Green Options

Environmental activist, green advocate, model, scientist & gorgeous girl-about-the-green-scene, Summer Rayne Oakes is about to launch her first book titled ‘Style, Naturally’. Touted as a savvy shopping guide to sustainable shopping & beauty, the book will be available at all major locations like Amazon.com, Borders and Barnes & Noble, but also [...]

For girls who love makeup, the perfect red lipstick is as essential as air, water, fashion. Red has graced some of the sexiest lips around and it’s actually a very forgiving color for anyone to wear if you find the right shade. Gwen Stefani always rocks the perfect pout. Problem is, if you’ve ever mounted a search to find what should be a ubiquitous item - you’ll know as well [...]

For all you ecoista out there, the new issue of Coco Eco Magazine has upped the ante with a slick new look and loads of content. Hot on the heels of the major glossies such as Elle, Allure, Harpers et al, Coco Eco is set to firmly plant their position in the world of magazines that combine style, with substance. While this is only the second issue, it’s clear the magazine has increasingly modern, forward thinking, savvy & current editorial content. In this latest issue they cover everything from fashion, in ‘Haute Holiday Looks’, to an ‘Eco Chic Gift Giving Guide’ with contributions from Zem Joaquim (of Ecofabulous fame), and Rachel Sarnoff (EcoStiletto Founder). Louise Roe, gorgeous & green journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in the US, is featured on the cover & profiled inside. The beauty section is full of ‘Party Looks’, ‘Winter Face Savers’ & some of the coolest beauty products plus where to buy them.

I recently watched a video on Ecostiletto featuring Rachel Sarnoff & Josie Maran dishing on this mascara - in fact, not just chatting about its accolades but actually giving it the onion test. That’s right… the onion test. Translation: taking an everyday onion and chopping it with your eyes wide open. Unless you’re wearing safety goggles or have your eyes shut, this will usually produce streaming tears in the most hardened among us. The conventional mascara was a washout. Josie Maran’s mascara… not a smidge of mascara anywhere except on her lashes!

Before being ‘green’ became fashionable, and terms like ‘eco-chic’ were coined, being environmentally conscious was synonymous with words like ‘granola’ and ‘treehugger,’ generalizing the eco-conscious crowd as a free-spirited-Birkenstock-wearing-Grateful-Dead-loving bunch of Liberal hippies chanting ‘Peace, man.’

But being green has definitely gone mainstream, and from celebs like Julia Louis-Dreyfus with her lavish, multi-million dollar solar-powered home, to Pierce Brosnan, aptly named the ‘Best Dressed Environmentalist’ by the Sustainable Style Foundation, the stereotype of the gritty, unkempt nature wanderer that once dominated the category no longer applies.

Recently, MSN posted a list of the ‘Top 14 Green Celebrities,’ which contained some long-time environmental advocates and a few surprising new additions, all echoing a commitment to championing this important cause through various initiatives like Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary film about global warming, the 11th Hour, featuring interviews with green leaders and a companion website where everyone can sign up to take action in their local communities, and George Clooney’s Oil Change, a campaign aimed at ending America’s independence on oil.  

Coco Eco Magazine is about to officially launch and how do I know? Yours truly has been named Beauty Director! I’m beyond excited that finally there is a magazine for the savvy ecoista among us that has substance, style and and walks its talk. While there have been a steady release of ‘eco-magazines’ on the green scene of late (Positively Green, Boho, et al) this is the first time I’ve seen something that truly lives up to the moniker. Everything about this magazine has been considered with deep thought and well-conceived insight with regard to the environment, our health, and wellbeing, but what I especially love is that it also caters to my inner organic glamazon, responsible hedonist and eco-fashionista!

NY Fashion Week kicked off in eco-sartorial style last night with the Be EcoChic event, held at the incredible American Museum Natural History. Hosted by uber model and eco-activist Angela Lindvall (wearing bright green re-purposed DKNY - cut short to show off her endless gams), the roster of brands made for some diverse mixology on the runway. Well known eco-designers such as Debra Lindquist (who has dressed celebs like Gwen Stefani, Demi Moore, Paris Hilton & Charlize Theron), Loomstate (Rogan Gregory), Del Forte and more, rubbed shoulder pads and bamboo fabrics with brands like DKNY, Levi’s, Nicole Miller et al. Celebrity walkers included Tamara Feldman (Gossip Girl), Dominique Swain (Alpha Dog, Lolita, Face Off), MTV VJ Coltrane Curtis, with appearances by the eternally chic & gorgeous-at-sixty-something Lauren Hutton.

Made with sustainably farmed ingredients grown exlusively in Hawaii, these Malie Organic Aroma Mists are to-die-for. The scents are all steam-distilled directly from indigenous plants and flowers to produce a hydrosol that is the very essence of the source. Plumeria smells exactly like burying your face in a franjipani bloom; the coconut is fresh; the vanilla is local and indigenous; mango nectar smells juicy and freshly peeled; Koke’e is straight out of the rain forest. Because the mists don’t contain any of the chemical binders that make the scent last a long time on your skin, you do have to spray more often. Small price to pay if you think about it for not spritzing yourself with endocrine disruptors and petrochemicals. Designed for use around the home, for freshening linens, and you. The best thing about them? You can spray liberally and often … DELICIOUS.

The girls over at Organic Beauty View have just previewed the official launch of the latest makeup collection from Aveda. Shown here are three hot new looks from the Uruku Makeup Collection. New formulas, new shades and all 100% color from the earth. Aveda has collaborated with the Yawanawa people in the Amazon to organically & sustainably grow urukum and annatto - two rich color pigments used by the tribes for faces, eyes and lips. With a product lineup that includes sheer moisturizing lipsticks, long-wearing crease resistant eye colors, cheek & lip glow, eye & lip liners there are no excuses for not rocking your inner organic glamazon! Get the look now. Writer :: Emma Pezzack - www.futurenatural.com: the best organic beauty products in the world.

Image credit: Aveda Website - Uruku Collection

Smart, safe, stylish and in sassy Summer shades!

We all want gorgeous, polished looking nails but at what cost? The average nail polish is basically nothing more than a refined version of automobile paint. Yes they make your nails look gorgeous, but they contain a hefty amount of known, dangerous toxins (dibutyl phthalate, toluene, formaldehyde) that can stay in your system and generate internal toxicity. Not entirely free of chemicals, at least using [...]

The New York Times reviews eco-beauty in a special feature called Green Goddess! They have gone out of their way to do some “off the grid” style research this season. Now the online mag has decided to offer some great spa finds they call Clean Breaks featuring:

1. The Organic Pharmacy, London- Offers a wide range of herbal, homeopathic remedies, as well as in-house treatments. Rose Crystal Lymphatic Facial, starts with lavender-infused breathing exercises.
2. Natural Body Spa and Shoppe, Southern and mid-Atlantic states- At one of the first green chains in America, now you can drop off your old BlackBerry for recycling before enjoying a treatment!