Every bride wants to look beautiful on her wedding day, but makeup should be the end of your routine – not the start. To obtain perfect wedding skin you have to start months before the big day and stick to natural, non-toxic ingredients.
This week on Green Bride Guide I offer my top 8 Tips For Your Non Toxic Bridal Beauty Regime. Head over and check out my article so you can be a natural beauty on your wedding and every day!
beauty
Posh Polish For A Green Girl’s Perfect Mainicure
If you want your manicure to outlast the rest try Poshé top coat. I’ve used it for years. I gave myself a quick little manicure before heading out on the town last night and only had to wait 5 minutes before my nails were good to go. There are a lot of Seche Vite fans out there but I find Poshé works better.
Allure Magazine agrees, they’ve given it the best topcoat award 5 times. It gives great shine and it really is chip resistant. My pedicures can last 3 weeks without a chip. Obviously it doesn’t last that long on my hands since they’re constantly being used and washed but it lasts as well as the brands with toxic chemicals.
If I do my nails at night, after just 5 minutes I can get in bed and wake up the next morning without sheet prints on my nails. The best thing about this top coat is that it is free of the toxic chemicals dibutyl phthalate (DBP), Toluene and Formaldehyde that are found in most other nail polish brands. Try it & let me know what you think.
Is Your Beauty Routine Toxic? Part II
As I mentioned in part I of this series, up to 60% of what we put on our skin gets absorbed which leads to our bodies absorbing up to 5 pounds of chemicals through our skin every year. If something isn’t pure enough to eat we really should not put in on our body, should we?
It’s inauspicious that manufacturers of personal care products are not regulated and therefore not required to disclose ingredients, toxic or not. Fortunately, many organizations are on top of it and bringing awareness to the issue. Some of these watchdog groups may have a political agenda, but not all of them do.
Agenda or no agenda, much of the information they share is based in science and they do have an important message: do not use products containing harmful ingredients that will compromise your health and threaten the environment.
There are many brands out there claiming to be pure and while they may not contain carcinogens, they do have synthetic fragrances, irritants, endocrine disruptors and other unfavorable ingredients. So what can we do? How do we find products that won’t harm us? We have to be cautious but there are some fabulous lines on the market which I will talk about in upcoming posts and videos.
You can also check the ingredients of your products in EWG’s cosmetic data base. It’s not a complete list of every personal care item out there but it is a helpful resource. I’ll be writing about ingredients to avoid in the near future as well so stay tuned.
Did you read the article I posted on my Facebook page the other day? They tested over 400 lipsticks for lead content, check to see if yours is on the list.
It’s not always easy to find suitable alternatives and many of the organic and truly pure, clean cosmetics are way over priced. But there are companies that offer good, safe products such as Pure Haven. I’ll write about of my finds in upcoming posts. Another one of my favorite lines is 100% Pure.
Mascara has been a tough one for me. Do I really want to spend $25 on mascara that flakes off and leaves a smattering of black dust under my eyes when I can spend $7 on Lash Exact by Covergirl that really does give my lashes great volume and length?!
What’s an eco savvy gal to do?! I’m giving Ava and Organic Wear mascara a try, I’ll let you know how they measure up. If you like an earth friendly mascara that works well and doesn’t break the bank I’d love to hear about it.
Is Your Beauty Routine Toxic? Part I
Lead in lipstick, coal tar in lotions, formaldehyde in shampoo… harmful chemicals are lurking in our everyday products and most of us don’t even know it. If you’ve been reading my blog regularly you know how passionate I am about clean, chemical free living. I make it a priority to use pure, clean products, both personal care items and the products we use in our home.
I love playing with make up. It’s fun to get all glammed up and go out but the stuff they put in most make up is scary. The cosmetic industry is not regulated so manufacturers can include anything they want in their formulations.
Our bodies absorb up to 5 pounds of chemicals each year through our skin which is the largest organ in our body. Up to 60% of what we put on our skin gets absorbed so if something isn’t pure enough to eat we really should not put in on our body.
Because they are not regulated, manufacturers of personal care products are not required to disclose the ingredients so there may not even be a label to read and frankly, reading labels isn’t enough, you have to know what the ingredients are.
Very few people have the time or even the desire to know the scientific properties of dozens of different chemicals. That’s the hard part. But I’ll help you sort it out with a series of posts about chemicals we should avoid in our personal care products as well as our household items.
Be sure to check out part II of this series, it includes some eco friendly solutions such as Ava Anderson Non Toxic.
