What’s better than the arrival of spring and summer? Choosing which music festivals you’ll be going to.

It’s music festival season. Have tickets will party, right? Better make sure you also have your festival look essentials ready to go.

SXSW was in March. Coachella is quickly approaching on April 10th. And there are tons of other shows and festivals coming up, too.

Sure, you are going to hear great music and have lots of fun, but we all know music festivals are a fashion show of their own. You’ve located the perfect hat, comfy sandals, and adorable wellies for the shows. Want to know what makeup and hair to pair with them? Gotcha’ covered.

Music Festival Beauty Must Haves

Whether you go for the natural look or the whole Swarovski-crystaled nine yards, there are some makeup basics that will keep you party ready. Most important, sun protection. You will likely be catching some good sun time. Getting fried will ruin your experience, not to mention the long term damage. Be sure to use mineral sunscreen for max safety.

Suntegrity 5-in-1 Natural Moisturizing Tinted Face Sunscreen SPF 30

To get that modern festival chic vibe, black eyeliner is a must. A thicker pencil eyeliner not only lasts longer than the creamier kind, but looks great after a little (or a lot!) of smudging.

Dr. Hauschka Eyeliner in Jet Black

You may be able to pull off full on sparkle for Day 1, but the look has a shelf life. Shimmer is much more doable and can be easily reapplied. A highlighter stick gets your glow on in an instant.

Ilia Beauty Illuminator in Polka Dots & Moonbeams

If you only take one beauty item along this season, it has to be a glossy lip balm. One that hydrates and protects lips, while offering glam shine.

Suvana Beauty Paw Paw & Honey Organic Lip Balm

Comfort and longevity are key to happy festival hair. One word … braid. Simple, durable, and, of course, fest-worthy. Added bonus, hair looks great when taken out of braid too. Dry shampoo will be your BFF over a long, shower-less weekend to absorb greasiness and turn up volume.

Lulu Organics Travel Size Organic Hair Powder

And don’t forget a wrist full of cute hair ties and headbands for a quick up do. Double as accessories.

Free People Organic Braided Headband

Now make sure you’ve located your Camelback and solar phone charger, and you are good to go.

Related on EcoSalon

On Trend: Coachella Style

30 Photos of Music Festivals Worldwide

I Did It All for the Dopamine

Image of girl at music festival via Shutterstock

The post Music Festival Beauty Must Haves appeared first on EcoSalon.

Get geared for 2014’s festival season with these 4 eco chic outfit ideas.

This year’s festival season has officially taken off with the likes of SXSW and Coachella already under our belts where edgy, casual cool and street style reign supreme. Take a cue from this year’s festival going trendsetters and gear up with some gorgeous jumpsuits, pretty prints, bright colors and sensible sandals from our favorite eco chic fashion designers, and get ready to party in style.

1. Chaotically Chic
Festivals are your opportunity to go bold and be noticed. To make a statement, choose bright colors and popping patterns that will turn heads. Keep yourself comfortable in a pair of SWASH leggings, perfect with a funky top like C of C’s Miriem Black Tank with its cute puffy details. Both items can be found at Beklina, an awesome online store featuring sustainable independent designers.

2. Girl Next Door
This super cute ensemble from Prairie Underground is perfect for a gal who loves comfortable, simple and carefree outfit that will take you through an entire festival weekend. The logomania dress and girdle capri from the Summer 2014 collection are great together, but also work well as separates with a simple tee or tank, making many outfits out of one look. Shop it at any store that carries Prairie Underground!

3. Cute & Cropped
We absolutely love this colorful, knit crop top from Kaight NYC. Made from hand loomed Indian raw silk and knit in NYC, we think it’s perfect for those mid summer festivals. Pair it with leggings or cute shorts like these high-waisted chambray shorts made by hand in Oakland, also available at Kaight NYC.

