4 spring beauty launches we love

Spring brings buds on trees, daffodils in the parks, and skin-care launches on the shelves of beauty stores.

We perused the natural newcomers, and found four especially fresh-faced options that make us feel renewed and luminous just looking at the labels. (And, during a test-run, they also proved their mettle.)

Here are the spring debuts we’ll be cleansing with, dabbing on, and beautifying with for clear, bright, and healthy-looking skin all season long. And beyond…. Have you tried any new products for spring?

3. TRES PURE

When you have a science background and love beauty products, but go into banking, sometimes your heart calls you back. That was the case with Shahnaz Hussain, the founder of Tres Pure. The pretty (and still ambitious) New Yorker supports cooperatives in Uganda to farms in Tunisia, when sourcing the ethical, clean, and often super-expensive ingredients (we’re not going to lie) that make up her luxe line. (The popular product trio above is $145.) And while Tres Pure is made in New York, it has fans from London to the UAE, and has just started to catch on at home.

The natural products are simple—rice and adzuki bean is used in the scrub, carrot seed in the toner, and a blend of marula, chamomile, and other plant oils hydrate and brighten skin in the face oil (a best-seller). As Hussain says, “The simplicity of quality ingredients is the secret behind beautiful skin. And I think that’s what people really want.”

www.trespure.com

4. W3LL PEOPLE

The performance-based “hippie tested, diva-approved” makeup brand just got a white-hot makeover—both the packaging and what’s inside it.Now the entire handcrafted, natural line contains skin-calming organic aloe, which “adds amazing luminosity, and a creamier, more blendable texture,” explains color director, Shirley Pinkson. You can really see the aloe’s magic in the foundations that absorb excess shine without disappearing your glow. (No mannequin skin!)

Spring brings three new multitasking Universalist Colorsticks ($33) for cheeks and lips (we heart the blood-orange No. 6). And we’re not the only one loving the brand reboot: W3LL PEOPLE will have pride of place in H&M’s new luxe retail stores, called & Other Stories, in London, Paris, Milan, and beyond, reaching scores of healthy beauties across the pond.

www.w3llpeople.com

See the first two picks here!

Paraben update: New research on beauty’s most problematic preservatives

By Well+Good NYC

“Parabens,” the term for a group of preservatives used in mainstream beauty products, wasn’t always a dirty word.

In 2004, Dr. Philippa Darbre, a research scientist at the University of Reading in the UK, published a small but pioneering study that showed high concentrations of parabens in human breast tumors.

Women everywhere flipped over their moisturizers to read the list of ingredients.

“That first paper shocked people because it was the first time intact parabens had ever been measured in the human body,” says Dr. Darbre. And while the study did not show that the chemicals cause cancer, it sounded a serious alarm.

Why? Parabens, which prevent bacteria from growing in beauty and personal-care products, are able to mimic or interfere with estrogen in the body, and exposure to estrogen is one of the primary influences on the development of breast cancer.

Since then, several studies have detected and reported parabens in human urine and tissue. In response, many beauty companies have eliminated them from ingredient lists, though they’re still used in many mainstream products.

Now, Dr. Darbre has published two new studies that shed even more light on the ways parabens enter our bodies and how they affect our health.

Here’s what you need to know about the latest research (and before refilling your beauty bag):

1. Parabens are getting into your body. In March, Dr. Darbre and her team published the results of a study that replicated the original study done in 2004, with a much larger sample size. They looked at the concentration of five parabens in breast tumor tissue. One or more types were found in 99 percent of the tissue samples, and all five were measurable in 60 percent of the samples. “The take-home message was that we validated the earlier study with a much more substantial study. Parabens are getting into the breast, and they’re getting in in significant amounts,” she explains.

2. Yup, your skin is letting them in. The parabens identified in the study were primarily intact, meaning they’ve bypassed the liver. What does this mean? You’re not getting them from your food, they’re being absorbed through your skin.

Keep reading for more here…

Are your omega-3 supplements fake?

By Markham Heid for Prevention.com

Your daily omega-3 supplement may be swimming with more than just fish oil. A new report from ConsumerLab.com, an independent tester of health and nutritional products, finds many omega-3 capsules don’t include all the nutrients they claim to, are loaded with extra fat, and are even contaminated with levels of carcinogens that exceed EPA standards.

“Our analysis found problems with roughly 31% of omega-3 supplements,” says Tod Cooperman, MD, president of ConsumerLab.com. Among the 35 products tested, four contained 20 to 30% less omega-3 than the label indicated, and one included spoiled fish oil. Another product that claimed just 1 milligram of fat actually contained 1,000 milligrams.

