Feelgood Style

I like to think I’m not the only woman who kept an eye and ear on constant alert for the various Bonus Time events at the cosmetic department of Macy’s (and Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, you get the idea). Like a July mosquito to the bug zapper, I was drawn in each and every time to the big sign displaying the funky little cosmetic bag next to little tubes of lipstick and other novelties. It didn’t matter that I already had 42 bags containing half-used eye makeup remover from previous Bonus Time affairs; if it was happening, I immediately felt compelled to participate.

So it’s really no surprise that I created one for The Nature of Beauty. As they say, once an addict….But I wanted to make this one a bit more meaningful, to give me and you a legitimate excuse to get excited about this particular Bonus Time. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome back to The Emerald Awards! I’m your host, Terri Bly, presenting you with the top truly natural beauty products as voted on by our panel of green beauty experts. Today’s category: Best Natural Foundation. 

Foundation. Just the word speaks volumes. Before we enhance our skin’s natural glow with bronzer or brighten it up with some blush, most of us choose to even out our skin tone with a base, be it liquid, cream, or powder. Unless your foundation looks good, and by that I mean whatever you choose to do or not do to your skin, everything else you put on it won’t look great, either. When it comes to natural and organic formulas, there are numerous high-performing and long-lasting options to choose from. For that reason, I divided the category of Best Natural Foundation into three subcategories: Liquid/Cream, Tinted Moisturizer, and Loose/Pressed.

And the Emerald Award for Best Natural Liquid Foundation goes to: Read the rest of this entry »

Greening Hollywood: Guild by Guild panelists: L-R Nikoletta Skarlatos, Make Up Artist, Pirates of The Caribbean; Robert Hallowell, Hair Stylist, Dancing With The Stars; Christina Marcaccini, founder, Raw Natural Beauty; Rachelle Carson Begley, Co-Star, Living With Ed; Lisa Archer, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics; Paige Donner, Founder, Greening Hollywood.

There’s more to bringing the beauty industry and green scientists together, all at one table, then might first meet the eye. By the time I presented our panel of beauty experts, moderated by Rachelle Carson Begley, last weekend in my Greening Hollywood: Guild by Guild seminar and workshop, I had learned a lot. I had learned more than just that Tarte has come out with a game-changing mascara called Lights, Camera, Lashes! and that O.P.I. had removed all three of the most harmful chemicals in their nail polish, and that Suki Pure has re-defined how to be profitable and committed to pure ingredients in the cosmetic industry. Read the rest of this entry »

I love “best of beauty” awards. For years, I saved every issue of InStyle’s Best Beauty Buys, relying on their picks to guide me through the overwhelming selection of pretty shiny things at Sephora. Now that the big mags have added green beauty awards, I scoop those up without hesitation, but am always disappointed at the choices. While each winner is certainly more natural than its mainstream counterpart, it often contains far more synthetics than I’m comfortable with. So what is an eco-girl to do when she wants to find the best chem-free cosmetics?

She contacts a bunch of natural beauty experts and creates Feelgood Style’s first annual Emerald Awards. Read the rest of this entry »

I was fortunate enough to have professional make up artists as friends. They told me the industry secrets as well as tips of looking beautiful or  at least well put together. Almost all of the make up artists I have come across stressed the importance of a good foundation. A good foundation provided the “canvas” in which the make up become the paint that either contoured or highlighted a face. And since foundations usually covers the entire face; it is essential that this foundation is not only a good primer, but good for your skin as well.

Miessence Translucent Foundation heeds this call in a very good way. It’s a pure and natural make-up that is made with certified Organic ingredients. Best of all; Miessence foundation provides a light yet flawless coverage that’s perfect during the daytime; but worthy of night time consideration with a finishing powder.  Other reasons why you might want to consider Miessence foundation:

• Made with the pure ingredients that are SO good for your skin. I love the herbal like smell that is void of toxic chemicals. You would be surprised what’s REALLY in traditional cosmetics. FDA doesn’t regulate make-ups, so it’s a free for all within that industry.
• Protects against pollution, UV rays and free radicals.
• Looks natural in any light; it is a sheer light coverage that looks NATURAL. Evens out skin tone which is what you want a foundation to do. Caked on, and it starts to look like a mask.
• Keeps skin hydrated and protected throughout the day. Contains the added benefits of organic, nourishing seed and fruit oils. Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve been working on creating the perfect cache of hair products, makeup, body lotions, and perfumes since you were 12, right? Now you are hearing about the potential hazards lurking in your beloved collection, and wondering if you should be tossing your phthalate-packed but highly praised lipstick (and shampoo, night cream, mascara, the list goes on and on) and replacing it with some brand you’ve never heard of.  It can be overwhelming, enough to make you want to throw in the towel and forget you ever read anything about parabens or petrochemicals. But don’t lose heart; going green can be fun, exciting, and even affordable. I thought I might draw on my former life as a clinical psychologist (true story) and offer up 6 tips for making the transition to natural and organic beauty products without sacrificing your sanity!  

1. Stay informed. The more you know about why you are switching over to eco-friendly products, the easier it will be to stay motivated when you lose some of that initial enthusiasm. Feelgood Style is a great place to start, and there are several fantastic books to check out as well, including Not Just a Pretty Face by Stacey Malkan, one of the creators of the Skin Deep database, or The Green Beauty Guide, by Julie Gabriel. When you are feeling discouraged, go back and read through the articles or chapters that motivated you to make the switch in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

“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.  Read the rest of this entry »

Are you looking for wonderful green gifts for your eco-mama? Here are some little eco-luxuries that will make great green gifts for the woman on your Mother’s Day list this year.

Green Candlelight

Many women adore candles yet most traditional candles are made with petroleum by products, toxic fragrances and lead laden wicks.

Good news! There are now many eco-candles available so you can feed her candle addiction with candles made from soy wax, beeswax or even vegetable based paraffins, those are all green options. So give your green mama an eco candle this year. Read the rest of this entry »