EcoSalon co-hosts the Yoga Beauty Bar in Estes Park, Colorado.

Last weekend, EcoSalon traveled through field and mountain to co-host the Yoga Beauty Bar in Estes Park, Colorado. Part of the 16th Annual Yoga Journal Conference, a seven-day event of 35-plus master teachers sharing their practice, the YBB featured some of the best lines of clean, green beauty, including Buddha Nose Body Care, Dr. Alkaitis Skincare, Lotus Wei Flower Essences, Priti Nails, Yarok Organic Hair Care, Revolution Organics, and Trance Essence. Runa Tea and Wei of Chocolate also made an appearance, as well as healthy travel experts Pravassa.

Together with Amy Galper of Buddha Nose, Linden Schaffer of Pravassa, and Sarah Braat, LMT and Qigong Healer, we offered up an incredible experience of green beauty to the yogis of Colorado. And guess what? It was amazing.

Amy Galper of Buddha Nose (front right) talks product with a patron

“The only power we really have to make change is how we spend our money,” Buddha Nose proprietor and co-host Amy Galper told me, “But the Yoga Beauty Bar is not just about selling product. We want people to experience the brands.” Between misting clients with her famous Heart Spray, a delicate floral mist with the mind/body intention of love, Amy enthusiastically shared her vision. “Once we have information about a healthy product, we can advocate for healthier living for ourselves and for the planet.”

A patron checks out product

And the patrons of the Yoga Beauty Bar responded in droves. Patrons perused the hip shades from Priti Nails and pure cosmetics from Revolution Organics. They sampled the fragrance scents from Trance Essences Perfumes and Candles while sipping Runa Teas and nibbling on the delicious, floral-infused organic chocolates from Wei of Chocolate. (My favorite? The citrus-inspired “Joyful.”) Patrons delighted in the Lotus Wei Flower Essence’s elixirs and mists and lathered up with Dr. Alkaitis skin care moisturizers.

At the same time, Linden Schaffer shared Pravassa Travel, her New York-based wellness company that plans healthy vacations around the globe, such as Aruba, Bali, Vermont and Italy. Pravassa focuses on an aspect of health and wellness like cooking, body work, nutrition, pilates or yoga. Vacationers are able to refocus their thinking and restore their every day well being.

Linden Schaffer (left) of Pravassa 

All the while, LMT Sarah Braat worked on yogis who were eager for a massage or Quigong healing. Sarah, a nurturing soul who seems to make magic with her hands, is the founder of Sage Healing Arts in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. You can find Sarah on Facebook. She also does remote energy work and is offering a 10% discount to all EcoSalon readers.

Sarah Braat performing energy healing

Truth be told? This entire experience made me a healthier person.

As the green beauty guru for EcoSalon, I traveled to spend my time discussing green beauty to the interested yogis of the conference. I arrived much like an extra from the movie “Contagion,” staring down the barrel of one hell of a bad cold. Fortunately, I had the luck of entering into the nurturing and restorative sphere of Buddha Nose and Amy Galper’s line of USDA Organic body care products. “I have just the thing for you,” Amy offered after taking one look at my sallow face. She dosed me in her I-Booster Spray, an anti-bacterial concoction made with stimulating essential oils of Clove, Cinnamon, Lemon and Ravintsara.

Hair treatments courtesy of Yarok Hair Care at our party

Later that evening was the EcoSalon-YBB sponsored party, where yogis crowded into our Estes Park cabin to commune over green beauty. Lucky revelers, including myself, got to partake in various masks from Dr. Alkaitis and serums for Yarok Hair Care. The next day, I felt like a new woman as my cold symptoms were significantly reduced.

Facial by Dr. Alkaitis

It makes perfect sense. Our bodies take in 60% of the ingredients we put on our skin – so what better way to restore your health than to feed it with some of the purest ingredients on the market?

Amy informs me that future Yoga Beauty Bars are in the works – in fact, she plans to expand them across the nation at various events. “We have a real passion to educate people about clean, green product,” she says. Lucky for this EcoSalonista, her passion may also help hinder colds.

To see more behind the scenes Yoga Beauty Bar action, watch our video:

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EcoSalon and The Yoga Beauty Bar pair up at the Yoga Journal Conference this weekend in Estes Park, Colorado.

