Striving4Zen

Antioxidants: Antioxidants have numerous health and beauty benefits including diminishing cellulite, increasing metabolism, and keeping your skin youthful and hair soft and vibrant. You can get antioxidants from antioxidant rich foods such as fruits and vegetables and liquids such as teas and juices.

Wheat Grass: Full of antioxidants, vitamins, and nutrients, wheat grass juice is a powerful body cleanser with incredible healing properties. Wheat grass can help with skin problems such as eczema and sun damage. The chlorophyll in wheat grass cleanses and rebuilds the bloodstream and combats toxins.

Spirulina: A blue-green algae with more protein than soy, more iron than beef and more vitamin A than carrots. Spirulina is the ultimate anti-aging food especially good for healthy eyes and strong vision because of its beta-carotene content.

Borage Oil: Also known as Evening Primrose Oil, Borage Oil restores moisture to dry/damaged skin. It can provide relief for chronic skin-care problems such as eczema or acne.

Vitamin C: Vitamin C boosts immunity, treats and prevents colds, protects your skin from free radicals, and aids in collagen production. Use organic face and body products with vitamin C for clear, more radiant skin.

Vitamin E: A natural antioxidant Vitamin E protects the skin from environmental factors and benefits your cardiovascular system and prevents the breakdown of your body's tissue.

Coenzyme Q10: A powerful supplement that fights free radicals and is anti-aging; Coenzyme Q10 stimulates tissue regeneration and reverses skin aging.

Just remember that everything you put in or on your body affects you- inside and out. Making informed choices will lead to a more vibrant, healthy life.

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Labels: antioxidants, beauty, borage oil, coenzyme Q10, skincare, spirulina, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, wheatgrass

Even beauty brands are taking on “inner beauty” lately.

A growing number of companies have started to explore “nutraceuticals” - water that will clear up your acne, supplements for supermodel-shiny hair - even Henri Bendel is jumping on the bandwagon. They’ve just unveiled a sleek new space to showcase their exclusive partnership with the upscale supplement brand FunctionaLab.

FunctionaLab launched with hundreds of lab-tested and health-concern specific nutritional supplements. From customized programs to antioxidant-boosted elixirs, all are aimed at enhancing outer beauty through inner health.

The space is manned by licensed dietitians who walk you through a 10-minute lifestyle questionnaire aimed at identifying what specific parts of your diet are lacking and what areas of your health and wellness you want to improve.

—MEGAN MCINTYRE

Labels: beauty, cool new product, FunctionaLab, Henri Bendel, Holistic Health, NYC, personal care, supplements

After launching its successful Message on a Mirror initiative to give beauty junkies a chance to lash out at the FDA for not banning certain harmful ingredients often found in cosmetics, Best in Beauty is at it again.

This time, the advocacy group has come up with a mnemonic device to help you remember which ingredients in your personal care products should send up red flags: “Pretty Products For Healthy People Minus Many Lousy Chemical Substances,” which translates to Phthalates, Propylene Glycol, Formaldehyde, Hydroquinone, Petroleum, Mercury, Mineral Oil, Lead, Colorants, and Sodium Laurel Sulfate, respectively. Yeah, it’s a little long-winded, but we’re guessing that mathematics’ “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” took a little while to catch on, too. Give it time.

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Labels: beauty, Best in Beauty, mineral oil, personal care, phthalates, propylene glycol, skin care, toxins

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wants the feds to test commonly used baby shampoos and cosmetics, after a study revealed that many popular brand-name items contain cancer-causing substances.

"It's important to me because I'm a mom with two young kids," the state's junior senator told The Post. "When I read this report, it basically talked about products that I have in my bathroom and I've been using for years."

The report, issued by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, found that products including Baby Magic Soft Baby Scent Baby Lotion, and CVS and Johnson & Johnson brand baby shampoos contain the chemicals formaldehyde and 1.4-dioxane.

Gillibrand's proposed legislation, the Safe Baby Products Act, would require the FDA to investigate by testing the products and report its findings. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics study tested 28 products and found the presence of both chemicals in 61%.

