Pass the egg nog

...with extra rum...

Yeah, so, holiday stress is getting the better of me and it's just not happening to get any posts done and up. And now I feel guilty about not dedicating an entire post about all the things for which I'm thankful, like, I don't know, not having nausea-inducing chemo during a holiday that's devoted to eating?

How about some weekend blogging instead? Because I don't know about you, but I won't be going anywhere near a mall during Black Friday-thru-Sunday, even if they were giving the stuff away. I like that plan. We can all stay in our PJs, bonus.

In the meantime, have a totally awesome Thanksgiving!! Enjoy your holiday libations, your crazy relatives and of course all the food. And a special, huge thanks to everyone who visits SMACK! because I am so grateful for the chance to have anything worth reading!

-- Jazzy

Pass the popcorn

It's Thanksgiving week! Also Hanukkah. At the same time! I've read that the two holidays won't fall together again for something like another 70,000 years. I won't lie, I am a super dork who thinks that that's really cool, for many reasons that have nothing to do with today's post.

I had big plans for this week's posts. Light, entertaining, easy breezy to go with your turkey and all the fixins. And I'm trying, really, to keep the sanctimonious lecturing at a minimum. I'm trying, I swear.

But I just...can't...help...it...

Last week the HBO documentary "Toxic Hot Seat" premiered at DOC NYC 2013, following a group of Chicago Tribune reporters as they try to uncover the truth behind the questionable safety of fire retardants that are used in furniture and clothing. Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times wrote this excellent op-ed piece in support of the movie, which makes its broadcast premiere tonight on HBO (9:00 EST).

Here's the trailer:

Now I know some of you have HBO, because if we're honest about anything it's that all we're really doing here is biding time until Game of Thrones Season 4. How stinking easy is it to program your DVR or add the movie to your playlist on HBO Go, huh? 

We ALL need to see this film. Not just parents, or hippies, or liberals. Everyone. Because EVERYONE -- regardless of religion, race, political affiliation, socio-economic whatever -- sits on the same furniture that is treated with useless, toxic chemicals.

I know it doesn't seem like the kind of subject matter that jives with the 'warm fuzzies' of the holiday season, but maybe that's the point. To make us a little uncomfortable. To make us wonder. To make us realize that our complacency comes at a price.

Surely you'll need a break from Uncle Joe's bad jokes or Aunt Glinda's relationship advice at some point during Thanksgiving weekend. Watch "Toxic Hot Seat." I know I am.

-- Jazzy  

Early release

I think I have to peace out a little early this week. There's just way too much on my schedule and to-do list before Turkey Day next week. Turkey Day next week!!!! Now I'm really stressed out.

My hope is to pre-write some posts for next week so that it's not totally devoid of anything (because, let's be honest, that need for even the briefest distraction is so strong during any family gathering). I'm also working on an About Face feature which should be fun.

Talk soon!

Jazzy

Early delivery

There was some pretty good news activity this week regarding a possible link between phthalate levels in pregnant women and premature birth rates. JAMA Pediatrics published a study to its website Monday that identified higher levels of phthalates -- the chemicals that make plastics flexible -- in women who delivered their babies before 37 weeks. 

Reuters Health picked up the story later Monday, and then HuffPo and NBC News followed suit, both running coverage from LiveScience. CBS News did some original reporting Monday evening, going so far as to write "The Food and Drug Administration states that the effect of phthalates on health remain not well-defined."

Isn't that interesting! The FDA can't tell us if a pervasively-used chemical is safe or not!

Here's what the medical expert CBS News talked to had to say:

"Dr. Stephen E. Welty, the chief of the neonatology service at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, told CBSNews.com that he considered the association between preterm birth and phthalate exposure to be strong. 

He admitted it would be impossible to avoid phthalates completely, but said there are some things people can do to reduce their exposure. He suggested not eating or storing food in plastic containers, because phthalates are known to leech into food items. Welty also said to be careful to use cosmetics that have even low levels of phthalates."

I added the bold type there for emphasis. Because, please tell me, where does one find food NOT packaged in plastic? Everything in the grocery store comes in a bag. Or some other type of flexible plastic something. So even if I use nothing but glass and ceramic food storage at home, my food spends its journey to my kitchen in nothing but plastic. 

