Fabulously Cheeky

Today I went back to the cosmetics database looking for more green makeup. If you want a green lipstick, I found:

Coastal Classic Creations
Miessence lip cream
Terra Firma Cosmetics
Mineral Concepts
Signature Minerals
Beauty with a Cause
Beaute Minerals Lucious Lips
Inika Mineral Cosmetics
rms Beauty Lip2Cheek
Zosimos Lip and Cheek tint
Barefaced Mineral Cosmetics
Outside In Cosmetics
Gourmet Body Treats
Alchemy of Colour
Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques
Nature’s Boundaries
Inika Mineral Cosmetics
Afterglow
Nvey
Boots No7
Longcils
Honeybee Gardens
ColorScience
CITY Lips
Bio Elements

So, there are lots to choose from, but very few of these are well known. However, I know that some of them are available on amazon.com. You can see that none of the big, well known companies are in the green category!

Somebody told me today, that even if the industry had access to more health friendly ingredients, they wouldn’t use it because they are more expensive than the chemicals they are using now. So, it all comes down to money. However, that is also why they would have to change if women stop buying their products. Business always have to adapt if they want to stay in business.

Let’s demand green products! That’s what they did in Europe, and now they no longer allow products made with harmful chemicals. If they can do it, we can, too!
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Tags: Makeup

Mascara is the one thing you should never be without! Mascara opens up the eyes, so even if you are super busy, mascara is a must. However, finding a good mascara is almost as hard as winning the lottery! If you read mascara reviews, there is hardly a single mascara that gets good reviews from everyone that is using it.

The most common problems are smudging and flaking. Because I have deep set eyes, I often use waterproof mascara so it doesn’t smudge, but no matter what type of mascara I pick, it always end up on my cheeks before the day is over in the form of tiny little black specs, and it totally ruins a good looking makeup job.

At first I thought it had to do with the brand of mascara I was using, but after buying 7 different mascaras from walmart, I realized that they all behave pretty much the same. Then I searched the net for answers to this annoying happening, and I finally found the answer:

They put fibers in the mascara to make your lashes thicker and longer, and by the end of the day, the fibers get loose and fall off your lashes (and sometimes end up in your eyes!!!) The solution is to find a gel based mascara. However, you wont be able to build up your lashes to the same volume if the mascara doesn’t have fibers.

Today, I went back to the cosmetics database looking for green mascaras, and this is what I found:(I still don’t know if any of these are worth using, but at least they are all rated green).
Almay One Coat Triple Effect Mascara
Jane Iredale Pure Brow Fix and Mascara
Jane Iredale Pure Lash Lengthening Mascara
Physicians Formula Retro Glow Ultra dramatic mascara
Prescriptives Lash Builder
Rimmel Volume Flash Instant Thickening
Rimmel Extra Super Lash, waterproof
Raw Natural Beauty Color Lush Lash
Nature’s Boundaries, Silken Splendor mascara
Loreal Double Extend Waterproof

Maybelline Expert Eyes Moisturizing Mascara Remover for Waterproof eye makeup. This one is also rated totally green, even though it does contain mineral oil. However, it works really well for removing waterproof mascara.

It is nice to see that even the companies that normally use very harmful chemicals are actually starting to offer at least some green products now. I haven’t tried any of the mascaras listed above, so if any of you girls out there know if these are any good, please share your wisdom with the rest of us. I would love to hear from you all about what your favorite mascara is, and why you like it so much! This will help the rest of us stop wasting money on useless mascaras. So, please, share! I’d be most interested to find out if anyone knows about a non-flaking mascara. Is there such a thing???
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Tags: Makeup, mascara

What is the worst thing you can do to your face? Two things: too much scrubbing, and a using a cleanser that strips all the oils in your skin.

The skin is covered with a layer of dead skin cells that contain mostly keratin. This layer can make your skin look somewhat dull if it gets too thick, so the cosmetics indrustry invented scrubs and peels to get rid of it. The skin definitely looks better if some of those dead cells are removed, but how the removal happens can make a big difference.

If you use a harsh scrub containing apricot kernel bits, or something similar, you can actually scratch up the skincells on the surface. This is not a good thing because it actually causes damage and possible inflammation. A natural face scrub should be as gentle as possible with really tiny abrasive particles, the rubbing on the skin should also be very gentle, and the mask must not be be used too often.

If you rub too often and too hard, the skin will eventually get red, raw and sore. We need some of the dead skincells to remain for protection from the elements. So if your skin gets too dry after scrubbing, take a break and look for a gentler scrub.

Using a cleanser that is too harsh can also be a problem. Soap is made to resolve oil so it can be washed off the skin, but if it washes off too much oil, it can also leave the skin unprotected and too dry.