Dr. John Bailey, a former FDA cosmetics analyst now with the trade group Personal Care Products Council, said the agency had already determined that levels of the two chemicals in child bath products were safe.

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Labels: 1.4-dioxane, beauty, cosmetics, FDA, formaldehyde, toxic, toxins

In the spirit of Earth Month, Emma Pazzack, founder of Futurenatural--an online beauty store hailed as an organic and natural Sephora--shares the top 5 reasons for using organic beauty products.

• Your skin absorbs up to 60% of what you apply to the surface. Using natural and organic beauty products is not a luxury - it's critical to your health.

• Organic ingredients create a less toxic environment for us, and the planet. In cosmetic formulations, chemical preservatives, petrochemicals, synthetic colors and fragrances are eliminated in favor of healthy, natural, effective alternatives.

• Organic cosmetics contain optimal amounts of bioactive ingredients that are a very important aid to the health of skin. Anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, oils (from seeds & nuts), fruit and vegetables, are powerful and effective tools in the fight against all skin problems!

• Organic has been proven to use less energy (on average, about 30% less), and is beneficial to soil, water and local habitat, not to mention safer for the people who harvest the crops.

• The natural scents & essential oils used in organic and natural beauty products have aromatherapeutic value - they don't just make you smell good, they make you feel good. Avoid using brands that list the smell of their product as 'fragrance' and do not disclose what that 'fragrance' is. Often this masks some very nasty chemicals!

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Labels: beauty, Futurenatural, natural products, organic skin care, preservatives, skin care

- Blemishes are usually temporary and can be caused by anything from strong sun and wind to an excess of alcohol. A light dab of either sandalwood or turmeric powder mixed in a little water should clear the problem. Both of these have unique antiseptic properties. Carrots, known for their high vitamin A content, also make a wonderful treatment. Simply grate a carrot, squeeze out a teaspoonful of fresh saffron-coloured juice and then wipe over the blemished areas. Rinse off after half an hour.

- Enlarged pores are caused mainly by the over-stretching of pores that then fill with excess oil. The problems can be resolved by temporarily by closing the pores with astringents, so that the skin looks toned. Buttermilk or watered-down yogurt, a popular drink all over India known as chaas or lassi, works wonders, closing the pores to create the illusion of finely textured, perfect skin. Use it as a daily face wash and splash with cold water afterwards.

- Moisturizing forms an even more important part of your beauty routine during the winter months. Always remember to treat your neck to all the goodies you use on your face - otherwise you will end up with a lovely face on a crepey neck.

Night cream

The cocoa in this moisturizer will not stain the face. Instead the alkaloids it contains - mainly theobromine and caffeine - act as stimulants and rejuvenate the skin. Lanolin is available from health and specialist beauty shops.

2 tbsp almond oil

2 tbsp lanolin

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp rosewater

Put the almond oil, lanolin and cocoa in a heatproof glass bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of water and heat gently over a low heat till the mixture melts into a smooth cream. Use only a wooden spoon to stir as a metal one will react with the ingredients. Take off the heat and add the rosewater, stirring all the while. Allow the cream to cool and store in a glass bottle.

- Body cream, Aunt Malti swears by the juice of mint although she can't explain exactly how it helps. The almond oil has gentle lubricating properties, which help to dispel fine lines and dark patches due to dry skin. Honey is an ideal energizing food and according to Ayurveda has a tremendous healing effect on the body.

5 fresh mint leaves

1 tsp almond oil

1/2 tsp honey

Crush the mint with a little water in a mortar. Strain the juice and add to the almond oil and honey. Stir till completely mixed and apply a tiny amount under the eyes before going to bed.

- This body polisher is used by women all over India. The turmeric acts as a natural cleanser and disinfectant and will not turn your skin yellow. The chickpea flour sloughs off dead skin to give unimagined silkiness and the milk will firm up the entire body.

1 tablespoon chickpea flour

Pinch of turmeric

About 2 tsp of milk

Mix all the ingredients together and rub on to wet skin instead of soap.

