100% PURE Legacy Story: Fruit Pigmented® Natural Makeup

As a renowned chemist, one of 100% PURE co-founder Susie Wang’s proudest accomplishments is her discovery and utilization of fruit pigments in cosmetics — an innovation that has revolutionized the natural makeup industry and challenged the conventional method of using toxic chemical dyes. Susie discovered fruit pigments one day while picking berries in her garden; noticing how easily the vibrant colors stained her skin, Susie knew she’d discovered something special.

Susie’s discovery of natural stains — later called “fruit pigments” — were patented for use in natural makeup by Wang and co-founder Ric Kostick. Since then, 100% PURE has used only fruit, vegetables, tea, coffee, and cocoa to color our extensive collection of natural makeup products. Not only are our fruit pigments as natural as it gets, they’re also chock-full of vitamins and antioxidants to offer naturally occurring, nutritional benefits to support skin health.

Don’t get the wrong idea: we’re all for bold and pretty hues, electric eyeliners, lips that pop, and megawatt highlighters for glowing cheekbones. What we’re not so okay with are the toxic dyes and synthetic chemicals being absorbed into our pores while we wear those conventional cosmetics -- they can affect anything from our skin moisture levels to our hormone balance, and it just ain’t worth it!

By cultivating ingredient lists that pretty much mirror your farmer’s market shopping lists, we’re able to create our own fruit pigmented® color wheel. Our range of hues – illustrated in nude makeup palettes to high drama matte lips – are all created from fruit dyes and plant pigments. And we’re not just talking about berries. We formulate our colors with cherries, tomatoes, beets, peaches, papayas, tea, cocoa, edible flowers, pomegranates… just to name a few!

So what can fruit pigments do for you, other than get you a perfectly shaded pout? Using natural products formulated with fruit dyes and pigments allows you to avoid common colorants used in mainstream beauty products: synthetic dyes and iron oxides, both of which can act as irritants associated with inflammation, allergic reactions, and breakouts. Check out our breakdown on what gives makeup its color for a mini lesson on cosmetic colorants (and why you should be suspicious of synthetic ones).

We’ve rounded up some of our fave fruit pigmented® products, and highlighted which fruits we’ve used in each formula to get them juuuust right. Let’s take a peek!

Poppy Lipstick

Pomegranate

Pomegranate is one of our favorite fruits to work with, thanks to its superior staining power (ever stained a shirt with pomegranate juice?), high levels of vitamin C, and stellar knack for treating skin roughness and flakiness. We’re able to achieve deep, high drama shades with the natural blood red tones in pomegranate, so it’s a go-to ingredient for dramatically red shades that look fabulous on a wide variety of skin tones.

Pomegranate is featured front and center in our Fruit Pigmented® Pomegranate Oil Anti Aging Lipstick in Poppy. This silky, seductive red that also works as an anti-aging lip treatment – thanks to a formula that includes pomegranate oil! Yeah, we’re into multi-tasking.

Bamboo Blur Matte Makeup

Avocado + Peach

OK, so avocado one isn’t technically a pigment — but we had to take a minute to highlight one of our all-time favorite fruit (yes, fruit: a berry, to be exact) ingredients! Paired with naturally skin-similar pigments from peach, avocado oil makes for a deeply nourishing, lightweight foundation base.

When formulating foundations, we’re all about multi-dimensional color that draws from a number of different base colorants -- this helps us create shades that have depth (pro tip: stay away from one-dimensional foundation hues, as they’ll flatten out your natural contours). For example, to create the deep tan shade of Golden Peach, we’ve combined a number of fruit pigments (peach, apricot, carrot, and tomato), then added avocado as a rich and mellow base tone and moisturizer. Avocado is a fantastic shade to build depth for skin tone hues, plus it’s an ingredient that’s rich in healthy fatty acids to keep your skin plump and elastic.