So, look for a gentle, non foaming natural face cleanser that will leave some oil on your skin. Then add a non-alcoholic toner and a light natural face moisturizer and you are ready for makeup.

Also, make sure your moisturizer isn’t too thick, or heavy, or it will just sit on top of your skin. A thinner, serum type moisturizer works better, even for dry skin.
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Tags: skincare tips

Here is a list of safer, but less known alternatives:

Suki Pure Skin Care 4 moderate hazard (she didn’t specify what type of lecithin or essential oils she used, only one other ingredient is questionable, otherwise her skincare line is basically green). Safe Cosmetics signer, yes, no animal testing.
Nature’s Baby – totally green
Zosimos Botanicals – a few moderate risk ingredients, Safe Cosmetics
signer, no animal testing
Belle’s Botanicals – totally green
Purple Prairie Botanicals – totally green
Body Botanicals – only one moderate risk ingredient
Moon Valley Bees & Botanicals – totally green
Wild Thyme Botanicals – totally green
Plum Botanicals – totally green
Organic & Natural Enterprise group – 4 moderate risk ingredients
Oracle Organics – 1 moderate risk ingredients
Perfect Organics – 2 moderate risk ingredients
Bare Organics – 1 moderate risk ingredient
Bubble & Bee Organic – 1 moderate risk ingredient
LuSa Organics – 3 moderate risk ingredients
Lily Organics – totally green

Totally green means low hazard. The only thing you have to watch out for with these companies, is whether they use any preservatives in their formulas. If they sell their products in stores, they need to have preservatives of some kind in them if they are sitting on shelves for any time before you buy them, or you could end up with a moldy or contaminated product.

Some people use essential oils as preservatives, even though essential oils are NOT really preservatives, unless you put so much in that they can become a hazard in themselves. Essential oils can be irritating to the skin if the concentration is too high.

Anti-oxidants can protect oils from going rancid, but if you are buying a product that contains water, it is going to need more than anti oxidants and essential oils to preserve it. So read the labels, and make your own judgment. And remember, if you can’t pronounce it, don’t put it on your skin!
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Tags: chemicals in skincare, skincare ingredients

I went to the environmental working group’s cosmetic safety database and looked up as many names as I could think of. This is a great website, by the way. You can go in there and put a list of ingredients in from any skincare product and they will give you a report about how safe or dangerous it is to use. The URL is http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/ for anyone who is interested, and there is a link in the blogroll as well.

Anyway, here is a list of products that contain numerous ingredients that are harmful to your health:

Avon – 21 high hazard ingredients
Maybelline – 21 high hazard ingredients, animal testing!
Revlon – 20 high hazard ingredients
Loreal – 20 high hazard ingredients, animal testing!
Neutrogena – 17 high hazard ingredients, animal testing!
Cover Girl – 15 high hazard ingredients, animal testing!
Almay – 12 high hazard ingredients
Physicians Formula – 11 high hazard ingredients
Olay – 9 high hazard ingredients, animal testing!
MD Skincare – 9 high hazard ingredients
Max Factor – 7 high hazard ingredients, animal testing!
Arbonne – 6 high hazard ingredients
Dr Hauschka – 5 high hazard ingredients
Derma e – 5 high hazard ingredients
Dr Brandt – 5 high hazard ingredients

Better products, but still contains hazardous ingredients:

Rachel Perry – 4 high hazard ingredients
Desert Essence – 4 high hazard ingredients
Kiss my Face – 4 high hazard ingredients, signed pact for safe cosmetics
Jason – 4 high hazard ingredients, signed pact for safe cosmetics
Emerita – 4 high hazard ingredients
Ecco Bella – 3 high hazard ingredients, signed pact for safe cosmetics
Alba Botanica – 3 high hazard ingredients, signed pact for safe cosmetics
Jane Iredale – 3 high hazard ingredients, signed pact for safe cosmetics
Avalon – 2 high hazard ingredients, signed pact for safe cosmetics
Beauty without cruelty – 2 high hazard ingredients, signed pact for safe cosmetics
Burt’s Bees – 1 high hazard ingredient, signed pact for safe cosmetics
Aubrey – 1 high hazard ingredient, signed pact for safe cosmetics

Make a mental note of the top ones. Not only are they full of chemicals that can seriously affect your health, but some of them even do animal testing, which is the cruelest thing! At the lower end of the list, you find companies that have signed the compact for safe cosmetics where they pledge to use safe ingredients in their products. At least, they show good intention. They do, however, have 3 years to get rid of their nasties, so we still have to watch what we buy from these companies.

When it comes to the companies that have just a few high hazardous ingredients in their products, you might be able to buy some of their products. You just have to go to the cosmetic database and look up the particular product that you want to buy, and see for yourself if it is safe to use. Some may be, and some may not.

