Green Options

These days there are all kinds of new products on the market claiming to be the new natural cure for all of your beauty issues. Before you spend your hard earned dollar on another new product promising to get rid of wrinkles or magically make the cellulite disappear from your backside, here’s the scoop on some natural ingredients that have been scientifically proven to work. Real Simple Magazine put together a list of some of the most useful and natural ingredients to look for in products in order to brighten up your skin and make your hair silky and shiny. Here are a few of them to be on the look out for.

From widely published author, Ms. Marjorie Moutari, comes Kazam Natural Body Care. With an increasing need for chemical free beauty products and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition and Dietics, as well as ten years of experience as a holistic nutrition and diet consultant, Ms. Moutari founded Kazam.

Being the wife of a high ranking diplomat has given her plenty of opportunites to live and travel worldwide. Some of her training in natural beauty products was received in Africa and Europe where she also lead many workshops and seminars, allowing her to give back to the communities. In Africa, she taught women how to make soaps, lotions, essential oils and perfumes. This has allowed the women to run their own businesses, earn an income for their family and gain independence. In 2008, Marjorie hed a jewelry show in which all proceeds were given to the American Cancer Society. Impressed yet? Wait until I tell you about her lotion… 

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 [...]

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.”

Two notably unsuited words to be found in the same product title, but this line of natural fake tan products from Lavera is not your average fake tan. Having spent more than my fair share of time exposed to UVA & UVB over the years (and doing my part to hold up the share price of coconut oil companies in the process), I decided years ago that’s enough! Not normally comfortable with being referred to as engaging in fake anything, this is one instance where I’m actually proud of the fact. Understanding more about the dangers of sun exposure and not being able to deny any longer that this can actually kill you, while being unwilling to be pasty white for the rest of my life, it became a mission to find the best natural fake tan. Here it is … a sunless tanning solution for all you savvy girls who are no longer sun worshippers, but don’t want to give up looking like you went to Ibiza for the long weekend!

Futurenatural is the ultimate modern-cool-stylish beauty emporium. Hailed as the new ‘Sephora’ for the savvy organic and natural set, they represent everything from cult classics to boutique lines. The product selection is perfectly edited, beautifully curated and most are thoughtfully designed to consider the environment. I’m excited because they’ve just unveiled some exciting new additions to their line-up including Baby Bear Shop (the gorgeous go-to organic brand for mama’s & babies), 100% Pure Fruit Pigment Lip Gloss (a cult fave), Yes (the first and only certified organic personal lubricant), Shobha (hair removal based on ancient indian rituals) Jimmyjane Porcelain Massage Stones, Suki Skincare-To-Go (now in handy travel or trial sizes) and more.

It’s well known how excited I get when I come across super cool design combined with products that work, and messaging that’s not just hype. Enter my latest obsession!

Face Boutique was created by some savvy, hip London girls who went searching for skincare specifically for young skin with issues, and surprise surprise … they couldn’t find any. At least none that met their mandate for a great aesthetic, divine smell, formulations that worked better than anything else out there, and most importantly contained nothing harmful. Three years in the making with a group of highly qualified experts and voila! Face Boutique was born.

Honestly, “natural” seems to be about a common a word as “green” these days and hands up who besides me is getting tired of the all the rhetoric? Being a natural brand should mean something and that’s exactly the position of Alima Pure. Not content with being ‘just another mineral makeup line, they went in search of the most rigorous and highly coveted natural certification they could find, and passed with flying colors. Being BDIH certified ensures that all the products contain only the safest natural ingredients, and are created and packaged in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Lush Cosmetics have always been ahead of the game when it comes to reducing packaging. Their line of solid shampoo bars, conditioners, body butters and soaps are freshly cut for each customer and don’t require packaging. However, they’re about to take that concept to a whole new level. In an effort to reinforce the message that we need to reduce waste through re-thinking packaging of consumer goods,  what better way to emphasize the point than to enlist your sales team to reduce their own packaging. This Wednesday, August 27th, Lush salespeople in 25 stores across America will be wearing nothing but aprons saying, “Ask me why I’m naked.” Customers are also being asked to take action and will be urged to ‘go naked’ by purchasing products with no packaging.

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.

In April, Macy’s launched their Turning Over A New Leaf campaign and this Fall they plan to expand their natural/organic beauty departments starting on the East Coast.  One line they are adding is Pangea Organics, known for their pure formulations, sustainability efforts and cool (biodegradable/compostable) packaging.  It’s such great news that the demand for organic beauty products is becoming so great that large retailers cannot ignore it, in turn making it more accessible to everyday consumers.  Macy’s is currently accepting applications for Organic Cosmetics Beauty Advisors & Organic Cosmetics Shop Managers positions in the following areas: Herald Square (NY), Philadelphia Center City (PA), Downtown Boston (MA), Roosevelt Field (NY) and Paramus Garden State Plaza (NJ).