Romy Raves

Happy Earth Day Rave Fans! I just love Earth Month and all that it represents: Making conscious choices that are better for you and better for the environment, such a simple and important message. Every year in honor of Earth Day, I curate a selection of fabulous beauty products that I consider to be greener, eco, more natural, cleaner and all around better for you. And I must say that this year, I noticed that this category is burgeoning with so many wonderful products which made it very hard to choose only 10! I continue to be impressed by the selection of eco chic brands with amazing green products that work beautifully. I am becoming more and more of a convert all the time, because why not use products that are better for you when you have the choice!

Without further adieu, I present to you my Top 10 Favorite Better For You Products of 2012:

1)  One Love Organics Skin Savior Waterless Beauty Balm ($68)

One Love Organics is a beautifully handcrafted line that embrace’s the motto of simplicity and that you can achieve more with less when it comes to beauty. Skin Savior Balm is made out of pure, cold-pressed plant oils and extracts that break down dirt and makeup and clear out your pores without stripping your skin of its natural protective layer. This is one of those FAB one-product-does-it-all balms (which I LOVE!) You can use it as a cleanser, moisturizer, conditioner, skin smoother/dry patch healer, massage balm and so much more. I adore this product! It smells like a yummy orange creamsicle, it cleans my skin beautifully and I especially love it on my chapped lips, dry nose and cracked heels. This is a new must have for me!

2)  Suki Skincare Exfoliate Foaming Cleanser ($32.95)

Suki Skincare is a fabulous results driven beauty brand dedicated to delivering clinically proven natural solutions. Suki’s  products are made out of hand-selected raw materials and proprietary botanic concentrates that are blended with high percentages of scientifically-advanced cosmeceutical actives in 100% natural bases. The Exfoliating Cleanser is a deep cleansing complexion rejuvenator that contains a gentle alpha hydroxy acid (natural sugar), non-GMO rice flour & lemongrass to resurface & smooth, unclogs pores, and exfoliate dead cells. This is another swoon worthy product that I can’t get enough of! It smells like a fresh lemon, it has a delightfully refreshing foaming and exfoliating action and it leaves my skin feeling like buttah = LOVE! 

3)  Sprout Skincare Cream ($32)

Sprout Skincare is a 100% all-natural line made out of the purest high quality ingredients that are either certified organic, Fair Trade, or sourced from small family farms. Every product in the line is made from scratch, in small bathes  with only absolutely essential ingredients. In fact, every Sprout product has only 5 (clean) ingredients or less, love that! The Cream is Sprout’s hero product, made out of wild-harvested shea butter that they get from a Fair Trade women’s cooperative in Ghana. To that luscious cream, they add some organic extra-virgin coconut oil and organic extra-virgin olive oil and that’s it! This is a wonderfully rich cream that doesn’t clog your pores, and I love how it babies, nurtures and  heals my dry skin and calms it down post treatment. This Cream is a GEM! 

4)  Antho Lullaby for Dry Skin Organic Face Serum ($16.95)

Antho is another eco fab line that I recently discovered that is dedicated to using 99% USDA certified organic, premium all natural, vegan PETA approved ingredients. The Lullaby for Dry Skin Face Serum contains ten different superstar organic oils, including rare Moroccan Argan & Macadamia oils and luxurious virgin organic oils. This divine serum quickly soaks into your skin and immediately restores lost moisture, delivers rich antioxidants, and rejuvenates dry, dull skin. This serum smells heavenly and I love it under my make-up because it gives my skin a lovely radiant sheen.

5)  Juice Beauty SPF 30 Tinted Mineral Moisturizer ($29)

Juice Beauty’s is dedicated to sourcing the purest, most effective sustainable and organic ingredients on the West Coast  with over 80% of their products being manufactured using California’s sun/solar power (which is particularly appealing to this SoCal girl.) Juice Beauty uses also uses a 100% certified organic juice base (made from over 30 different juices) in all of their products. This wonderful tinted moisturizer blends a chemical-free SPF 30, mineral pigments and nutrient-rich white grape, aloe and pomegranate juices for a radiant, even-toned complexion. I really like the fresh herbal scent, the sheer coverage and how vibrant and refreshed it makes my skin look. This is the perfect eco fab BB cream for your favorite Greenista!

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I have pretty much been using Q-tips my entire life and they are without a doubt an essential beauty/grooming/life tool that I always have on hand. Dare I say, I couldn’t live without them?!!

