I first heard about Toups and Co from Jill Wenger’s Old-Fashioned On Purpose podcast.
And then, I heard about them again from Lisa Bass of Farmhouse on Boone.
Suddenly, I was hearing about this organic skincare and makeup company everywhere and how much everyone was in love with their products.
I’ll admit, I resisted their meteoric rise to popularity. For the better part of a year, I tuned out the recommendations to try their products.
But when I started to get a bit frustrated with our coconut oil based baby balm, I decided to go ahead and Google them.
It took me a while to find them online because the first thing I Googled was “Tubes and Co” as I had no idea about the spelling. But I digress…
What ultimately peaked my interest were two things:
- Wanting to experience the difference between coconut oil, and vegetable oil, based products (most of what I was buying) vs. animal oil based products (ie, tallow)
- Wanting to experience–for the first time in my life–organic makeup
Toups & Co is a game-changer for organic skincare & makeup
Fast-forward to now, and I have tried nearly one of everything that they sell.
You could say I’m a convert. Or, that I have a shopping problem.
But either way, I absolutely love how tallow based products are much more nourishing and tout longer lasting hydration. And I adore finally being able to apply makeup to my skin that isn’t loaded with toxins and skin irritants.
Their products have helped me to take better care of myself and my family.
So without further ado, let’s discuss the details of each product:
Tallow Frankincense Face Balm
Do you know what frankincense smells like? I didn’t.
Not until I tried this frankincense face balm by Toups and Co did I realize how much I enjoy this smell.
Absolutely divine.
But let’s also talk about the consistency of this face balm, which is almost identical to their baby balm: it has an incredibly light, whipped, buttery, white appearance (it looks good enough to eat).
When you apply this tallow-based balm to your skin, it feels deeply nourishing in a way that I’ve never experienced before.
It seems to penetrates the toughest patches of dry skin and leaves my skin with a natural, supple finish.
Rather than sitting on top of your skin with a shiny oil sheen–like coconut oil does for me–it settles into the skin and ultimately ends up feeling quite lightweight.
My forehead, which is a particularly challenging patch of skin for me, has finally responded to this tallow-based moisturizer (it’s no longer rough and patchy but nice and smoooth).
And the slight warming effect of the frankincense leaves my skin with a bit of a buzz.
Natural Pressed Blush
Made with rice powder, jojoba seed oil and oregano leaf extract, this natural pressed blush is a favorite of mine. It actually triples as a blush, bronzer, and eyeshadow for me because I chose the “Cinnabar” shade.
Just like freshly ground cinnamon, the Cinnabar shade has a warm, sun-tanned glow.
This blush will be a staple for me for many years to come, and I will definitely be ordering this again when I run out (it’s just that good!).
I recommend choosing a light, feathery brush for this pressed blush.
I’ve tried used the Toups & Co mineral makeup brush, and it’s a little challenging to apply it with that brush (which makes sense because that brush is for loose mineral powder).
Tallow Baby Balm
This baby balm looks and smells exactly like what you would hope a baby balm would smell like. It has the fresh appearance of lightly whipped body butter and is naturally scented with german chamomile and blue yarrow.
The smell is dreamy but it’s also barely there–perfect for babies (where the last thing you want is an overly fragranced product).
This winter alone, I’ve used an entire 4 oz container. Morning and night, my daughter gets bits of this baby balm on her cheeks, nose, lips, and forehead.
It’s a part of her daily self-care ritual!
With all of the dry air indoors, and cold air outside, it’s important to stay moisturized. I think of this baby balm as an all-purpose chapstick for the entire face and body.
Sun Balm
Toups and Co use non-nano zinc oxide (which is an all natural ingredient) as the sun protective agent in their sun balm. It’s safe enough to use on babies, and we have!
I apply a bit of this on my daughter’s cheeks, nose, and chin when we go snowboarding.
It’s unscented and loaded with naturally occurring Vitamin D from grass-fed tallow.
