Beauty


Is your Hair Ready for Earth Day?

Earth Day is fast approaching and it seems to get more exciting every year. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have been aware of the environment and its’ fragility for several decades. Children in the late 1970’s began taking field trips through school to the local recycling plant. Students were so proud to be handed a recycling bucket to take home to their parents. There was pure excitement at the thought of teaching one’s parents how to recycle cans, bottles and newspapers. Bay Area parents were very proud of their children who made an effort to recycle at home as well as spread the word to extended friends and family. The recycling mentality has expanded throughout the country and world over the past two decades. Bay Area natives cannot help but feel slightly responsible for getting the word out about the importance of recycling and saving our planet. Although recycling dates back to Plato in 400 BC and it was first required in the United States by Woodbury, NJ, the San Francisco Bay Area took the idea by storm and is responsible for much of the marketing that made it hip.

Earth Day was instated by US Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin on April 22, 1970. It is celebrated in roughly 175 countries each year. As Earth Day has become more popular over the years, many cities and towns celebrate the entire week and have dubbed it “Earth Week.”

Every year consumer companies launch so-called “Green” products in the weeks preceding Earth Day in the hope that consumers will purchase these products in an effort to be more Earth friendly. Unfortunately, many so-called “Green” products are not really green. True Green products are made with environmentally friendly ingredients, in environmentally friendly factories and packaged in recycled materials.

Tigi Hair Care is well known for their “Bed Head” line of hair care products. These products are recommended by stylists around the world and found in fine salons as well beauty supply shops. Target, which normally carries more moderately priced products, has also begun to carry Tigi Products in their “Salon Hair Care” isle which boasts the same products found at your local salon with slightly softer price points.

In an effort to go “Green,” Tigi has launched a wonderful line of earth friendly products named “Love, Peace and the Planet.” These fabulous hair care products are not tested on animals and they do not use artificial colors or fragrances. They treat your hair using only organic ingredients that are free from parabens, laurel and laureth sulfates. To top it all off, Tigi packaged the line in 50% post consumer waste containers and all printed materials are printed on recycled paper or FSC paper using soy or water based ink. This makes the packaging 100% recyclable! Love, Peace, Planet also offers two choices for shampoo and conditioner. They offer a moisturizing shampoo named “Eco Awesome” as well as a daily shine shampoo named “Walking on Sunshine.” The line also offers texture, hairspray and a leave-in conditioner.

It is so refreshing to find a hair care line that lives up to the modern label “Green.” What a fabulous way to celebrate Earth Day and care for your hair! Happy Earth Day! Go green and stay fabulous.


Traveling with Scents

The Bay Area, and most of the nation for that matter, has been suffering from strong winter weather. Dealing with heavy rain and snow can make any fashionista hungry for a vacation! Some people will be heading up to Tahoe or Yosemite to enjoy the winter snow pack while others will be hopping on a airplane to warmer climates. Whether you travel by plane, train or automobile the common problem every fashionista will face is how do you pack your favorite perfume bottle? If you travel by airplane, you may not be allowed to carry-on your favorite scent. Unfortunately, packing your $100, $200 or even $300 perfume bottle in your suitcase that will be checked is not ideal. We all know what happens to our checked baggage! The tossing of the suitcase along with the threat of your suitcase being on the bottom of someone else’s 5000 pound baggage can cause even the most carefully packed glass bottle to break. Not only will you lose your precious perfume but everything in your suitcase will be ruined! Thankfully perfume houses have come up with the perfect solution for scent-savvy fashionistas everywhere. The solid perfume.

Solid Perfume has been around for several years, but lately more perfumiers have been creating solid versions of their best selling scents. Marc Jacobs has put his famous scent “Daisy” into a fun daisy style ring that flips up to reveal the solid perfume. Marc Jacobs and Estee Lauder have also put their solids into jewelry such as necklaces. Bond No. 9, the famous New York perfume house that is known for it’s original scents that are inspired by various New York Burroughs has a pretty, gold compact that fits easily into your purse or pocket. There are even recipes on the Internet in places such as “wikihow” that help you make your favorite scent into a solid for your convenience. This is a great alternative to buying the solid perfume as they can run in price from $20-$100+. Whatever your choice, make sure you have at least one solid scent on hand for traveling, your gym bag, your handbag or anywhere you might be in need of smelling fabulous!

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Solid Perfume shown here; Nuits de noho by Bond No. 9


Fresh New Nail Polish Colors for Spring!

Good news for Bay Area Fashionistas! We no longer feel forced to be fashion victims by wearing dark, dreary, vampy colors on our nails. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing chips on your freshly polished nails 24 hours after you spend time, and maybe even money, painting them. Fashion has taken a turn towards fresh, lighter colors for the Spring season which in turn proves to be more practical. Light colors do not show chips as well!

Every season, fashion savvy women, and some men, look to Chanel for the new color of the moment. Cruise/Resort showed fashionistas everywhere that Chanel was taking a turn away from dark colors and towards more beige and gray nail polish. As style savvy shoppers began to part with  “Vendetta,” a dark purple throwback to Fall 2009, “Trapeze” rolled into stores for Resort 2010. Chanel’s first foray into the new nail polish trend, “Trapeze,” is a fabulous blend of metallic beige and light rose gold. This beautiful color looks great when worn with yellow gold, white gold/silver and of course the gold of the season, Rose Gold! Another side benefit of “Trapeze” is that when it does chip, roughly four days after application, one can hardly notice the chip because the color is so subtle.

Now that Spring 2010 is appearing, and disappearing from store shelves, one can only wonder if every Bay Area Fashionista will be able to get his or her hands on the hot new color of the season by Chanel, “Particuliere.” There is already a wait list for this darker version of “Trapeze” that has slightly less of a metallic sheen to it. “Particuliere” is the ultimate beige nail polish as it offers a cool tone that can easily appear to have a gray undertone when looked at in certain light and against gray-tone clothing. This is definitely the “it” nail polish color for Spring. Every Fashionista will be able to “work it” in either “Trapeze” or “Particuliere” depending on personal preference.

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Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour; Vendetta, Trapeze

*Why we love Chanel nail polish: Chanel nail polish has preformed better than other nail polish brands in rigorous daily tests such as washing pots and pans, swimming, scrubbing the floor, changing diapers and much more! Here at Bay Area Fashionista we have tested many nail polish brands over the past fifteen years and it is our firm opinion that Chanel not only handles daily life, but offers the most fashion-savvy colors.