-founders, took the time to chat with me. Do you want to know what you can expect from your Choosy Chick experience? Keep reading!

The Choosy Chick Nontoxic Bestsellers

The Choosy Chick is home to many of my favorite non-toxic beauty brands. I was lucky to score one of the coveted highlighters by Au Naturale Cosmetics ($27.20). This creamy light reflective cream highlighter is extremely easy to use, and it blends oh-so-seamlessly with the rest of your makeup that you’ll look like you had a week of vacation in Bora Bora. And don’t get fooled by the color in Celeste; it compliments every skin tone. The Au Naturale highlighter blends as a sheer punch of light that works really good to define your face contours and your decolletage. It really gives a subtle sheen, ideal for those of us who don’t like applying makeup with a heavy hand.

The Baked Mineral Bronzer by INIKA ($49) in Sunkissed is the perfect companion to the Au Naturale highlighter for your contouring endeavors. I had never tried this brand before, and I have to say I’m very positively surprised by it. With no talc, additives or binders, it’s baked in a terracotta tile in Tuscany (Italy) following the traditional methods. With a gorgeous hue that you can build up depending on your needs, this is a new staple piece in my makeup bag! Plus, this is one of the few bronzers that doesn’t look fakey; it truly gives a sunkissed look without the nasties.

Moving on to nontoxic skincare, The Choosy Chick has discovered me another brand: DN-UNIK. This very special brand stands at the crossroads of cosmetics, aromatherapy, dietetics and phytotherapy. Their Age-defying day cream with hyaluronic acid ($57.95) is made in France and certified natural by the EcoCert chart (one of the leading organic seals in Europe.) With plumping natural hyaluronic acid extracted from a fermentation of plants and algae, this product is a dream in a bottle for dry epidermises like mine. Plus, this product gets bonus points because the formula is preserved with Potassium Sorbate, which is one of the gentlest preservatives out there. No phenoxyethanol here! Yay!

Finally, The Choosy Chick also carries Acure to keep your tresses beautiful, healthy, and toxin-free. The Acure Argan Oil and Argan Stem Cell Leave-In Conditioner for all hair types ($9.99) is ideal for all hair types. Designed to protect the hair shaft at a cellular level, it really does a great work at giving an extra boost of hydration. However, as I have very long curly hair I have found it really works wonderfully well as a complement to my hair beauty routine. After rinsing off my regular conditioner, I spray this leave-in conditioner for some extra shine and nourishment. Honestly, it gives my hair an extra layer of nutrition without weighing my curls down. But I simply have too much hair to use this product on its own!

Getting to Know The Choosy Chick: An Interview With Margot

New York For Beginners: Why did you start The Choosy Chick?

The Choosy Chick: We started The Choosy Chick out of a personal quest to find skincare products for our family that were free of toxins. As you probably are aware, this is next to impossible when shopping in most local stores.

NYFB: Why did you choose to use and sell green beauty products?

TCC: There were many factors that lead to our decision as a family to switch to green beauty. As a health educator – I had been accustomed to teaching others about leading healthy lifestyles through diet and exercise, but had been unaware of the loose regulations regarding the beauty industry. When several family members and friends (all of whom led very active, healthy lifestyles) developed certain cancers and auto-immune diseases, I began to wonder what else we could be doing to try to stay as healthy as possible.

Struggling with some my own auto-immune concerns, my research into toxins in the environment began. How do you decide what to carry? Before we opened The Choosy Chick, we researched and developed a list of ingredients that we no longer wanted to be exposed to. This list has now become The Choosy Chick Standard [click here to read it.] It maintains who we are as a company and allows our customers to know right away what they won’t find in our products. When deciding on new product additions, we share our policy with potential brands so they know our expectations right up front. Our standard also includes specifics about packaging, as we are looking to reduce our plastic imprint, and therefore give preference to brands that are not only safe and effective, but packaged with thought to our environment.

NYFB: What do you specifically look to avoid in the products you feature? Are potential hormone disruptors in that list?

TCC: We have a Big Baddies list that details the ingredients we avoid. Yes, hormone disruptors are on that list!

NYFB: What are your current favorite green beauty products?

