Archive for the ‘Advice + Q&A’ Category

Are you a voyeur like I am?  I love to peek inside the medicine cabinet.  As a beauty boutique owner, I’m asked all the time what I really use.  I know I’d love to look in your shower so here’s a look in mine.

Here in NYC, bathrooms and kitchens run small, tiny, but luckily I have one to myself in my apartment, that I can keep stocked with my favorite stuff, not for visitors or boyfriends.  I’d like to have an entire beauty boutique at hand’s reach when I shower and bathe, but critical cutbacks must be made. Here’s what makes the cut in my shower this summer.

Did you know that water quality can have an effect on how your products perform?  Since natural products don’t tend to be as lathery as conventional ones, I use a Crystal Quest shower filter and Oxygenics Elite SkinCare Showerhead.  The filter removes some of the chorine/chloramine from the water.  I’ve been using the Crystal Quest filters for years now and whenever I use another shower without one, I swear I can feel the unfiltered water drying out my skin.  The showerhead makes the shower feel more invigorating despite it’s being low-flow, and it adds oxygen to the water so that rinsing and sudsing works better.

One thing anyone can tell by peeking in my shower is that I’m nuts about exfoliating – always have been.  Just below the hangers where I keep my Hydrea London Body Brushes for dry brushing, is the first tray.  I alternate face cleansing between my two ALL TIME favorite facial cleansers, natural or not, which are the Kahina Giving Beauty Facial Cleanser and Tata Harper Regenerating Cleanser.  The Kahina cleanser exfoliates with enzymes so I use it when I feel like my pores are getting congested, sometimes with my Face Brush.  The Tata cleanser is my everyday, gentle surface exfoliant.  The third I alternate in sometimes is the Patyka Masque Gommant which I use when I’m in the bath.  I don’t usually recommend mixing up your skin care too much but I know my skin really well and can handle the changes without irritation.

You also see my nail brush here.  I used to always pick under my nails with a card or whatever was handy until my manicurist told me that actually pulls the nail away from the nail bed, making a dirt trap.  Now I only use a nail brush.

Then there’s my pink dental floss from Dr. Tung’s – the best dental floss on the planet!  Floss with something else and then floss with Dr. Tung’s immediately after – you’ll be shocked how much was left behind!  This is an area where more natural alternatives just don’t cut it (yet).

For body cleansing right now I’m using Pangea Organics Geranium Shower Gel with the sponge seen in the bottom tray.

On the second tray, right now I keep my summer hair stuff: Yarok Feed Your Volume Shampoo and Condiitoner and Ctonics Core which I use when I’ve been sweating alot or have a lot of product buildup.  It’s the only clarifying shampoo that doesn’t strip moisture.  My favorite summer scrubs are the Skinnyskinny Organic Black Coffee Body Scrub (especially in the morning) and Because Body Scrub which smells like pineapple and makes my legs looks super silky and glowy.  Oh and there’s my mustard bottle for mixing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the bottom tray,  I have my Sea Sponge, my Daily Shower Cleaner, and my top 3 night-of-pampering supplies (which of course involves exfoliating!) : Carbonized Bamboo Gloves, Ila Body Scrub For A Blissful Experience and Ila Bath Salts For Inner Peace.  I used ti make my own shower cleaner but have been too busy and this was the greenest available, although it does contain phthalate-free synthetic fragrance and  I’d prefer it didn’t.

I’ve shown you mine, now show us your shower supplies on our Facebook page!

 

 

 

 

Face serums are becoming increasingly popular but many of us are still wondering…

What Are They? Just like an antioxidant rich diet is great for your skin and health, topical antioxidants too are incredibly beneficial in preventing and reversing signs of aging and dullness. These extracts and oils are most potent when they are undiluted and applied directly to clean, dry skin. Many of the ingredients in moisturizers that are meant to hydrate and protect your skin, can dilute or buffer the effectiveness of the active ingredients. That is why many dermatologists now recommend that we apply antioxidant concentrates, known as serums, before putting on makeup, moisturizer or sunscreen.