It's worth the read, even if you're not big on learning about things like phthalates. Which I totally get, because it's not the most uplifting news. But if you know someone with child, this may help her and that little bean inside her have a better, lower-phthalate chance at a healthy, full term delivery.

-- Jazzy

Tomato, tomahto

See if you can spot the difference between these two products from Organix:

one of these things is not like the other...
photo credit: Center for Environmental Health

Besides the obvious: color, shampoo/conditioner, etc. Down at the very bottom. The product label. The shampoo on the left says 'organic' while the conditioner on the right says 'ogx.'

This slight but significant change has come about after months of the company Organix coming under fire for its product labeling, specifically the misuse of the term 'organic'. Huh. You mean that a product sold under the brand name 'Organix' isn't full of organic ingredients? How can that be?

It's a little like how champagne is champagne only if it's from the Champagne region of France. 

Turns out, under California law, a company can claim its product is organic only if 70 percent of the ingredients are organic. The Center for Environmental Health sued the company for its misleading product labeling. Because guess what -- its products have hardly any organic ingredients.

A court found in favor of CEH, and ordered Organix to pay a settlement of $6.5 million. Furthermore, the company has been made to change its packaging for items sold in California, as of June 2013. But not in other states. So the false claims that are illegal in one state are A-OK in the other 49. 

I like that Organix/Ogx/whatever is being held accountable. I like that folks are drawing the connection (or, in most cases, the disconnection) between labeling and formulations. But I don't like how states' laws on retail marketing benefit companies more than they benefit consumers. It's time to turn up the heat, folks.

Check out how EWG rates Organix products here, and GoodGuide's ratings here. You can see original coverage of the lawsuit at WSJ.com, Upstart Business Journal, and CosmeticsDesign.com. And then think about what you can tell your elected officials about making the retail marketplace more consumer-friendly.

Yours in cleaner living,
Jazzy

Hair today, gone in 2 weeks

Movember is in full swing. Do you know anyone who's growing out a 'stache for prostate and testicular cancer awareness? This post is less about the 'staches and more about getting rid of them. Unless you're Tom Selleck, for sure your better half is counting the days until that sh*t gets shaved off.

The timing works out, because we've not covered hair removal here at SMACK! So I thought a roundup of related products would be a good help to those of you who don't want to celebrate your man's commitment to cancer awareness by putting toxic chemicals on his handsome face.

And I ran out of shaving cream. So this post helps me figure out what to buy the next time I'm at the store. Win win.

Here's how GoodGuide sees it: Dr. Bronner's and Aubrey Organics take nearly all the top spots (overall score), with drugstore favorite Skintimate filling out the listing of worst-rated products ('0' for health score. yikes.). That didn't really surprise me. I should also add that Skintimate had a few versions of its products with a much better '6' for health score. I WAS quite surprised to see products from Kiss My Face with the same health score.

Philosophy also had a bunch of products with a great health score from GoodGuide, but there weren't really any mainstream brands in the top scoring products.

EWG's SkinDeep database ranks 63 different products with the key words "shaving cream." It also ranks 93 hair removal waxes. Barbasol and Gillette each have a couple products in the middle of the ranks (so not bad but not great). But the field gets ugly pretty quickly, with only 7 products (out of 63) earning a green rating -- the healthiest -- from EWG.

The take-aways here: not all products are created equally. As with many categories, products within a brand family don't have consistent rankings for toxicity. That makes your job as a consumer so much harder. Which, really, shaving off a mustache shouldn't take so much thought.

Also, there's a subtle, underlying message that irks me. The healthier products are lesser-known brands, harder to find and usually more expensive than what your favorite supermarket or Target will stock on their shelves. So what are the choices for consumers who don't have the extra seven or eight dollars to spend on shaving cream? Too many people don't have the option of spending more to get a healthier product, but they are no less deserving of lower toxicity than anyone else. When can we move beyond the socio-economics and just make/market/sell healthier consumer products because it's the right thing to do?

Happy Tuesday!
Jazzy

Finally!

Better late than never! It's here -- the long-anticipated, only-two-months-overdue Skin Deep app...hooray!!

Click here for the Apple version, and here for the Android version. 

I got the email from Ken Cook at EWG on Saturday. Downloaded it immediately. And then promptly ordered my dinner companions to do the same. Here are some screen shots:

 

What do you think? Here are my thoughts:

I like the barcode scan feature. I also like the familiarity to the Web-based Skin Deep database. Job well done, translating the database to a mobile, small-screen interface.