Why am I exposing the truth about these companies? Because knowledge is power. The Age of Aquarius has to do with learning to take responsibility for our own actions so we can stop becoming victims.

Knowing the truth about the skincare industry gives you the option to NOT buy their products, simply because you love yourself too much to be willing to put your own health in jeopardy just to get rid of a few lines on your face.

Europe has already banned most of the hazardous chemicals that are still found in American beauty products because they no longer want to put harmful products on their skins. I wonder why we haven’t done the same? Could it be because women are still buying the stuff, chemicals and all? Could it be because we are afraid to be speak up? Times must change. If we all stop buying their toxic rubbish, they must change, too, if they want to stay in business, so don’t underestimate your power to make a difference! Together, we can make the world a better place for everyone.
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Tags: chemicals in skincare, skincare ingredients

After paying a small fortune for “Hope in a Bottle,” it is a great disappointment to discover that what you just bought is actually pure poison in a bottle and nothing else. Forget about hope!!! The time has come to expose the truth!

Did you know that it is not unusual to find things like mercury, lead, cyanide, formaldehyde, antifreeze, sulfates, phthalates, petroleum products and carcinogenic preservatives in almost every product you’ll find in the stores? (And in your bathroom!) I’m not kidding – this is the absolute truth! And the worst thing is, you’ll find most of these chemicals in organic products as well, products that you buy from your health food store in good faith!!!

If you don’t believe me, get your magnifying glass out and start reading the ingredient lists on the labels. Look at Jason, Alba Botanicals, Derma e, Arbonne (Note that Arbonne only lists “key ingredients” and nothing else! Why do you think that is???), Avon, Rachel Perry and whatever else you have in your bathroom. Rachel Perry has a collagen cream that doesn’t even have collagen listed as one of the ingredients. (Never mind the fact that collagen molecules are too big to enter the skin anyway.)

This is deceit, pure and simple. You are willing to spend more money because you think the product is organic, healthy and good for you, and made with integrity and love, while the truth is, it is a business. The products are made to make money, and when there is a question of money, integrity often flies out the window. After all, business is business, and what the consumer wants, needs or thinks she is getting, becomes a secondary priority.

I have found a website where they have a huge database of the chemicals used in skincare products and a rating of how safe or dangerous they are. So, if you are wondering if one of the products you are using daily is safe to use, I’ll be happy to look into it and tell you the truth. Let me know which brand or product you want me to expose, and I’ll write a post about how many moderate or high risk substances it contains. Let’s expose the deceit in the makeup industry so that women will no longer be fooled by great advertising and empty words!

Remember, we are the only ones responsible for what we put on our skins! If we know the truth, we can no longer be fooled! And if we can no longer be fooled, the industry will have to change if they want to stay in business. Lets create the change we want!
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Tags: chemicals in skincare, organic skincare products, skincare ingredients

It is a fact that most of us want to look beautiful and to make the best out of our features, and to do this, we need makeup and skincare products. But that doesn’t mean that we want to be taken advantage of by the beauty industry just because it is a great opportunity for them to make money. However, that is exactly what is happening!

In the skincare and makeup industry, they don’t care if the products they produce are good for you or your body. All they care about is production costs and profits! The cheaper they can produce the products, the more money they can make, especially if they use cheap chemicals in the formulas instead of natural products. Some companies even try to dupe you into believing that chemicals are actually BETTER for you because they are produced in labs under controlled conditions, but nothing can be further from the truth. And on top of that, they even do animal testing, which I think is a crime and I hope they get back every bit of suffering they inflict, tenfold!!!!

Anyway, women aren’t stupid – we want some kind of value or benefit before we part with our money. So, they have made sure there are at least SOME good ingredients in their products. How about something organic? That will add some value. Yes, it is expensive, but very little is needed to be able to call something “organic.” Or perhaps something exotic, like pearl powder! Or peptides, or collagen! Since nobody will ask how much of a substance is in the recipe, or whether there is any proof that it actually has any effect on the skin, they can get away with adding just a little pinch, put it on the label, and charge big money. No wonder most of this stuff has very little, if any, effect at all!

So, why are we so willing to pay lots of money for a tiny amount of skin cream? Because we hope it will make a difference, we hope it will make us look younger and more beautiful by the minute. We pay because we are willing to buy “hope in a bottle!”

Unfortunately, what we usually end up with is a super-toxic carcinogenic mix of nasty chemicals with unpronouncable names. Do the products live up to their claims and give us what we hoped for? Most likely not. If you read the reviews for the most expensive products on the market, they are not necessarily good reviews from happy consumers. And, the chemicals they contain can seriously affect your health!