- The most luxurious beauty treatment for the face is the application of a face mask. It deep-cleans, tones and moisturizes all at once, smells delicious and makes you feel relaxed and pampered. Face masks are simple to make and can easily save you money spent on commercial products.

For oily skin - Sandalwood is a natural astringent. Tumeric is antiseptic, and keeps spots in check, while the fruit acid in orange juice clears blemishes. Turmeric may stain the skin slightly, but this is temporary and will clear after a few washes. If you have a sensitive skin and are worried about staining, substitute the turmeric with geranium leaf juice (crush one leaf with a little water, strain and use 1/2 tsp of the liquid), reducing the quantity of orange juice by the same amount.

1 1/2 tbsp sandalwood powder

Tiny pinch (few grains) of ground turmeric

3 tbsp orange juice

Mix all the ingredients together and apply over the face and neck, avoiding the eye area. Allow to dry, then rinse off with cool water, without pulling the skin.

For dry skin - This mask conditions dry skin and leaves it supple and radiant.

1 egg white

1 tsp honey

1 tsp full-fat cream

Mix together all the ingredients and pat on to the face and neck. Rinse off after 20 minutes.

For normal skin - The protein in milk powder leaves skin petal-soft and the rosewater tones and refreshes.

2 tbsp milk powder

Rosewater to mix

Combine the ingredients into a thick paste and apply to the face and neck.

- Hair conditioners put the life back into dull hair and are simple to make at home. All kinds of wonderful herbs grow in India and can be grind up into conditioning hair masks.

Handful each hibiscus, marigold, balsam, basil and mint leaves

Handful of rose petals

Grind all of these (or as many as you can find) in a blender with a little water til you get an emerald-green, coarse, sticky mixture. Apply this directly to the scalp and hair and leave on for at least an hour. Wash off thoroughly. Your hair is sure to gleam like gold.

- Oiling the hair has been a highly regarded ritual in India for at least five thousand years. Even today wise old women are convinced that regular oiling maintains the natural color of the hair and prevents greying. Oil cools the head and promotes luxurious hair growth, whereas internal body heat does the opposite.

Oil for falling hair

The eucalyptus and clove oils in this preparation boost blood circulation that nourishes the root of the hair and prevents hair loss.

5 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp eucalyptus oil

1 tsp clove oil

Mix the three oils together and gently rub into the scalp at night.

- A nourishing hair pack that clears up dandruff can be made of four tablespoons rosemary infusion, an egg yolk and a pinch of borax: simple massage into the scalp before shampooing. Occasional bouts of scurfiness can be cleared up with a relaxing massage with warm olive oil.

Excerpted from India’s Beauty Secrets by Monisha Bharadwaj, Kyle Cathie

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Labels: ayurveda, beauty, beauty secrets, healing with food, healthy hair, India, natural health, skin care

Scouring the planet for traditional therapies is the freshest way to diversify your regimen. Now that science is confirming the benefits of these ancient beauty secrets, it's becoming increasingly easy to find them in the personal care aisle of your natural products store.

1. Acaí, Brazil
This is the age of acaí: Beauty care products containing the red palm berry are popping up everywhere. And for good reason. Acaí, which has been used by Amazonian tribes as a medicinal cure-all for centuries, is loaded with free radical neutralizing antioxidants that help prevent sun and environmental damage, making skin look younger longer. This superfruit also contains phytosterols and flavonoids, which encourage collagen production to prevent premature wrinkling — even after skin has been exposed to harmful ultraviolet rays, says Karen Dunlap, an aesthetician and owner of Karen's Specialty Skin Care salon. Add in omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids, which help keep cells supple and moist, and this berry is a powerful skin food. Effective when ingested or used topically.

