Welcome to eco-beauty week at Green Grechen! All week we’ll be featuring guest posts by beauty bloggers with a special spotlight on greening your beauty routine. Today’s post is a great one to kick-off the week, featuring tips on how to choose & use eco-friendly beauty products and her own personal favorites for Fall, by Spirit Demerson, owner of Spirit Beauty Lounge (one of my favorite places to shop for eco-friendly beauty online – AND where you can save 15% with code “grechen15″)
Artist, activist and beauty school dropout, Spirit Demerson has spent many years testing, mixing, analyzing & searching for effective organic beauty products and ingredients. As a child she made her own perfumes using vanilla extract from the pantry and skin toner using fresh watermelon rind (her dads invention.) Cosmetology school was a natural choice but the lure of a modeling career beckoned and she left her native San Francisco Bay Area for NYC at the age of 18. Frustrated by the less-than-luxurious organic beauty selection available at natural foods markets and misleading labels at drugstores, she became an expert, spending hours obsessively researching ingredients, often mixing up batches of lotions and potions in her kitchen.
There are many different reasons why you may want to green your beauty routine – whether it’s out of concern for the environment, trying to avoid carcinogens and toxins for health reasons, or just trying to live a more natural lifestyle in general. One thing you must know is that up to 65% of what we put on our skin is absorbed into the bloodstream and knowing that, it’s definitely worth thinking about what we put on our skin the same way we think about what we eat. In my 10+ years in the beauty biz, I’ve come to realize that by and large, most women do care about the safety and sustainability of their cosmetics and personal care products but don’t want to have to sacrifice efficacy or even perceived luxury, to go green. At the end of the day, a product still has to perform and should still be a pleasure to use. That’s why I feel as an “eco-beauty activist”, the best way I can promote the cause is to provide a source for the best-of-the-best ethical and sustainable products out there and be an example of how the “green & glam” lifestyle has worked for me, without sacrificing a thing!
I’ve spent a lifetime using natural-based beauty products and I can tell you that today, not only are the offerings equal in quality and beauty to any conventional products, but many of them are even better; more effective, more pure, and more beautiful. So many friends, family members and now, customers, have told me that their skin and hair conditions have improved or been cured since switching to natural and organic beauty products. In my own battle with acne, I spent thousands on pharmaceuticals, prescription creams and drugstore treatments that always seemed to make my skin worse until finally starting an all-natural routine that changed my skin for life.
Cosmetic companies like Nvey Eco, RMS Beauty and Priti are proving that the killer chemicals in conventional products aren’t even necessary. You can get long-lasting, flawless results in every shade imaginable without the toxins so why wouldn’t you?! Greening your beauty routine can be fun and easy and I guarantee you’ll make the most of it with these 6 eco-beauty tips:
- Read the ingredients, ignore the labels. Not regulated by the FDA, cosmetics and personal care products can get away with using the words “natural” and “organic” in their names and on their labels, while still containing any number of hazardous or toxic chemical ingredients. Always flip the bottle over to find out just how “natural” they really are. Also, know that some of the headlines about toxic ingredients are just that; headlines, with no significant research to back them up. It is up to you to gather the knowledge that’s out there and decide which ingredients you feel are safe for you and your family. Like it or not, our government doesn’t do that for us.
If memorizing an ever growing list of ingredients to avoid and deciphering every label seems overwhelming, shop from reputable retailers, like Whole Foods or Spirit Beauty Lounge, who already have stringent guidelines in place as to what they will sell.
- Don’t always look for the lowest price. Often with organic/natural products, you’re getting a much more pure, concentrated formulation than with a conventional product. What may seem like a higher price for a bar of soap can actually be a bargain when that soap will last 4-6 weeks longer without the chemical fillers and synthetic fragrances used in a cheaper conventional product.
