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You may be wondering what chocolate has to do with beauty and fashion. It’s simple: Even the most gorgeous makeover and hottest fashion-forward ensemble won’t look right if you’re all frowny. You’ll also get those pesky little lines between your eyebrows. So what better to turn that frown upside down than an adorable little tin jam packed with adorable, dark chocolate-covered cacao niblets?!

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The cold and flu season is upon us, and when it hits home, it’s hard to imagine anything that makes a girl feel less attractive than puffy eyes and…ok, I’ll just say it…snot dripping down her face. So when I was attacked by a particularly kleenex-intensive virus, I was desperate for a little luxury, something to soothe the sinuses and provide a bit of pampering. In the midst of my misery, I reached for my Kaeline Hammam Savon Noir exfoliating paste while in the shower. It contains only a few ingredients, of which Eucalyptus Globulus is a big one. I figured if Eucalyptus was good enough for the vapour rub my mom rubbed on my chest when I was a kid, this 100% natural body soap may do more than exfoliate, soothe, and refresh my skin.   

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When veteran celebrity makeup artist Christy Coleman decided to toss her top of the line makeup kit and use nothing but natural cosmetics on her clientele, she had no idea what would happen next. It was a risk, to be sure, showing up without the typical high-end makeup brands here clientele were used to. Furthermore, she had no book to peddle, no Makeup by Christy Coleman line to sell; she was doing this solely because she believed shunning the toxic chemicals in commercial cosmetics was the right thing to do.

But quietly swapping out her professional kit seemed insufficient, and thus Coleman created ChristyColeman.com to educate everyday consumers about the best natural and organic makeup and skin care products on the market.

Still, it wasn’t enough. She was consistently achieving gorgeous, high-fashion looks with nothing but natural products (click here to see her “natural portfolio”), something her peers thought was impossible. She knew she could make a bigger impact on the mainstream industry. So ChristyColeman.com underwent an extreme makeover.

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Now they’ve taken their business to the Internet, with well-known staples like Patagonia, as well as smaller, lesser-known brands such as Aventura and Indigenous Designs. Best of all, they are offering FeelgoodStyle readers 20% your entire order! To help you get started on your shopping spree, I thought I’d point out a few of my favorite things:

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But don’t get glum, chum! Cleaning up your wardrobe doesn’t have to mean replacing your funky tops or flirty skirts with half a dozen beige t-shirts and drab, shapeless dresses. The proof - if you need it - can be found at Ecouterre, the new online magazine from Inhabitat founder Jill Farhrenbacher.

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This year’s edition of US Hair, published by US Weekly Magazine, included a one-page feature on natural hair care, based on an interview with one cosmetic chemist. My initial optimism was quickly snuffed out when I read that apparently my hair was dirty, because I needed synthetic cleansers - specifically, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate - to effectively cleanse the mop. Say what now?

To be sure, these misconceptions aren’t limited to one magazine, making it that much more important to dispell these urban legends whenever possible. So after running my fingers through my hair to make sure I hadn’t been sporting dirty tresses for the last year (my head felt quite clean, I’m pleased to report), I called Wil Baker, co-founder of the award-winning Max Green Alchemy line of natural hair care, to see if perhaps he could help set the record straight.

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Let’s say you’re new to the whole eco-friendlier beauty thing. You finished reading Not Just A Pretty Face, and are motivated to chuck your leaded lipstick, plasticized foundation and petroleum-packed moisture cream with plans to replace them all with gorgeously green glamour.

And then you start shopping, and quickly get overwhelmed. Where to start? What to buy? How to prioritize? How to make it happen while still having enough money to eat?

As with pretty much everything I do, my approach to greening my beauty kit was fairly melodramatic; in short, I spent outrageous amounts of money replacing everything all at once. I do not necessarily endorse this strategy, and neither does my credit card statement, so if you are saner than I am and want to pace yourself as you green your makeup bag, here are a few tips to help you prioritize your purchases:

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It began with a leading cosmetic formulation company; one of those behind-the-scenes groups we never hear about, but who are responsible for realizing the dreams of makeup artists, models, and aspiring beauty moguls. Having spent the last 30 years pioneering natural and organic cosmetic technology, they decided it was time to come out from behind the curtain and create their own brand. What they needed was a beauty expert to partner with them, assist in the brand’s development, and represent it to the public.

Enter Eric Sakas, veteran makeup artist and long-time friend and colleague of Kevin Aucoin. He, too, had dreamed of creating a makeup line that successfully combined both glamour and health. Fate let him to Vapour Organic Beauty, where both a partnership and a complete line of 100% natural color cosmetics were born.