Blackberry Mascara & Oasis Matte Lipstick

Blackberry

Blackberries are packed with antioxidants, so they work double duty in both mascara and lip formulas as both a natural pigment and vitamin-packed treatment. While eyelash extensions might be having a moment right now, they’re also pretty tough on both your schedule and your wallet. We’re focusing on natural lashes: nourishing and strengthening them so they can shine solo. One of the ways we do this is by staying away from the super drying pigments present in most mainstream mascaras (the ones that leave you with dreaded dry clumps and a thinner lash line over time); instead, we put blackberries to work in our Maracuja Mascara formula, for a deep and luscious purple hue that’s dramatic but not damaging.

We adore the sultry midnight tones found in the flesh and juice of the blackberry, which is why we utilized this tart little berry for deeper tones in our matte lipstick collection. Take Oasis, for example: this deep, berry-wine hybrid is nothing short of a showstopper on any skin tone! Looking to summon your inner fall goddess? Pair Oasis with Maracuja Mascara in Blackberry, then blend a little Sugar Plum Lip & Cheek Tint (also pigment by blackberries!) into your cheeks for a naturally wind-chilled flush.

Cabernet Lip Glaze & Plum Wine Lip Caramel

Cabernet Grape

Right now we’re geeking out over grapes and their incredible medicinal properties when it comes to skincare (and wine drinking). Grape skins contain powerful antioxidants that fight skin aging and cell deterioration, while protecting against damage from pollutants. Plus they’re loaded with phytonutrients and phytochemicals to help lighten discoloration and scarring, and tighten tired or sagging skin. We’ve worked cabernet grape into our Fruit Pigmented Lip Glaze: Cabernet formula, to get a sheer wash of color that’s a deep red with blue and pink undertones. Super silky and emollient, this is a totally buildable lip color that – as usual – also doubles as a nourishing lip treatment.

Loving liquid lipsticks? We believe we’ve got the best of the best -- our Lip Caramel collection is full of bold hues ranging from pinky nudes to inky wines, and totally colored by fruit and achiote seeds. Cabernet grapes infuse the vampy, black currant undertone of Plum Wine, our go-to for first dates and romantic rendezvous. With natural cosmetics superpowers like silky smooth coverage and intense pigment from natural dyes like grape, blueberry, and blackcurrant, it’s a wonder Lip Caramels haven’t taken over the world.

Strawberry Lip & Cheek Tint

Strawberry

While the name and seeds suggest it, it may come as a shock that strawberries aren’t quite considered an actual berry. Botanically classified as an ‘aggregate’, or ‘accessory’ fruit, we couldn’t agree more: strawberries are the ideal accessory for adding truly delicious color to natural cosmetics!

This fan-favorite fruit offers the perfect pure red for our nourishing Lip & Cheek Tints: a small but mighty collection of lip and softening, creamy and pigmented purse accessories. These compact tubes pack antioxidant and vitamin-rich pigments like strawberry, cranberry, tomato, and carrot, living in a base of skin moisturizing shea and cocoa butters, vitamin E, and grapeseed oil. Another bonus packed into these little multitasking tubes? Each formula is laced with delectable, food-grade, natural strawberry flavor!

Pretty Naked Palette

Papaya

Our Fruit Pigmented® Pretty Naked Palette is a must-have makeup kit for building natural, luminous looks — think goddess vibes. Our original ‘Naked’ palette (the first-ever Naked palette) features a selection of creamy pinks, shimmery nudes, and flushed bronzes for you to play around with on your lids and cheeks.

Although the colors of this palette are artfully understated, the pigmentation is rich and concentrated; we’ve utilized a laundry list of fruit and vegetable pigments to create these ultra subtle hues, ensuring maximum dimension in each shade. Among them is papaya pigment, an ingredient we love for it’s unique shade of rich, yellowy orange. Papaya is also packed with rejuvenating and cleansing enzymes, to naturally brighten skin for an amplified glow. Think soft, natural color derived from totally natural sources (whereas synthetic color can sometimes look like face paint – not a good look).

Ready to make the switch to powerful, stunning fruit pigments? Need help finding your perfect fruit pigmented® shades? Check out our lipstick guide for every skin tone, our natural foundation guide, or stop by in person at one of our 100% PURE locations for a free color consultation!