Smoke and mirrors

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce environment and economy subcommittee had a hearing yesterday over the GOP-authored Chemicals in Commerce Act, proposed legislation that would, in theory, update and reform the painfully irrelevant Toxic Substances Control Act.

NPR covered the hearing in this article. The main take-away from the hearing is that the CiCA, if passed as written, would strip away state-level legislative powers regarding the regulation of toxic chemicals. As Massachusetts State Senator Michael Moore put it, "To strip states' residents of protections enacted by their elected officials would be a serious breach of state sovereignty and would leave everyone more susceptible to increased harm from toxic chemicals."

Anyone else sick to their stomach?

Sh*t's getting real, folks. This is where we see the federal legislative process work -- or not work. This is where we see whose interests get more attention, voters or corporations. Just exactly who's working for whom in the nation's capitol?

I poked around the web to see what other coverage came out of the hearing. Quite a bit. The Seattle Times published this editorial in Monday's paper. Plastics News has a predictable take here. TheHill.com reported on the hearing here. 

Read up on the hearing, and the proposed bill. I'll try to form some intelligible opinion on the whole thing, but that may take a couple days. 

Nearly speechless,
Jazzy

Anniversary week

Hodor!

Has any other word in all of the seven kingdoms elicited as much emotion? If there's anyone in Westeros who does NOT deserve any of the sh*t raining down on him, it's Hodor. Man, Osha would skin those jerks faster than a rabbit if she knew how they were picking on her fave Big 'n' Tall.

But that's not why we're here, to imagine how Karma manifests itself in the highly dysfunctional world of Game of Thrones. We're celebrating this week at SMACK! One year already since the blog's launch -- WOW. One year of product reviews, industry analysis, news watching and more. One year of learning as we go that living more cleanly truly is a David v Goliath-style effort.

And the same way David wields his slingshot to take down Goliath, we consumers must wield our buying power to force the issue of safer, healthier personal products with retailers. Wherever our laws fall short, we can -- and should -- pressure retailers to adjust their inventories to stock products that do more good than harm. After all, doesn't the retailer carry liability for selling items whose intended use is actually hazardous to the consumer?

As always, I thank you for all your visits, page refreshes, feedback, comments, all of it. Keep it up! Seriously, this blogging thing doesn't work without readers, without the back-and-forth. A million thank yous for your interest and for giving precious moments from your day to this little thing we call SMACK!

Happy 1 Year!!!
-- Jazzy

Blurry

I'm suffering some confusion about the goings on in the movement to remove toxic chemicals from cosmetic and personal products.

See, last week I tried to put together some analysis of the one-day "Mind the Store" effort to get supporters their local brick-and-mortar Walgreens stores to speak up about the issue and return a varied number of products. Groups in nearly 50 different U.S. cities participated in what amounted to hometown publicity stunts.

While I thought the whole effort was pretty well played, I've been trying to track resulting perceptions. After all, we live in a world driven by the Internet and social media, making for The. Worst. EVER. games of 'telephone' since the game was invented. Did the grassroots effort have the intended impact on news coverage? 

That's the thing -- the news wasn't easy to find. Especially not when I inadvertently searched for the events using the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics instead of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Oops.

But wait -- it seems that both groups were involved in last week's 'Mind the Store' thing. Naturally my next question is how the groups are related, how they came to work together. I'm determined to find out, if for no other reason than to reduce the headache of keeping them all straight when I browse my newsfeed.

I'm still trying to track down all the media coverage from the Walgreens events. Doesn't help that the SCHF website has been down since last week. I think what I find most curious is that the group selfies posted on Facebook may very well have more value or impact here than the actual real news coverage.

Not much by way of analysis, is it? Third time's a charm?

-- Jazzy

My mother, my self

Mother's Day is a huge retail thing. Seriously. It's second only to Christmas -- which is now considered 'Holiday' to encompass a full six-week period off spending like there's no tomorrow -- and we never hear from fine cosmetic and fragrance lines as much as we do in the weeks before Mother's Day. Make her beautiful! Make her smell good! Pamper her with toxic products for facials and poisonous nail polish!