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Business Travel. Nothing about it implies fashionable or fun. For me, it has always meant carting around either a drab grey laptop backpack for long trips or my utilitarian, generic black laptop-friendly briefcase for shorter stints. Sexy.

So when these new Laptop bags from Minneapolis-based Urban Junket arrived at our Ecotique/Nature of Beauty shop yesterday, my heart did a little dance of joy. Dost mine eyes deceive me? Could someone have actually designed a laptop bag that is sturdy, stylish and eco-friendly?! I rubbed my eyes to make sure the sleek black bag wasn’t just a sleep-deprived hallucination, and when I opened them again, Emily was pulling out the same bag but in a gorgeous ruby red. I quickly shoved her aside and grabbed the red bag like I was at one of those designer wedding dress sample sales you hear about, and took off, shouting “Mine! Mine!”

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In the early 1990’s, film and television product Jane Iredale was increasingly disturbed by the damage chemical-based makeup was doing to her actresses, most of whom had little choice but to wear massive amounts of it on a daily basis. Despite having no background in cosmetics, Iredale set out to create a professional-quality base to replace the pore-suffocating foundations that were de rigueur in Hollywood. Her solution? A little known concept called mineral foundation.

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Last year, when deciding which skin care lines to offer at Natureofbeauty.com, I wanted a selection of high quality products for every budget. In a perfect world we could all use ethically- and sustainably-sourced organic skin care. The reality is that doing so would burn a big hole in most people’s budgets. The next best thing, I determined, was to go with a BDIH-certified line of natural beauty products.

Why BDIH certified? Because in a world where “natural” has no meaning, buying BDIH is really one of the few ways of knowing the products have met a high standard for natural and naturally-derived ingredients. Every ingredient in a BDIH-certified product has to have been demonstrated safe, the list of allowed synthetics is teeny-tiny (and again, must be proven safe), no animal testing is allowed at any stage of production, and the company must meet high standards for ethical and responsible sourcing and manufacturing. Batches are randomly tested to assure against contamination, and all fragrance must come exclusively from essentail oils.

The most well-known BDIH-certified brand is Dr. Hauchka, followed by Lavera, both based in Germany. As their celebrity has increased here in the U.S., so have their prices. Logona, also German (founded in 1977), has never invested much in the American market. Their reputation in Europe, however, is strong and the products are sold alongside their German peers. Here in the U.S., Logona’s neglect is your gain. We can get skin care, hair care, and makeup that is of the same quality as the more expensive German brands, but pay much less for them.

Of course, because you don’t hear much about it in the American press, it’s easy to overlook Logona’s vast selection. So I thought I would point out some of what I have found to be their most extraordinary products that are now available at disproportionately low prices.

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I had my first child in August of 2003. Although that was a mere 6 years ago, no one was talking about the safety of baby products, synthetic fragrances, petroleum-based oils or parabens. How fortunate for new mothers and moms-to-be that so much has changed in just a few years! I can now say I’ve tried almost a dozen natural and organic baby products, and many of them are simply amazing. My current favorite in the pack is Erbaorganics, a 100% natural, nearly 100% organic affordable line of skin care for mother and baby.

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I love self-tanner; since 1992, self-tanner is what has stood between me and legs the color of ivory pillars. Fortunately, when I choose to get a little lotion-induced color, I now have a number of natural options to choose from. That being said, even the most natural of self-tanners has a few highly processed, if not downright synthetic, ingredients. More importantly, recent research suggests that the chemical reaction that happens when the active ingredient in self-tanners makes contact with the skin actually increases your risk of free radical damage for the first 24 hours after application. While I’m not too concerned my legs, since they don’t spend a ton of time in the sun anyway, I’m more inclined to find other options for my face. Plus, I get lazy sometimes and neglect to put the stuff on my face. That’s where natural, mineral-based bronzers come in.

When the right one is applied in the right places, bronzer will make your face look as sun-kissed as if you just spent the day at the beach. You can even apply it to the décolleté and shoulders in the evening for a warm, sexy glow. Here are a few of the best all-natural bronzers I have found thus far. Find one that is perfect for you, and you’ll never leave home without it.

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As consumer demand grows for safe beauty products, marketing departments get better at making their products sound less synthetic without actually delivering the green goods. As a result, rather than increased transparency, we get layer after layer of…er…let’s called it mud. The typical advice is to read labels. I don’t know about you, but for me that can feel like a full time job. In chemistry. Without a degree. I’ve found other ways to detect the washing of the green, and thought I’d pass along what I have learned.

1) Are the ingredients clearly displayed on the label?