Note: in cold weather, it can be a challenge to apply this. So if you’re using this to wear outdoors for snowy weather, apply it indoors first!
Baby Shampoo
Have you tried searching for an all-natural baby shampoo before?
Good luck! It’s next to impossible to find something that’s not loaded with ingredients that are impossible to pronounce.
Even trusted brands, like Burt Bees, are disappointing when you look at the ingredients list.
Toups and Co’s baby shampoo is a winner, though. It’s just pure water, organic saponified coconut oil, organic aloe vera, guar gum, rosemary seed extract.
If you know someone who is expecting, I think this–along with the baby balm–would make a lovely gift.
Body Oil
Toups and Co’s body oil is a silky smooth solution of jojoba oil and olive oil.
I first bought the citrus body oil based on the numerous positive reviews, but I believe the Vanilla Almond body oil is the show stopper here.
When I use the vanilla almond body oil I smell like a batch of freshly baked almond cookies. And as someone who is a huge fan of almond anything, I appreciate that they do not skimp on the almond scent.
It’s very almond forward and the vanilla takes more of a backseat.
For best results, apply your body oil after a hot shower or bath. It definitely magnifies the moisturizing effect because your pores are more open and porous.
Concealer
It can be tricky to find a concealer that’s both effective in its ability to conceal blemishes without being so heavy that it leaves behind thick lines and creases.
I am quite impressed with Toups and Co’s concealer. I purchased the “Pure” tinted concealed and has a been a part of my daily makeup routine.
Even though I’m a momma in my thirties, I have a lot of hyperpigmentation throughout my complexion and I’ve found this to be a really helpful product.
Cream Luminizer Pot
The cream luminizer pot provides a very subtle and dewey glow.
Personally, I wouldn’t purchase this product again. It’s not that it’s not fabulous (it is) but it’s a product better suited for the makeup aficionado and not me (a busy mom who is lucky to just have her teeth and hair brushed).
If you really prefer a polished look, then this might be a worthwhile investment for you but I will likely skip this when it’s time to re-up my Toups and Co collection.
Full-Coverage Liquid Foundation
The liquid foundation by Toups and Co is a makeup revolution as far as I’m concerned. It’s one of the few foundations that my skin doesn’t react poorly with and it wears nicely all day long.
The only potential negative worth noting is that for some, they may find this foundation to be slightly drying to the skin.
While I wouldn’t say that it dries out my skin, it has a drying and tightening effect–especially when I apply multiple layers for hyperpigmentation areas that need extra coverage.
To determine which shade of foundation you are, I recommend ordering the foundation sampler package. It’s really difficult to guess based off of the images online, since the foundations wear much differently than they look in the packaging.
I’m not sure why this is, but it is certainly misleading. Take the time to order the sampler before committing to a shade of foundation. You might be surprised at which one looks best!
Powdered Mineral Makeup
Prior to trying Toups and Co’s powdered mineral makeup, I had only tried Bare Minerals and had limited success.
I really didn’t know of many other options beyond Bare Minerals, and so I was curious to try another brand of powdered mineral makeup.
I am SO GLAD I did.
I actually recommend tag teaming the liquid and powdered mineral makeup together if you have areas with lots of redness or scarring. They are a dream duo and together, they can create a picture-perfect finish:
Rather than applying multiple layers of the liquid foundation, I just make one quick pass. And then, I lightly press and brush the powdered mineral makeup into any blemished areas.
This highly pigmented powdered mineral makeup provides an incredible coverage.
Hot tip: I do recommend using their mineral makeup brush, or something similar, when you’re applying this. You’ll get so much more lifespan out of the product, versus using a big, loose fluffy brush that will absorb more powder than it applies.
Natural Eyeshadow Makeup
After much deliberation, I tried the “original” colorways eye makeup palette (I was also considering trying their “Date Night” palette).
However, I figured going with their Original color palette would provide me with a better selection of everyday colors than their bolder, Date Night palette.