4. Jump it Up
Chic, unique and totally cool, the Maxwell jumper from NYC based designer Ilana Kohn is your ticket to the most awesome festival look of the year. Cinch it with a skinny belt, slip some wooden bangles on to your arms, some wedge sandals (or flats for longer days) on your feet and you’re set to go!

5. Nonchalant Vixen
This look is sleek, sexy and totally effortless – don a handmade Sea and Sky tunic by San Franciscan Sarah Hinz, with a pair of natural leather and recycled tire sandals from Avarcas. Top it all of with some big gold jewelry, and a pair of hot pants (for modesty) and you’ll fit right in at the next Bohemian event.

Related on EcoSalon

9 Sizzling Summer Sandals

On Trend: The Sustainable Summer White Dress 7 Ways

30 Photos of Music Festivals Worldwide

Images: Thomas Hawk, Avarcas, Sea and Sky, Prairie Underground, Beklina, KaightNYC

The post 4 Easy to Get Eco Chic Looks for Festival Season appeared first on EcoSalon.

There’s more to SXSW than just finding the next Zuckerberg.

For almost two decades since its founding in 1987, SXSW was known as the place to discover breaking new music acts and independent, off-beat films. SXSW Interactive, the festival’s lesser known venue -mainly due to the emerging nature of its medium – didn’t attract nearly as much public notice as its more established twin.

Fast forward a few years, as SXSWi has become a launching ground for some of the most formidable names in technology, including Twitter and Foursquare, and it has come to almost eclipse its original indie-music and film roots. In so doing, SXSWi has become something of an annual debutante ball for start-ups. Now, every spring in a time-honored Texas tradition, start-ups with a lot of VC funding “come out” to tech society (with handfuls of hoodies and logo tees in lieu of tiaras and white gowns).

Amidst the product launches, celebrity sightings, free t-shirts and libations flowing freely through the streets surrounding downtown Austin, it’s easy to forget that there’s an actual conference to go to. But with thousands of tech experts and luminaries on site to discuss timely issues having anything to do with technology today, participants stay on task. Additionally, despite the atmosphere that can definitely at times resemble a nerdy Cancun spring break, SXSWi happens to have a strong social component, with a multitude of events and sessions directly addressing the interplay between technology, innovation, and social impact.

This year, with “Better Tomorrow” as the main conference theme, panel subjects have ranged from race, gender, and class issues in the Silicon Valley, to using tech in dictatorships, to innovation and hacks in resource-limited societies, to leveraging online communities for social good projects.

Two panels, one of them led by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, tackled the reasons behind the enormous racial and gender gap in Silicon Valley. According to CB Insights, about 1% of entrepreneurs who received venture capital in the first half of 2010 were African-American, even though they make up 11% of the general U.S. population. Compare this to the 87% of founders funded who are Caucasian, and 12% who are Asian.

Why the gap? Participants discussed how socio-economic barriers, an often late start in developing tech skills, and a Silicon Valley culture where tolerating failure is a necessity, have hampered diversity in the tech industry. Hank Williams, an entrepreneur, pointed out the economic realities of many African American communities, and how that combined with Silicon Valley’s culture of failing forward can act as a barrier to entry.

“Some groups, for whatever reason there may be, have the socio-economic flexibility to fail,” while for others, “Failure means no rent money…or being able to eat next week,” says Williams.

If YouTube, Facebook, or CNN.com comments are any indication, online commenters aren’t particularly well known for their kindness. However, a session featuring Alexis Ohanian, a Reddit co-founder, and panelists from Donorschoose.org, Reddit Gifts,
and the Awesome Foundation discussed how online communities can move beyond trolling to giving. By setting a tone for its online community and providing incentives that bring out the recklessly generous side of participants (think positive peer pressure, or trolling with a heart), Reddit has been a driving force for a variety of weird and wonderful altruistic projects. Reddit community members have even participated in the largest Secret Santa in the world, sent complete strangers pizzas on request, and facilitated a campaign to “charity blackmail” Stephen Colbert that raised over half a million dollars for Donorschoose.org.