Try it in≫ MyChelle Tropical Skin Smoother; Pangea Organics Japanese Matcha Tea with Acaí & Goji Berry Facial Mask

2. Neem, India
A cornerstone of Ayurvedic medicine, the neem tree is widely referred to as the “village pharmacy” in its native country. Here, you'll find its leaves and seed oil in everything from pest control and toothpaste to shampoo and soap. Filled with long-chain fatty acids, antioxidants, and glycerides, neem's garlicky smelling oil quickly penetrates and moisturizes chronically dry skin. Plus, its antihistamine and antibacterial properties prevent dermatitis and other skin infections and can relieve itchiness. Use liberally on dry and inflamed areas.

Try it in≫ Organix-South TheraNeem Certified Organic Neem Oil; Auromére Vanilla-Neem Soap

3. Rooibos, South Africa
Tea for your T-zone isn't a secret — natural skin care has featured antioxidant-rich green and white teas for years. “But your cells needs a multitude of antioxidants, which each offer different benefits, to stay healthy,” says Ray Sahelian, MD, a LA supplements specialist. As the only source of the antioxidant aspalathin, rooibos — a red tea traditionally used by the South African Khoisan tribe — is on the up-and-up. Aspalathin is an anti-inflammatory polyphenol that reduces eczema's and acne's dry, flaky symptoms. New research suggests this antioxidant is most abundant and beneficial when rooibos is in its green (unfermented) form, commonly found in personal care products, rather than as a drinkable tea.

Try it in≫ Alaffia Rooibos & Shea Butter Antioxidant Face Cream; Jason Red Elements Hydrating Lotion Cleanser

4. Sake & rice bran, Japan
The Japanese have used rice to brighten their skin for hundreds of years, says Shizuka Bernstein, an aesthetician and owner of Shizuka New York Day Spa. Rice's bran — its hard outer layer — has potent antioxidant activity, and its oils help eradicate dry skin by increasing sebaceous gland secretions. After scrubbing away dead cells with a rice-bran-based exfoliant, tone skin with sake — Japanese rice wine. A byproduct of sake's fermentation process, kojic acid evens and lightens skin tone by suppressing melanin formation. Simply add a few splashes of sake to a hot bath.

Try it in≫ Zia Skin Basics Bamboo Exfoliant with Rice Bran; Queen Bee Sauce Javanese Rice Bran Face Paste

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Labels: acai, beauty, MyChelle, Neem, organic skin care, phytosterols, rice, rooibos, skin care

Labels: beauty, Contest, CybeleSays, giveaway

Youthtopia Age-Correcting Serum With Rhodiola is ORIGINS’ first foray into the antiaging category. In addition to the adaptogenic herb rhodiola, the item contains derivatives of the phytonutrient-rich, Himalayan-grown amalaki tree. “Rhodiola repairs and amalaki extends the repair,” says Lizz Starr, executive director of product development. The serum, launching this month for $50, also contains firming sweet almond extract, collagen-building soy peptides, moisturizing sunflower and cucumber extracts and calming geranium. “There’s a natural, organic trend in the market right now, but women still need to see the benefits,” says Jenny Belknap, vice president of global marketing.

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Labels: amalaki, anti-aging, beauty, herbs, organic, Origins, rhodiola

According to the National Honey Board–as well as beauties throughout the ages–honey is a humectant, which means it attracts and retains moisture, helping to prevent dry skin and dull, lifeless hair. In addition to drawing moisture into the skin, honey is also an antiseptic, which means it inhibits the growth of bacteria, making honey a good choice for all skin types.

In honor of National Honey Month:

Honey Pumpkin Exfoliating Mask
(Adapted from the National Honey Board)

1 teaspoon green tea, brewed
2 teaspoon pineapple, papaya or figs, diced
4 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons aloe vera gel
1/2 teaspoon jojoba oil
4 teaspoons cornmeal

1. Steep green tea in boiling water. Set aside to cool.

2. In blender or food processor, puree pineapple and place in medium-sized mixing bowl. Add pumpkin, honey and aloe. Mix well.

3. Stir in jojoba oil, green tea and cornmeal.

4. Reserve remaining green tea for another use. Apply small amount of pumpkin mask to cheeks, forehead, chin and neck. Massage in circular motions gently buffing skin. Repeat. Apply more product as needed. Leave a thin layer of pumpkin mask on face and neck for 15-20 minutes.

