Green Options

How many of us think about our skin as a living, breathing organism that’s constantly in motion, every second of the day? It’s incredibly easy to overlook the fact that our skin changes with the seasons and even easier to ignore that we need a different suite of skincare products for winter than we do in summer. Often those thoughts end up in the too hard basket - i.e. it’s hard enough finding skincare that works for our skin fullstop but to change it up twice a year… as if we don’t have enough to think about?! Elemental Herbology make it about as easy as it’s ever going to get with a skincare & body collection that’s focused on delivering exactly what skin needs depending on the time of year (and they do it sooooo stylishly). The Elemental Herbology philosophy is deceptively simple, “to acknowledge the transitions of life, the ebb & flow of the changing seasons and the different aspects of your environment.”

Life is dynamic and so is your skin. Most of us don’t think of our visage as a living, breathing, changing organism, but every second of the day our skin is responding to our environment and constantly monitoring and altering itself to regulate healthy skin function. Built on the same principle of living energy, Blissoma skincare is specifically formulated to enhance & compliment the science of skin, while respecting the unique biochemical reactions that make up your body. Their philosophy is based around encouraging and supporting the skins own daily rhythms of regeneration by using combinations of bioactive, live ingredients that are pressed on demand such as juices, herbs and seed oil extracts.

You thought wine was just for drinking right? Not so. Caudalie discovered in 1993 what the rest of the world has been catching up with ever since, that grapes & grapeseeds are a veritable goldmine of bioactive, high potency, antioxidant and anti-aging ingredients. The grapeseed molecule is 10,000 times more powerful than Vitamin E for combating free radicals; Reservatrol (the new ingredient creating major buzz in skincare that comes from grape stalks) has been shown to provide exceptional action for stimulating cell renewal; Viniferine is effective at regulating melatonin production and creating even skin tone; not to mention polyphenols, bioflavanoids and on it goes. Inspired by the greatest vintages from the Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte,

It’s obviously not because the people in Brooklyn are a particularly dirty bunch, but you have to admit with the Organic Beauty View post on Brooklyn soap makers and now The Bubble Roome coming to my attention, it’s hard not to wonder what’s up?! One thing’s for sure, there’s no shortage of verdant creative energy and dynamic spirit in this NYC enclave, and The Bubble Roome bath & body products are yet another example of why I love Brooklyn. David E. Johnston is a self-confessed ‘Purveyor of goodness and product junkie’ who began The Bubble Roome by making soaps as gifts for friends - needless to say those friends loved them so much, he has now expanded his skills & product lines to include such skin-tasty treats as Brown Sugar Scrubs, Triple Butter Creams and 100% Goodness Bars.

It used to be that the powerful and heady scent of the rose was something only the extremely wealthy could afford, not surprising given that it takes anywhere between 1,500 to 10,000 pounds of rose petals to make only one ounce of oil. There are more than 300 compounds that can be found in a rose but the key flavor compounds that contribute to the distinctive scent of rose oil, are beta-damascenone, beta-damascone, beta-ionone, and rose oxide. Even though these compounds exist in less than 1% quantity of rose oil, they make up for slightly more than 90% of the odor content. Inspired while on a trip to India by founder Marla Steuer, The Duchess Marden skincare collection harnesses the calming & curative essence of the rose in a suite of products designed to engage all the senses in a state of well-being, while impacting the skin to soothe, restore and revitalize.

Life is full of guilty pleasures depending on your choice of vices and though I’ve never been a chocolate kinda gal, I do have a penchant for delicious, ridiculously luxurious organic bath + body products. Shamelessly self-indulgent when it comes to self-pampering rituals, I’m a major fan of anything that beautifies my day whether it’s spraying my sheets at night with a sleep inducing, instantly relaxing organic mist, or using an organic shower gel in the morning that kick starts my day with more stimulation than a double espresso! We all know that plants do more than just smell pretty and the new line of premier Body Care from Because Skincare is a fine example of a carefully conceived, beautifully formulated collection of body products - Because good skincare is not just for your face!

I’m a self-confessed organic glamazon (in fact, that’s my blogging alias) and I looooove all things beauty, but I’m also a trained makeup artist who has used practically every cosmetic brand you can think of over the years, organic & not. As a discerning makeup user I’m extremely picky about quality, efficacy and application, so it was with a wary kind of excitement that I tried the new Organic Glam makeup collection from The Organic Pharmacy. The glossy black packaging is indeed glam (though I can’t help be a little disappointed that it isn’t more environmentally sensitive), and the makeup… let’s just say ‘impressive’ is a word that springs to mind.

I’m one of those label-reading, ingredient poring, information seeking obsessives who needs to know everything there is to know before making a purchase, whether it’s my beauty products or what I eat. How could I have known that obsession would reach a whole new level of pedantic a while back when I became pregnant with twin boys, but it did with a vengeance! While I could write a whole post on the baby industry and it’s unbelievable lack of organic & natural products, not to mention its mind-boggling lack of knowledge by supposed industry experts, the purpose of this post is to bring to your attention a new natural & organic hair care collection by Nine Naturals, specifically targeted to pregnant mothers.

It seems as though every day I get news of another ‘great new this’ or ‘fabulous new that’, and I’ll be the first to put my hand up & gleefully admit it makes me just as excited as the rest of you to be in the know, to hear of things first, and to be updated on the latest & greatest - however, there’s something to be said for the ancient, the stoic, the classic, the tried & tested. Known and used for thousands of years by island cultures, coconut oil is one such legendary ingredient that falls squarely in that category. Not only has it properties that make it a staple in most organic beauty products as well as most natural skin & haircare collections,

If you know anything at all about physics, you’ll know that every living thing is suffused with energy and each individual plant & animal resonates with its own unique vibrational pattern. These energy frequencies are said to contain healing elements that when harnessed in the right way and instilled in a carrier of some kind, can infuse their restorative effects into your skin. Much like the way Homeopathy works, this new skincare line from SKINAGAIN uses state-of-the-art computerized technology called Dermavibe, to capture over 300+ energy frequencies ranging from bach flowers to aloe vera to crystals, which are then transferred into a metallic conductor at the bottom of a healing serum.

Here’s the problem: 80,000 tons of flexible plastic packaging are manufactured each year in Indonesia and for every one ton of manufacturing, there’s thirty tons of waste. The average timespan of a single-use drink container packaged in flexible plastic is only 4 seconds. Because there are no safe disposal methods for flexible plastic, it may accumulate and then sit in a landfill forever. And because there are no traditional recycling techniques for this type of plastic it has little resale market value. Rather than allow this flexible plastic to become potential toxic waste by clogging landfills and waterways, The XSProject Foundation acquires the plastic from trash pickers before it piles up in toxic landfills.