I know, I know, I'm getting acerbic in my old age. But if there's one thing I want to accomplish here, it's challenging the status quo. Which, if we're to believe the marketing, asserts that women in their motherhood years get this over-abundance of special attention on the given day in the form of beauty and personal products. Also, if you buy in to the hype, there seems to be a correlation between the amount you spend and the amount you love your mother. ???

So ya, I'm going to be acerbic. Even though I myself love a good pedicure as much as the next lady. I had mani/pedis regularly through chemo treatment, and it was the perfect indulgence to keep me from feeling like myself.

Back to Mother's Day. And some options. I mean, hammering down the mainstream, traditional product lines is worthless if I haven't shown you how to get safer, non-toxic alternatives, right?

Well+Good NYC has a roundup of fragrances here. YouBeauty.com has its guide to non-toxic fragrance here, including a gallery of different products. The Chalkboard Mag gives its take on safer perfumes here, with a link to their 5 favorite natural perfumes here.

We'll keep talking about fragrance, the industry and finding perfumes that aren't endangering your health. It's one point in the larger discussion as to why women are made to feel like they need products like cosmetics and perfumes in the first place.

Smell nice but stay healthy,
Jazzy

Thinking Dirty

I follow the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in my FB newsfeed, and I've noticed a bunch of plugs for the mobile app Think Dirty, which lets consumers scan product bar codes to find ingredients and toxicity ratings. Looking into it, I saw that the Campaign has, on three separate occasions in the same week, promoted the Think Dirty app.

Huh. I only bring it up because Environmental Working Group, which as we all know operates its own Skin Deep database of personal products, is a founding member of the Campaign.

So why the extra love for another, competing rating system? Not sure. Has me wondering what the relationship between all the companies is, though. 

I have both apps downloaded to me phone, and I remember when they were first available having difficulty finding products. The data just wasn't robust enough, and didn't anywhere compare to the 80,000 products listed in Skin Deep's full online database. I haven't used with app in a while, but maybe it's worth a revisit. 

I'll also keep my eyes peeled for anything indicating why the Campaign would be pushing one mobile app over another, rather than just encouraging consumers to get in the habit of using their smart phones to make smarter, healthier purchases from the beauty aisle. 

Yours in investigative blogging,
Jazzy

Walgreens vs the everyman

I had some great critical analysis planned for the grassroots events at Walgreens stores nationwide that Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families organized for earlier this week, but some reason the organization's website is down. Coincidence?

In all honesty, it's hard to make a point about anything without any reference material. It makes me a bad writer, and does nothing for you as a reader, so we'll table this until I can get on their site and check things out.

Stay tuned,
Jazzy

Week ending

Well, I've really dropped the ball this week, huh? Last week was chock full of content and this week, just one piddly post and one silly Game of Thrones reference. C'mon Jazzy, you can do better than that!

You're damn right I can.

I'm giving Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families another post about their efforts to pressure Walgreens. Highlights, for sure, but also some analysis. After all, this is the Internet Age and nothing is as it seems.

Can I also drop a whole paragraph just for GoT? Anyone else re-watch the last episode of Season 3 to get caught up? Who's Blackfish (apparently he escaped the slaughter at Frey's, er, party)? And can we talk about how Arya has been on the lam for 2 entire seasons? When will that poor girl get a bath? And get to hook up with Gendry?

"Look! The pie!"
-- Jazzy

Walgreens feeling the heat

Quickie post here, to give y'all a heads up about an effort from Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families to put some pressure on Walgreens to join the slowly-building retail movement to clean up their shelves.

According to SCHF, folks in 45 cities across North America today will speak up against the toxic chemicals in cosmetics and personal products. The organization also has provided this web letter that goes directly to Walgreens CEO Gregory Wasson.

Again, consumers wield considerably more power than they will acknowledge, and this is an important example of making retailers work for us, instead of the other way around. Let's tell them how we want things, what we want to buy and how much we'll spend. If we make enough noise, they have no choice but to listen.