Why Organic? Using a natural face serum versus a conventional synthetic serum is like eating fruit and vegetables instead of popping a vitamin. Your body loves the real thing! We beleive that real vitamins and nutrients from plant life are better absorbed and synthesised by the skin than synthetic ones. Many serums on the market today are silicone based. Silicones are plastic-based polymers that basically form a plastic film over your skin, making it appear and feel temporarily smoother. Over time, with this invisible waterproof film over the skin cells, your skin begins to suffocate and may become inflamed, dehydrated and congested which ironically, may trick you into using even more product to get a better result.  Spirit Beauty Lounge beleives that organic facial serums are the safest way to deliver the most bio-available nutrients to your skin.

Which One is Best For My Skin? We’ve included Face Oils, Gels and more “serum-like” serums. We put them all in the serum category because they are concentrates of active ingredients which are meant to be applied drectly to the skin, before anything else.

Best for Giving Dull Skin Glow: Ila Face Oil for Rejuvenating Radiance.
Key Actives: Argan oil and Rosehip Seed oil which are high in anti-oxidants and fatty acids to fight wrinkles and help skin cells regenerate. Damascena Rose Otto which is regenerative and nourishing to the skin’s cells.
Why We Love It: This is a product that literally makes your skin glow. People will notice and comment on your skin when you’re using Ila Face Oil!

Best on a Budget: Acure Organic Seriously Firming Face Serum
Key Actives: Argan Oil restores moisture to the skin’s lipid layer. Borage Oil soothes inflammation and Cranberry works to neutralize free radicals.
Why We Love It: A certified organic anti-aging concentrate for under $25.  What’s not to love?!

Best for Mature Skin: Amala Rejuvenating Serum
Key Actives: Vitamin C-rich Acerola, brightening Sea Algae and wrinkle-fighting Cocoa Bean naturally repair skin.
Why We Love It: We love facts & stats – in independent clinical trials, after just four weeks, 100% of users reported reduced fine lines, restored firmness.  Real, noticeable results from a natural product! That’s what we live for.
Also See: For extra dry mature skin, layer or alternate with Amala Rejuvenating Treatment Oil.

Best Aging Prevention: Intelligent Nutrients Organic Anti-Aging Serum
Key Actives: Antioxidant Acai, Pomegranate, Cranberry, Raspberry & Pumpkin seed oils
Why We Love It: They say that 25 is the age at which you should start your preventative anti-aging skin care regimen.  This serum makes your skin feel and look great and is just the right price and potency for the average 25-35 year old woman.

Best for  Dry and Best for Acne-Scarred Skin: Kahina Giving Beauty Serum
Key Actives: Balancing Argan Oil and Sea Buckhorn oil for accelerated skin healing.
Why We Love It: Acneic and acne-scarred skin needs love too!  Too often it’s over-treated with harsh acne products which leave the skin in a ravaged state.  This serum will speed up healing, balancing and resurfacing.

Best for Oily/Active Skin: Dr. Alkaitis Soothing Gel
Key Actives: Anti-inflammatory, calming Aloe Vera Gel and essential fatty acid and nutrient-rich seaweed and herbs.
Why We Love It: Natural serums are usually oil-based, this aloe & witch hazel based gel delivers all of the nutrients skin needs, without the unneeded oil.

Best for Sensitive Skin: Pai Rosehip BioRegenerate Fruit & Seed Oil Blend
Key Actives: Regenerative Co2 extracted Rosehip Fruit Oil
Why We Love It: If you have reactive, sensitive skin, you know that the more active ingredients there are in a serum, the higher your chances are of having a reaction to one of them!  Pai uses just one super-potent and effective yet non-irritating source active ingredient in this gem of a serum.

