I had a recent bout of hives for the first time in my life and, as it goes with those nasty itchy suckers, it's hard to find the cause of them.

I was never allergic to anything. Well, I've gotten the occasional seasonal allergies, but that is outdoor related. Medically speaking, nothing ever wronged me. Cosmetics, hair and body products, food, medicines, nada.

And then after my bout with an upper respiratory infection and two courses of different antibiotics, I developed hives. My doc thought it was the penicillin-based drug I was on, so I stopped it. Two weeks later, I still have the occasional outbreak and so I decided to just do a little research into my current regime in beauty products and, well, I'm so over parabens, SLSs, and anything I can't pronounce that is contained in these products.

I went on my own version of an elimination diet and stopped using makeup (gasp), harsh perfume-y soaps and lotions and I'm finding that my skin is calming down.

But, a girl needs her makeup. I love makeup. But I'd like good quality makeup that is not only cruelty-free (something I'm big on) but only contains stuff I can pronounce.

With a little Google-fu, I found the products featured in this blog from Afterglow Cosmetics and I kind of can't wait to try them out.

Right now I only have two lipsticks and something to help make powder eye shadow easier to use as a liner (and stay put!). But these products seem pretty cool at first view. Whether they live up to their pretty packaging remains to be seen, but I sure hope they do.

Anyone else out there use natural, organic cosmetics that they love? Care to rec?