Safe Cosmetics ~ Healthy Faces by Eve Organics

Eve Organics Spring Trends Class a Success!

Last Wednesday evening (April 22), concidentally Earth Day, we launched the first of many Eve Organics classes at our offices in Chesterfield, MI.  We only had room for 18 and we had a full house!

 

Of course, once we started, I forgot to take more pictures!

Anyhow, we had fun with a little wine, cheese, fruit, organic lemonade and makeup!  What else could a woman want?  After a little run down of the "Dirty Dozen" Ingredients, we learned to properly apply mineral foundation and eyeshadow in spring colors.

We plan on holding classes every 6-8 weeks or so with a different theme every time.

Email me at info@eveorganics.net and let me know what you want to learn at one of the next classes!

Whole Foods Earth Day Celebration - Rochester Hills, MI

We had a wonderful Sunday at the Earth Day Celebration sponsored by Whole Foods on April 5!  The celebration was held at the Village of Rochester Shopping Center.  There weatherman called for 42 degrees as the high temp and rain with a chance of wet snow mixed in.  YUCK!

Well, the morning ended up being beautiful.  It was a little chilly, but the rain/snow held off until we packed up and we met some wonderful people!  It's always fun to go out and meet you all!

Lead Contamination in Kohl Eyeliner

A few weeks ago, we did a presentation at the ACCESS Community Center in Dearborn, Michigan.  Dearborn has the largest population of Arabic residents in the United States.  Nicole Elhardt, the Environmental Assistant at the Dearborn ACCESS Community Center contacted me after finding Eve Organics' eyeliner listed as one of the safest eyeliners in the Safe Cosmetics database at safecosmetics.org. 

An astonishing statistic Nicole shared with me was that even though every other Southeastern Michigan community has reported lead poisoning decreasing yearly, Dearborn's cases of lead poisoning have been on the rise, in women and in children. 

One big reason they think this may be, believe it or not, is the kohl eyeliner Arabic women wear.  But why would the children have an increase in lead poisoning you ask?  It is tradition for Arabaic women to line the eyes of their babies. 

Since it was only a few weeks before Halloween, we also went over some labels for Halloween makeup and were astonished at how many of the "Dirty Dozen" ingredients were listed. . . FD&C Dyes Yellow 5, Red 3, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Fragrance, Talc, Mineral Oil, Petrolatum . . .  I think I'll wear a mask from now on!

The 2008 Emmy Awards Secret Room Gifting Lounge

We had such a great time at the Emmy's Gifting Suite!  We met a bunch of celebrities and media (and got to have dinner with my son while we were on the west coast!)  Everyone was extremely gracious and easy to talk to.  We got the word out about the "Dirty Dozen Ingredients" and had a ball while we were at it. 

Here is my partner Heather and I, along with Ashley Greene (Alice from Twilight).  What a sweet girl!  She was very interested in safe cosmetics and keeping her skin healthy and clear.

Good Luck with the movie Ashley!

 

Here is Lynda with Edyta Sliwinska of Dancing with the Stars.  Lynda's daughters are DWTS fanatics!  They're going to love this picture!

This is the newest, hottest up and coming all-around dancer/actor in the business  ~ my son, Eric Sherrod. 

He is a college student and has done extra work on The Office and Beverly Hills 90210.  One day, I'll be looking up his bio! lol

The day after the gifting suite, we were able to have a day to browse the esthetics/spa convention.  It was interesting to see the companies that claim that they are "all natural" or "organic", but still have parabens in their products, or claim to be scented with "pure essential oils" and have strawberry/kiwi as the scent.

Did you know that the cosmetic/skin care industry has virtually no regulations when it comes to what they cannot put into their ingredients?  This is where "green washing" comes in again.  A product only needs to have 1% naturally derived ingredients for it to be called "natural."  Pretty amazing hugh?  And what is the point of using some organic ingredients if you are also using chemical fillers and/or preservatives?  Let me guess -- PROFITS?

Invitation to the Emmy's Secret Room Event

We have been invited to the 2008 Emmy Awards' Secret Room Event where our product will be included in the celebrity gift swag bags and we will be attending the event so that we can get the info out about safe cosmetics and skin care!  We are so excited, we don't know what to do with ourselves. 