Best Multi-Purpose: Patyka Huile Absolue Serum
Key Actives: Silky, luxurious Squalane and Vitamin C rich Rosa Canina Fruit Oil
Why We Love It: The incredibly silky texture of this serum is perfect for softening, smoothing and rejuvenating not just the face, but the hair, body too!  We’d also name this serum: Best for Uneven Skin Texture

Best for Prematurely Aging Skin: Ila Rainforest Renew Face Serum
Key Actives: Acmella Extract – a fast acting fine line and wrinkle reducer, and skin brightening Brazilian Ginseng
Why We Love It: If you’re 25-35 and already seeing creeping crows feet, new “freckles” that won’t fade, forehead wrinkles or enlarged pores, but don’t feel you’re ready for a mature skin regimen, this serum will erase the premature (and mature) signs of aging without causing an imbalance in younger skin.

Best for Skin Discoloration/Melasma: Organic Apoteke Rasayana Rejuvenating Serum
Key Actives: Vitamin B, C, D, E and beta-carotene-rich Carrot Seed Oil.
Why We Love It: Most effective actives that can break up melanin are also highly toxic.  This potent serum proves you can do it naturally, while nourishing the skin.

Best All Around: Tata Harper Rejuvenating Serum
Key Actives: There are 29 actives in this serum, including anti-aging Narcissus Bulb Extract and Date Extract
Why We Love It: Tata Harper pulls out all the stops, sparing no luxury in this hero product. It smells amazing, feels succulent, absorbs easily, and within only a week gets results: brighter, softer, smoother and more toned skin.

We all want to make safe, healthy, responsible choices in everything we purchase right? At the supermarket, you can choose a conventional apple, a locally grown apple, an organic apple, or if you’re lucky, a locally grown organic apple. But buying beauty products can be infinitely more complicated if you don’t happen to be a cosmetic chemist with encyclopedic knowledge of ingredients and sources. I’m often asked by women looking to make more conscientious purchases, for a list of ingredients to avoid or to look for.  Oh how I wish it were that simple!

In fact, I look at more than just ingredients when I make a purchase for Spirit Beauty Lounge. I think about where the product and ingredients are from, how it’s made, who makes it and even more complex issues like sustainability versus biodiversity (they’re not the same thing!) All this thinking and researching and interviewing manufacturers led to my developing a product evaluation system I like to call the “6Ps.”

Some of us tend to take for granted the concept of SYNTHETIC= BAD : NATURAL=GOOD. Well,  just to quickly demonstrate how backward that can be, consider this; what could be wrong with a sustainably grown, nutrient-rich, organic rainforest plant ingredient from a company who “supports” the community where the plant is grown? Well what if in order to “sustainably” grow that organic plant, all of the other plants are clear-cut for thousands of acres, leaving the area’s former inhabitants – from animal to insect to plant and marine life, without a home? Yes, natural can be “bad” too – and that’s just one example.

While I highly regard, often reference and largely agree with the Dirty Thirty, the EWG Skin Deep Database and other lists,  rather than vilify single ingredients  based on their known or suspected toxicity, I’d like  to encourage everyone to ask some of the questions I ask my vendors, of their own beauty product manufacturers. Try the “6Ps”  for just one product and you may quickly understand why I saw the need for a place to shop online, where all of these things had already been considered.

The SBL prerequisites:

• Product packaging is 100% biodegradable, reusable or recyclable – Making landfill is unacceptable.
• Product is not tested on animals.
• Product does not contain animal ingredients. **Some exceptions, e.g. humane organic milk, beeswax.
• Product does not contain any of  THESE ingredients.

Assuming all prerequisites are met, I’ll then proceed to evaluate products using my “6Ps”.”  In order of importance (this may be different for you):

Performance The worst P.R. for the green beauty movement is products that don’t work! I especially look for products that perform not only as well as, but better than their conventional counterparts.  They should be effective and a luxurious experience to use in their texture and aroma.

Purity I can’t tell you how many beautiful, organic formulations I’ve seen ruined by a synthetic preservative, fragrance or emulsifier.  Think about “extracts” and ingredients “derived from” natural ingredients.  You need to know how they’re extracted. Even the harmless sounding “vegetable emulsifying wax” can be tainted with PEGs.  Determining the integrity of the ingredients is the manufacturers job.  If they can’t explain the extraction methods to you, they need to do their homework too.  *Add points here for USDA certified organic products.