Ever wonder what a thousand oms and stretches under a Colorado sun looks like? We’re going to find out this week as EcoSalon travels to Estes Park, Colorado, to co-host the Yoga Beauty Bar with organic beauty brand Buddha Nose. From September 22nd to 24th, we’ll be celebrating all that is good in beauty and well-being at the Yoga Marketplace, part of the 16^th Annual Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park, Colorado, a seven-day event of 35-plus master teachers sharing their knowledge in the mountains. A gathering for both teachers and beginners, the event seeks to showcase the best and brightest the yoga world has to offer.

Nestled within all this is the EcoSalon sponsored Yoga Beauty Bar, an interactive collective featuring the best in indie organic beauty and wellness brands.

The Yoga Beauty Bar is the brainchild of Buddha Nose founder Amy Galper, whose New York City-based shiatsu practice inspired her to create a line of products to encourage its user to “be still and breathe.” Buddha Nose is certified organic body care to inspire a “mind-body-beauty” connection.

Each day the Yoga Beauty Bar booth will feature a special beauty and wellness treatment, so make sure to stop by and make an appointment to receive chakra balancing, hand shiatsu or mini scalp treatments or simply to chat and sip some organic tea. The Yoga Marketplace at the conference is free and open to the public so if we are all you’re looking for (though we hope you’ll stop and peruse the vendors outside our oasis), beeline it straight to us and we will pamper and educate you on how everything you put on and in your body has a direct effect on your well-being.

On hand for green beauty advice is yours truly, ready to dish out my seasoned knowledge on organic and all-natural beauty products. Meet me at the conference or Friday evening for cocktails with all the participating brands at our cabin in the woods.

After you’ve enjoyed sampling products at The Yoga Beauty Bar, you might want to purchase some award-winning products from their featured brands. God knows we will:

Buddha Nose body care

Dr. Alkaitis Skincare

Wei of Chocolate

Lotus Wei Flower Essences

Pravassa Wellness Retreats

Priti Organic Nails

Runa Tea

Trance Essence Perfumes and Candles

Yarok Organic Hair Care Products

Revolution Organic Color Cosmetics

We look forward to seeing you there!

Questions? Contact Yoga Beauty Bar organizer Amy Galper at info@buddhanose.com or Amy DuFault at amy@ecosalon.com

Additional contributions to this post by Amy DuFault

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ColumnThis summer, get carried away with warm ocean breezes, and add a blue hue around the eyes.

It’s easy to incorporate a vibrant color because you still get to use the usual palettes of neutrals for the rest of the face to keep it “safe.” (Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to take the neutral security blanket away from you entirely.) Let’s start by saying the look we are going for isn’t reminiscent of the frosty blue eyeshadow that punctuated the late 70’s.  This is a modern take on a color that can enhance any eye without looking overdone, out-of-date, or tacky.

First in our makeup application we need a golden base to set the stage for softly vibrant blue tones. The goal is to look sun-kissed, but that’s not to say you should forgo sun protection. In fact, there’s lots of way to get that sun-kissed look without ever putting your face in the sun’s eye with fake tan moisturizers and makeup that gives you an immediate tan or builds up over use.

How to create a realistic looking bronze glow:

1. Choose a foundation shade slightly darker than the one you’d pick for the winter or add in a bronzing liquid like Jane Iredale Dream Tint in Warm Bronze.

2. Go for a bronzer to sculpt your face and give it depth. To keep a tropically moist look to the skin, try Revolution Organics Freedom Glow Beauty Balm in Bronzed.  With your (clean) finger, place three dots of color into the hollow of your cheekbones and spread them out using two fingers in an oblong motion from the apples of the cheeks out to the hairline near the ear.

Pro tip: Add more realism to your faux bronze by putting a little dab of bronzer on the bridge of the nose (not the tip), along the forehead hairline and just above the temples of the face.

3. Create even more dimension and glow by highlighting the tops of your cheekbones with a few dots of a creamy highlighter like RMS Beauty’s Living Luminzer.

Now, those tropical eyes: A strong, yet natural, brow is very important to add a frame for the eye that doesn’t read as a lot of color and adds definition to the face. Add color using a powder or pencil to thicken your natural shape. Keep brow hairs swept upward to achieve an island goddess vibe.  Check out this video tutorial on exactly how to achieve this look that I made it while working in the Caribbean.

Pro tip: Fill in your brows with a color that is not quite as dark as your hair color. One to two shades lighter is the general rule.

