Green Options

Are you an aspiring model? Do you know one? Want to be a green model? Enter Project Green Search! www.projectgreensearch.com. Project Green Search is looking for the next green “it girl”:  The woman who wants to take a stand, get noticed, and align her career endeavors with her personal beliefs, to be an advocate for the environment, animal welfare, fair trade, and human rights.  She’s a model, spokesperson, host, brand ambassador and all around green model citizen, for progressive, sustainable, ethical companies, from fashion & beauty to cars & computers.  Are you the one? Entry for the 2009 competition period will be open until Sunday, October 11th, 2009. Starting Monday, October 12th, the general public will be able to view entrants online and vote for their favorite ten candidates.  All search contestants will be required to donate a minimum 10 hours volunteer time to an environmental non-profit of their choice.

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t enjoy summer & warmth, but while we’re soaking up the sunshine and relaxing there are some extra preventative measures that need to be taken to ensure our skin, hair & bodies are given the right TLC during these lazy, hazy days. Whether you’re at the beach or pool, UV Rays, salt, sun & chlorine all wreak havoc on skin & hair, but while most of us understand the need for sunscreen & moisturizers, almost all of us forget to take care of our tresses! Aveda have just launched a new hair care collection called the 16hr UV Defense & Recovery System that protects & restores for, well… up to 16hrs.

Summer is here and it’s time to treat your body, face and hair to a sun-kissed Australian beach holiday with the Lucy B Frangipani Bronzing Shimmer Oil! Made with organic coconut, jojoba & sunflower oils for ultra skin hydration and infused with signature Australian Bush Flower Essences, this shimmer oil is great for achieving a gorgeous, subtle glow all over your body, on décolletage, scrunched into hair [...]

There was a time when conversations surrounding elasticity, loss of collagen, sagging and lack of tone, were for me like hearing someone speak in a foreign language. Convinced I’d somehow and miraculously been blessed with ever youthful skin, I never paid much attention - until now that is. Whether you’re there already or you think this is something that doesn’t apply to you, it’s never too early or late to start using skincare that addresses these very issues. Now, let it be said I’m a total skeptic (and more than a little jaded) when it comes to product claims, having worked with and tried just about everything. My latest discovery however, more than lives up to its rep and having used it for the last six wks, I can verify that my skin feels noticeably smoother, firmer and more radiant.

I most often think of anti-aging products as related to skincare and I’m fastidious about taking care of my skin, but how many of us remember that hair suffers from the same aging process – and hands up who treats their hair as well as their face? C’mon, be honest! Having recently tried Rare El’ements and experiencing glossy, healthy, strong, shiny hair in place of my usual frizzy, slightly dry, fine locks, I’m a new convert to the world of anti-aging hair care. Rare El’ements set out to revolutionize the mainstream hair care industry by creating products that combine natural luxury with the same performance that salon professionals depend on, and in my opinion, they succeeded.

With Memorial Day signalling the official start to Summer, it’s time to start thinking SPF. If you’re still housing old tubes from last year or god forbid, the year before, now’s the time to throw it out and get yourself a fresh batch. Before you hit the stores for a new stash though, know this… Out of more than a thousand sunscreens analyzed by EWG (Environmental Working Group) for safety & effectiveness, stability in sunlight, broad-spectrum protection against UVB + UVA radiation, and containing few if any ingredients with significant or known health hazards – only a measly 15% measured up. Further, many sunscreen ingredients break down in the sun, in a matter of minutes or hours, then let UV radiation through to the skin.

Going through the day without being enveloped in a beautiful fragrance is as unthinkable as having no music, no coffee and god forbid… no food – that’s how seriously I take my obsession with scent. Smell is one of the most powerful of the senses and has the ability to directly impact your mood & emotional wellbeing, stimulating our emotions and awakening our senses. Once in a blue moon, a new brand comes along that blows me away with sophistication, effectiveness, a great price point, fantastic brand philosophy and overall sheer beauty. Acorelle Organic Eau de Parfum is one such line. Made by a French fragrance house who know what a fine fragrance is, there isn’t a single note lavender, patchouli or rose among this gorgeous collection. Instead what you’ll find are scents that have depth, flair, unique personality, and that meld into your skin for an olfactory experience that’s simply blissful and beautiful – not to mention good for you & good for the planet.

After 4yrs of exploring, critiquing and lauding the modern world of green, Treehugger decided it was high time to put their heads together to nominate, debate and select what they believe to be the best-of-the-best when it comes to today’s environmentalism - dubbed the ‘First Annual Best Of Green Awards. Once the many hours of discussion amongst the massive brainpower of a group of roughly 50 writers from 5 continents concluded, it was declared that in the Fashion & Beauty Category, Futurenatural is the ‘Best Online Beauty Shop’!! Treehugger has always been at the forefront of helping to bring sustainability to the masses and promoting green as mainstream. For Futurenatural to be recognized as the Best Online Beauty Shop by TH & their global team is a HUGE honor.

You may not immediately see the effects of overexposure to the sun. According to scientific studies, the skin actually keeps burning long after your sun exposure has ceased, and in case you forget to cover up and apply sunscreen, the resulting sunburn can be painful as well as dangerous. It may actually take up to 24 hours before the full damage is visible but first-degree sunburns cause redness and will heal, [...]

Real is better is generally considered the maxim when it comes to most things, however there is one time in life where faking it is positively au courant – when deciding to get your tan from a bottle, not the sun.

There will always be those among us who haven’t been able to resist the urge to lie around drenched in Tropical Sun or Coconut Oil, relishing the deepening of our skin color as our skin fries (me among them over the years!), and blithely ignoring the vast accumulation of sun damage facts well documented. However, as the greatest cause of aging on the planet and the dangers of melanoma an increasing reality, you have to ask yourself; is all that pain really worth it, or is it better to just slather from a bottle & skip the collateral damage?