Potency There are some lovely, clean, green products out there for very affordable prices.  They may even tout the same natural active ingredients that higher priced products have in them.  The question is; how much of the formulation is active and how much is filler? I like to see the active ingredients high on the list, not just in small doses toward the bottom.  Also consider this when dosing and using products.  It can be hard to get used to using less product when the product is highly concentrated.  As with purity, potency too can be compromised by improper processing and handling. Natural ingredients have a limited shelf life and can lose potency when exposed to too much heat, air or chemicals. Ask how active ingredients are processed and filtered to preserve potency. Remember, higher potency is a win-win for you and the environment.  Less filler means less waste.

Provenance Bamboo and recycled rubber, plastic and metal products are great but what about when they come from China? The benefit of a product made in China or anywhere other than your home country must outweigh the cost.  Where that line is, is up to you.  I have decided against purchasing many items made overseas when I was unable to verify labor conditions, or when those items could reasonably be made locally or Fair Trade.  That being said, there are some items which the manufacturer had no choice but to make in China, but made sure to visit and audit the factory to ensure responsible practices were in place, which I have deemed acceptable.

Under Provenance is also where I’ll  research factors like preservation of biodiversity.  “Where is it from?” is an easy question to answer for an apple but for a moisturizer, you may need to investigate a dozen sources.   *Add points here for products made and sourced entirely in your home country,** extra bonus points for home state.
Principles The company that manufactures the product  should be independently owned, ethical, charitable, responsible and consistent. Although I love how many conventional product manufacturers now have added green products to their offerings, I prefer to support only companies who are dedicated to making safe, green, ethical products across the board.

Packaging Sadly, this one is often the deal-breaker.  Of the few products that will make it this far, many will fall short only because of their poor packaging.  It is prerequisite that the packaging be ecofriendly but it’s also important that it be pretty!  Needless to say I am obsessed with all things beautiful inside and OUT. If a bottle doesn’t look pretty enough to leave out on the vanity or furnish the guest bathroom,  ultimately I’m not going to use it.  Spirit Beauty Lounge is all about attracting women to greener products and in order to attract, they have to look attractive!  *Add points for airless packaging that allows products to be formulated with gentle or no preservatives.

It’s a lot to think about isn’t it?  Not just toxins but sustainability, biodiversity, human rights, animal rights and of course, YOU and your enjoyment and enhancement of beauty!  Well that’s exactly what I thought every time someone asked me how to decide what to avoid or look for.  The Dirty Thirty is a great place to start but please, don’t stop there.  It’s a full-time job figuring this all out and if you’re even trying, I commend you.  Don’t get discouraged by or be afraid of all of the (often conflicting) information out there.  Every time you think of even one of the “6Ps” before making a purchase, you’re being a conscious consumer and that is a step in the right direction.

Back in Beauty School, nearly 15 years ago, Makeup was always my favorite lab. I would study the flawless faces in Vogue magazine and meticulously try to recreate them on my lab partners and myself. One of my greatest inspirations was the work of the late and now legendary, Kevyn Aucoin. I don’t mean to use Aucoin’s name to endorse a product that didn’t exist in his time, but when I found out that Aucoin’s right-hand-man for a over a decade of his career, Eric Sakas, was behind a new organic makeup line, I knew this would be a must-try. What I didn’t know was that I was about to discover some of the most beautiful cosmetics I’d ever used, organic or conventional.

All Vapour Organic Beauty products are mineral pigments suspended in a base of skin hydrating and antioxidant certified organic botanicals. Each product except their lip gloss, comes in stick form which I’ve always loved – there’s  no fumbling with sponges and brushes, especially helpful in a rush! The product from this line that I think stands out the most; the product that I urge everyone to try, is the Atmosphere Luminous Foundation. I realize a lot of women don’t even wear foundation these days but this isn’t like any other foundation. What I like to call this product is “skin on skin.” It’s your skin, perfected. I know part of the reason we don’t wear foundation is because we don’t like to look inappropriately “made up” or like we’re wearing a mask of makeup, we don’t like the way it feels, and we don’t like having to put it on. What we would like, is to have perfectly toned, smooth skin, without discoloration or fine lines and this is the product that instantly gives you that. Not too powdery, not too greasy, the finish it is an exact replica of that of perfectly hydrated skin and the pigment is always a perfect mineral blend of multi-faceted color, never leaving you looking masked. The coverage can be built – I can glide on just enough to even out my tone or enough to completely hide my freckles. In the pictures above, I used nothing but Vapour products with a little Nvey Eco Mascara.  The best part is, each look took about 5-10 minutes to complete!  Wouldn’t it be nice to look like you have perfect skin in just 5 minutes? I sure think so!

