I have always loved the excitement and fun that surrounds St. Patrick’s Day. The parades, the bagpipes and the green beer put me in a good mood almost instantaneously. However, there is only thing about St. Patty’s that makes me cringe a little: the way I looked donned in spartan green from head to toe. It’s not a pretty.

I’ve decided not to embarrass myself again this year (sorry green sweat suit, it’s been fun) and instead dedicate my daily beauty routine to my favorite “green” and all natural products from Abe’s Market.

1. Coffee:
I can’t start my day without a cup of joe Larry’s! Fair trade, organic coffee that taste delicious and most importantly gets my brain functioning.

2. Smile:
Did you know that our teeth represent the first signs of aging?  If that’s not a reason to keep them pearly white I don’t know what is. But I can certainly think of a reason why Tooth Whitening scares me: Non-food grade Peroxide and harsh chemicals. That’s why I love Lumio Tooth Whitener and Brightner; it’s a natural alternative to teeth whitening. Your teeth will be noticeably whiter within a week without the harsh, nasty chemicals that other whitner’s contain.

3. Wash:
I’m among those unlucky few who still break out years after puberty. It’s something I have never “grown out of” and according to many dermatologist’s I’ll never get rid of it unless I take antibiotics for the rest of my life – thanks but no thanks.  Instead I have opted to control my skin with nutritional soaps and cleansers like Complexion Zen Clarifying Soap by Bunny Butt Apothecary that feeds my skin instead of stripping it. The great thing about this bar is that it has super cleansing powers! It has been activated with all natural willow charcoal. Charcoal has been used since ancient times to cure and heal a variety of skin and health ailments. Yes please!

4. Moisturize:
It’s so important to remember to moisturize every single day even if your skin doesn’t show signs of dryness. If you think of your skin like a flower you can imagine what happens to the pedals if they aren’t given water (moisture) everyday. At first, you wont see any signs but very quickly you will see the pedals wilt, dry-up and die. Yikes.  It’s much easier to keep our skin moist than it is to completely dry-out and repair the damage later. This is why I love Hydroprotective Day Cream by BioSelect. Feels radiant, soothing and refreshing without looking oily. Also, it’s certified Organic and Vegan.

5. Apply, naturally:
Professional makeup artists use the right tools and brushes to give you the flawless look you love. Only problem is some of the commercially made brushes are made of plastic, which is awful for our entire eco-system. That’s why I love the Orglamix Vegan Bamboo 8-piece Makeup Brush set. These brushes are just as beautiful as they are functional; each sustainable bamboo handled brush is handcrafted from top-quality synthetic fibers. This set of 8 essential makeup brushes is specifically designed for use with mineral makeup. Fer-osh!

6. Radiate:
After applying my mineral powder I always finish with a beautiful blush. I love the way the sheer, luminous blush powders by Orglamix look on my skin. The soft-focused color enhances all skin tones by creating that perfect “glow” we are all soughing after.  I also love not having to worry about what my skin is absorbing while wearing Orglamix.

What Orglamix is formulated WITHOUT:

- Parabens

- Sulfates

- Synthetic Fragrances

- Synthetic Dyes

- Petro-Chemicals

- Phthalates

As you can see being a “green” faced beauty is gorgeous for all skin tones. Be happy, beautiful and green today!

Happy St. Patrick’s day!

with style,

Lisa

It was great to wander the aisles of Natural Products Expo West this weekend. Richard and I spent time with some of our current sellers (Nicobella, Eco-Me, Bag the Habit and others), met some soon-to-be Abe’s Market sellers (I’ll keep you in suspense for now), and spoke with some companies that may or may not sell on Abe’s, but they have great products and inspire me. Of the hundreds of companies I spoke with, here are are a few non-Abe’s sellers that stand out for me:

Preserve A pioneer in the natural products world, Preserve makes stylish, high performance, eco-friendly products. Using innovative methods, they turn used materials into razors, colanders, cutting boards, tableware and more. Cool concept. Great design.

Innovative Kids Books, games, puzzles and toys that help parents and kids cut through the clutter that makes up today’s over-marketed toy market.

Wow Baking Company All-natural wheat-free and gluten-free baked goods. These moist and chewy baked goods pack taste that rivals any traditional baked goods. You’d never guess them to be wheat-free and gluten free.

