Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Conscious Cosmetics Recommendations?


Over the holiday break I watched the documentary, America the Beautiful: Is America Obsessed with Beauty? Although the film's main story was about 12-year old runway model, Gerren Taylor, the part that stayed with me the most was the reporting about all of the scary chemicals in beauty products. Yikes!

One of my have fun do good resolutions for 2010 is to find healthier beauty products. Ideally, they would be low on the sketchy chemical scale for humans, not tested on animals, safe to go down the drain, reasonably priced, and work! I'm sorry, but crystal deodorant has never worked for me, and my super curly hair requires a product with power.

I would love any "conscious cosmetics" recommendations you have for these items:
  • Shampoo for curly hair
  • Heavy duty curly hair conditioner
  • Heavy duty curly hair gel/something to keep it from going crazy!
  • Hand/body lotion
  • Toothpaste
  • Deodorant
  • Lipstick/lip gloss
  • Nail polish & remover
  • Mascara
I read about one cool company, PeaceKeeper Causemetics, on tranquility du jour that seems like a possible source for lipstick and nail polish. I've also used Zoya nail polish before and been happy with it. I'm also going to do some searching for ideas on Big Green Purse, green LA girl, and Treehugger, and Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano looks like it might have some good resources too.

What are your conscious cosmetics recommendations? I'm also open to making some stuff myself, if it's not too complicated.

P.S. You can check out how your products rate on the Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Safety Database.

Image from Matte Nail Polish - It's Baaaack and Zoya Nail Polish has the best of it on zoyanailpolish.blogspot.com.


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14 comments:

  1. hi britt!
    i'm a green cosmetics fiend & have spent the last couple years eco-ing out my stash!
    see my list below. all of these can by found via google & some i've added where i find them.
    enjoy!
    :-)heather

    *all of these products are available at SEPHORA:
    -lipgloss: josie maran cosmetics lip gloss & plumping lip gloss (my FAVE-- better than mac lipglass, of which i am a former addict!)
    -deodorant: lavanilla 'the healthy deodorant' (i promise it works-- i have tried them all!)
    -mascara: tarte 'lash hugger' & 'lights camera lashes'
    -eyeshadow/eyeliner: josie maran cosmetics (can get in palettes or buy as singles). 'beach' is one of my fave everyday nude colors for all over the eye & i have the 'my favorite' & 'wildflower' palettes. her eyeliner is my staple, too. 'charcoal' is my pick.

    *available at WHOLE FOODS:
    -haircare: john masters organics. i use the zinc/sage shampoo & neroli leave-in conditioner. he makes other types, too, so check 'em out!
    -skincare: suki skincare. i have uber-sensitive skin & her line is the only one that does not cause a reaction for me & i can use her anti-aging products! i use the whole line: cleanser, toner, moisturizer & bio-brightening serum

    *SUNSCREEN! (this is a biggie! there are horrible chemicals in most conventional sunscreens--label reading is a must!)
    -kimberly sayer skincare (makes a great daily moisturizer/spf 25 sunscreen)
    -epicuren skincare. i use their spf 20 pure zinc oxide everyday

    *other brands i love...
    -afterglow cosmetics (i use a ton of their stuff-- my everyday powder foundation, blush, bronzer, lipsticks, lip pencils, eye pencils...amazing brand!)
    www.afterglowcosmetics.com

    -jane iredale cosmetics
    -juice beauty (also at sephora/whole foods)
    -peacekeeper causemetics (lipsticks, lip gloss, nail polish)
    -spa ritual nail polish

    *have not tried, but heard good things:
    -david babaii for wildaid haircare (avail at target/bed-bath-beyond)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ...a few more:

    hand/body lotion: EO unscented everyday hand/body lotion (at whole foods). they have scents too!

    my luxury lotion would be: john masters organics blood orange/vanilla body milk. heaven!

    toothpaste: love jason 'sea fresh' toothpaste. comes w/ and w/out fluoride.

    nail polish remover: peacekeeper & no-miss (at whole foods) OR spa ritual nail polish remover (at pharmaca or online)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes! I have suggestions for you, all of which I have tried and written about on Fake Plastic Fish, so please excuse all the links here:

    Hand/Body Lotion, as well as lip balm, which you didn't mention but which I have to tell you about because the packaging is so unique and awesome: Organic Essence

    http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/12/plastic-free-organic-essence-lip-balm-body-cream-give-away/

