Natural Beauty Products

Aromatherapist, Andrea Garland offers up a collection of natural health and beauty balms in vintage tins and pots. Other offerings include creams and potions packaged in new amber glass. Natural ingredients include shea butter and sweet almond oil, to name a few. Items purchased from the vintage line include refills at minimal cost.

A personal fave - Rosy Facial Beauty Blam in a Large Vintage 1940's Goldtone Compact.
As described on the website: A fantastic 1940's compact with raised circular and dotty pattern, has mirror inside which has very small chip to corner, full of Rosy Beauty Balm; A rescue remedy for the skin to improve radiance and smoothness. Skin softening and rejuvenating organic Shea Butter, anti ageing and EFA laden Hemp Seed oil, coupled with balancing Jojoba and free radical seeking Vitamin E make this a deeply nourishing and moisturizing balm. With the heady combination of Rose De Mai, Palma Rosa and Rose Geranium, this is sure to nourish, protect and enrich. Excellent protection for winter and dry environments. It sounds heavenly and the compact brings out my inner Joan Crawford;) There's the Georgiana pot for those looking to feed their inner Duchess and many more.

Take care of aging, beauty and health naturally while keeping containers from the landfill forever. These beauties will perk up your dresser, bathroom or purse and take you to a.

--till next week Restore, Refresh, Recycle & Renew

Walmart Green Label

According to an article in the New York Times from July 15, 2009 written by Stephanie Rosenbloom, Wal-mart is planning to institute a green label on the products carried in their stores. Wal-mart proposes creation of a labeling system that will let their customers know the carbon footprint - water and energy use and waste - of every product on their shelves.

In partnership with scholars, environmental groups and suppliers, the goal is to create a universal rating scale that indicates a products environmental and social sustainability in the next 5 years. Industry - wide adoption of the rating system is the future hope. '“We have to change how we make and sell products,” Michael T. Duke, Wal-Mart’s president and chief executive, plans to tell about 1,500 of the company’s suppliers and employees on Thursday at a “sustainability meeting,” according to a copy of his prepared remarks. “We have to make consumption itself smarter and sustainable.”'(nyt article - 7/15/09)














The process will begin with the distribution of a simple 15 question survey of Wal-mart's more than 100,000 suppliers located world wide. The concerns from the supplier side will focus on how much more it will cost them to comply. Wal-mart has promised not to penalize the suppliers who do not participate but warn that those not in compliance will become less important in the Wal-mart product offering mix.

It will be interesting to watch this evolve. There have been attempts to do the same by producers such as Timberland and European retailers. No one has had the purchasing power to make the standard universal. Wal-mart might just pull it off.

With Wal-mart in charge, there is always the chance of major 'greenwashing', but since they are the most powerful force in the marketplace there is the potential for major change in our product industries as well. Keep a watchful eye on this.

--till next week Restore, Recycle, Refresh & Renew

Physically- how green is your closet?

I've been thinking about my closet physically and my house for that matter. I wonder just how green my physical closet is. Since I live in a very old home with numerous upgrades and renovations, I am sure my physical closet has a way to go before it gets LEED certification. I did have the interior designed for maximum space design so I do know that my shelves and their supports are all made from composite, but I don't know if the composite is 'green'. I wish I had considered that when I had the project done. *Sigh*

DIY home improvement can be a challenge for city dwellers. Adding "Green" could make it nearly impossible. According to the Springwise newsletter of 23 February 2009, there is a Manhatten Retailer focusing on this niche: 'Green Deopt, a store that aims to make green building and living solutions "accessible, affordable and gratifying."'

The 3500 square foot flagship, located in the Bowery is on track for platinum LEED certification. The store shows green solutions in action, for example, a light booth helps customers compare lighting solutions and paint colors under controlled circumstances. Not to be left out of current retail trends, a zero - VOC paint bar offers a plethora of green options.

Green Depot has developed a series of 5 icons to help consumers understand the greeness of each product. They include: ' "air quality," "local," "social responsibility," "energy" and "conservation,".' That is a big help in a world filled with 'greenwashers'.

So when are they coming to Philly? I'm there. Thumbs up to Green Depot and fingers crossed for their growth. With their help, I am sure I could build a truly green closet;)

till next week -- Restore, Refresh, Recycle, Renew.

Intuit's Snapshot

Okay so this isn't just for Fashion, but this product is great for any small to mid-size business of 100 employees or less. From our friends Intuit who bring us Quickbooks and Turbo Tax, Snapshot is designed to track one's spending and categorize it in such a way as to give one a picture of individual contributions to global warming so they can be managed more effectively.

'As Intuit's Rupesh Shah, Director, Corporate Sustainability explains: "Snapshot reads your Quickbook data, pulls every dollar the business has spent over the past twelve months, and works with Cooler's economic input-output matching engine. It looks at the payee and the vendor of every transaction and tries to match it to the closest of about 1,000 carbon categories that the Cooler engine has. And for each of those carbon categories there's a carbon intensity -- emissions per dollar spent." The result is a report detailing a company's carbon footprint and cost-effective opportunities to reduce it.

Shah continues : "I was struck when I was interviewing small businesses, how many of them were trying to get their customers to see that they're doing something green. But there's no real authentic way to message that." Shah believes Intuit can play a role in providing "a little bit more transparency and legitimacy for those claims around green."' (from Intuit Helps Small business Capture a 'Green Snapshot' by Joel Makower content courtesy of GreenBiz.com)

I can't wait till this rolls out for indivduals. Kudos to Intuit and Snapshot.

--till next week Restore, Refresh, Recycle & Renew.