5. Rinse with tepid or cool water and pat dry with soft towel. Follow with appropriate moisturizer.

6. Store remaining mask covered in refrigerator for up to two weeks.

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Labels: beauty, food for dry skin, Holistic Health, honey, mask, skin care

With food grade quality ingredients, Intelligent Nutrients products are so natural, you could even drink them. Well, that might be a bit of a stretch, but it's a possibility.

The creator of this relatively new brand feels that what goes on our bodies should be just as safe as what goes in them. Each hair, skin, and body product developed by the company is certified organic and contains a mega anti-oxidant blend that's packed with a punch, including black cumin, pumpkin, red grape, red raspberry, and cranberry seed oils. This all kinda sounds more like the basic components for a festive Thanksgiving dinner, not a spray-on hair detangler.

Founder Horst Rechelbacher explains on the website,

We’ve merged food science and cosmetic chemistry to create a new paradigm in beauty. We called it Nutritional Chemistry—it’s based on using only certified organic food-derived ingredients—substances the body recognizes and readily assimilates as nutrients in the body.

The company also plans to add more products to the collection, such as: body, skin, pet, baby, and home care brands, as well as my favorite — love therapy. Do you know what other environmentally friendly was founded by Rechelbacher?

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Labels: Aveda, beauty, innovative, Intelligent Ingredients, natural products, new product

Mintel estimates that the natural and organic personal care product market has grown by 35% since 2005 and is currently valued at $465 million. The success of this burgeoning market has been enjoyed by both major brands like Walmart and smaller boutiques. The latest entry in this marketplace, mastihashop caught our attention.

The brand recently opened an outpost in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and showcases a wide range of products featuring mastiha, a therapeutic cure-all long hailed in the East. Mastiha is an all-natural antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial resin harvested from the sap of trees found exclusively on the Greek Island of Chios.

Sisters and co-founders Artemis and Kalliopi Kohas, who spent summers in Chios, selected a sleek and natural design for their shop to reflect both mastiha’s tradition and modernization. Artemis Kohas told Peep Insights that the versatile mastiha has over 300 known applications and has been used in remedies for over 2,500 years. The Orchard Street store features a wide range of mastiha products, from homeopathic remedies to beauty products. Some favorites include the mastiha infused soaps, the mastiha chocolate bars, and the Korres mastiha oil hair products.

As a nutritional supplement and beauty product, the resin freshens breath, fights plaque and gingivitis, heals and regenerates skin, eases digestion and strengthens hair and nails. It is found in everything from chewing gum to toothpaste, wine, ice cream and cosmetics.

Mastihashop
145 Orchard Street
, New York, NY 10079, (212)253-0895

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Labels: beauty, cool new place, Cool Store, LES, mastiha, MastihaShop, natural products, NYC

Cleanse
Harsh cleansers can dry out your skin, thus leading to—oh, snap—more wrinkles. That’s why green gurus recommend using creamy plain yogurt as a face wash to soothe the most sensitive complexions.
Skipped the sunscreen?
It’s especially good after a day of indulgent Apollo worship. Add fine-ground oatmeal to gently exfoliate, or, for a fruitier formula, mix in a kiwi for its natural acids and high concentration of vitamin C. A few drops of honey and almond oil can also help lift pollutants, revealing glowing skin beneath that daily build-up.

Tone
It’s widely known that cucumbers reduce puffiness – thus the old cucumbers-on-the-eyes trick. A few tablespoons of blended and strained cucumber can serve as a mild, daily toner to cool skin and prevent irritation. Add a few drops of witch hazel from the first aid aisle in the drugstore, and this toner will act as an herbal astringent for combination-to-oily skin. Apply with a cotton ball and leave on for up to 10 minutes.

Exfoliate
You wouldn’t wake up without your morning cup of coffee, and now you might not wash your face without the grounds. Caffeine is found in various store-bought skin care products used to tighten and reduce puffiness. That’s because it’s a natural diuretic, which means it temporarily combats water retention in the skin. Mixed with a simple base of yogurt or olive oil, coffee grounds can refresh the face while loosening dead cells. They’re a stimulating alternative to rough exfoliants that leave your face feeling like it was rubbed with asphalt.