Skin Care for your 20s, 30s, 40s & Beyond
Guest Post by Lee Ann Buttery
From college sorority sisters to centenarians and everything in between, everyone should practice good skin care. With each subsequent decade, we must adjust our skin care regimen accordingly. If we take proper care of our skin (along with eating healthfully and exercising regularly), we can be confident that we’ll age gracefully. Whether you’re 20 or 100, keep reading to learn skin care tips appropriate for your age.
20s
Your skin is still very young but it requires a little more attention than it did in your teen years. Simplicity is still key here, but now is the time to take a small step toward anti-aging for preventive purposes. If acne is an ongoing battle it may be because you are using the wrong skin care products for your skin type. If you have oily skin, opt for a gel-based cleanser. If you have dry skin, choose a cream-based formula. For acne-prone skin, use a cleanser that contains acne-fighting ingredients such as salicylic acid. After cleansing, apply a toner on the face and neck—well formulated toners can offer amazing benefits to the skin.
To treat blemishes, use a spot treatment that contains salicylic acid and/or colloidal sulfur. The last step is to apply a moisturizer with a built-in broad spectrum sunscreen for daytime. Choose one with a physical barrier like zinc so you don’t absorb harmful chemicals. For nighttime, choose a formula without sunscreen. It is crucial to take proper care of your skin now, because you’ll reap the benefits (or lack thereof) in your 30s and beyond—especially when it comes to protecting your skin from the sun; sunscreen is the top anti-aging product. When you approach your early 20s, you can incorporate an eye cream into your regimen to slow the formation of crow’s feet.
30s
You may start to notice your complexion is not as vibrant as it used to be in your 20s. Also, you may notice a few fine lines and crow’s feet around the eyes. Now is the time to really address signs of aging. Aside from basic cleansing, toning and moisturizing, it would be wise to include a serum in your skin care routine. Choose an antioxidant-packed serum such as a vitamin c serum to help address discoloration and dullness.
Moreover, now is the time to be a little more aggressive with exfoliation—use a cleanser that contains an alpha hydroxy acid such as Glycolic Acid. Exfoliating two to three times a week will instantly slough away dead surface cells to reveal a fresher, more youthful-looking complexion. It will also help increase cellular turnover, which slows down as we age. Cellular turnover is the speed at which skin cells die and are replaced by new ones. The process of cellular turnover is what determines the youthfulness of our skin. For instance, a child’s skin has very fast cellular turnover, which is why their skin looks so young and smooth. At this stage of the game, you should be using an eye cream to nourish the delicate eye area, especially since it gets more fragile and thin as we get older.
40s & Beyond
When you reach your 40s and beyond, hydration is more important than ever before. Continue the basic regimen suggested for those in their 30s but step it up a bit. Your skin care products—from cleanser to eye cream should contain hydrating ingredients such as Hyaluronic Acid, Glycerin and Lactic Acid. Retinols work wonders too. Furthermore, continue to exfoliate two to three times a week with a product formulated with an alpha hydroxy acid (Glycolic Acid), for higher grade resurfacing.
Regardless of your age, there are universal skin practices that everyone should abide by. Aside from the basics such as cleansing, toning and moisturizing, everyone should wear sunscreen on a daily basis, moisturize and exfoliate regularly. Be careful of the products you use, most skin care lines contain harmful chemicals. Beauty comes with every age and good skin care will yield the healthiest skin possible.
Lee Ann Buttery is a Licensed Esthetician and Professional Makeup Artist who works for Mario Badescu. She is passionate about all things beauty-related and has a particular obsession with anti-aging.
5 Ways to Green Your Beauty Routine
A few simple changes can make a positive impact
What we put on our bodies is just as important as what we put in our bodies. The skin is the body’s largest organ; it absorbs up to 60 percent of what we put on it. Most women use an average of up to 20 personal care items every day and the ingredients in those products go straight to our bloodstream. Treat the earth and yourself a little kinder with these five natural tips to be a greener glamour girl.
1. Know Your Ingredients
Many are carcinogenic, others adversely affect our reproductive systems, and some disrupt our endocrine systems. The cosmetic industry is not regulated, so companies are not required to disclose ingredients. Safety testing is left to the manufacturers, so they can use nearly anything they want in their formulations. The European Union bans over 1300 cosmetic ingredients. The U.S. has banned only 11. If you are curious about whether or not your favorite cosmetics contain toxic chemicals, a good resource is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Data Base. They rate the safety of several products. Ava Anderson Non Toxic has great products and the whole line is pure and non toxic.
2. Screen Your Sunscreen
Most dermatologists agree that the number one anti-aging secret is protecting your skin from the sun’s damaging rays. However, like cosmetics, most sunscreens have harmful chemicals as well. Steer clear of sunscreen that contains ingredients like… Read entire article at Parent Society.