I was delighted to learn that recently this iconic little swab has modernized itself and come out with a fabulous enhanced version of it’s classic self called Q-tips® Precision Tips™ cotton swabs. This refreshing new design has pointed tips at both ends, making them ideal for precise application, accurate touch-ups, and for reaching small spaces.

So, Q-tips asked this beauty maven to test out these new Precision Tips and share how I would incorporate them into my beauty regimen. Here are some of my suggestions:

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Can you smell it? Spring is in the air and with that comes a lightening of mood, colors, brightness, warmer weather and all the amazing fresh, floral, crisp smells that emulate the season. So with the changing of seasons, comes my desire to change up my fragrances, amuse my sense of smell and bring in some fun, bright refreshing scents the feel like spring. Following are six fragrances that I am really enjoying right now and I thing they really capture the best of spring.

Task Essential O2 Wellness Water ($79)

Confession: I got this fragrance for my hubby, but I loved it so much that I ended up keeping it for myself! This is a fresh, bright, clean fragrance with a little bit of sultry warmth on the dry down. It’s a very modern fragrance and I just love how the bright red bottle stands out on my bathroom counter. It has crisp refreshing top notes of lemon, icy mint, apple, and ozonic accord; heart notes of  lavender, basil, genievre, white tea, and sapin; and anchoring base notes of amber white, sandalwood, and musk. I like using this scent in the morning to really kick off my day and help me get in touch with my masculine energy!

Sarah Horowitz Parfums Perfect Coconut Milk ($40)

Sarah Horowitz is a Master Parfumer and I always fall in love with her beautiful, artisanal, multi-dimensional fragrances, and her newest creation Coconut Milk is no exception. This gorgeous perfume oil makes me think of being on a tropical island in a flowy dress sipping a colorful drink with a sexy man by my side. And all things coconut are really hot and on trend right now and coconut water is the new healthy beverage of choice being touted as nature’s gatorade, and it is no surprise that Sarah has tapped into that. Perfect Coconut Milk has top notes of coconut accented by almond, a sheer floral middle note of orange blossom and gardenia, and a luscious base note accord of tonka bean, vanilla and Egyptian musk. Yummy, complex, sensual and divine! I will have this luscious oil in my bag all season.

Cali Blue Eau De Parfum Spray ($32)

Cali Blue is a bright, fresh, oceanic fragrance that captures the look and feel of a fresh California ocean breeze. It is a crisp, clean blend of florals and citrus with an ambery vanilla base. I think the blue color is a nice unexpected twist for a fragrance and I will definitely spritz this before spending a day at the beach, it seems ideal for that. And the best part about this fragrance is that AromaEarth will donate 10% of the profits from the sale of every bottle of Cali Blue to sponsor the creation of fresh water wells in impoverished villages throughout Asia and Africa. How fab is that?! You can smell good and feel good too!

Earthly Body Naked In The Woods Glow Oil  ($15.99)

I recently discovered the beautifully made good for you products from Earthly Body at an industry beauty show and fell in love with them. I was instantly attracted to the fresh and clean white tea and ginger scent called Naked in the Woods. And I am totally into dry oils right now because they moisture your skin without being greasy and they last. The Naked in the Woods Glow Oil is fab because it contains hemp seed, coconut, soy, apricot, avocado, jojoba and vitamin E oils that pamper and nourish your skin. This smells like a fresh spring shower and leaves your skin with a hint of sheen, love it!

Avon Forever Eau de Parfum Spray ($30)

This is definitely a night time fragrance and would be perfect for a sexy spring date night. It’s a passionate blend of bright effervescent pink pepper, orange blossom and the sensual warmth of musk. I love the sculpted glass bottle and my man has actually commented on how much he likes it, which is always a winner in my book!

Intelligent Nutrients Destress Express ($40)

This isn’t your typical fragrance but more of a mood shifter, and if you are anything like me, it is nice to have a secret weapon like this in your beauty arsenal to help you deal with stress and the hectic pace of life. This is a unique therapeutic blend of certified organic essential oils to soothe, purify and refresh. It contains peppermint, spearmint, ravintsara, cardamom, cinnamon, chamomile, lime, and vanilla and red raspberry fragrance oils to help stimulate, strengthen, relieve tension, uplift, calm, and provide antiseptic, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. Doesn’t it sound like the perfect anecdote for stress? Fresh, yummy and peaceful.

Welcome to Spring!