There are also some things I don't like. The app is...simple. By that, I don't mean easy to use (though it is, which is good). I mean that it really only does one thing. By comparison, the GoodGuide and Think Dirty apps are much more dynamic, whether by providing links to purchase the products you've searched or by recommending comparable products or by letting you submit products that aren't included in their databases. Those apps are much more interactive, making the consumer/app user a true contributor to the process.

Maybe I'm just an impatient clam who has too high expectations. I have to remember the app is new and they're still working out the kinks. I have to be patient as I continue to navigate the app and get to know its functionality better. And the best way for that to happen is with continued use.

What makes me SO glad is that consumers can finally feel prepared to make the informed, safer purchases they want to make. That's a great way to start the week.

-- Jazzy

Avon's trying

I just read about a grant that Avon awarded last May to researchers at Tufts University in Boston (original news brief here). Drs. Ana Soto and Carlos Sonnenschein received a grant of $450,000 towards their breast cancer research, which focuses on the role of natural hormones and environmental chemicals in the development of the disease.

Here's the twist: Soto and Sonnenschein were the first to shine a spotlight on the estrogen-mimicking compounds in household plastics. Back in the 1980s. Fast forward 30 years, and now the team studies how sex hormones regulate cell proliferations and how environmental contaminants may screw up the process.

So I like that the Avon Foundation is supporting research that may ultimately impact Avon's own product development. The grant was almost a quarter of the nearly $2 million that the foundation awarded to nine Boston-area research organizations following the city's annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. That's good. 

What's not so good is that in the THREE DECADES since Soto and Sonnenschein first noticed a link between the chemicals leaching from plastic and cell growth, not a whole lot has changed. Plastics manufacturers have been slow to remove questionable chemicals from the material and consumers have been slower to respond to this blatant complacency.

It took the US less than a decade to plan and execute a successful mission to the moon. But there is no urgency to finding the solutions to preventing environmental cancers. According to the Silent Spring Institute, rates of breast cancer rose 40 percent in the last quarter of the 20th century. When will we, as a nation, put brain power towards halting the incidence of the disease?

-- Jazzy

WSJ covers the fray

I just found this article over at WSJ about the stalled efforts between the FDA and the Personal Care Products Council to tighten regulation over cosmetics and their ingredients. The article's a few weeks old, but I'm going to brush off any feelings of being late to the party so that we can talk about why it's still important.

For starters, it's the Wall Street Journal. THE standard for business journalism. They don't cover fluff or bullish*t. To me, this article signifies a well-deserved legitimacy to the argument that chemicals have no place in our cosmetics and personal products. Street cred, if you will. These aren't a bunch of hippy, tree-hugging liberal moms with too much time on their hands. They are real organizations, involving the government in the matter of protecting American consumers.

If you have a few minutes, read the article. It's great context for the larger battle to give the FDA the oversight it's been lacking and to give cosmetics manufacturers the warning call they need to clean up their formulations.

Also, a shout-out to New Jersey, whose state reps Frank Pallone Jr (D) and Leonard Lance (R) crossed party lines to get cosmetics legislation passed through Congress. What are your elected officials doing for you?

Yours in troublemaking,
Jazzy

SMACK! Reviews: PaperStone & Epicurean cutting boards

I'm trying to reduce the amount of plastic in my life. Some of it's non-negotiable, like my appliances and my vehicle, and some of it I can't control, like nearly all the packaging of everything, but some of it I can kick to the curb.

The kitchen's a great place to start. About a month ago I wrote this post about my cutlery and the Boos Block maple cutting board that I decided was a good investment. Since then I've been on the prowl for new cutting boards, checking out what looks good to replace my cheap plastic ones.

This is by no means a new pursuit; Beth Terry over at My Plastic Free Life wrote about this very thing back in 2007. And you know what? Not a whole lot has changed in 6 years. 

My local HomeGoods had a decent selection of boards from Epicurean and PaperStone boards. I hadn't yet read Beth's post, so I bought into the idea of a dishwasher-safe product that was made from recycled paper and decided to give each one a try. 

(Remember that we don't grade things anymore here at SMACK! but I will stay true to my opinionated, judgmental roots to give you the dish. Here we go.)