Colors Used in Look 1: Stratus Instant Skin Perfector, Illusionist Concealer in 020, Atmosphere Foundation in 130 & 140 (I often wear two colors), Trick Stick in Dazzle,  Aura Blush in Torch, Mesmerize Eye Color in Trance, Siren Lipstick in Knockout (LOVE this lipstick), Elixir Gloss in Hypnotic.

Colors Used in Look 2: All the same as Look 1 except: Mesmerize in Smolder and no gloss.

Vapour Organic Beauty can be found at Spirit Beauty Lounge. For help picking colors or putting together a sample kit, be sure to check in with our specialist over Live Chat.

Women may ingest around 7 pounds of petroleum jelly in a decade from regular use of conventional lip balm & lip gloss! If you’d rather wear something that’s safe to eat than drink gasoline, try one of these luxurious organic lip balms instead!

Lip Balm Addict: For chronic dry lips, you need a balm that’s going to provide long-lasting hydration – but what may be causing the addiction is lip balms that “over-stimulate” the lips. If you tend to rub your lips together, chew your lips, or lick your lips after you’ve applied lip balm, you may need a balm that doesn’t have a noticeable feel, flavor or scent so that you’re not tempted subconsciously to constantly consume and re-apply. Skinny Skinny’s Bare Naked Lip Balm is light but incredibly effective, matte and unscented so it wont encourage the cravings to rub and reapply.

Hint of Color: We love to use tinted lip balms when lipstick or gloss isn’t needed ( to work or to a brunch) for a pretty, natural day look or even when it’s cold and our lips look a little more blue than pink. Pick from the chocolate flavored Sweet Beauty ‘Taste’ Lip Confection or mint with Lulu Organics Ruby Mint Lip Balm.

Pick-me-up: When our lips and noses need a little pick-me-up, a sniff of the silky Buddha Nose Lip Balm with lemongrass, ginger & lime, is all we need! Natural Solutions magazine awarded this one their Beauty with a Conscience award for Best Lip Balm in 2009.

Multi-Purpose: We love a balm that’s just as perfect for healing and hydrating lips as it is for rough elbows, cuticles, heels and hair. If you only have one balm, make it RMS Beauty Lip & Skin Balm. Keep it in your purse and you’ll be surprised how often it’s just what you need.

Anti-Aging: Keep lips looking young, smooth and soft with Intelligent Nutrients Lip Delivery Nutrition. More than just hydration, it’s chock full of potent, wrinkle-fighting antioxidants from their proprietary Intellimune Seed Oil complex.

Most Kissable: Hot date? You’ll need silky, kissable lips and a lovely organic lip balm that smells so good, you’ll have to “share” it! For yummy lips, try All the Better to Kiss You With Lip Balm in Pomegranate, Lavender Vanilla, Chai Mandarin or Pepperminty.

Best Before Lipstick: The perfect base for lip color is a lip base that’s light, smooth, stays put, and fills fine lines. Before you perfect your pout with color, use Vapour Organic Beauty Lux Lip Conditioner and your lip color will last longer without bleeding.

Brave the Elements/Severely Cracked: The lip balm you’ll need in the dead of say, a Northeast winter, is going to have to not just deeply hydrate lips, but protect them as well. For lips that have already been cracked by extreme conditions or to prevent severe dryness, especially when outdoors, try MJ’s Herbals First Aid Salve. Healing ingredients like comfrey root and calendula, in a base of unrefined propolis & olive oil give your lips all the armor they’ll need.