Why? Because your skin is like a big sieve with millions of little holes, or pores, that chemicals can leak through. Sooner or later they WILL end up in your bloodstream! Recently, they have even found parabens in breast cancer lumps, probably from deodorants!!! So much for thinking it was a safe preservative!

Therefore, skincare products should basically be made with edible ingredients, since you know a lot of it will end up in your bloodstream sooner or later. So, what chemicals would you be willing to sprinkle over your next meal? Parrafin? Formaldehyd? How about anti-freeze? Lead? Mercury? Carcinogenic parabens? Cyanide? No?

If none of these appeal to you, you need to have a serious look at the skincare products and makeup you are using. If this is what you are putting on your skin, it WILL end up inside your body as well, and who knows what it will do there. So, if you are not DYING to be beautiful, we need to create a list of natural skincare products that are actually good for us.

If you are interested in knowing what you can buy and use safely, let’s all contribute. If you tell me what products you are using, I’ll look it up in the cosmetic database and tell you how safe or dangerous they are. Let’s boycott the companies that create dangerous products! Are you with me?
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Tags: chemicals in skincare, organic skincare products, skincare ingredients

This question has been with me since I was just a small child. I used to look around and question everything, and nothing made a whole lot of sense to me. People go to work, come home, go back to work, come home again, always the same, day out and day in. Once in a while, they take a break and go on vacation, trying to forget about their daily bondage. I used to think that there must be more to life than this!!! This couldn’t possibly be all there is to it!

What is the point of being here, if we never even explore what we are here to share with the world? Every one of us have special talents of some kind, things that come to us easy. You may not be able to give up your daytime job just to do what you feel like, but do you put aside at least some time to pursue your dreams? Life is more than just living from bill to bill.

Paying your bills, and making sure you have a roof over your head and food on the table, takes care of your physical body. But what about your spiritual nurturing? Your spirit also needs to be cared for. Are you walking your path? Are you allowing yourself to learn from everything that happens in your life? Are you growing and expanding in many ways? Are you becoming wise, or just growing old?

We all have a responsibility to make sure that we live life to the fullest while we are here. This is why it is important to follow your dreams before it is too late. Live life totally, make as many mistakes as you can (and learn from them) and start appreciating all the things that really matters, like love, laughter and beauty. The worst thing that could happen is to get to the end of your life, only to realize that you haven’t really lived yet. You were just too busy with everyday concerns. There were so many things you would have liked to do, and all of a sudden, it is too late… No wonder everyone fears death and will do almost anything to hang on to life just a little bit longer…

Do you really think it makes a difference how long you live? Length of life has to do with quantity, while the only thing that really matters is quality. So, how can you increase your quality of life? Simple, make quality of life your main priority because life is too precious to waste it.

So, here are a few things that I have learned along the way:
1)Follow your dreams
2)Don’t hold back, don’t postpone
3)Pain and pleasure are two sides of the same coin. Pain is simply the price you pay for the pleasure you get. Avoid pain, and you get no pleasure either. If you want pleasure, you need to accept both.
4)Love, with all your heart
5)Make mistakes, totally
6)Let go of the past, forgive and move on
7)Don’t worry about the future, TRUST IN LIFE
8)Let life be your teacher – learn from everything
9)Be here, now

Life is simply a journey. It doesn’t matter where we are going, or how fast we are getting there. We just have to learn to enjoy each moment of the journey itself…
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When I hit menopause, I must admit, there was definitely panick as well. Going from fertile woman to old woman – who wants to do that? But then I realized that it isn’t me who is getting old, it is just my body, my outer packaging that is getting a bit worn, that’s all. Inside, I am just as young as I have always been, so who cares?

A friend of mine, who hit menopause a few years ago, told me that menopause isn’t just the beginning of the end – it is a new stage in your life! A new beginning! We are done giving life to our children, and now, it is the time to start giving life to ourselves, in other words, time for spiritual growth. Time to meditate, time to figure out why we are here, time to follow our dreams and do what we have always wanted.

Many years ago, when I was in my mid twenties, I had a dear friend who made a huge impression on me. She was in her seventies at the time, and she was so beautiful and alive and young inside that it was almost impossible to tell her age. Her life force was so strong that it gave her an almost timeless quality. One day, her boyfriend was coming to visit, and she was as excited as a young girl! How could anyone even consider her old? The truth is, she wasn’t! She was “young at heart,” she was a beautiful soul, and no wrinkles could hide the truth! She was beautiful because she had inner beauty which radiated from her being.

She liked to think of herself as my “fairy Godmother,” and in many ways, she was. She was one of those rare women that it was an honor to know, and whom I’ll never forget.

So, if I can stay as young inside as my 70 year old girl friend did, no matter how old I get in years, I’ll be happy. Who cares about a few lines here and there? Life is not just skin deep…
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Tags: menopause