Green Options

Desert Essence is one of my favorite organic brands, mainly because I love their coconut and vanilla chai scented products.

Now in addition to their body lotions and other wonderful bath and body products they now have something simple for your sink - organic hand wash that comes in Coconut, Vanilla Chair, Lavender, and Grapefruit scents.

Browsing through my local library’s green section I recently came across A Greener Christmas. Wow! I really wish I would have had this book at Christmas. What a great book filled with crafts and recipes to bring back the old fashioned feeling of a true Christmas, not a glitzy glammy one.

I have discovered several ideas in the book that can easily be transformed to fit Valentine’s Day so I don’t have to wait almost a whole year to put any of these nifty ideas into use.

Tired of boring reusable shopping bags that have no style, no glitz, no glamor?

Well, its-laS-tik has the solution- fun, fashionable and brightly colored bags made in New Orleans.

If you love the luxury of thick, textured handmade paper for your crafty needs then you should check out Twisted Limb Paperworks.

Whether you make cards, scrapbook or just need some scrap paper for your craft needs they have a great selection of high quality, eco-friendly handmade paper made from recycled paper.

TashiLingerie.com is a new online boutique that offers lingerie, lounge-wear, sleepwear and accessories from the lingerie brands Eberjey, Huit and OnGossamer and new labels on the rise including Clo Fortuna and Luva Huva.

Tashi features some great eco-friendly lounge pieces from Eberjey’s Eco Dream line made from 100% Organic Bamboo Jersey  and some items from Luva Huva made from Anglaise Cotton.

Stormy weather abound, the people in Haiti need healing help more than ever. The song Umbrella has been on my mind lately as it’s been rainy here in San Francisco. As I was humming the lyrics the above rose print umbrella showed up with a mission! Unique Vintage is holding an umbrella sale to lend some help to the Haitians dealing with the aftermath of last week’s earthquake.

Burbank California based vintage-inspired boutique and online store Unique Vintage is donating twenty percent of sales from their umbrella collection to the American Red Cross from now through the end of January.

Killspencer designs and makes a small line of high-quality bags in Los Angeles. Finally, something sustainable for the gents! Although, I know plenty of women who could rock these with panache.

I found out about this line via design blog Neu Black, and fell in love. Not only are the bags much sexier than your typical Cordura laptop bag, they’re made right here in Los Angeles. I am a huge fan of anything that keeps artisanal manufacturing jobs in the US. And if that’s not enough, two of the four materials they offer are dead stock and one is repurposed. Even the new material, a black waxed cotton, is made in the US, which is almost unheard of.

I had the chance to sample Dr. Dobbs‘ Tomato Complexion Soap and I have to admit I was skeptical. I thought- Tomatoes? In soap? And this is supposed to do wonders for my skin? I don’t know about all that.

And then I tried it.

I am no longer skeptical. In fact I am ordering another bar…or two, right now.

Scrap-booking is very popular. Many people have really embraced the concept of creating beautiful books filled with memories.

Personally I’ve always kinda shunned it. I found it wasteful because so much paper and useless little dodads were used, so it’s never been a “green” thing to do in my mind.

Now companies are embracing that “green” idea and want to provide materials for people who want to scrapbook while being eco-friendly.

Creatively Green is one of those companies.

Cellphones. My generation’s “must have” accessory. I have yet to jump on the iPhone bandwagon. In fact, I once dated a boy with a Blackberry and found myself resenting the phone for all it’s gadgets that consumed most of his time. (Don’t worry. I’ve since worked on my Blackberry resentment. In fact, I realized if he was more interested in his relationship with his phone he probably wasn’t much into me. Of course, I only figured this out after he dumped me. Uncomfortable silence.) I’ve always had a pretty measly cell phone with the mere basics, you know- the ability to talk to another human being. In the last couple years, I upgraded to a phone with a camera- huge milestone in my technology focused life.

So, when I realized I was up for another phone upgrade from Sprint, I got a wee bit excited, almost nervous. Dare I upgrade to a phone with Internet access? Oh me, oh my. While browsing through the possible choices my eyes gleamed, my mouth watered, the infinite possibilities of “cool” cell phones scrolled down the computer screen. Mixed feelings of taking a step to join the “hip technologically advanced kids” consumed my every thought.

“Samsung Reclaim,” an eco phone; immediately, I stopped browsing and clicked on the image of the green phone (literally) to read more.

I’ve had the chance to review a lot of natural/green bath and beauty products over the past year but none of them have compared in the long run to Indigo Wild’s Zum Goat’s Milk Soap.