    Deodorant: Baking soda. For real. It is hands down the best deodorant I have ever used. I'm not just trying to be crunchy and I am not a "smelly hippie." In fact, baking soda leaves me without any armpit smell for two or three days in a row.

    http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/11/baking-soda-so-many-uses-so-little-money-and-plastic/

    Lip stick & other cosmetics: 100% Pure. (They have a store on College Ave, in fact.) Not only are the products all natural ingredients without preservatives, etc., but they are actually tinted with fruit pigments instead of dyes or even minerals.

    http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/12/100-pure-great-on-the-inside-working-on-the-outside/

    I would tell you how I wash my hair, but I don't know if it would work for you mane. It's in the baking soda post that I linked to above.

    Happy New Year.

    Beth

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Britt! Happy New Year!
    My mom sends me info on safe cosmetics all the time... she just sent me an email with some good recommendations, which I can't seem to find (I'll ask her to resend), but there's also this site:
    http://www.safecosmetics.org.
    I'm planning to put some d.i.y. cosmetic ideas on the blog soon, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Britt,

    I use and also sell miessence brand. All miessence products are rated on the cosmeticsdatabase from 0 to 2. There are over 100 products and the majority of them are food standard certified organic.

    There is a lot of misunderstanding about the use of "organic" and "natural" on personal care products.

    There are no regulations or standards for the use of these terms therefore they are misused and misrepresented in a HUGE way.

    The only way to know that a product like this is truly organic, it must have a certification logo either USDA or ACO which are both food standard certified organic.

    any other mention of the "organic" on a product like this is a marketing ploy.

    There is also a lot of great information about this on the organic consumers website.

    Coming Clean

    You can view them on my webiste:
    Ely Organics

    I am also on twitter:
    @erinely

    If you have any questions please feel free to conatct me.

    I have been using the miessence products for 5 years and I love them. The quality and integrity of ingredients is unmatched by very few companies.

    Regards,
    Erin

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! This is an amazing list of resources. Thanks so much Heather, Beth, Jen and Erin.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Britt!

    I love Burt's Bees lip glosses, which are 100% natural. They are not organic, but list between 1-2 on the cosmetic database. They come in lots of colors, and you can get them in lots of pharmacies (CVS) and of course in the regular health food stores like Whole Foods. They leave your lips tingly and are under $10 each.

    I also love Jane Iredale cosmetics, which I have found are super long lasting. Their gold powder eye shadows are amazing!

    Good luck and good for you for upgrading to eco products!!

    Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great topic, Britt!

    For curly hair styling products, the new one I'm really liking is Kevin Murphy Easy Rider. I see it gets a 4 on the cosmetic safety database - not great, but better than our old favorite Wired by Rusk which gets a 7 in the high hazard zone! For shampoo/conditioner I use Giovanni which I also see is in the 3-4 range. Hmm, maybe time to try some new stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks, Abby and Andrea. I'm so psyched to have this big ole list.

    Abby - The hair product I've been using, TIGI Catwalk Curls Rock scores a 5. Boo hoo.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Britt,
    Here's the other site I was thinking of:

    http://www.care2.com/greenliving/new-year-make-up-over.html

    They seem to have a lot of good info on the subject.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous7:38 AM

    Try MBeze for natural deodorant. It's getting great reviews and you can fit it in your purse. www.mbeze.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks, Jen! Looking forward to seeing your DIY recipes!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey B-Love,
    This may be redundant, but here goes...First off, I am not a cosmetic fiend. But I do have my faves. I but most of my green cosmetics at Whole Foods, and am lead by intuition, ingredients and inspiration over brands and branding.
    I love everything Burt's bees, because it is actually edible...which is what our skin is doing, eating the cosmetics. I also love using coconut oils (organic, virgin-same as for cooking) as a hair and skin conditioner-and lip gloss. I also love using herbal salves and plain ole vitamin e as lip glosses. Super nurturing and healing while glossy. Hope you post your findings! LOVE YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks, chica! Burt's Bees, Aubrey Organics and Miessence keep coming up as good options. I also re-found the GoodGuide today, which has a lot of good info: http://www.goodguide.com/

    ReplyDelete

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