ColumnWant to have an iconic summer look beachside? Follow these tips.

Sun-bleached blondes with beach tousled hair, smoldering black eyes and pouty nude lips captured a time in the ’60s when curvy women in bikinis lit up movie screens. Over the decades, Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Schiffer have been inspirational icons for this playfully seductive summer look – one that will never go out of style.
GUESS’s Spring 2011 campaign reignited the part of me that would love to go wild with a box of peroxide, a teasing comb and a kohl pencil. Like most things that inspire me, this is a pretty unrealistic look for anyone who wants to do more than sing songs with choreographed dance moves on the beach. The reality is that much black eyeliner would protect from sun glare, but would be a nightmare as soon as one drop of salty water hit.  If you plan to stay dry and want to have some fun with your makeup recreating yourself as a ’60s beach bombshell, here’s the how-to.

Black out

To start you’ll need a black eye pencil, black liquid eyeliner, black eyeshadow, a tube of black mascara, and an eye contour brush.

Green product suggestions:

Living Nature Eye Pencil in Midnight

Lavera Liquid Eyeliner (vegan)

Alima Pure Satin Matte Eyeliner (to be used as eyeshadow) in Black (vegan)

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Brush #004 (vegan)

Pro tip: Put foundation on after eyeshadow so you can easily clean off any powder that may have dropped onto your face.

1. Line the upper and lower lashes of your eye with the black eye pencil. This doesn’t need to be precise but it does need to be thick and dense.  You may have to go over it a couple of times to get the right intensity.

2. Take your eye contour brush and begin buffing the edges of the lines to diffuse them up into the crease for the upper lid.  For the lower lid, pull the liner with the brush down to about the place where the ends of your lower lashes touch. On most people that’s about ¼ of an inch.

Pro tip: Do not connect the inner corners of the eyes with black and leave the water line free of liner to give a more wide-eyed effect.

3. Use the brush and go more heavily into the crease of the upper lid with black eyeshadow using a windshield wiper motion using very rounded strokes. Leave a fair amount of space between the shadow and the brow bone. Everyone’s eyes are different, so for some it maybe 1/8 of an inch and for others almost 1/2. Concentrate the color on the outer edges of the eyes. Make sure that the edges aren’t pointy, rather soft and arching. Follow with just a touch of shadow underneath the eye following the rounded curve. Keep the application a bit lighter here.

4. Curl your lashes.  A lot.

5. Whip out that black liquid liner and make a thick line across the top lashes. Then paint on a thick, but slightly thinner line underneath.  If you are feeling very deft, make the lines a little bit thicker towards the outer corners of the eye as you go.  Remember not to connect the inner corners with liner because it will shut down the eye and make it look more punk rather than 60’s.

Pro tip: If you mess up your liner use a pointy cotton squab dampened with a touch of water to quickly “erase” your mistake.

6. Layer on the mascara. This look has nothing to do with restraint. If you need to use half a tube on both upper and lower lashes then do it! Clumpy and pointy work here.

A bold brow

Is anyone getting tired of hearing me say that bold brows are the way to go for pretty much every look? This look really needs it and it’s what is most modern. Naturally groomed and less manicured brows add a great frame to the eye and structure to the face. Need a quick tutorial on that, check out this video.

Don’t touch those freckles!

If you are blessed to have a freckly face or even a freckle-less face, don’t cover it with a pile of foundation.  Let your skin show through and only conceal the tiniest bits where necessary.  The key to this look is really keeping things raw, rough and textured.  Use a tinted moisturizer with SPF to help even skin tone, protect and allow the skin texture to still be seen.  Try Josie Maran Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30.

Light lips

To balance such a heavy eye, a very nude lip is the way to go.  There’s nothing overly skilled about this part.  Just slap on some lip color and you are set! Ecco Bella makes a great natural, vegan lip color called Almond that should do the trick.

Alright beach babes, get out their and show ‘em how glamorous your summer style can be!

Editor’s note: Got a celebrity look you’d like to copy or a trend you’d like to see incorporating healthy, non-toxic makeup? Send your questions to High Definition columnist Kristen Arnett at beauty@ecosalon.com

New York City based Kristen Arnett is an internationally renowned makeup artist and founder of the Green Beauty Team, styling high profile celebrities and runway models as well as a sought after beauty expert, educator and teacher for other makeup artists.

Image: Ellen Von Unwerth for GUESS Inc.

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Back in the day when I wore makeup with nary a green thought in my mind, one of my favorite products was from a certain well-known brand with the words “longwear” and “lip color” bandied about the tube. Why? Because I could put it on in the morning and have “longwear” lip color all day. Sure, who knows what kind of chemicals I was sinking into my lips – I had lipstick that no drink or food could kiss of my choppers. And you know what? I loved it.

Then I got green. Suddenly, I wasn’t so comfortable painting my face with something that could permanently mark up leather. After throwing out – excuse me, recycling – half my makeup bag, I let go of my long-lasting lip wear. And just that much more color went out in my world. Okay, just my on lips. But still.

Then I heard about the advent of Josie Maran’s Lip and Cheek Stain Magic Markers.  Was it possible that the world of natural (or I should say, “more natural”) cosmetics was offering up its own version of the lip stain? Investigations were immediately implemented, and here’s what I found.

Packaged in a recyclable stick, Ms. Maran’s Lip and Cheek Stain is free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, and phthalates. It does have Sephora’s “natural” seal of approval. This means that it has high concentrations of antioxidants, botanicals, essential oils, fruit extracts, minerals or more. Yes, I agree that this is all rather mysterious. Maran’s Lip and Cheek Stain is designed to “flush” lips and cheeks with a natural-looking stain, and it is available in six colors. Each shade is named after a dance, a nod to Josie’s stint on Dancing with the Stars.