- Be aware of instructions for use. Some natural products work differently than what we are used to with conventional products. For example we have a water-based, non-toxic nail polish that works best with the remover after the nails have been soaked in plain water. We have a shampoo that you actually leave in your hair for 5-7 minutes, like you would a deep conditioner. Some facial cleansers work best when applied to dry skin, rather than with water… You’ll get the best performance out of them when you’re mindful of how they are meant to be used which can sometimes be a little counterintuitive at first.
- When it comes to skin care, buy the set. The delicate formulation of organic skincare means that every line is unique and uniquely designed to work synergistically. More so than with conventional products which all tend to contain the same combination of chemicals and active ingredients, natural ingredients, such as plant, nut and seed oils, extracts and essences, are somewhat less cross-compatible. You’re likely to get the best results when you use the cleanser, moisturizer and treatments from the same brand.
- Allow for an adjustment period. Beauty companies know – we want results the first time we use a product or we’re not satisfied. In order to satisfy this (somewhat unrealistic) demand, products are formulated to give you that instant clean, soft, tight, bright, silky feeling right out of the bottle. The truth is, any dermatologist will tell you, most of the effects we are looking to gain from our beauty products should take 4-6 weeks to begin to show. Whether it’s clearer or more hydrated skin, smaller pores or fewer wrinkles, when you are using conventional products that seem to give you that look or feel right away, they might be too strong or results may be only temporary. When we use products that are too harsh or too heavy, we get the instant gratification we need but pay down the line – when our skin begins to overproduce oil, our pores get clogged or the product seems to stop working, leaving us needing to buy more products. Give natural products more time for your skin to acclimate to. Unless you experience allergy or irritation, you should use any product for at least two weeks, as directed, before deciding if it’s right for you.
- Don’t stress too much! You don’t have to replace everything all at once and you don’t have to be perfect! Don’t give up because something didn’t work the way you expected it to and don’t let the amount of information out there scare you. Take one step at a time and enjoy it!
SPIRIT’S ECO BEAUTY PICKS FOR FALL:
- Priti’s NEW Matte polish collection totally on-trend and perfect for fall fashions
- RMS Beauty Eye Shadow – winner of Natural Solutions Beauty With A Conscience: Best Eye Shadow award and loved by the infinitely gorgeous Miranda Kerr. It’s mistake-proof, the colors are universally flattering and it works for day and evening looks.
- Amazon Beauty Rahua Elixir – this is an example of pricey-but-worth-it organic beauty. Only a drop goes a long way to restore dry hair that fried over the summer. It also smells beautiful.
- Nostalgia Organics Aromatherapy Balms – I love portable beauty products. With these, I can keep three (or more) of them in a tiny purse and have my choice of fragrance at all times.
- Chocolate Sun Cocoa-Glow I like to keep a little color after summer with this all-natural sunless tanner for the face.
- Lips are back in! I love that red and rose lipstick are making a huge comeback for fall. While experts may not agree on the dangers of lead in lipstick, we know it’s in there. If that doesn’t sound right to you, opt for one of these rich, lead-free, moisturizing lipsticks from Nvey Eco or RMS Beauty.
Want to own some of these products yourself? Enter to win a $100 gift card for Spirit Beauty Lounge by signing up for Green Grechen & Spirit Beauty Lounge’s e-mails below:
IF you are already signed up for the newsletters, you can enter to win by leaving a comment below with your favorite product – either one that you have tried, or want to try, at Spirit Beauty Lounge.
Good luck! Contest ends Friday, October 2
{ 5 comments }
The RMS beauty products look really great! And I’m a makeup artist!
oh, i need you to do my makeup for me! i’m makeup-phobic
All are nice tips. Thanks for the share. very good blog.
.-= fashion´s last blog .. =-.
I love that the Priti nail polishes were mentioned because they are FANTASTIC! I got two of the colors and all my friends who swear by conventional ones line up to try these.
And, the nail polish remover smells great. In fact, one would never be able to tell it’s nail polish remover!
So, my favorite? Priti hands down!
I’d love to, Grechen. Sure! The next time I’m in Atlanta….hmmm???
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