Green Options » green beauty

Sustainable Youth Skincare :: Facelift In A Bottle?

Emma Pezzack — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:47:10 +0000

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.

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Project Green Prom :: Win A Trip To NYC, Green Makeover, Eco-Prom Dress & More!

Emma Pezzack — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:19:47 +0000

Oh the excitement of prom season! Selecting the dress, practicing makeup techniques, reserving a corsage, hiring a limo with your GF’s, mani/pedi… who doesn’t want to be princess for a day! With so many choices to make, thinking about the environment & being healthy amongst all the distraction might not automatically be a high priority, but Teens Turning Green & Whole Foods are joining forces to prove just how easy (and stylish), it is to make thoughtful, earth friendly decisions around prom season. The program, called Project Green Prom, is launching with a fun, online video contest for high school juniors & seniors. All you have to do is post your most creative & fabulous three-minute video that answers the question, “How would you green your prom?” Submit between now & March 30th via

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Cashmere Soft 3-In-1 Cleansing :: Kaia Bamboo Facial Cloths.

Emma Pezzack — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:24:00 +0000

Kaia Bamboo Facial Cleansing Cloths are a brilliant, 3-in-1 quick cleansing solution that removes all traces of makeup, daily grime & buildup. Inspired by a sustainable clothing designer, not only is bamboo cashmere soft to touch making it perfect for sensitive skins & eye makeup removal, it is naturally antimicrobial and antifungal, requiring no pesticides to grow. Formulated to bring convenience to our lives with essentially three products in one cloth, these are great for eye makeup removal, facial cleansing & toning. Infused with 8 pure citrus essential oils, organic Canadian honey, sunflower seed oil, oat amino acids, and fatty alcohol that won’t dry skin. Leaves skin feeling velvety soft, non-irritated, no sticky residue & no need to rinse with water. Made from 100% sustainable bamboo, Kaia Facial Cleansing Cloths are natural, non-harmful, unbleached, biodegradable and recyclable. The container snaps shut to keep the cloths fresh & ready for use, anywhere & anytime you need them. At only $18 for a pack of 30, toss out those MAC wipes & go for the healthy version instead! Available exclusively at www.futurenatural.com: the best organic beauty products in the world.

Pomegranate and Chocolate Love Kit from Shea Terra: A Green Gift with Heart

Wenona Napolitano — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:35:46 +0000

Looking for the perfect green gift for Valentine’s Day, a birthday, or perhaps an upcoming anniversary? The eco-goddess in your life may love Shea Terra’s Pomegranate and Chocolate Love Kit. This delightful in the pink love kit contains three bath and body products containing organic shea butter, pomegranate oil, and fair trade African herbs and oils and scented with the sweet fragrance of natural pink guava. To play into every girl’s chocolate cravings the kit also contains a box of fair trade dark chocolate or milk chocolate hearts. Hmmm…yummy. And the whole kit is packaged in a pretty pink handmade sinamay bag that can be reused.

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Organic Beauty View Giveaway :: Who Wants To Be Enbrightened?

Emma Pezzack — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:51:22 +0000

As a sun worshipper many years ago, who giddily slapped on coconut oil and eagerly awaited the burn I’d get after hours of baking, I’m now suffering the effects of too much exposure. The greatest cause of skin damage including premature aging, discoloration, fine lines, pigmentation, is the sun. Period. Free-radicals are formed with over exposure which run rampant, cause havoc and breakdown the very structure of skin, which leads to all of the above. Ah, if only I’d listened to my mother admonishing my bad sun habits! Too late for hindsight, but not too late for some enlightenment. Aveda are about to release a new skincare line called Enbrightenment, an entire line containing a plant-powered, skin brightening blend.

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Nylon Magazine Declares Futurenatural Their :: “Favorite New Store”.

Emma Pezzack — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:48:28 +0000

Futurenatural have been featured before on Feelgood Style and I couldn’t agree more with the peeps over at Nylon Magazine. Here’s some scoop in case you haven’t yet heard of Futurenatural and some reasons why Nylon got all starry-eyed, saying “Our new favorite store let’s you be an Earth angel. How much time can you really spend in Sephora sifting through beauty labels? How much stuff should you trash to be “eco friendly? It’s a tough situation, but we’ve found something to make it easier: Futurenatural, a modern organic beauty boutique.”

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The Seven Best :: Classic Red Lipsticks For The Perfect Pout.

Emma Pezzack — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:48:54 +0000

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 as I do that finding the perfect shade is about as elusive as getting your hands on a sample from a designers collection, six months ahead of time. Near impossible. Sure, there are loads of reds if you don’t mind slathering your pout with petrochemicals & parabens and ingesting all that toxicity, but for you discerning ecoista out there who are savvy enough to know better, here’s my lineup of the best, classic, modern, fresh, organic & natural reds. Writer :: Emma Pezzack - www.futurenatural.com: the best organic beauty products in the world.