In hindsight, I would recommend choosing your own custom color set. You can pick out colors one by one, and don’t need to go with their pre-chosen colorways.
For a yellowish, warmer skin tone like mine, their Original eyeshadow color palette just didn’t look that great. Too many pinkish tones.
That said, the eyeshadow was an excellent quality, well pigmented, and easy to apply. My only gripe is that the packaging isn’t classy and reminds me of a DIY arts and crafts project.
Long Lash Mascara
I’m very impressed with Toups and Co’s long lash mascara. I thought surely mascara would be where we draw the line of the potential for organic products versus conventional.
I just didn’t think it was possible to have a great performing mascara product that doesn’t use some weird concoction of highly engineered, man-made chemicals.
But Toups and Co proved me wrong again. This mascara competes with the big players in these big ways:
- It lengthens lashes well (without clumps or flakes)
- It’s buildable
- And it is relatively smudge-proof
I have long, straight eyelashes and oily skin, so most mascaras don’t look very good on me beyond an hour or two. And I can get away with wearing their mascara for a good three or four hours before I need to touch up my eyelids from smudging.
Organic lip gloss
I absolutely adore their organic lip gloss in All About Me and love that they use castor oil as their primary oil in this product.
This shade is a pearly, sheer gloss and it gives you just a little more oomph than a completely clear gloss would.
At some point, I’d like to try the more pigmented lip gloss shades. But for now, I find this shiny, whitish gloss to give me the polished, “barely there” look I’m going for these days.
Nourishing Lip stick
This lipstick was velvety and smooth and touts oils from avocado, jojoba, and Vitamin E.
But I just didn’t love the Breathless shade.
Based on the color swatches they show online, I expected this color to a bit be more natural looking but it looks a bit orangey on me.
Maybe I’m just not big into wearing lipstick overall, since it seems like such a formal thing. But in in case, this shade didn’t have a subtle look.
That said, the quality of this lipstick overall was certainly there and I’ll keep them in mind for any future lipstick purchases.
Tinted Lip Balm
Every product can’t be a winner. And for me, the tinted lip balm is Toups and Co’s least winsome product.
I just found that it wasn’t very moisturizing, the pigmentation was too faint, and the actual size of the product was too small to be practical (it was an itty bitty container!).
I’d feature an image of it here, but I’ve long since lost this lip balm. I honestly don’t know where it went, it’s just so small and easy to lose.
After just a few uses the tip of the balm actually broke off and I had to try my best to smoosh it back together.
It’s kind of a brittle, fragile product. But admittedly, I can be a bit of a bear when applying things. You might have more luck than me with this product.
Price, coupon codes, and customer service
These products aren’t exorbitantly expensive. But they also aren’t cheap.
And after my first year of motherhood, deciding to “invest” in these products was my version of getting a “mommy makeover”.
Yes, it was a splurge. And I wasn’t able to get all of these all at once.
But bit by bit, I stacked up quite an impressive collection if I do say so myself.
I highly recommend using a coupon code from Jill or Lisa to get a discount on your order.
On one of my orders, I totally spaced on adding the coupon code until after submitting my payment information.
I promptly emailed their customer service and would be remiss to not mention how helpful their team was as they refunded me the difference. Now that’s awesome customer service!
Yes, it’s worth the hype
I’m a convert. I’ve joined the Toups and Co cult.
What can I say. My skin has never felt better and I love knowing that when I wear makeup I’m not wearing something toxic.
This said, I will admit that it’s a considerable investment to completely change out all my conventional makeup products and go (mostly) organic.
If I had to recommend just two or three of their tippy top products it would be:
- Tallow balm (any of them)
- Vanilla almond body oil (the vanilla almond essential oils are just remarkable)
- Full-coverage liquid foundation (I do not know of a better foundation makeup option out there… this is it!)
These are the three products I use ALL the time and absolutely adore applying on a near daily basis.
I hope you find this in depth review helpful. If you’d like to know anything else at all about these products, just drop me a question in the comments below!
