Holistic makeup artist Liv Lundelius says her most commonly asked question is “does natural makeup really work’’? To which she answers a resounding, “hell yes!”

The vegan mum-of-one has a bio that reads like a Hollywood script. With a Swedish mum and a Dutch dad she grew up in the German countryside, studied in Berlin, got her first job in New York and married an Australian. After launching her own sustainable fashion label in 2008, which sadly she says never gained traction thanks to the GFC, she discovered beauty via a scholarship to UK model Jemma Kid’s beauty course in London and married her passions of magazines and beauty as an editorial makeup artist. Already interested in sustainability she began to notice the chemical ingredients and animal testing in beauty, and so a new career was born.

“I educated myself as much as possible, reading books and googling, trying to find products that would be safe to use. It was a big research project and step-by-step I replaced my makeup kit with safe and good products,’’ she says.

“Because there was so much research involved I wanted to talk about it so I started a natural beauty blog, which has grown as I have grown, now that I am a mum it’s more about our holistic approach to living as a family.”

Liv Life Mag covers everything from Liv’s favourite skin food recipes (hello, raw chocolate truffles), the organic, vegan cosmetics she trusts, multi tasking baby products, how to care for winter (or summer) skin and her thoughts on natural sunscreen.

Here Liv reveals her favourite natural finds and her daily skin routine.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE NATURAL COSMETICS?

Day-to-day as a mum I like something that protects my skin, I use Edible Beauty tinted moisturiser which contains raspberry seed oil for natural sun coverage. I love multi purpose, so something that can be a crème, blush and lip colour that you apply with your fingers like Ere Perez’s Carrot Colour Pots. And lastly I always fill in my eyebrows using Jane Iredale’s great shape eyebrow kit.

DO YOU USE A NATURAL SUNSCREEN?

If I went to the beach I would use a zinc oxide product – UV Natural is quite good, I like their baby sunscreen too. Another good one for babies is Moo Goo. Most of the natural sunscreens have beeswax in them so they’re not vegan which is tricky.

FAVOURITE MULTITASKING BABY PRODUCTS?

I use Edible Beauty’s Soothe Me Balm all the time – for everything from a scratch on Faye’s face, any rash or irritation, and even dribble marks from teething. It heals everything really quickly. Petit Kido’s bum cleanser – it’s olive based, made from a traditional recipe used in France. It creates a natural barrier and Faye has never had nappy rash.

CAN YOU RUN US THROUGH YOUR DAILY SKIN ROUTINE?

Mornings:

I spritz my face with a toner like Edible Beauty’s  – number 2 citrus rhapsody, then I always apply a serum. If I feel a bit stressed I use a light face oil and then makeup or a moisturiser with some sun protection.

Evenings:

If I put makeup on that day I use a cleansing oil to take it off I love Max and Me’s Purity and Grace. Then I would do toner and Edible Beauty’s Soothe Me Balm for overnight (the same one I use for all of Faye’s ailments!).

WHAT’S YOUR CRITERIA FOR READING LABELS WHEN YOU’RE SHOPPING?

The first thing for me that I look at is whether a product is cruelty free, then I look for toxin free status, then next I look at whether it’s organic.

WHAT CERTIFICATIONS DO YOU ALWAYS LOOK FOR?

My first priority is animal testing so I look for the leaping bunny, which is a US certification but it’s pretty international.  PETA is also quite good to look for, they’re not quite as strict though. For whether ingredients are organic or not every country is different, COSMOS in Australia is a strict one. My advice as a consumer is to look for stores or retailers that specialise in green beauty, because hopefully they have done some of the legwork for you.