Dr Haushcka - Intense Garnet : www.drhauschka.com
Bare Essentials - Red Delicious : www.storebareescentuals.com
Sukicolor - Dahlia : www.futurenatural.com
Afterglow - Kiss : www.afterglowcosmetics.com
Jane Iredale - Carrie : www.janeiredale.com
Honeybee Gardens - Desire : www.honeybeegardens.com
Josie Maran - Devious : www.josiemarancosmetics.com

Image Credit: Ed Geller/GLOBE

Book Review: The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Gabriel

Terri Bly — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:48:44 +0000

As interest in the world of natural beauty products grows, so do the number of books written on the subject. The latest is The Green Beauty Guide, by nutritionist and beauty writer Julie Gabriel. This back-to-basics guide will help you navigate the world of “natural” beauty and, like so many of its peers, gives you a list of ingredients to avoid as well as the latest research on what’s not to love about them. Unlike most other books in the same category, The Green Beauty Guide also gives you a better understanding of what types of ingredients are necessary to create, for example, a standard body lotion. Even better, Garbiel offers a number of recipes for those of you who find yourselves inspired to create your own scrubs, masks, massage oils, and lotions. Personally, I’ve never been one to try making my own toiletries. If I’m going to make a mess in the kitchen, I want to eat the outcome; everything else just sounds like work. That being said, I have to admit that after reading this book, I briefly considered giving it a try. If any of you have given it a whirl, I’d love to hear how it went! For those of us who prefer to leave the cleansing of our skin to the professionals, she recommends several widely available, safe and natural products from the likes of Dr. Hauschka, Aubrey Organics, and Burt’s Bees.

Which brings me to my only critique:

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Handmade Soaps: Health and Happiness for You and the Environment

Gennefer Snowfield — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:46:02 +0000

With green living, homeopathy and natural alternatives growing in popularity, soap makers are springing up around the world, concocting magical creations of coconut and lime in gleaming, glycerin-infused goodness that cleanse the body, mind and soul.

Oh, and your hands too!

Growing up in my house, ‘handmade’ soap consisted of my mother gathering up all the remaining bits of bar soap from the shower and bathtubs, tossing them into a container with some water and shaking it up. “Voila, hand soap!” she would state proudly. But her objectives were to save money, not create a luxurious lather to soothe and soften the skin. And, trust me, an acrid amalgum of Dial and Irish Spring was anything but soothing!

But today’s handmade soaps are a beneficial blend of nourishing nutrients, rich with essential oils and alleviating aromatherapy that care for the skin and calm the senses. And because they’re chemical-free, they’re an eco-friendly alternative to their caustic counterparts, making them a great way to indulge yourself and the earth.

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OBV :: A World First In Biodegradable Beauty Packaging.

Emma Pezzack — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:27:39 +0000

I’ve been waiting (patiently and not so patiently) to see how long it would take for truly biodegradable packaging to hit the markets. Sure the market has been working on bioplastic polymers for sometime but there are still issues with heat & cold tolerances that make usage limited. Enter Organic Essence! This is truly the ultimate in green packaging; using recycled paper pulp, soy inks, organic adhesive and even organic glaze on the outer surface. While the jars are not exactly my cup of tea in terms of design, I’m giving these guys major kudos for developing what is sure to revolutionize the way our organic & natural beauty products are bottled.

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Organic Fragrance Mists :: A Bottle Of Olfactory Bliss.

Emma Pezzack — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:58:25 +0000

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.

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Aveda Pops Open The Lid On Recycling.

Emma Pezzack — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:33:32 +0000

Having led the way for many years with their approach to packaging, fair-trade and sustainable ingredients, this latest initiative from Aveda is yet another feather in the cap of this savvy green beauty brand.

Named the ‘Recycle Caps’ program, they’re collecting all hard, plastic bottle caps (from personal care products, household products, you name it), which are then being recyled into new caps, containers and bottles. Some of what they’ve already collected is being made into their limited retro edition Clove Shampoo that will be out in September with the bottle containing 96% post-consumer recycled content. The caps can be dropped off at any of their stores, beauty salons or participating schools.

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Organic Beauty View - A Blog For Your Green Style Needs

Reenita Malhotra — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:39:03 +0000

Do you have a desire to find new and interesting organic and natural beauty products but have no idea where to start? Or do you like keep up to the minute with the latest, hottest, best arrivals on the scene?

Organic Beauty Products Are A-Plenty: How Do You Pick and Choose?

There was a time, not so long ago when looking for organic beauty products was a fairly easy exercise because they few and far between. Until fairly recently it was the norm to create products with chemical preservatives and artificial additives a plenty, the odd organic beauty product was typically high profile making it easy to identify. Today things have changed: practically every beauty product on the market contains some organic ingredients. How do you even begin to pick and choose where to go?

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This Works :: Modern, Natural Skincare by Vogue Beauty Director.

Emma Pezzack — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:58:47 +0000

Named this works because that’s what testers constantly said of the products, this line is described as ‘a survival kit for those suffering modern malaises’. Conceived and created by Kathy Phillips, formerly Health & Beauty Director for Vogue and now International Beauty Director for Conde Nast Asia (think W Magazine, Vogue, Allure etc..), this award winning line has some of the coolest packaging I’ve seen in the beauty industry for a while, not to mention cutting-edge formulation. What really gets me excited though are the all natural formulations developed around aromatherapy principles, their environmentally responsible business practices, knowing that the products are mostly organic using certified and fair trade essential oils, and that the products contain no suspect ingredients.

I’m constantly on a quest to find the most spectacular organic and natural beauty brands at the cutting-edge and forefront of this industry, and I think I just discovered my latest obsession. This rocks!! Yep, This Works. Writer :: Emma Pezzack - www.futurenatural.com: the best organic beauty products in the world.

Photo credit: This Works website - www.thisworks.com

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