Popular YouTube Blogger Launches Beauty Retailer to Provide Healthy Alternatives To Conventional Cosmetics

A new online beauty retailer, mintandberry.com, has launched to help educate consumers on the dangers of conventional cosmetics and provide alternatives which do not contain any ingredients linked to long-term health concerns.

North America has lagged behind Europe in the move toward cosmetic industry regulation, but now a growing number of consumers are turning green. They want to avoid synthetic ingredients and harmful carcinogenic chemicals that are found in many off-the shelf cosmetics. Findings from The Environmental Working Group (ewg.org), a non-profit environmental organization, have revealed that that over 80% of personal care products, even those labeled as "organic" or "natural", contain toxic impurities or otherwise hazardous ingredients.

Mint & Berry founder, skin care therapist and YouTube video blogger (glamology.com), Charmaine Leah, has long been an activist of the health risks associated with cosmetics. "The average adult is exposed to over 168 harmful and cancer causing chemicals each day from conventional personal care products," said Charmaine Leah. "Due to loopholes in federal law, companies can put virtually any ingredient into their products and the government does not require pre-market safety tests for any of them. What's worse is that, unlike the food industry, there are no laws regarding the use of words like natural or organic on cosmetic labeling."

Mint & Berry knows that purchasing natural products can be very misleading and confusing for many people so they do the screening for their customers. They have a rigorous evaluation process and literally screen every ingredient for purity, effectiveness, and safety concerns before they will sell them. Products must contain certified organic ingredients and have earned the lowest possible hazardous rating (2 or less) from the world's largest product safety guide SkinDeep Cosmetic Database. Furthermore, products must not contain any cancer causing, hormone disrupting, synthetic or petroleum derived ingredients, animal by-products or have been tested on animals.

Mint & Berry gives back a portion from every product sold to help fund non-profit organizations that work to protect the public and the environment, such as The Environmental Working Group and the SkinDeep Cosmetic Safety Database.

"Looking beautiful and youthful is the goal of many of us, but this doesn't mean that you have to compromise your long term health. Using non-toxic organic beauty products will have positive results not only for your skin and your health but also for the environment."

Learn more about Charmaine Leah at Glamology.com & Mint & Berry

It's time for Best Of Green 2010 at Treehugger and The Green Girls are nominated for Best Style Twitter Feed for the 2nd year! We snagged last year's title of Best Style Twitter Feed (Group) and it sure would give us a warm fuzzy feeling if we snag 2010. 

Also on the Fashion & Beauty category is our very own guru Amanda of Fashion, Evolved nominated for Best Fashion Website or Blog!

Check out our Green Girls Gurus and learn more about the gals that feed our tweets.

You can also follow us at: @GreenGirls

Global Green's Pre-Oscar party unveiled the eco-friendly gown Suzy Amis Cameron plans to wear on the red carpet at the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 7 as part of her “Red Carpet Green Dress” design campaign to benefit Muse Elementary.

Jillian Granz, a student from Michigan State University won the competition and was recognized by Suzy and James Cameron who also spoke about their passion for creating green schools and healthy learning environments for kids.

Watch this video as Suzy & James Cameron talk about the contest & unveils the dress at Global Green's Pre-Oscar Party

Watch More Videos!

Learn more about Red Carpet Green Dress

This past Monday was my first, official, voyage into the ocean of possible wedding planning. Although we have not yet figured out a wedding date, I received an invitation to this event and decided to go and see what I might find.



Copper-Willow is what they call an Eco-Luxe Letterpress studio. They specialize in special occasion invitations, most notably weddings. They use eco-friendly papers, all of which are a minimum of 30% recycled content up to 100% recycled content and are FSC or Green Seal approved. Copper-Willow also offers tree-free papers and inks are soy based.

 

Copper-Willow started out by the wives, (Leora and Jill) of two best friends coming together to create a business they felt good about which would also allow them to raise a family. Now on board is one of the ladies mother, Susan, offering a creative alternative to fresh flowers for events. Susan can make flowers out of eco-friendly papers, such as papers made from mulberry. The paper flowers hold up better on cakes (don't wilt). If they get squashed, they can be re-fluffed. And they have a MUCH longer life span than traditional flowers so brides can keep their bouquets and pass them down. Although there is a chemical process you can do to preserve fresh bouquets, chemicals are not a green girl move and by Susan's own personal experience, they don't preserve color (possibly turning the flowers brown in the process) whereas the color is preserved with the paper bouquets.

One of Susan's selling points to the possible brides that night was that she can re-create bouquets from pictures, so if a bride went with a fresh bouquet, she could then have it re-created (and therefore preserved for memories) after the wedding, and paper bouquets make probably the best kind of bouquet for the toss. She can of course make table decorations, hair pieces for the bridal party, and boutineers for the groomsmen and groom. She also has a special flower she can make by recycling save the date cards!

You can reach Susan through Copper-Willow Eco-Luxe Studio.

You can follow me on Twitter @GreenGeisha

Learn more about Janine at Green Wave

PLEASE JOIN US FOR COCKTAILS, MUSIC, AN AMAZING GREAT SILENT AUCTION AND GOOD TIMES!!!!.....ALL FOR A GREAT CAUSE!!!

On March 10, Pistol & Stamen and Cristophe Salon in Beverly Hills will host a cocktail party, beauty drive and silent auction at the Beverly Hills Salon from 6:00 to 9:00PM to help raise funds for the heart transplant and recovery of “Mad Men” actor Edin Gali’s 17-year old cousin, Alma Hadzic’s much needed heart transplant.


photo via Superdry US

Edin’s cousin, Alma, is a 17-year-old Bosnian girl who only has a few months to live, unless she receives a life-saving heart transplant. Thus far, Alma's family has been unsuccessful in securing all of the funds necessary to ensure that she receives the transplant and post surgery care. Her family has exhausted all of their savings and is already in debt from financing Alma's medical expenses.

Please join us in our endeavor to help raise money for Alma’s transplant and recovery. A live DJ will be playing and cocktails and hors d’ouevres will be served throughout the evening. In addition, Cristophe Salon is offering a complimentary “Heartthrob Hair Bar”, which will gift temporary highlights and extensions. The silent auction and beauty drive have been arranged to assist in raising funds, so this occasion is the perfect opportunity to place your hair into the hands of top stylists who have transformed and styled the hair of starlets such as Heidi Klum, Pink and Ke$ha.

Book your appointment today for a gorgeous haircut, color, style, manicure, or make up application on March 10, from 6:00PM to 9:00PM, and you will receive 50% off all services booked during the beauty drive. Cristophe Salon will be donating one hundred percent of the proceeds from the evening to the Alma Hadzic Transplant Fund.

If you are not in need of any beauty services – please come anyway!!!! :-)
To book your appointment for a gorgeous haircut, color, style, manicure, or make up application at 50% off, please contact:

Cristophe Salon Beverly Hills
348 North Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
310-274-0851

*Complimentary valet parking will be available