Epicurean has been around for about 10 years, making cutting boards and other food prep tools for residential and commercial kitchens. They market their home kitchen items as sustainably sourced, made in the USA. Here's some other language from the website:

"Our signature materials is made with multiple layers of Forest stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood fibers, compressed with a food-safe resign. We also have introduced a line of Eco Plastic products that utilize 100% post-consumer recycled milk jugs. All of our products are made in the USA."

I like that the company has found a use for old milk jugs, but the fact that they've added plastic cutting boards to their product lineup feels like selling out to me. I thought the whole point was to make professional-grade tools for the home cook using natural materials?

Anyway, I picked up a non-slip board in natural with removable silicone corners. I'm thinking it's an older version, since I didn't see the exact one on the website, but no matter. The size and heft of the board are nice; easy to lift and move around the kitchen, whether for food transfer or during cleanup. The board is smooth and does seemingly well under a sharp knife. The board will take scratches (my knives are freshly sharpened) but they aren't super noticeable, perhaps because it's a solid material (as opposed to veneers). 

The same more or less goes for the PaperStone Yellowstone Gripper board that I picked out, this one a smaller size (like a cheese board) in a darker "Pine Cone" brown. Instead of silicone corners, PaperStone uses rubberized feet. The board would be reversible, for use on both sides, if not for the really annoying sticker that won't come off! 

Seriously, it's going to take a lot of elbow grease to get this thing off. Again, I'm thinking it's because the board has probably been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for years upon years, giving the adhesive time to really set. I can't believe PaperStone would purposefully label a product that renders half of it useless. (Perhaps not. Apparently there are a slew of complaints on Amazon about the sticker.)

PaperStone markets its boards similarly to Epicurean: recycled materials, FSC certified, petroleum-free. I thought the petro-free was a good choice, until I read some of the more informative comments in Beth Terry's post. In super fine print, PaperStone divulges that the boards are made with engineered phenolic resins. A quick Google or Wikipedia search will point you to the fact that phenolic resins are actually formaldehyde-based. Yuk.

All in all, I like my wood-fiber cutting boards. I like the idea of them, I like how they work, I like the low maintenance. But the presence of formaldehyde is disconcerting. My search for chemical-free prep surface clearly isn't over.

Back to the drawing board,
Jazzy

Back to life, back to reality

Who remembers that song? Talk about a throwback. I was out of state through the weekend and the holiday for a funeral and, as such, am just getting back to the swing of things. Like cleaning out the dishwasher and blogging. Anyone miss me? 

Funerals are one of those things that make me think adulthood pretty well blows. Sure, I love driving a car and using a credit card and drinking (never all together) and all other grown-up things, but I miss that time in my life when death and loss weren't so...regular. It's hard, you know?

So it's a short week here at SMACK! I'm trying to make up for the lost time, making sure the posts are written and uploaded on time. I'm keeping an eye on industry news so that we can cover whatever breaks this week, like maybe some more legal drama with Revlon?

And I've just realized that each paragraph ends with a question mark. Clearly I'm rusty from my days away from the blogosphere. C'mon Jazzy, get with it! We have sh*t to talk about!

Missed you too,
Jazzy

Life happens

And when Life Happens, other things don't. I had a product review planned for today's post, and then I learned of the sudden, heartbreakingly unexpected death of my dear friend's father. I may or may not get around to finishing the review and getting it posted, but wanted to let you know either way.

Life happens. Hug your kids, call your parents, snuggle your cat. Count your blessings. No, don't count them; just see them and appreciate them.

Peace,

Jazzy

Revlon in the hot seat

Revlon, oh Revlon. What a fine mess you've gotten yourself into.

Two weeks ago SMACK! shared an action alert from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Breast Cancer Fund, urging consumers to put pressure on the powers-that-be at Revlon to reduce the toxic chemicals in their products (see original post here). It's a team effort with the group Ultraviolet, which created its own petition for Revlon. Apparently the ensuing negative attention is kinda frosting Revlon's a$$ a little.

Here's a timeline of events to get you up to speed:

Oct 2:   Revlon announces that David Kennedy has been named interim CEO, replacing Alan Ennis in the corner office
Oct 25:  The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and Ultraviolet announce their joint efforts to campaign against toxic chemicals in Revlon cosmetics
Oct 31:  Revlon names Lorenzo Delpani President and CEO
Nov 1:   CSC and Ultraviolet issue a press release about receiving the threat of legal action from Revlon

I love this for many, many reasons. First, I find PR debacles of this magnitude very, very entertaining. Not the ones where people or cute animals get hurt, but these, when you can watch the suits make the dumbest possible decisions again and again. 