Social ventures were a popular topic of discussion at SXSW, and affiliated events like the Good Capitalist Lounge sought to prove that social impact and profit margin weren’t two disparate entities. Though there are plenty of businesses out there with an ethos that have proven wildly successful (such as Patagonia and Melissa shoes), the conversation on social ventures can still seem a bit apologetic and defensive at times.

On a marketing panel, the utility of cause-related work (employee retention, increasing brand awareness, building trust) was challenged with the claim that any company creating jobs – whether it be Wal-Mart, McDonalds, or BP was providing an overall social good, and that profit margin shouldn’t be hampered by “wanting to go to heaven.”

That assumption, that jobs trump all other considerations, and that having an ethic behind any business is not only not profitable but not an endeavor worth pursuing for the bottom line, seems to be a well-ingrained notion that requires constant, thoughtful pushback on multiple platforms, and SXSWi is only one venue (though with lots more free food and music) to explore social impact and the tools that can facilitate it.

The post SXSW Interactive Banks on a #Bettertomorrow appeared first on EcoSalon.

As one of the most sustainable cities in the U.S., it’s not hard to fall in love with Austin.

There is one reason I’d consider leaving the Big Apple for the Lonestar State, and that reason is Austin.

Anyone who’s been to the state capital has experienced the progressive and liberal personality that juxtaposes much of the rest of the state and Austin is the inoffensive exception. While on a road trip through part of the former Mexican territory, I was able to glean just how much so. From San Antonio to Frisco, with stops in Fredericksburg, Austin, Round Rock, Parker and Dallas, I took on the wide, open Texas road and realized that it leads to both a delightfully charming and calorically appalling Texas.

Here’s a list of things about the capital city that in a small way might contribute to slowing down the global warming process.

People are active and always outside.
Austin is quite possibly a land of productive freelancers. Everyone and their dog seems to be out and about throughout the workday and doing exactly what they should be doing – relishing the great outdoors. I spent a late morning with Barton Springs bike-tour company where our guide, Kelly took us over pedestrian bridge extensions, through Zilker Park, past the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue, along Auditorium Shores, around Lady Bird Lake and past Barton Springs Pool. While riding I was joined by dozens and dozens of other bikers and as many runners. In the early afternoon I joined another few dozen locals on Lady Bird Lake where I walked across water stand-up paddle boating alongside kayakers, canoers and water bicyclists. Austin feels like everyone is outside living a well-balanced life where people can pay their bills and spend time outdoors.

Barton Springs Pool

Everyone is in it together.
One night a chatty pedi-cab driver told us we had to go to Lambert’s for fancy BBQ. While devouring some fennel and coriander rubbed pork ribs we saw Japanese female drummer Masumi Jones and the Gentlemen, and The Warm Guns tear things up on stage. Then the next day I saw the music stars casually frolicking with the rest of Austin in the swampy Barton Springs Pool.

Bicycles, motorcycles and cars coexist here in harmony.
Bicycle riders share the lanes with cars and drivers don’t even seem to blink an eye. Nary is there a horn honked at a bike rider slowing down traffic, and signs remind everyone to be mindful of fellow cyclists and motorcyclists. On some blocks its seems like the streets have more bikes than cars. Besides bike lanes there are bike paths too—which the latter is known as the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, named for the championship cyclist.

SXSW, Denise Chambers photo

Keep Austin Weird.
The slogan was dubbed to promote small businesses in town and so far considering the city is said to get 1,500 new residents a week, it’s doing a decent job. The famed SXSW festival has grown more corporate and less grassroots, whereas the Austin City Limits concert has retained local and less is more roots. And as for the truly weirdest thing about Austin (besides the lizard people), is that the closest thing to weird is that the city is home to the largest urban bat colony in the world. But until you’ve checked it out – be it on a cruise, kayak, canoe, paddle boat, boat bicycle, or, you’re just standing on the Congress Avenue Bridge, you can’t knock it until you see over a million Mexican free-tail bats take off a just as the sun is setting.