As for now, we have a lot of planning to do and product to ship for media bags.  More to come!

Health Freedom Expo - Schaumburg, IL

OK, two shows in a matter of two months!  We're on a roll!  This weekend we attended the Health Freedom Expo in Schaumburg, IL, a suburb of Chicago.  We had a little more time to get out and see the other exhibitors at this show.  Attendance was about 7,000 over two days, but what great contacts we made!

One of our newest partnerships is with Studio Within Salon and Spa, located at 3000 North Sheffield, a few minutes north of downtown Chicago.  In the next few months, Studio Within is completely revamping its salon and spa from the inside-out and will re-bloom as a "green spa".  They will begin remodeling by repainting with water based, eco-friendly paint, and adding green materials wherever possible.  The remodeling doesn't end with the structure.  All services are being revamped also, such as hair color is now done with ammonia-free hair color, hair trimmings are donated to produce absorbent pillows for oil-spill cleanup and, of course, the makeup line is free of parabens, bismuth oxychloride and fillers ~ Eve Organics!

Two of the products at this show were of particular interest to me.  I had been looking for the following:

• A good deodorant that didn't have too strong of an inherent odor, but still worked at keeping perspiration odor at bay, and
  
  What I found:  Natural Plantation Purslane Deodorant.  This deodorant doesn't really smell too much when applied; whatever scent is there is gone pretty quick.  The great part about it is that it has no dangerous ingredients and it works!  Obviously, since there is no anti-perspirant, it doesn't stop the sweat, but the sweat doesn't smell.
  
  My husband has been getting bad rashes/raised reactions from regular anti-perspirant deodorants and, after using this only for a few days, he already sees a difference.  This is a keeper!
  
• A daily vitamin/mineral with as much nutrition as possible packed into one serving.  (I am terrible at remembering to take vitamins/pills throughout the day.)
  
  What I found:  Heartland Naturals Omega Greens.  Oh my!  These greens mix with water.  They are a whole food (all ingredients coming from organic fruits and vegetables.  The greens have a berry flavor and include Omega 3s, are high in Vitamin C and are rated very high in ORAC value.  They even have single serving packets to throw in your purse and will send out sample packets to give them a try.  Another winner!  

 

Green Festival - Navy Pier, Chicago

Wow!  What a whirlwind.  We just attended the Chicago Green Festival at Navy Pier.  The Green Festivals are a collaborative of eco-friendly businesses and products from fair-trade jewelry to raw foods.  Eve Organics was the only green cosmetic company in the house and it was fabulously crazy!  The attendance level was approximately 35,000 over three days and the five of us never sat down. 

We were honored to have our products spotlighted as one of a few on Ginger's Green Scene (Channel 5) in Chicago that same weekend. 

It is amazing to see the number of consumers becoming more conscious about the products they purchase and the ingredients those products contain.  Because of this shift to consumer awareness, many of the major corporations are jumping on the "green washing" bandwagon.  In an effort to retain their sales of the past, these companies are intentionally skewing the wording in advertising and packaging to give the perception of their products' safety or healthfulness, although virtually no changes have been made to their products whatsoever.  Unfortunately, rules are so lax when it comes to claims of being "natural" or "from nature," etc., fancy wording and creative advertising are leading consumers to believe that these goods are healthier and safer choices for themselves and their familes.  These consumers then are unknowingly still purchasing the same unsafe products that were known to be linked to health conditions and diseases.

Because these misrepresentations are becoming more and more clear to me in recent months, I have now vowed to make it my mission to research, read and educate consumers about unsafe ingredients, unethical practices and anything else that comes to mind regarding the personal care industry and its products.  Obviously, we would love for everyone to purchase our products, but the bigger truth is that we would love to have every consumer knowledgable about product ingredients so that they can make an informed decision about the products they purchase, so that they feel liberated and not "duped" because of flowery advertising and untruthful labeling.

So, it is my opinion that authentic eco- and socio-conscious companies, now more than ever, need to educate consumers regarding these issues.

After this weekend's show, it's nice to know there are many truly conscious companies.  We are outnumbered, but I believe we will prevail!