Every weekend I am going to featuring an artist who is making our world a better place, through their creativity, their passion, and their dedication. Thanks for joining me today.
It is said that beauty is only “skin deep”. For me, this doesn’t ring quite true. Beauty is a broad term, and it has been interpreted to mean many different things. Physical beauty is something that we strive for, as if to make our lives feel whole. Sure, there’s the image that we see each day when we look through the mirror; but what about the beauty in our child’s first smile, or simply a setting sun over the ocean?
Beauty has been capitalized, marketed, bottled and sold to all generations. And while cosmetics are full of toxic chemicals known to cause illness and pollute our environment, it is yet a billion dollar industry, typically playing on the emotions of women of every age. The marketers hope to convince us that life would just be better if we only looked like the models in the advertisements. But what if the model herself set out to break that idea and chose to create a line of cosmetics – and the idea itself – that women are naturally beautiful, and that their makeup should reflect that?
Meet Josie Maran.
Josie has been modeling since the age of 12, and has graced the covers Vogue, Elle, Mademoiselle and Marie Clare. Her career has been long and distinguished, and she has spent her fair share of time in the makeup chair. After the birth of her first daughter Josie looked to the industry that she knew, and at the world she would one day leave to her daughter, and she chose to create a line of cosmetics that strives to emphasize the natural beauty of women, while being as environmentally-friendly as possible.
I decided to write on this subject for two main reasons: First, we all want to feel beautiful, but we also want to know that the products we use on ourselves are genuinely safe for us and for the environment. Second, I know Josie. I went to high school with her, and I know what kind of a person she is. I feel compelled to let people know that beauty can be natural, that its packaging can leave a minimal footprint. And on those days that we dress up and put makeup on, we can still look like ourselves.
The truth is I want to feel beautiful, inside and out. Finding the time to dedicate towards looking my best can be challenging. And I do not believe in many cosmetic companies; makeup is often toxic to us and to our environment. There little regulation on what can be added to it and people make money on our insecurities at the expense of our health.
We all know that many companies have jumped on the “natural” bandwagon, and begun to use words like “eco-friendly, and organic” to describe their brands. But we have very few standards for the use of those words in our food, drink and beauty products, so it can be more of a marketing tool then a fact. It is nice to know that someone out there realized that no matter what the industry, we simply never need to compromise our health or our environment to create a quality product.
I have spent the past 7 weeks researching just what goes into creating makeup, the packaging standards are that are used, and the process for starting a cosmetic line. Most makeup contains parabens, petrochemicals and carcinogens, and the packaging is rarely recyclable. If we really stop to think just how many women wear makeup, the packaging dumped every day, and the combined effect of what the packaging and chemicals are doing to our environment, it is pretty frightening.
Josie’s website and her blog (which is a great read) have a lot of information about her philosophy for creating the Josie Maran cosmetic line. I would also recommend reading two other fantastic sites: The Environmental Working Group and The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Both of these organizations provide research on what goes in to various types of beauty products, the harmful properties of each cosmetic line, and a list of safe cosmetics that do the least harm to us and to our environment (the EWG is also the website that we rely on when choosing our shampoos, conditioners and sunscreens).
Back in June, I tested three of Josie’s products, her SPF 30 Tinted Moisturizer, her eye shadow in Cappuccino, and her lip gloss in Cobnfession. I figured that in order to really see the value and natural look of Josie’s makeup, it was important to show you what I look like without it.
So here is what I look like first thing in the morning (you have no idea how hard it is to show this picture), with absolutely nothing on my face.
Stacy Z was kind enough to shoot pictures of me later in the day, and I had to laugh because when I arrived in Boulder to meet her, the first thing out of her mouth was “why aren’t you wearing more makeup?”. Well, the only way this was going to be genuine is if you saw what I would wear normally. There is nothing radically different about me here. I just have a touch of something on that makes me feel natural, but still beautiful. That is the goal, right?
A small amount of natural coverage, a touch of mascara and eye shadow, and a simple lip gloss is enough. I loved the fact that I looked clean, that the makeup I wore was barely noticeable. That is always my goal, but it is often hard to achieve with most cosmetics.
I am so impressed with what Josie has done, with the conscious effort that she puts forth everyday to help women look their best without hurting them or fooling them. I suppose that is what conscious living is all about: working hard to ensure that what you are doing makes a difference, rather than just making a profit.
Thank you again to Stacy Ziegler for her beautiful pictures. To learn more about Stacy, please visit her website and her blog