And it gets worse. “For the first time, we also found omega-3 products contaminated with PCBs,” says Dr. Cooperman. PCBs are man-made, carcinogenic compounds that are found in almost all fish products, and although every supplement tested contained some PCBs, two contained levels deemed unsafe by the Environmental Protection Agency.

But don’t toss your supplements out to sea just yet, says Dr. Cooperman.

Keep reading to find out why…

My Five Beauty Obsessions: Jill Platner

By Well+Good NYC

Jill Platner is the healthy, chic New York woman’s go-to jewelry designer.

Platner’s fans, like Elena Brower and Schuyler Grant, love her for her gorgeous exacting metalworking, but also for her healthy approach to maintaining an inner and outer glow. She works out with Madonna’s former trainer and flame Carlos Leon, juices daily, and even recently hosted a Wellness Day at her Soho boutique, all of which leave little time for primping.

“I am very low-key with my hair and beauty rituals,” Platner says. We had her dish on the few products she does work into her beauty routine on a regular basis.

1. Davines Hair Products (Price varies) I love the natural ingredients and the texture they give my hair, especially since I prefer the ease of letting it dry naturally. I get them from my good friend April Barton’s salon, Suite 303 in the Chelsea Hotel.

2. Epicuren Clarify Cleanser ($25) When I work on sculptures, my skin gets coated in metal dust, and this really leaves me clean and soft. I love how nourished my skin feels after using it, and the herbal scent is amazing. I get lots of Epicuren products from my facialist Monique at Haven Spa in Soho.

Keep reading for 3 more here…

3 ways to hold onto your summer bliss

By Well+Good NYC

Jill Satterfield, founder of Vajra Yoga, the brand-new School for Compassionate Action, and a fixture at the Tibet House, gives Well+Good three tips for holding onto what summer sanity and sense of relaxation we’ve acquired. So come fall craziness, we’ll all have a few of the tricks that accomplished yogis and meditators and the Dalai Lama have at the ready. Be them, now.

1. Savor, don’t gulp, a piece of summer fruit.

Take a bite of summer fruit, like a peach or a melon, and chew it slowly, allowing it to almost dissolve in your mouth. Normally, we eat so quickly. But if we take our time, we can really be transported into an awareness of taste, the sense of taste. Plus it’s way of pausing to enjoy last bits of what summer’s given us.

Keep reading for 2 more here…

New research shows the cumulative benefits of routine massages

By Katie Drummond for Prevention.com

We’re going to guess you don’t need another excuse to get a massage. But if you can’t afford a weekly spa trip (and frankly, who can?), you’re going to have to get really good at sweet-talking your husband into helping you out now and then. Not easy, we know. But we have some new ammo—and we have a new study from Emory University to back us up.

Over a period of five weeks, study participants received a Swedish massage—characterized by long, flowing strokes—once or twice a week. Compared to those who didn’t get the lucky task of getting massaged in the name of science, those who received massage therapy had lower levels of stress hormones, including cortisol. They also experienced big changes in immunity, including increased counts of white blood cells, which play a key role in fending off illness and infection.

And it gets better: The benefits of massage lasted for several days, and each subsequent massage offered a cumulative benefit. In other words, a routine massage ritual is superior to an occasional rub.

“The act of massage itself has amazing biological effects,” says lead study author Mark Hyman Rapaport, MD, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. “Of course, a single session will do great things for the body, but regular sessions seem to be even more profound.”

Anyone who enjoys massage should consider indulging regularly, says Dr. Rapaport, who adds that self-massage (for those of you with a reticent beau) has the potential to be a beneficial—and cost-effective—option.

Keep reading for three self-massage tips…

Olive oil helps build strong bones

By Well+Good NYC

Got olive oil? A study published online this month in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that people who ate a Mediterranean diet enhanced with lots of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) may be protected against bone loss.

The study: Studies have shown that the the incidence of osteoporosis in Europe is lower in regions where individuals follow a traditional Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fruits and vegetables and includes a high intake of olives and olive oil. So, researchers in Spain set out to determine if olive oil consumption, in conjunction with eating a Mediterranean diet, prevented bone loss.

They selected 127 men, aged 55–80 and at risk for heart disease, who were already part of a larger, longitudinal study. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups. One group ate a Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil, another ate a Mediterranean diet supplement with mixed nuts, and the third ate a low fat diet. The participants followed the dietary plans for two years.

The results:

Keep reading…

7 best natural mascaras

By Well+Good NYC

Here’s a not-so-secret secret: Even natural beauty divas tend to cheat when it comes to their lashes, coating them in Maybelline Great Lash or lust-worthy DiorShow.

