Incredible Edible Eco-Beauty
July 11 2010
Good enough to eat. We say it about dessert—and that gorgeous guy on the second floor who hoses off his mud-covered mountain bike in the courtyard on Saturdays.
Yummy.
But what about beauty? If you consider that 60% of what goes on our skin goes in our bodies, wouldn’t it make sense to use products that are safe enough to eat in the first place?
When we put our favorites to the test, we found that many of them are—technically—edible. That’s because they eschew parabens, phthalates, synthetic perfumes and other petro-chemicals in favor of truly natural, organic-whenever-possible ingredients.
Note the use of the word “technically.” Please don’t call us with a bellyache after you decide to make your face mask your meal: These products are formulated without taste in mind, no matter how safe they might be to ingest. Oh, and p.s. we scored $1,300 in edible eco-beauty giveaways!
The Environmental Working Group shook up the beauty industry last year when it found that 60% of lipsticks contain lead, a known neurotoxin. Add to that the fact that the average woman eats about nine pounds of lipstick over the course of her lifetime—just from licking her lips. Ick.
That’s why we love Primitive lipsticks. Made with natural waxes, shea butter, vanilla extract and vitamin E, the rainbow of gorgeous colors in the Primitive line up is created exclusively from elements like iron oxides and carmine. Lip smackin’.
Oh and for those of you ecoistas who prefer the gloss, PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics just dropped their new 95% USDA Certified Organic YUM balms that look, smell and taste absolutely delicious. Plus, PeaceKeeper is all fair trade, all the time.
Cosmetic chefs David Parker and Margaret Skarin are organic beauty veterans—he as a NorCal spa owner and she of Blue Lotus Organic Skincare fame—but when the two joined forces in 2002 to create The Body Deli their goal was to take it a step further with products so clean you could eat them. Hence the refrigerators in their flagship Palm Desert, CA store—and the allegiance of local farmers in the California Central Valley. With a truly unique range of products for women and men—our favorite, hands down, is the ever-so-masculine, sandalwood-heavy, Spanish Fly line of scrub, wash, lotion and soap—The Body Deli truly serves it up. Take a number.
It’s seriously hard not to eat Bodykor’s Chocolate Macadamia Mask—it smells that good. Made with organic almond oil, antioxidant-rich chocolate, organic shea butter, macadamia nut oil and honey, among other natural ingredients, the hydrating mask penetrates without any greasy feeling, leaving skin soft and supple. Go ahead, take a lick!
Sweet Beauty takes the concept a step further, with an entire line of Theo Organic Chocolate spa treatments like something out of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” only guilt-free. We’ve been addicted to their lip balms for years, but our new faves are Sweet Beauty’s Pot de Crème body creams made with shea butter and grape seed oils, which present a chocolate flavor base accented by rose, coconut, coffee or a double shot of cacao. Mouth-watering.
A pinch of salt highlights the sweet, and nowhere do we find this to be truer than in Golden Path Alchemy’s Kiwi Coconut Exfoliating Mask, crafted with brightening kiwi enzymes, antioxidant-rich coconut milk and acerola cherry fruit acids, complemented by Himalayan sea salt. Hand-made in small batches from USDA Certified Organic food-grade ingredients—many of them sourced from the company’s own organic farm in Montecito, CA—the entire GPA line is edible and based on the five elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Tata Harper wants you to feed your head. Or your face, rather, with her eponymous and uniformly edible line of unique custom skincare products, made with love on her organic farm in Vermont. The Rebuilding Moisturizer is a perfect example: Minus the superficial silicones that leave skin with an oily finish, Tata Harper Rebuilding Moisturizer includes naturally-fermented sodium hyaluronate and organic raw honey to protect from sun damage. Amazingly, Tata’s Moisturizer leaves the skin matte, yet hydrated. Dig in.
Elique Organic Skin Food was one of our first truly organic beauty finds—along with a wealth of eco-skincare knowledge in founder Elisha Reverby, who also owns the Get Waxed organic waxing studio in Venice, CA. Elisha hand-crafts all of her products from certified organic, locally sourced ingredients and all of them are edible. Especially this time of year, we’re loving Elique’s Pampered pH line of hydrosols—delicately distilled waters from flowers and plants infused with lavender, chamomile and rose. Core ingredients to many of Elique’s signature products, they stand up on their own to infuse the skin with moisture, tame frizzy hair, soothe a sunburn—you name it. We’ve even been known to flavor mint tea with lavender hydrosol for a summer pick-me-up. Cheers!
Not all of Pristine Beauty’s products are edible, but they all smell so good they should be—including the best-selling, orange-creamsicle scented Take A Whiff! deodorant that we fell in love with a few years back. Created by a young mother and cancer survivor (and donating to the Cancer Prevention Coalition with each and every purchase), Pristine Beauty is a carcinogenic-free line of products based on a retro, 1950’s pin-up theme that’s as hilarious as it is efficacious. Formulated with rosehip seed oil and yucca root, the incredible, edible Hooray for Brallywood Butta Skin Renewal and Scar Treatment Cream is perfect for fragile skin on the face and neck—or anywhere you need a little extra hydration. Plus, it smells like a delicious slice of lemon meringue pie. Bonus!
All of Sibu Beauty’s products are formulated with sea buckthorn berries, a sustainable resource that’s fair-trade harvested in Tibet, where its cultivation supports entire villages. Used for more than 1,300 years in traditional health and beauty practices, recent scientific studies reveal that sea buckthorn berries contain more than 190 bioactive compounds, including rare essential fatty acids that are vital to collagen production. Sibu Beauty produces supplements as well as beauty products, but for edible components look no further than their pure, organic Sea Buckthorn Seed Oil, a therapeutic-grade oil suitable for every skin type which, when applied topically, treats everything from wrinkles to acne. This oil is so pure that, in a pinch, you can cook with it. Bon appétit.
Stateside, we have USDA Certified; in Europe, they’ve got Soil Association 100% Certified Organic. Both indicate products are free and clear of toxins, like our favorite new Certified Organic import, Spiezia, available exclusively from U.S. etailer NuboNau. Manufactured on an organic farm in Cornwall, England, the Spiezia products are crafted without water—no dilution means these products are 100% active. Take the Organic Facial Cleanser, for example, which utilizes a proprietary blend of essential oils—including eucalyptus leaf, clove, grapefruit and clary sage—to decongest clogged pores, regulate sebum production and soften the skin, this miracle cleanser even takes of waterproof makeup (as if you’re using that any more) and was rated as The Times of London’s “best facial product” for two years running. Now through August 1st, place an order of $60 or more on NuboNau and you’ll get a free $19.95 Spiezia Sun Oil—just mention “EcoStiletto” at check out.
Remember the threat to wash your mouth out with soap? If said soap had been made by Feleciai Favroth, that wouldn’t be a problem. Cult favorite Skincare by Feleciai soaps are air-dried for a full eight weeks—rather than speeding up the process with heat—to ensure that they are keep active ingredients intact. Forget those chemical suds of yester yore—these soaps are all natural, all the time, and with flavors like Lavender Oatmeal, Lemon Poppy Seed and Orange Cinnamon you might be tempted to punish yourself.
