Green Options

Remember when eye shadow was fun?  It’s usually the first item girls grab when they start to play with make up.  The unabashed brightness swathed across their lids. 

But as we mature this teenage beauty staple often falls by the wayside.  Desire for a more “natural” look, a two- (or three-) in-one product or (usually) less time for primping all contribute to our displacement of this lid adornment. 

After not using eye shadow in years, a set came across my desk recently.  Even back when I did use shadow it was usually a light tannish, brown color not that far off from the natural color of lids.  This duo from Lavera came with a white shade and (here’s the fun part) a dark charcoal color.  The deep, sultriness of it was so super tempting that I could not wait to test it out.  Envisioning Angelina Jolie in Wanted I rounded up my brushes, sponges and assortment of applicators and plunged in.  My first attempt (done, thankfully, preshower) ended up a bit addict-y.  Not what I’m trying to represent.

After more experimentation I ended up with some cool results.  Here they are:

Terri Bly, green beauty expert and president of The Nature of Beauty, lists and dispels 3 common myths regarding natural and organic beauty products: That you can’t get vibrant colors from natural makeup, that natural and organic skin care doesn’t work as well as the commercial variety, and that organic beauty products are too expensive.

The Nature of Beauty is throwing it’s annual store wide* New Year’s Eve Sale! Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to receive 15% off your favorite brands that rarely go on sale- rms beauty, Rare Elements, Dr. Alkaitis, Revolution Organics, Couleur Caramel and more!

Terri Bly, green beauty maven and president of The Nature of Beauty, offers some suggestions for prioritizing purchases when switching from commercial to non-toxic beauty products.

Terri Bly, president of The Nature of Beauty and regular contributor to Feelgood Style, presents the third installment of The Emerald Awards, bringing you the absolutely best in truly natural beauty products, as voted on by a panel of green beauty experts.

The time has come.  The wait is over.  The brand-new, highly anticipated, hottest beauty glossy to hit newsstands is green and it’s gorgeous!

Natural and organic beauty is no longer a niche industry. It has and continues to flood conventional markets as consumers ask more questions than ever about product safety and purity. The rapid increase in organic beauty sales is due, in part, to consumer awareness of hazards in their synthetic and toxic counterparts. Higher standards have become prevalent even for the average consumer thanks to mainstream media spotlights on lead in lipstick, estrogen-mimicking parabens and BPA in plastics.

Though it may not seem like an ideal time to launch anything in our current economic state, there may not be a more perfect time than now for Organic Beauty.

What has 22 uses wrapped into one eco-friendly package? The revolutionary body balm stick ($28) from Revolution Organics is a multi-purpose, travel friendly product that resembles a large tube of chapstick but has the ability to soften lines, soothe chapped lips, tame unruly eyebrows and fly aways and even nourish your cuticles.

Making it’s debut at the All Things Organic Expo comes Revolution Organics, a brand new USDA Certified Organic skin/body line fresh out of Canada. “We really wanted to make our products look chic while still maintaining the highest level of organic integrity” says Co-Founder, Melissa Shabinsky. All plastic containers are recyclable and the packaging is made from post consumer recycled content. Their first products including a 22+ uses All Over Body Balm, Skin Creme and Lip Balm are scheduled to launch on Beauty.com October 1st. And that’s not all! Plans to roll out a color collection as well as a bath and body line are in the works and expected to be available later this year through early ‘09.