Ilia's Polka Dots & Moonbeams Illuminator

A good illuminator is the best kind of makeup product. It doesn’t seek to hide our imperfections. It highlights our most gorgeous features. Eyes pop, cheekbones sing, and skin is radiant.

Ilia is a small-scale line of natural makeup, and they never seem to put out a product that isn’t A+. This Polka Dots & Moonbeams illuminator is no exception. It imparts a fresh, subtle glow without preteen sparkle.

The Texture

The solid stick formulation is somewhat dry–nothing like the creamy swatch below. I’ve gotta admit, I like the texture because it ensures that the product is applied with a light hand, without sinking into fine lines. Sometimes other creamy or sticky illuminators can be difficult to apply precisely.

I apply Polka Dots & Moonbeams to my cheekbones, brown bones, nose bridge and the inner corners of my eyes.

Inside the Ingredients

Ingredients: organic castor seed oil, organic sesame seed oil, organic cocoa seed butter, organic beeswax, trioctyldodecyl citrate, candelilla wax, organic tapioca starch, soybean oil, organic sunflower seed oil, rose hip fruit oil, tocopherol acetate. May contain: mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxides (CI 77499, CI 77492, CI 77491), red 7 CI 15850, red 28 CI 45410, yellow 5 CI 19140.

Ingredient Color Key
Extremely Safe	Reasonably Safe	Proceed with Caution	Insufficient Data

The ingredients are clean and safe for use.

Castor seed oil is the primary ingredient in this illuminator. Thick and soothing to the skin, over half of the lipsticks in the U.S. use a significant amount of castor seed oil in their formulations. It’s a tried and true ingredient, favored by mainstream and natural cosmetics makers.

A less familiar ingredient, trioctyldodecyl citrate, is more commonly known as citric acid. It’s a widely used cosmetics acid, generally used as a preservative.