Green Options » Sephora

S is for Sham: Sephora’s “Naturally Gorgeous” Standard

Terri Bly — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:43:08 +0000

Before presenting the Emeral Awards for Best Natural Shampoo, Conditioner, and Hair Treatment tomorrow, I would like to deliver a brief public service announcement.

As you may have noticed, few of the products mentioned in the Emerald Awards series have also won best of green awards in the major newsstand magazines. Those products are primarily sold at Sephora and carry this retailer’s own “natural seal.” Go to the website, and they will acknowledge that no universal standard exists, leading them to create their own seal because “we felt we had to take the initiative to define what natural means in terms of our environment. What is natural beauty? We have defined the term as it relates to Sephora, and products must live up to that definition to be considered natural.”

This definition of natural is, at best, a broad one. In fact, it earned Sephora the honor of being named one of the four “biggest ‘green marketing’ scams” by TerraChoice, the group behind sinsofgreenwashing.org. Beyond that, however, I found much greater concerns than their lax standards.

Greenwasher Exposed: Josie Maran?

Terri Bly — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:42:24 +0000

“The simple truth is that many beauty products are advertised as natural or organic when their ingredients are far from it. Many companies produce these “so-called” natural or organic products by adding a few herbal extracts to a synthetic soup of polymers (plastics), silicones, petroleum (and its derivatives), artificial fragrances and colors, and other potentially harmful substances. They then market the product by focusing on the few clean ingredients, while disregarding the rest, hoping the consumer will do the same. The public is becoming more aware of this unethical marketing strategy (often called “greenwashing”), but unfortunately the practice is still widespread.” - Kirsten Binder, Saffronrouge.com

Last week, while in New York City, I purchased Josie Maran’s Earth Day Essentials kit. I had heard so much about her line from various friends and makeup artists - not to mention numerous beauty magazine and blogs - that I wanted to experience what everyone was raving about.

While sitting in the subway train, I glanced over the ingredients of the lip gloss, intending to give that one a whirl right away. But what to my wondering eyes should appear, but POLYBUTENE as the first ingredient on the list. I’m certainly no chemist; I don’t even make my own skin care products at home (yet). Nonetheless, I had read enough to be nearly certain that polybutene was a member of the petrochemical family. I put the gloss back in my bag until I could do a little more research. To put it mildly, what I found was much worse than I anticipated.

Newsflash :: Supermodel, Actress & Raw Food Enthusiast Carol Alt To Launch “Beyond Natural And Organic” Certified Raw™ Skin & Body Care Line

Stancie Wilson — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:33:23 +0000

Gracing the covers of over 700 magazines, posters, calendars and videos, Carol Alt has been referred to as “The Face” by Life Magazine and named “The model that started the supermodel trend” by John Casablanca, owner of Elite Models. Ten years ago her health began to decline. Carol explains: “Ten years ago, I was feeling bad…really bad. I had chronic headaches, sinusitis, stomach ailments; I was tired and listless. Eventually, I got very sick and tired… and tired of being sick and tired. I searched for a real solution…not just a band aid. That’s when I started eating raw - and it changed my life - FOREVER. Over the last decade, I’ve spent countless hours studying health and nutrition from the best doctors…on my own quest towards true, lasting health and vitality.”