There are a lot of places to stay the night.
Besides hotels like the new W, there are also a lot of new condos and high-rises. Like many fast growing cities, a lot of new development has been hit hard by the struggling economy so there’s an inordinate number of luxury rentals lying around unused. Many of these rentals have side gigs in the short-term rental world and are listed on Roomarama and Airbnb. I booked with Roomarama and stayed two nights in downtown Austin in a balconied high-rise just a few blocks from the infamous Sixth Street.

Roomarama

The live music scene truly rocks.
It’s hard to find a joint that doesn’t have live music playing in it when walking through the warehouse district, along Sixth, Fifth, or Fourth, along South Congress, or, in the Warehouse District. What may look like a non-descript spot easily ends up the stage for the next Jeff Buckley or Elliot Smith. At The Red Fez, the band Atash played a mix of Persian and Indian music replete with a sitar that had a rock and roll backbone. In recent years, Austin has become world renowned thanks to it’s killer music festivals.

It’s the birthplace of Whole Foods.
The local, seasonal, organic corporate food chain, Whole Foods got its start here in Austin so it’s possible to keep it weird and still shop here. Plus, everyone’s so proud of Whole Foods that between the classes and samples inside the store, it’s actually pretty fun to tour for an afteroon.  And who can resist poking fun at the obsessive quinoa-loving, Kombucha-eating counter culture that’s emerged there?

The BBQ is damn good.
Sure there is excellent BBQ to eat within Austin’s city limits, but the real deal that locals and tourists alike consistently recommend is the Salt Lick. With locations in Round Rock, Driftwood and the Austin Airport, I headed north to Round Rock (less than an hour from Austin), and it was totally worth it. A dinner of smoky beef ribs, hot mashed potatoes and refried beans finished with a warm pecan pie is hard to pass up. Did I mention the horseradish-infused bloody Mary’s? Drinks pair nicely with the live music that plays for those enjoying the outdoor seating. Because it’s a popular spot, it’s advised to go early or late in the night to avoid the crowds.

Austin is near Texas wine country.
Yes, in Texas’ Hill country is the Texas wine country. Just 67 miles away is Fredericksburg a charming stretch with adorable boutiques, quaint restaurants and a healthy dose of vineyards a few miles away.  I stopped by the family-owned Grape Creek Vineyards and Torre di Pietna. The Becker Vineyards also have a lavender farm. For further exploring stop by the tourism office just across from the where Curly, the octogenarian on staff who will offer to leave work early and take you out for a drink or two over his old war stories.

Becker Vineyards

“Dallas” fans can geek out on the TV show’s old location.
I’ve actually never seen a single episode of the 13-year series and I still found the tour located 214 miles from Austin absolutely fun and engaging. Our guide Tim, a Texas local who has spent decades working with the J.R, Ewing Mansion on Southfork Ranch, has salacious stories that are more dramatic than the series. (He’s caught countless people sneaking off to have sex on various parts of the property.)

There’s an artist colony of Brooklyn hipsters in the middle of nowhere.
Marfa, 375 miles west of Austin is a high desert oasis of awesome, where modern art and expression thrive. The colony was founded by minimalist artist Donald Judd who moved from New York City to Texas to create a more affordable and spacious home for his art installations. After he died, the area transformed into a haven for two foundations that maintain Judd’s vision: The Chinati Foundation and the Judd Foundation. Other large scale projects have formed in Marfa in recent years too including the Marfa Film Festival, Lannan Foundation and Ballroom Marfa where art films, music shows and art installations are featured. Marfa is also known for its night skies and for being the location of the films There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, and Giant starring Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean and Dennis Hopper.

Ready for a road trip?

Image: StuSeeger, Austin Post

The post Austin: Texas’ Most Sustainable Oasis appeared first on EcoSalon.