I will admit, when it comes to natural beauty products, I often resort to celebrities for my knowledge fix. While they do have the reputation of promoting not-so-natural beauty techniques (ahem, cosmetic surgery), many stars are staunch advocates of going au naturel. Hence, the following list of finds for the latest and greatest natural beauty products.

1. David Babaii for WildAid

Kate Hudson led me to WildAid. The actress has teamed up with hairstylist David Babaii to create DAVID BABAII FOR WILDAID haircare products and styling tools. The products are free of sulfates, parabens, animal products and animal testing and include exotic ingredients, such as volcanic ash from the Vanuatu Islands in the South Pacific, mango extracts, rosemary leaves, blue algae, wild orchid, cupuacu butter and white ginger. A portion of sales from the products go to benefit the global wildlife conservation non-profit organization WildAid, which seeks to preserve wildlife by working with governments and local communities. The 10-piece set contains shampoos, conditioners, pomades, mousses, hairsprays, hair dryer and flat iron. Products are between $12 and $15, while the tools are about $120 each.

2. RestoreSea

Recently, it was announced that Gwyneth Paltrow would be the face for RestoreSea. The brand’s founder, Patti, creates anti-aging skincare with the use of Aquabeautine XL, a natural enzyme released by salmon into the water at birth that allows them to safely emerge from their eggshells. This enzyme helps to create products that only exfoliate dead skin cells, allowing living cells to thrive. RestoreSea boasts that it is environmentally friendly, because it collects and filters the Aquabeautine XL enzyme from the post-hatching waters of salmon, harming no fish in the process.

3. Éminence

I recently came across Éminence and soon realized I was late to the party. It seems like every celebrity and model has hit up these products at some point (at least according to the website), but for good reason. Éminence proudly derives its products from Hungary, where the company began more than 50 years ago. Like back in the day, Éminence still hand-picks and hand-mixes its ingredients in small batches and combines them with thermal hot spring waters to create potent healing and beautifying products. the company uses sustainable farming practices and creates organic products. It is active in reducing its carbon footprint, from harvest to production to packaging. The company is enlisting wind and solar power energy to make its products and additionally uses recyclable packaging, vegetable-based inks in printing, and FSC certified post-consumer recycled paper. For its Beyond Organic line, Éminence utilizes bio-dynamic farming practices.

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Photo Credit: Boudewijnd Berends

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Dry, winter skin is no match for these five naturally wonderful beauty products that will keep you glowing.

After 15 sun-speckled years of giving directions to the Hollywood sign, I recently moved back to the northeast. This was not the move of a California girl who knows the best beauty products for sun protection like she knows her Sigalerts. In fact, I have a long and storied childhood steeped in ice and snow. Growing up, I scoffed at icy temperatures, baring my face to bone-chilling winds with nary a chapped cheek to be had.

Now, in the middle of a Boston winter, I can’t go outside without instantly looking like a dehydrated fish. The difference? I’m actually sheathed in the skin of an adult woman. Winter didn’t seem to bother my younger-me skin, leaving me to strut around in the cold like an un-moisturized Kardashian on camera. But now, the baby fat of my youth having fled to the cheeks of my nieces, means winter’s cold  winds have the upper hand.

But luckily, for all of us who haven’t seen the sun for several days because it’s hanging out in Florida playing Canasta, the beauty industry has offered up the tools to fight back against winter blues. Here are five of the best beauty products to brighten our skins—and our spirits.

1. Wild Rose Mineral Illuminating Powder by Korres ($18.00)
If you feel like your skin is about as reflective and glowing as that pile of muddy snow with the burrito wrapper frozen into it, this light illuminating powder from Korres is a great solution. With a lovely rose scent, it offers up a universally-flattering brightener for your skin tone, giving your skin a shimmery, natural glow. It’s also free of talc, parabens, sulfates, and synthetic fragrances.

2. Survivor by Spa Ritual ($12.00)
Sometimes, the best beauty products can be something that is just fun to wear—and one that is also doing good in the world. From SpaRitual comes Survivor, this sparkly pink nail polish shade inspired by the “strength and personal power women possess.” With 20 percent of profits going to Fran Drescher’s Cancer Schmancer health-advocacy program, this vegan product is free of harmful DBP, toluene, formaldehyde, and formaldehyde resin.

3. Organic Milk Bath by Osmia Organics ($50.00)
Sometimes, when you’re chilled to the bone, you just want to take advantage of the most awesomely modern conveniences of the modern world—accessible hot water. (The use of which, okay yes, you should be conscious of as a proper eco-person.) So when you’re soaking in a warm, volume-curated bath this winter, consider adding Organic Bath Milk to soothe and moisturize your skin. Made with organic buttermilk powder, organic oats, and baking soda mixed with organic and wild-harvested essential oils, your bath will turn into a warm, milky, skin-conditioning soup.