TCC: Oh boy – this is a tough question! I am happy to share some of my new favorites that are currently working incredibly for my personal skin type (combination skin with hormonal, pre-menopausal eruptions) Magic Organic Apothecary Daily Cleansing Ritual and Aphrodite Oil. HollyBeth Organics Grits and Honey Scrub (one-two times per week to exfoliate) Makeup is simple. I enjoy DN-UNIK BB Cream or INIKA Liquid Foundation, Lily Lolo Mascara, and a sweep of Au Naturale Lip Gloss, or Nudus Lipstick in Viva or 27 Kisses. For a bold look, I enjoy adding INIKA’s Pressed Eye Shadows and Nudus Dirty Diana. As a family we use Graham Gardens bar soaps which keep our skin from getting itchy in the winter. Every bathroom is stocked with Kosmatology’s Foaming Hand Soap and Davids Toothpaste. We have lots of shampoo choices and honestly rotate through all of them, but Evolvh and Ahnesti Puriti Uplift Shampoo are my personal favs!

NYFB: What are The Choosy Chick’s bestsellers?

TCC: The following brands are in high demand right now at The Choosy Chick: INIKA Certified Organic Makeup; Lily Lolo Mascara, Eye Shadow Palettes and Eye Primer; EVOLVh Shampoos and Conditioners; Nudus Lipstick; Griffin Remedy Omega 3 Body Wash and Lotion; Davids Toothpaste; Green and Gorgeous Dry Shampoo, and The Get Started with Green Beauty Bag.

NYFB: Some people aren’t good candidates for green beauty products because they might have some allergies triggered by essential oils or certain vegetable oils. Do you disclose the full ingredient list of the products you sell?

TCC: It is extremely important for us to be completely transparent about the ingredients in our products. There is nothing more annoying than companies that will not disclose ingredients on their websites. Right away – I feel that is a red flag. The ingredients for every product are listed on our product pages under the ingredients tab in the description. (If you don’t see it, it means there was an error during product loading and please give us a shout). I understand the sensitivity for some to essential oils. Some products contain a higher percent of essential oils than others. I am one that suffers from headaches and sometimes even the purest ingredients ( even fresh lavender) will trigger them. We do have a collection for sensitive skin, and we are currently working on putting together a “no-scent” collection which will feature products that do not have added ingredients for the purpose of scent. None of the products we stock contain synthetic fragrance.

NYFB: Do you sell green cosmetics made in the USA?

TCC: The majority of our products are made in the US. We do, however, search the world for the most effective products with the highest safety standards. We recently added INIKA Certified Organic Makeup from Australia, because it is one of, if not the only complete makeup line that utilizes certified organic ingredients. It is also certified Vegan and certified Cruelty-free. And…very high performance!

NYFB: Transitioning to a green beauty routine can be overwhelming. What do you suggest your clients that want to start using green cosmetics, but can’t part with their current non-natural favorites? What is the best place to start?

TCC: I understand how confusing it can be. This is what we suggest:

1. Get to know the ingredients in your products and develop a standard for you and your family.
2. Read labels, and avoid purchasing products with the ingredients in your personal standard.
3. Start with one product at a time – deodorant for example. As you run out of that, replace with a clean alternative. We got rid of everything at once, but you don’t have to! This can be costly. 4. Be patient. Sometimes it takes a couple of purchases before you find you holy grail products. You’ll also find that organic products are more concentrated and therefore you don’t need as much – so they last longer.

The Verdict

To be honest, my experience with The Choosy Chick has been extremely satisfactory. It is a completely transparent company that does an excellent work of disclosing every single ingredient and educating consumers about what to look for when looking for cleaner beauty options. Also, as they are very knowledgeable, I honestly recommend you reach out to them with any doubts you may have: Margo and Joe will be able to help.

{Insider tip}: The Choosy Chick curates a green beauty bag with everything you need to get started in the world of nontoxic skincare. It makes a great gift for yourself or that friend who is overwhelmed by the confusing marketing verbiage and is having a hard time finding the real deal.

Disclaimer Level 1: The author received NO compensation to write this post. The author received a sample of the product featured for editorial consideration. Receiving a sample didn’t influence the decision to feature a brand nor the opinions expressed by the author. The opinions stated in this article don’t constitute medical advice; medical advice can only be given by a physician. Please refer to your doctor for any questions. All links provided in the article are for information only and are not part of any affiliate marketing program.