If the answer to this first question is a no, you’ve almost certainly happened upon a company engaged in greenwashing. When ingredients are hidden, it almost always means there is something in that list they want to hide. A great example is Victoria’s Secret’s Pink body care line, the contents of which are hidden beneath a white sticker with a nondescript black arrow, discretely placed underneath the bottle. The ingredients are not anywhere on the website, another bad sign (see Tip #4). A brand promoting a natural line that is indeed organic and/or natural will proudly display their ingredients where a consumer can easily find them.

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I like to think I’m not the only woman who kept an eye and ear on constant alert for the various Bonus Time events at the cosmetic department of Macy’s (and Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, you get the idea). Like a July mosquito to the bug zapper, I was drawn in each and every time to the big sign displaying the funky little cosmetic bag next to little tubes of lipstick and other novelties. It didn’t matter that I already had 42 bags containing half-used eye makeup remover from previous Bonus Time affairs; if it was happening, I immediately felt compelled to participate.

So it’s really no surprise that I created one for The Nature of Beauty. As they say, once an addict….But I wanted to make this one a bit more meaningful, to give me and you a legitimate excuse to get excited about this particular Bonus Time.

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While the debate rages on as to whether or not you can get the same “performance” from organic and natural makeup as you can from synthetics, the jury has rendered their verdict when it comes to hair care: Long gone are the days when natural shampoos left hair feeling stringy, and their conditioning counterparts produced dry, heavy locks. Top brands are using organic ingredients that nourish and heal the hair, rather than relying on silicones to coat strands and create false shine. In other words, when using the best natural and organic hair care products, your hair not only looks healthier, it actually is healthier.

Our panelists received a long list of natural serums, shampoos, and conditioners to choose from. Most are composed primarily of organic ingredients, and all are absent of harsh detergenets, synthetic fragrance, parabens, silicones, and petrochemicals. Although it was clear many hair care brands have won the hearts of our green beauty experts, a few managed to rise to the top.

Behold, the Emerald Awards for best natural hair treatment, shampoo, and conditioner:

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Recently, I wrote about Sephora’s questionable marketing practices when it comes to their “Naturally Gorgeous” standard, and gave Cargo’s PlantLove Lipsticks, which were listed as containing parabens even though the product page said they were free of them. I am pleased and actually quite relieved to say that Cargo has contacted me with an updated list of their ingredients, and they are apparently working with Sephora to change that information on the website. So here is the new ingredients list. Now if ALL of the other brands bearing the Naturally Gorgeous seal would reveal that they, too, are free of the nasty chemicals listed in their products, too…..

Anyway, thank you, Cargo, for the clarification!

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Before presenting the Emeral Awards for Best Natural Shampoo, Conditioner, and Hair Treatment tomorrow, I would like to deliver a brief public service announcement.

As you may have noticed, few of the products mentioned in the Emerald Awards series have also won best of green awards in the major newsstand magazines. Those products are primarily sold at Sephora and carry this retailer’s own “natural seal.” Go to the website, and they will acknowledge that no universal standard exists, leading them to create their own seal because “we felt we had to take the initiative to define what natural means in terms of our environment. What is natural beauty? We have defined the term as it relates to Sephora, and products must live up to that definition to be considered natural.”

This definition of natural is, at best, a broad one. In fact, it earned Sephora the honor of being named one of the four “biggest ‘green marketing’ scams” by TerraChoice, the group behind sinsofgreenwashing.org. Beyond that, however, I found much greater concerns than their lax standards.

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Welcome to the third installment of Feelgood Style’s own best of green beauty awards. As always, I’m your host, Terri Bly, and today we will be presenting the awards for Best Natural Lipstick and Best Natural Lipgloss. A quick reminder for those of you just tuning in: The products considered for these awards are the the safest and most natural on the market. Unlike many other green beauty awards, every product you’ll find here is completely free of petroleum-based chemicals, parabens, and other potentially harmful chemicals, are are at least 98% (and often 99-100%) natural. Our panelists are beauty experts who use mostly or only natural beauty products.

And now, on with the show.

As you get ready for a summer weekend filled with fun, I want to leave you with our expert panel’s picks for Best Natural Lipstick and Best Natural Lipgloss. If you are hesitant to go green with your makeup, or don’t know where to start, taking the chemicals out of your lip products is a great first step; not only because you eat your lipstick (over 4 lbs in a lifetime), but because lipstick and lipgloss contain some of the worst chemicals on the market. Why risk eating lead and plastic when there are literally hundreds of amazing choices that are safe, natural, moisturizing AND beautiful?

Our beauty experts had no difficulty whatsoever sending in their votes, but no single brand floated to the top. Which is great news for you, because each category will consequently have several winners, giving you a number of brilliant lippies to choose from when you’re out (or online) shopping!

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