4. Biodynamic Facial Soufflé by Elemental Herbology ($76.00)
If you’re in the market for an intense moisturizer than doesn’t feel like your shellacking butter onto your chapped cheeks, consider this light moisturizer from Elemental Herbology. With a silky, lightly-floral application, this over-night mask is an excellent solution to dry and dehydrated skin. Using premium-grade botanicals ethically-harvested, it employs SLS-free surfactants that are 100 percent biodegradable.

5. Parsley and Sour Cream Mask by You (Market Price)
Not all of the best beauty products have to drain your bank account. Consider whipping up a homemade beauty solution right from your refrigerator. Beauty expert Narine Nikogosian offers up this skin-brightening solution in her tome, Return to Beauty: Old World Recipes for Great Radiant Skin. For dry skin, take one tablespoon of chopped parsley and one tablespoon of organic sour cream. Mix the ingredients together. Apply to your face for 20 minutes, rinsing with cold water.

Image: glorius/Flickr

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You have hand-wringing theories on Vera Bates’ suspicious passing. (It was Sir Richard, with a pie, in the scullery.) You know what it feels like when errant maids burst into luncheon clutching the issue of a dead major from the Great War. You’ve been known to query “What is a week-end?” for obvious reasons.

You are a Downton Abbey fanatic, a woman who dreams of flawless skin tone, marcelled waves of hair, and the perfect fit of a lady’s maid cap. Whether you are found upstairs, downstairs, or in flagrante delitco (Edith), your Downton beauty dreams can be realized. Hide your dress shirts—here’s our guide to the best Dowager Countess-approved beauty products for a Downton Abbey glow.

Countess Cora’s Complexion of Cream
Hail Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, American ex-pat, wearer of excellent necklaces. Brought to us by Elizabeth McGovern, one of our favorite faces from the 1980s, lovely Liz has managed the decades without bothering to age. Lucky for us, the Countess Cora glow is attainable for all. Try Josie Maran’s Argan Illuminizer ($28), a skin brightener which makes you look like you’re traveling with your very own English lighting crew. Suitable for all skin tones, it’s free of cosmetics nasties like parabens and fragrance.

Lady Sybil’s Lustrous Locks
Lady Sybil eschews titles, covets harem pants, and runs off with angry Irish chauffeurs—all the while sporting hair so shiny and thick that you wonder if she’s really just Kate Middleton in disguise. How can the rest of us achieve the flowing mane of this aristocrat of the people? Try Yarok’s Hair and Scalp Serum, Feed Your Youth ($26). Containing a blend of avocado and yarrow oil, this fragrant essential oil concoction leaves your hair feeling healthy and conditioned. Just add chauffeur.

Anna Bates’ Nude Lip of Truth
Lady’s maid Anna Bates (nee Smith) is the trusted loyal friend to both Crawley and crew. Not only does she know how to arrange an heirloom tiara on your bangs, she can be counted on to drag your lover out by his heels after he collapses on top of you, dead. Know how else Anna Bates rocks? She’s reminded us that a nude lip works perfectly on a natural face, especially when one is trying to free her imprisoned husband from a life behind bars. For Anna’s honest pout, try Nobody’s Baby from Ilia Beauty ($24). This lipstick is made from 85% certified organic botanicals, which act as an intense moisturizer. Ilia Beauty offers several natural shades suitable for all skin tones.

Lady Mary’s Eyebrows of Magnificence
As the Dowager Countess informs us, “Nothing succeeds like excess.” Obviously, she’s referring to Lady Mary’s eyebrows, which are so perfectly groomed that she need only raise them ever-so-slightly for eloquence. (Or to leap off her face to punch Matthew while when he’s hemming and hawing over accepting an inheritance.)

For the less-bionic eyebrows of the world, there is still hope. Jane Iredale’s Bitty Brow Kit ($27) includes three brushes, a transparent botanical brow wax, and pigmented brow powder which works on all complexions. This cruelty-free product is also vegan and free of gluten.

Dear Daisy’s Youthful Glow
Yes, there’s much talk about skin tone with the ladies of Downton, but an English skin isn’t famous the world over for nothing. It’s Daisy Mason, our kitchen maid, who scores the win for the best peaches-and-cream complexion below stairs. (Apparently, laboring over a hot stove renders the widow Mason inexplicably apple-cheeked.) For Daisy-rific skin tone, try the Bearberry Skin Balancing and Toning Mist from John Masters Organics ($20.00). It offers up a pH balancing toning solution to tighten pores and nourish the skin. Made with certified organic ingredients, it is also cruelty-free—just don’t tell Thomas or O’Brien.

Images courtesy of PBS.

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