Vermints  All-natural mints from the Green Mountains of Vermont. Taste great. Fresh packaging with fun design. Organic, gluten-free, nut-free and kosher.

Jon and I have gotten into the habit of not printing. I don’t look it as a scrafice and don’t miss reading printed material. We simply don’t find the need to do it. Kudos to the various businesses that have made printing unneccesary – Adobe, online statements, Blackberry (why print itineraries when I can sync to my calendar) etc etc

Realizing that I maybe print a page every month got me wondering if US paper consumption has gone down recently and the great effects of reducing paper usage.

The Good News:

• US Paper Consumption is flat or down from previous years according to this Britannica entry from 2007
• In 2007 56.1% of paper was recovered for recycling versus 38.7% in 1993 

A Bit of Shocking News:

• The average world office employee uses around 7 reams of copy paper or 3,500 pieces of paper each year. This fact has set the world’s average paper consumption at 123 pounds of paper per person each year.
• Between 1960 and 2008 the amount of waste each person creates has almost doubled from 2.7 to 4.5 pounds per day.

Of Course There is Hope….

According to James Derosa“If all 700 million Adobe Readers users decided not to print an article ten pages long each year, there would be 3 environmental effects:

1. Less waste due to 14 million reams of copy not used
2. 80,000 trees wouldn’t be cut down annually
3. 118,000 less tons of CO2 in atmosphere

(And no need to understand the language of printer jams:)

I opened a can of tuna on a backcountry camping trip a few years ago. As I went to drain the tuna juice from the can, a fellow hiker grabbed the can and proceeded to suck the tuna juice straight from it. “What are you doing?” he shrieked. “That’s perfectly good water. This world doesn’t have enough water that you can afford to just waste it like that.”

That’s extreme! Even for a highly environmentally conscious guy like myself.

We talk a lot at Abe’s Market about how to make going green fun. Richard posted on this recently.

I love this TreeHugger piece and short video on Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. The guy rides his bike to work every day. Because he’s a tuna-juice-sucking fanatic? No! His explanation: “I started biking to work for a bunch of different reasons. Ultimately, I bike now because I like it.”I love that simplicity!

Lately, I’ve been gratified to witness a recurring great example of recycle and reuse all in one. Obviously, we recycle everything in my house. We’ve been sending toilet paper rolls, empty boxes, etc. to my 4-year-old daughter’s preschool. Within days, those same items return home in the form of birdhouses, horns and more. It’s fun for us to watch that virtuous cycle in action.

I’ll add some more of my own family’s fun (and simple) green activities soon. For now, I’ll rely on this list from iVillage to get things going.

Do you do anything more than drink tuna juice to make going green fun?

Thankfully Eliezer remembered we had some of Peaceful Mountain’s Stomach Rescue in the office. I had an upset stomach and I objectively believe that the Stomach Rescue has made me feel better.

The key ingredient is ionic silver (40ppm) along with peppermint. I am fascinated by the medicinal qualities of silver and am looking for more background, these few lines are a compelling introduction:

“Throughout history silver has been used as a preservative and to fight infections. Colloidal silver is a suspension of the element silver in a solution, usually water. Silver, like mercury, was used as a medicine starting in the late 1800s. Its primary application was as a topical antiseptic. Use of silver, in the form of silver nitrate solution, is still required by law in most states to be used in newborns as a topical eye drop to prevent eye infections.”

Just in case I am tempted to go a little crazy on silver I will keep the picture of the blue faced guy who appeared on Oprah…

As a longtime marketing guy, I’m fascinated by what drives product successes and failures. Classical marketers will cite the necessary 4P’s:

• Product – needs to be a good product that fills a consumer need
• Price – needs to be perceived as fair
• Place – has to have reliable distribution where shoppers shop
• Promotion – must be marketed in a compelling way that speaks to the target audience

But there’s more. What is it that drives some products to explode on the scene ala Rubik’s Cube, Beanie Babies and, more recently, Webkinz?

While we don’t reveal Abe’s Market sales figures, I can say that we have a runaway hit. Multibox mania is running wild. After quickly running out of inventory on our first order, we compiled a long waiting list of wannabe Multibox customers who wanted to be notified when we were replenished. We just listed the product back in stock a few hours ago and already it’s flying off the shelves.