Creating the blue line. Get yourself a blue hue with a touch of sparkle that inspires you like Alima Pure eyeshadow in Aegean.  In this case, I prefer the control of a powder used with a short, thin angled brush. Dampening the brush before you dip into the shadow will give it extra impact, or you can leave it dry for a softer effect. Use the brush to create a tight line along the upper and lower lashes, from corner to corner. Don’t start getting overly creative; just keep the blue tight into the lash line. If you feel like adding a bit of extra definition, take a black pencil and line inside the water line of both the upper and lower lashes.

Pro tip: Hold a folded tissue under your eye to avoid getting shadow all over your face.

Let’s move onto giving contour to the eyes because you don’t want to have them bare with just a blue line (that would be tacky). Use a medium brown eyeshadow in the crease of your eyelid. If your skin is dark toned, you will need to use a darker brown to get the same affect. This wash of color should be blended perfectly with no obvious start and stop points. Using a big, fluffy eyeshadow brush will help with that process.

Finally curl your lashes, swipe on one or two coats of your favorite mascara and pop on a beige-gold lip color.

Now your gorgeous-tropical-self can go takeover the island!

I’m not a “Do as I say, not as I do” kind of makeup artist so this Memorial weekend, I felt it was my patriotic and fashionable duty to honor the sailors flooding the island of New York with a makeup homage to the red, white and blue, specifically the blue.  My version was a bit softer and only went on the upper lid. The best thing about makeup is that you can always wipe it off. So get inspired and have fun!

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: Allure Magazine June 2011, photo by Michael Thompson

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Winter has arrived, and for some of us it has brought along snowy roads and snowy or ashy skin hues. And hey, that’s not so bad for anyone cultivating an alabaster hue. But others can find it hard to give up the seemingly healthy glow of summer. We’ve already written about how to get that summertime glow while the sun is shining. But how to achieve it now that the Winter Solstice has the sun at its farthest southern point?

Invest in a good moisturizer that has a little color Revolution Organics offers up a new product called Freedom Glow ($34.00). Called a multi-tasking beauty balm, it’s designed to add a “healthy, moisture-infused glow” to lips, cheeks, forehead, nose, and décolleté. It is available in “sunkissed,” “bronzed” and “blush,” as well as a color-free version in an all-over body balm. Further, it contains certified organic ingredients and is free of chemicals, mineral oil, synthetics, petroleum and parabens. The Skin Deep database also gives it a safe sign-off.

I have naturally pale skin so “sunkissed” is about as dark as I can go without looking like I spent the week in a tanning bed. It works like a self-tanner without the self-tanning while leaving you with a pretty strong moisture. I find that a single swipe of “sunkissed” makes me look instantly mid-summer. My young friend Michelle, who is naturally about five shades darker than me, loves the “bronzed” shade and finds that it gives her a nice summertime look.

Pick your wardrobe carefully. I am the first to admit that half my wardrobe is black and various shades of gray. And considering I have skin most suited to blend in with an Arctic ice shelf, this can make me look like a corpse. But even if your ancestors hail from the African Sahara, sheathing yourself in the color of mourning isn’t going to do much to brighten up your appearance. Considering adding a dash of color to your ensemble, even if it is just a scarf.

Check into organic soaps The chemicals and fragrances in traditional soaps can irritate and dry out your skin, giving it an ashy hue. Dr. Bronner’s Classic Bar Soap is an excellent choice, offering up an organic, biodegradable suds with a safe rating from the Skin Deep database. Also, while we’re talking suds, don’t forget to exfoliate. The easiest way to brighten up your skin is removing dead skin cells.

Spend a few minutes of the day in the sun without sunscreen We already mentioned this in our article lauding the tips for a natural summertime glow, but it’s worth repeating. Vitamin D is essential to bone health and immune function. Further, it is a key component to Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a depression that afflicts people who don’t get enough sun. While you always want to be careful you won’t burn, consider spending your coffee breaks out in the sunlight. It may lift your mood and the pallor off your skin.

Smile. I know this seems like it was submitted by Captain Obvious. But when it is so cold your moisturizer has frozen on your face, (I have been there,) the best thing you can do is just grin and carry on. You may be cold, but your inner beauty will shine through.

FTC Compliance

Images: gribanov, piterpan, wtlphotos, dakima-arts

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