However, that’s beginning to change.

“Every natural makeup line is working on a mascara worth releasing,” says Spirit Demerson, founder of SpiritBeautyLounge.com. “Expect big reveals next year.”

Can’t wait till then? We found seven that added just as much volume, length, and drama as their chemical counterparts. (There’s still no waterproof natural.)

Here are seven great natural mascaras we wouldn’t bat an eye at.

—Melisse Gelula and Lisa Elaine Held

Josie Maran GOGO Natural Volume Argan Mascara

$22, www.josiemarancosmetics.com

We’re saying it: Maran’s argan-oil based mascara works just as well as traditional one. It produces thick, voluminous lashes (and a dewy shine) in just a few strokes with little-to-no clumps.

And it has a heart: For every mascara purchased, a dollar is donated to a women’s cancer charity.

One drawback: It’s otherwise natural, organic formula does contain a couple of suspicious ingredients at the very end of the list.

Korres Provitamin B5 & Rice Bran Mascara

$18, www.korresusa.com

This one is about length over volume. The small, thin spokes on the brush lengthen and separate perfectly, leaving a dark, matte finish.

Its ingredient list is not 100 percent pure, mainly because of the presence of preservative phenoxyethanol, but it’s a million steps up from L’Oreal.

Dr. Hauschka Volume Mascara

$29.95, www.drhauschka.com

It goes on as elegantly as a traditional mascara, so you wouldn’t know you were applying super natural ingredients, like silk powder and botanical waxes.

The mascara has a rosy, not chemical scent, which comes from essential oil fragrance (not the chemical kind).

Only downside is the smudge-proof claim didn’t hold true for me after just a couple hours.

Keep reading for 4 more here…

New twists on a snack staple: 3 healthy popcorn recipes

By Well+Good NYC

Nutritionist and personal chef Natalia Hancock knows that snacking is part of the human condition. “We’re programmed to seek out food; the trick is to munch on snacks that are healthy and easy.”

When creating Rouge Tomate’s bar menu (Hancock is the culinary nutritionist for this healthy Michelin-starred, Upper East Side restaurant), she rejected calorically dense bar nuts in favor of humble popcorn, a whole grain with a generous dose of fiber. But Hancock purified, and glamorized, this movie snack staple by replacing butter with olive oil and adding unusual seasonings.

Replace your $300 Kitchen-Aid with a $30 air popper

 

Why to sneak your homemade popcorn into the movies: According to Hancock, movie theater popcorn is usually popped in refined coconut oil, so it absorbs lots of saturated fat.  A medium-sized movie popcorn is well over 1,000 calories and can have more than 50g of saturated fat.  In comparison, one cup of air-popped plain popcorn is just 31 calories, and it doesn’t taste like styrofoam packing like the AMC variety. Two cups is a serving, says Hancock, but if you feel the need to pig out, popcorn is a safe food to overdo it on.

Keep reading…

Can a mattress do more than deliver a good night’s sleep?

By Well+Good NYC

We spend about a third of our life in bed—most of it sleeping, or tossing and turning, as the case may be. So it’s hardly surprising that furniture-makers keep trying to improve the experience with new materials meant to get us better shut-eye. One way to build a better bed is to make it healthier. “Mattresses are no longer just about comfort, they are about choosing materials that are good for both the environment and your body,” says Andrea Mugnai, the GM at Magniflex’s new Manhattan showroom located in the Casa Poggesi shop in Soho. He’s referring mostly to the flame-retardant chemicals here, which holistic manufacturers tend to swap for incorporating non-flammable wool into the mattress design. (Mattresses must be fire-resistant by law.)

With Americans willing to do just about anything for a good night’s sleep, lavender-infused mattress covers and organic lambswool stuffing are a fast-growing market. Often the health claims of these mattresses sound as ridiculous as the price tags, which can run as high as $10,000, and often more, if you go the Hasten’s route. So Well+Good went shopping for the most intriguing new holistic mattresses to see what a good night’s sleep is worth. Here’s what we found:

•    Magniflex’s mattresses use a memory foam core sans toxic chemical flame-retardants. They’re covered with renewable fiber fabrics, like soy, corn, and bamboo. The newest Lavender Comfort mattress ($2,299 for a Queen ) comes with aromatherapy built right in. “The concentrated lavender oil in the cover activates the relaxation response, helping you to achieve a deeper, more well-rested nights sleep,” explains Mugnai. We buy that. Though a vial of Essence of Vali Sleep remedy would also do the trick.

Keep reading for more here…