Moisturize
It’s avocado season, which means awesome guacamole and—eternal youth? Rich in vitamins and natural oils, the pulp of a ripe avocado can be smoothed alone on the face to produce radiant, hydrated skin. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice, and the result isn’t just delicious, it’s useful: Citric acid is a powerful antioxidant that promotes collagen production (a key to firm, youthful skin) and skin cell renewal. If that’s too messy – or you live with a dude who doesn’t heart the green goblin – some DIY divas recommend smoothing the inside of an avocado peel over your skin. Many essential oils are found in the rind, and it’s an undeniably tidier method of moisturizing.

Face Mask
Skin still dry? Reach for the nearest ripe banana, which hydrates for the price of a pack of gum. Mash and use alone, or combine with honey and plain yogurt - the miracle base of many at-home facials. If it’s oily, angry skin you wish to combat, brew a pot of green tea, and then cool it to room temperature. Combine with rice flour until the mixture is paste-like and spreadable, then apply to skin for soothing, anti-inflammatory effects (green tea is also a powerful soldier in the fight against evil, age-inducing free radicals). Leave on either mask for 10 to 15 minutes, then wash.

Condition
The Body Shop used to make a fabulous banana conditioner that they discontinued, much to our dismay. But you don’t have to wait for a banana conditioner revival to repair dry or damaged hair. Puree a banana with a tablespoon of olive oil and about ¼ cup of mayonnaise in a blender and apply the mask to your hair. Wait 15 minutes then rinse for soft, shiny, just-like-new hair.

Lesson learned?
Results need not come with unpronounceable ingredients and a sky-high price tag. With a shopping list and a good blender, every beauty junkie can look and feel like an earth goddess.

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Labels: avocado, beauty, cleanse, DIY, hair-care, moisturizer, skin care

CybeleSays is having a closet cleaning contest and the best part of it is we get a chance to win some MAJOR Beauty BOOTY!

All you need to do is comment on her blog! Yup, that's it. It's so easy to win. There will be 7 winners!! Picked at random, any seven!

Comment here....

Labels: beauty, booty, Contest, CybeleSays, win this

We're no stranger to toxic beauty -- and we do our best to avoid the usual suspects like parabens, phthalates and mercury that lurk in cosmetics by buying "natural" and "organic" beauty products. So when the Organic Consumer Association revealed that many of these brands tested positive for the carcinogenic contaminant 1,4-dioxane, we turned to Julie Gabriel, author of The Green Beauty Guide (VJD hearts this book!) for the dirty details:

"1,4-Dioxane forms during ethoxylation -- a common manufacturing process -- and is present in both conventional and 'organic' personal care products. Check product labels for ingredients that contain "-eth" in their name, such as sodium laureth sulphate, PEG (polyethylene glycol), oleth, myreth, ceteareth -- basically, anything that has an -eth may test positive for 1,4-dioxane."

So where does that leave our skincare routine? Not to worry, there are plenty of safe options that didn't test positive for 1,4-dioxane (and happen to be VJD faves!):

* Dr. Bronner's
* Burt's Bees
* Aubrey Organics
* Dr. Hauschka

For a complete listing of the test results by brand, go here, or download this leaflet.

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Labels: 1, 4-Dioxane, beauty, skin care, toxins

Brazilian-born Rosangela Slomski, who spent 20 years as a celebrity aesthetician in Rio, treats her clients like her own children at her six-month-old space. While she offers a sympathetic ear (“More than anything, I’m a psychologist,” she says) and fruit and wine, she won’t pollute your lungs with airborne tan: The spa is equipped with a vacuum system that sucks up excess liquid. I’ve never achieved a tan on my own—I’m a redhead with superpale skin that only burns—so I was expecting something that looked unnatural. But it actually looked amazing. And that’s not just because she got me buzzed, too.

