Welcome to the third installment of Feelgood Style’s own best of green beauty awards. As always, I’m your host, Terri Bly, and today we will be presenting the awards for Best Natural Lipstick and Best Natural Lipgloss. A quick reminder for those of you just tuning in: The products considered for these awards are the the safest and most natural on the market. Unlike many other green beauty awards, every product you’ll find here is completely free of petroleum-based chemicals, parabens, and other potentially harmful chemicals, are are at least 98% (and often 99-100%) natural. Our panelists are beauty experts who use mostly or only natural beauty products.

And now, on with the show.

As you get ready for a summer weekend filled with fun, I want to leave you with our expert panel’s picks for Best Natural Lipstick and Best Natural Lipgloss. If you are hesitant to go green with your makeup, or don’t know where to start, taking the chemicals out of your lip products is a great first step; not only because you eat your lipstick (over 4 lbs in a lifetime), but because lipstick and lipgloss contain some of the worst chemicals on the market. Why risk eating lead and plastic when there are literally hundreds of amazing choices that are safe, natural, moisturizing AND beautiful?

Our beauty experts had no difficulty whatsoever sending in their votes, but no single brand floated to the top. Which is great news for you, because each category will consequently have several winners, giving you a number of brilliant lippies to choose from when you’re out (or online) shopping!

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Moments after sitting down in Rose Marie Swift’s very hip Manhattan loft, she surveyed my face, declared my blush was in need of an update, deftly pulled out one of her new lip2cheek stains, and within seconds I was sporting a healthy, rosy glow that looked natural and, if I do say so myself, quite lovely. By the time I left 60 delightful minutes later, Ms. Swift had given my eyes and lips similar transformations, and I strutted through Union Square looking and feeling like I had just received a makeover by one of America’s top makeup artists.

When the products arrived at my shop in St. Paul, however, I stared at them a bit helplessly and wondered just how I, a mere clinical-pschologist-turned-business-owner, could possibly recreate that same look with these cream-based blushes and shadows that were so different from the pressed powder variety I had used my whole life.

So I called Jessa Blades, a Manhattan-based makeup artist who worked alongside Rose Marie during Fashion Week and uses only natural cosmetics on her clientele (you can read all about Jessa here). She graciously offered some invaluable tips for getting the most out of rms beauty’s truly stunning color collection.

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Its safe to say most of us are cluching our wallets tighter these days and for those of us who refuse to compromise quality and purity in our beauty products despite these economic times, there is hope!  Follow one or all of these tips below to avoid falling victim to cheap and toxic beauty buys in the name of saving a buck.  

1). Open Your Cupboard

Keep it simple and affordable by getting back to the basics.  Know exactly what you’re putting on your skin and you’ll save some dough in the process:

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“After many years in the fashion and makeup industry, I’ve learned a lot about the impact of daily exposure to chemicals in beauty care products.  I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t live up to its promises.  I see the results of taking a quick-fix approach to looking good.  I know first-hand the price our health can pay in the pursuit of beauty.  I realized that what women need is a cosmetics line that is as pure as possible, one that creates a solid foundation for anti-aging and long-term beauty.”

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Top celeb NY makeup artist, Rose-Marie Swift works in the fashion industry on photo shoots for VOGUE, W Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and most recently at LaCoste RTW Spring ‘09 Fashion Show where she used her own, absolutely brand new line of organic cosmetics.  She knows beauty and the dangers of toxic beauty products and how they can greatly effect health.  After years of exposure to conventional products, her health began to drastically decline.  She started to lose her hair and memory and begun having panic attacks.  After having lab tests done she was asked “Do you work in the cosmetics industry?”  She had toxic levels of heavy metals, lead, cadmium, aluminum, barium and mercury; along with high levels of pesticides and other chemicals.  The lab technician said “I can’t believe you’re even walking around!”

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