And it all sounds promising, right? But does it work? Cue drum rolls and green fairies – yes, yes it does! Not only does it work as well as the longwear products of old, (my old – they’re still thriving on the market,) Josie Maran’s lip stain provided lasting color. It also worked well on my cheeks, giving me a rosy glow I hadn’t seen since middle school. But be careful with the product – it is a stain. Meaning, if you go out of the lines, you will be scrubbing to get it off.

Want to know more? Here’s Josie herself talking about her lasting Lip and Cheek Stain.

The post Stain Your Lips and Cheeks, Naturally? appeared first on EcoSalon.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I were wandering through a book release party when we came upon the lovely makeup ladies of Josie Maran Cosmetics. They were offering up complimentary makeovers. Already a fan of the eco-conscious cosmetic line and all things “free,” I quickly hopped into a makeup chair. First, I noticed that my own mascara had headed south like a pack of ducks for winter. Second, I picked up on the fact that all the Josie Maran makeup artists had dewy, glowing skin. And by picked up, I mean hit in the face like a lighthouse beacon. These ladies had a glow, and I wanted it yesterday.

The secret to this glow? According to Josie Maran Cosmetics, it is their Argan Oil. Otherwise known as Moroccan Oil, this is Josie Maran’s organic take on an ancient product out of Morocco that has been used for centuries and was sold in Moroccan markets even before the Phoenicians arrived. Rich in vitamin E and essential fatty acids, it contains emollients that are excellent moisturizers for your hair and your skin.

But does it work? Filled with hope that this product would be the cure-all for dry skin, I slathered up my face and lips. I have chronically chapped lips that no lip balm has been able to cure, so I had high hopes that said Argan Oil would accomplish the impossible. I found that the Argan Oil absorbs quickly and that it is best to treat it like a cold cream. It is highly moisturizing and yes, I give it mad props as an excellent solution to dry skin. Did it cure my chapped chopper covers? Sorta. After applying, they would remain moisturized for a while, but would require touch ups.

Argan Oil also claims to be great for hair. Frankly, I have hair strands so fine that a light conditioner makes it look and act like a paper weight. So I asked those with thicker, richer locks to share their experience. As luck would have it, EcoSalon’s Editor-in-Chief Sara Ost is a user of the product – not Argan Oil, but MorrocanOil – similar, just not organic, MoroccanOil is cruelty-free and uses recycling in their packaging. As Sara told me, “I actually just started using MorrocanOil because it was on sale at Nordstrom Rack. Yes, so green, I know! I bought it because I was excited to see something green at a box store, and it’s normally ridiculously expensive. It took a few times to get the amount right – I had some uber grease streaks going on the first day – but now it’s my favorite hair product. Tames the frizz and defines the curls without being crunchy. In fact, there’s no ‘product feel’ to my hair at all.”

Don’t want to invest in the $48 Josie Maran Argan Oil or $39 for MorrocanOil? Organic olive oil will get you similar results on your skin, hair and nails. But be forewarned – I went through a brief spat of being saturated in olive oil a few weeks back. Yes, my skin was hydrated, but it took forever to absorb. I was leaving more oil slicks behind me than a tanker in Prince William Sound. (Yes, there are more topical references, but I’m not going there just quite yet.) You can easily use olive oil for skin hydration, but just be careful sitting down or brushing up against any unfortunate furry friend in the meantime.

FTC Compliance

The post Moroccan Oil: Ultimate Beauty Elixir or No? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Just because you can appreciate a natural approach to beauty doesn’t mean you have to stop wearing makeup. Planet Green’s interview with model-turned-natural-cosmetics-saleswoman Josie Maran gives you the scoop on the latest in eco-friendly beauty products. Instead of going back for that two-dollar drugstore eyeliner (you know who you are), why not buy something that’s not riddled with phthalates and other kidney-pulverizing compounds?

Model Josie Maran has spent plenty of time in makeup chairs – which is experience that came in handy when she started her own line, Josie Maran Cosmetics. Organic and natural ingredients in the moisturizers, mascara, blush, lip gloss, liner, and other beauty must-haves make for non-toxic products-many of which have more than one use, so you can condense your supply (and your morning routine). Now, Maran has partnered with Kelly Ripa for the Green Idea Swap: Along with Ripa, Zem Joaquin, and Anna Getty, Maran posts daily green tips on Ripa’s website, Kelly Confidential, and for every tip you share, Electrolux appliances donates $1 to Global Green’s sustainable building projects.

Planet Green: What’s one cosmetics ingredient we should absolutely avoid?

Josie Maran: I avoid synthetic fragrances. Synthetic fragrances contain phthalates which are added to many cosmetics and beauty aids to increase flexibility and break down other ingredients, but studies have shown that phthalates can cause damage to the lungs, liver and kidneys, and to harm the developing testes of offspring!

JM: Look for natural products that contain few ingredients. Less is more. Using products with the least amount of ingredients and additives ensures its natural purity. Josie Maran Argan Oil is 100 percent pure organic Argan Oil – nothing else. It’s my “beauty secret”, and the best lightweight all-natural moisturizer. And it’s a great product to try when you first decide to go natural!

Check out more of Maran’s beauty tips at Planet Green.

Editor’s note: Article by Blythe Copeland. Originally published by our friends at Planet Green. Planet Green is an offshoot of Discovery that covers every aspect of green living, from tofu to tattoos. Be sure to visit them and say hi, and follow Planet Green on Twitter, too!

Image: Josie Maran

The post Josie Maran Shares Her Favorite Tips for Flawless Beauty appeared first on EcoSalon.