Rosangela Spa
1200 Lexington Ave between 81st and 82nd Sts, second floor
(212-861-0826).
Full body $48, half body (face, arms, chest) $25

Labels: beauty, NYPost, Spa, spray tan

Putting chemicals on your skin is actually far worse than ingesting them, because when you eat something the enzymes in your saliva and stomach help break it down and flush it out of your body. When you put these chemicals on your skin, however, it is absorbed straight into your blood stream without filtering of any kind, so there's no protection against the toxin.

The five pounds of toxic chemicals per year you may be absorbing from the use of toiletries and beauty products are largely going directly to your delicate organs. It's no wonder that they have been linked to deadly side effects like cancer.

Parabens, which may be listed on the label as methyl paraben, ethyl paraben, propyl paraben, butyl paraben, isobutyl paraben or E216, have shown particularly troubling links to cancer. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health stated nearly 900 of the chemicals used in cosmetics are toxic. Women are becoming more aware of this issue, and there are more natural cosmetics available today than in years past. But remember that labels do not tell the whole story. For more on how to select natural products, see Not All Natural Beauty Products are Natural.

There are no federal certifications or official guidelines for beauty products, so anyone can claim that such a product is natural or organic. Some "organic" beauty products contain only a single-digit percentage of organic ingredients.

If you want to stay beautiful, it is much better to do it by keeping yourself fit and healthy, rather than covering yourself with toxic chemicals. There are many great natural and safe cosmetic products out there. I hope to highlight some later this year, but in the meantime many of your health food stores are a good start to find them.

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Labels: beauty, cosmetics, dry skin, Mercola, natural products, personal care, toxins

The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.
Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.
"The integrated view of the world represented by the mandala, while long embraced by some Eastern religions, has now begun to emerge in Western religious and secular cultures. Awareness of the mandala may have the potential of changing how we see ourselves, our planet, and perhaps even our own life purpose."
(From Mandala: Journey to the Center, by Bailey Cunningham)

See more of these beautiful symbols

Labels: beauty, cool site, Mandala, symbol

Farmacia Urban Healing is getting aggressive about well-being.
Starting this month, the British retailer and holistic health-and-beauty brand is strengthening its high street presence by introducing Urban Healing Pods in House of Fraser doors, expanding its existing department store concessions and revamping its stand-alone flagship here.
"There's an increasingly big group of people who want natural wellness," said Sanjay Bhandari, Farmacia's co-founder and chief executive officer. "People are looking beyond traditional beauty and cosmetic surgery.
"That's why the firm began opening Urban Healing Pods, or 300- to 500-square-foot shop-in-shops in five House of Fraser doors in the U.K. starting this month. The spaces feature consulting areas complete with vitamin scanning systems, which can detect nutrient deficiencies, hormone and organ imbalances, food intolerances and the presence of toxins in the body. Initial 15-minute scans are complimentary, however, if a client wishes to have a more in-depth consultation they can choose to pay for the service. A 75-minute skin profile, for example, costs 115 pounds, or $228 at current exchange. The pods sell a selection of Farmacia's supplements and own-brand treatment products.
Read More...

Labels: beauty, Holistic Health, House of Fraser, skincare, UK

To help truly sparse brows, Anastasia recently came out with a brow enhancing serum called Nu Brow ($35) that vows to restore, reshape, and condition overplucked eyebrows. According to the company, it is selling an average of 1,000 units a week at Sephora stores.
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UPDATE!
Review from Amazon:

Didn't work and don't waste your money, May 26, 2007
By Linda (Highland Lakes, NJ, USA) - See all my reviewsI bought this product based on the description and reputation of Anastasia products. I was extremely disappointed. I have used this product for almost 7 weeks and have not seen any growth or a hint of it. My eyebrows grew nothing more than when I don't pluck my own brows for same length of time. Based on my experience, I will not purchase it again. I have tried Billion Dollar Brows that is available via internet and saw better results - back to Billion Dollar Brows.

Labels: beauty, eyebrows, new product, Nu Brow