So, what is it about Multibox that makes it a soon-to-be cult classic? Sure, it easily checks the box on the 4P’s. My kids love it. Parents love it for its combination of design, function and education. Parents magazine coverage certainly doesn’t hurt. And Green Lullaby, maker of Multibox, has a compelling story of a momtrepreneur who develops safe, environmentally-friendly toys and furniture for her own kids, then turns it into a business.

But what’s really driving the mad rush over and above a normal hot product? And why don’t more toys (or toy makers) know the secret formula?

I have a nephew and friends with kids who don’t eat any fruit or vegetables so I shouldn’t be complaining.

This is more about an untapped opportunity and the success of mainstream marketing. Many have said that we buy using emotion and justify our decisions with logic. Marketers know that a box of cereal labeled “Wholegrain” and “Vitamin C” will convince caring parents who are happy not to have to think about the amount of sugar in Multigrain Cheerios (I don’t mean to pick on any one cereal since this is the case among most).

I can’t find the article I read a while back talking about the advantage the major food companies have over fruit in their packaging and marketing but I thought of it earlier today. My son wanted to buy a bag of chips because of one of the collector cards he would find in it. I can’t blame him. Kids like prizes.

That is all background to the title. Why doesn’t some smart entreprenuer change the face of the fruit industry by bundling fruit with a prize. The industry is ripe (pun intended:) for change. The geniuse behind baby carrots was able to create a segment by converting blemished carrots into an   easy-to- snack-on and impulse item versus a vegetable that requires preperation. Baby carrots carry some controversy but outsell normal carrots even with their premium pricing.

There are plenty of initiatives to get kids to eat better and some smart ways to hide fruits and veggies in their food but I want to see the playing field leveled. When will my kids ask to buy a bag of fruit because of the card or prize inside?

Most of parenting is wonderful. There are some things, though, that no parent can claim to enjoy. Top (or should I say bottom?) on my list are:

1. Having a kid wake me from a state of deep REM in the middle of the night
2. Dealing with a screaming baby on a long plane ride
3. Changing a stinky diaper

Lesley Mattos, who once had 4 children under the age of 5, has done something about one of these. While her Bottoms Up Baby Wipes may not make me wish I still had kids in diapers, they are one of those no-brainer products. Better for baby. Better for the environment. Convenient. And far cheaper than disposable wipes. What’s the catch?

Now, Lesley, what can you do to make kids sleep through the night and behave like angels on airplanes?

Jeffrey (those in the know call him Dr.Oolong) at Zhi Tea has helped me appreciate all tea has to offer.  Here are a mere three points from his vast knowledge that should impress the person next to you at your next party. Try not to be too smug when pulling these out….

• Beginner: Oolong, pronounced “woo-long” and sometimes spelled “wu-long,” means “black dragon” in Mandarin. This term describes a wide variety of teas that fall all along the black-to-green spectrum in terms of oxidation. Oolong is perhaps the sexiest and most mysterious of teas.

• Intermediate: Recent studies strongly indicate that oolong tea’s particular makeup of polyphenol compounds aid in weight loss. Oolong tea’s effects on blocking the absorption of fats and carbohydrates is thought to play a key role in its weight reducing benefits

• Advanced :Because most of the caffeine found in tea leaves ends up on the outside of the leaf during the drying process, a simple ‘leaf washing’ or ‘pre-brewing’ is all that’s needed to remove 80-90% of the caffeine from any loose leaf tea. Not recommended for white or green tea.

You should (of course) snicker at, point fingers and mock with an English accent anyone who thinks herbal tea is real tea.

“Look at the gentleman in the back. Follow his form. Perfect.” How shocked was I to hear those words in my first ever yoga class and realize that the teacher was talking about me?

Despite being a natural, I haven’t stuck with it as much as I’d like. I do go enough, however, to know what a pain it can be to get everything I need – mat, towel, wallet, water bottle, keys, etc. – to the gym. So, today’s 10 Days of Discovery deal is right up my alley.

Avi Woolman, founder of Yogoco, embraced yoga as a way to stay in shape after having two kids. She experienced the same frustration we all feel in trying to conveniently get all our stuff to the gym. But she did something about it – she created the perfect yoga bag. And she did it all from pre consumer t-shirt scraps.

Try one of Yogoco’s smart, stylish bags today at 50% off and see why it is a Winner of the Shape Magazine Green Living Awards.