Interesting to note Revlon's pretty quick response time. They were obviously feeling defensive when they took that swipe back at the Campaign, the Breast Cancer Fund, and Ultraviolet, in the form of this letter. I mean, a week is nothing in corporate time. I swear big companies run on the same clock as the NFL, where 5 minutes lasts about an hour and a half. And this pestilant little problem is hardly how Delpani wants to start his tenure.

But still, Revlon, dude, tell me you didn't really just go after the little guy. The feminist group. The cancer group. The day after breast cancer awareness month ended (that is no coincidence). Does the story of David and Goliath ring a bell at all? You do know how that ended, right? And you do know how the Internet loves an underdog, no? 

**facepalm**

So, er, Revlon, really the only choice here was to eat your sh*t and tell folks you would review your product ingredients to ensure the high quality standards that helped make Revlon a global leader in the cosmetics industry. See how easy that was?

But that's not what Revlon opted to do. Instead, they tried to use their might, wrapped up in lots of legal and scientific terms and other big, intimidating language. Defamatory. Misleading. Irresponsible. Maybe they were hoping everyone would go off quietly into the night, taking everything off the Internet with them.

They were wrong.

Revlon forgot the first rule of all things that go viral on the Internet: that sh*t spreads like wildfire. The leaders behind this campaign, upon receiving Revlon's sternly-worded letter, made the bold decision to share it. While still controlling the message and maintaining the upper hand. So now everyone who's following this story knows that Revlon is acting like a jerk. And sure, plenty of you will tell me that the company has to protect its interests which, yeah, it does. But not by trying to strong-arm organizations that tap into your customer base. How is alienating current and potential customers ever a good strategy?

So far no major news outlets will touch this story. If the folks at Ultraviolet, CSC and the Breast Cancer Fund have their way, though, this thing will very soon blow wide open. They issued another joint press release telling Revlon to stop bullying them and then put together this graphic for the interwebs:

And here we are, talking about how Revlon can't get out of its own way to take care of a problem of its own making. Well played, activists, well played.

-- Jazzy

merci beaucoup

Have I mentioned that you guys are freaking awesome? October was a huge, huge month for SMACK! and I owe it all to the readers who take time out of their busy days to visit. Thank you, thank you!

November is off to a rockin' start already, and my hope is that it's just as great as last month. Keep sending in your comments, ideas for product reviews or About Face features and anything else you'd like to see more of here!

As for the rest of the week, we have a product review planned, this time in the category of housewares, and we'll finish off by talking about -- what else? -- my hair.

Peace,
Jazzy

Nails on a chalkboard

I did a 5k road race over the weekend. Note that I didn't use the word "run" there, because I didn't run. It was more this sorry attempt at walk/jog, and it wasn't pretty. But it didn't matter, not one bit. I did it and I finished strong, mindful the whole time of the same event last year which I missed because I literally couldn't get out of bed from chemo. So yeah, just being able to do it felt pretty awesome. The endorphin high was real sweet, too.

Surprisingly my legs aren't super sore, but I think I've earned myself a pedicure. Sinking into the massage chair, the hot stones, it's too much. Must. Go. Now!

Except for the fact that nail polish is easily one of the most toxic beauty products out there. OPI's "Sweet Heart" gets a big goose egg for health from GoodGuide. Drugstore favorites Sally Hansen, Revlon and Rimmel all come under fire over at the Skin Deep Database, rounding out the worst-scoring products, and Think Dirty has no love whatsoever for Essie. Eeesh.

That's the thing here. Girl loves her mani/pedis. No, literally. According to this article at Time.com, 2012 was a record year for the U.S. nail polish industry, topping $760 million. Hell, even dudes can hit up Hammer & Nails in LA, celebrating its grand opening this week, for their very own "just for guys" MANicure.

What I didn't like reading was a statistic from market intel company Mintel estimating that as many as 92% of teen and tween girls are using nail polish and other nail products, starting as young as 9 years old. The company estimates that nearly 97% of 12-14 year old girls use nail polish.

