2008 Archives: Green by Nature: Synthetic-Free, Eco-Friendly Beauty at Target
Move over Whole Foods. Target’s new eco-friendly beauty section has some amazing synthetic-free beauty options designed to tempt shoppers who might not initially go there for the green. Call it subversive or label it greenwashing, all we can say is each time we’ve hit up the aisle we’ve seen people reading the labels on lead-free lipsticks and shampoos that eschew sodium lauryl sulfate, then popping them into their big red carts. Minuscule by Wal-Mart standards, the success of this section is still yet another green flag that points to the fact that sustainably produced products can compete—and win—on every level from big box to boutique.
But back to beauty. We fell in love with the Green by Nature line in the Target eco-beauty aisle. First, it clearly marks its percentage of natural ingredients—from 91 to 98.6%—on the front of its packaging, and features no things that suck like artificial fragrances, chemical preservatives, parabens, DEA, petroleum, propylene glycol, sulfates, saccharine, dioxin or phthalates. Second, formulated with botanical extracts and essential oils and never tested on animals, Green by Nature’s got a fantastic selection of basic body care essentials—lotion, scrub, hand cream, body wash and a yummy lavender vanilla body spray. And third, their lip scrub, lip butter and lip polish trio would make even the most makeup-phobic ecoista wonder if lip products might slide under her holier-than-lipstick-wearing-thou radar.