Start 'em young! It's a bit problematic, if you think about it. Culturally, hitting the nail bar is such a natural mother/daughter bonding activity. You can even have birthday parties there! And if you're a bride, puh-lease. That pre-wedding manicure is practically a religious experience. 

But girls' bodies undergo so many changes during adolescence, and the presence of super toxic chemicals -- like those in nail polish -- can't be without consequences.

The "5" as they're called -- formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, toluene, dibutyl phthalate, and camphor -- are considered so hazardous that there are entire organizations devoted to protecting the rights and health of nail salon workers. 


My advice? BYO. It's one of the latest trends in the category, going "5-free". Well-Good NYC has a great listing of twelve 5-free brands that cover the spectrum of price and prestige, from Chanel to Mineral Fusion (at Whole Foods) and SpaRitual (at Ulta).

Notably missing from that list is Zoya, which staged a fun nail polish exchange for Earth Day 2013. I hope they do it again next year! Chick and Silky Polish also claim to be free of these toxins.

The point here? There are options. You don't have to settle for the stinky, head-ache inducing crap that's poisoning who knows how many nail workers. Check out a few of these brands and all their shades, and invest in a few bottles of lower-chemical polish, so that the next time you're in the mood for a mani/pedi, you know you can use something that is better for you, better for the person scrubbing your feet, and better for the environment.

-- Jazzy

 

 

Technical difficulties -- Update

For some reason, videos from the Today Show are not cooperating, despite all that code for  the express purpose of embedding. Whatever. I've changed the post to include a link (totally lame-o, I know), but that's the best I can do right now. Sorry!

******************************************
I have tried so many times to fix the embedded video in this morning's post. 

#!*%!$!!*  Still not working!!

Bear with me, I'm determined to get it to work.

-- Jazzy

Trick or Treat

Halloween already seems like ages ago, doesn't it? Did you dress up? I will say that I did not, since popping on a light-up devil headband for passing out candy doesn't really count. But last year, a couple rounds into chemo, hubs dragged me out of the house to a friend's annual bash, and we dressed up as...each other. It was a riot. I was already bald at that point, so I only had to put on one of his fave hats and ratty sweatshirt and his work ID and was good to go. His getup was a little more effort, what with wearing my wig and a pair of my capris and enduring the added torture of being accessorized. But he was such a good sport and we had a well-deserved, much-needed, long-overdue laugh with our friends about the whole thing.

I threw around the idea of posting something about the toxic hazards of face paint and Halloween makeup, but didn't get any research done and last week was a fiasco and it seemed really party-pooper to sh*t on a fun holiday like Halloween. Then I saw a segment aired last week on the Today Show about artificial dyes in candy and didn't feel so bad. 

(the embed video feature was being a jerk, so click on the photo for the link)

Whether or not you agree with this mom, there is no denying that artificial dyes have no place in our food or our bodies. Seriously, Skittles? Now I just wonder if she knows to lay off the blusher. Yours in holiday Grinchy-ness, Jazzy

Weekend Update

Anyone out there who actually got to enjoy their extra hour of Daylight Savings? I had to be up and out of the house early yesterday, and was stressed about oversleeping, so it wasn't a relaxing restful slumber. Such a middle-aged problem, yup. 

Sorry to those of you who thought this post would be somehow SNL-related. Even when we're not screwing around with the clocks, I'm way too sloth to watch SNL because it's on so darn late, and by the time I think to watch during a better day/time, it's the next week and I can't keep track of who's hosting, who's singing, if any of it's funny or entertaining and is it bedtime yet?

In any event, it seems like a good day to cruise the interwebs for news and other rumblings. 

Revlon doesn't like the hot seat so much, hahahhahahahaha...Cosmeticsdesign.com

Think Dirty and Skin Deep get some love for rating products and ingredients...Reuters

Suzanne Somers launches a toxic-free, gluten-free line of cosmetics, SUZANNE Organics at Calif-based retailer Clark's...Press-Enterprise

Not sure how to make sense of the ingredients in your favorite products? Check out this slide show to see what's worth avoiding...HuffPo


A common cosmetics preservative gets the axe over in Europe after an outbreak of severe allergic reactions...DailyMailUK

That's a good start to the week, no? Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at industry goings-on and we'll see if we can't get a product review in here too.

Happy week,
Jazzy