Yours in informed activism,
Jazzy

Late start to the week

I hear there are some job openings in Westeros for wedding planners....hahahahahahhahahhaha

Getting a late start today. My Monday is blowing up in my face, and I'm trying to squeeze in a million different things into the same few free(ish) hours that I have. Thanks for understanding!

-- Jazzy

Powder me toxic

In Wednesday's About Face, I lamented about the number of loose and pressed powders I saw in both GoodGuide and the Skin Deep databases that had decent ratings, despite containing what I know to be a not-so-nice ingredient: titanium dioxide.

Here's what EWG says about the chemical. The organization concedes that it's classified as a possible human carcinogen (for inhalation and products that may be aerosolized), according to the California Environmental Protection Agency.

I knew this already, but for a pretty random reason. Last year I bought a set of dry pastels that were labelled for California's Prop 65, which requires disclosure of carcinogenic ingredients. The sticker read "This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer." Yaaaaaay. 

It was so disconcerting that I wrote about it on the blog (read the original post here.) After looking into it further, I learned that this popular sunscreen ingredient is in fact pretty hazardous when inhaled. Dry pastels create a lot of dust, so pastel painting requires real attention to ventilation.

Then, a few weeks ago when I was cleaning out some old cosmetics, I found this Lancome powder:


It was this battery-powered applicator for loose powder. Because some people are too damn lazy to pat the powder on themselves. I think I used it once. I remember it feeling fine, but I've never been an all-over makeup person. Back to debating whether or not I should keep it. That SPF 21 caught my eye, so I looked at the back of the box, and sure enough: 

Titanium dioxide. In a loose powder. That's being applied to the immediate area around my nose and mouth. 

So let me get this straight. If I use this product as intended, I'm exposing myself to a known carcinogen? NO. THANK. YOU.

EWG currently lists more than 13,000 products -- all cosmetics or personal products -- containing titanium dioxide in its Skin Deep database. How many of these cosmetics carry a Prop 65 label? NONE. How many of you would buy cosmetics that were labelled for containing cancer-causing chemicals?

I'm more than annoyed by the inconsistency in consumer protection. How much do the cosmetic companies pay to make sure things like slide through? Who's asleep at the wheel over at the FDA? Where's the outrage?

And that, my friends, is how we're wrapping up this week at SMACK! Know your ingredients and, as I wrote back in September, check your labels. Every. Time.

-- Jazzy

Phew!

What a hectic week! Hope you guys have loved the extra content. I made the executive decision to push out the launch of SMACK!'s new look to over the weekend. I have a load of non-blog things that I need to catch up on, and you totally understand because you guys are the best! (I know this because page views for April are already crazy high, which makes me feel humbled and happy -- THANK YOU)

SMACK! has its first anniversary next month. It's a hoot to go back and read all those old posts. We've come a long way, with product reviews, news coverage, some good ole fashioned lecturing and so much more. The best part is that I rarely run out of things to say about anything. That's good for you! So I'll keep opinionating (not really a word, but hey, it kinda works) and you keep visiting.

Happy Friday,
Jazzy

More nails

ANOTHER post about nail polish? Jazzy, are you kidding????


I know, I know, there's been a lot about nail polish lately. I SWEAR I don't work for Zoya. Today's post actually won't feature any one brand of polish. It has to do with the matte style polishes.

They're cool, no? Great for a different look than the standard glossy finish. So here's a great hack I found for getting that matte finish. 

I saw it first as a pin on Pinterest, and you can see the original at PrettyGossip.com. It totally made my day -- not because I'm all over the matte trend, but because it makes use of a great, all natural ingredient. Bloody brilliant, if you ask me. I am so going to try this.

We're all about tips and hacks like this corn starch top coat here. I mean, what a great, SAFE way to rock a trend. There IS such a thing as healthy beauty!

Yours,
Jazzy

About Face: Lorde (Part 2)

Here's the second half of a 2-part post about finding healthy(er) products to copy the signature look of the hard-working, successful, beautiful Lorde.

First, foundation and concealer. By all means, go bare-faced if it suits you. If it doesn't, don't feel bad. Just don't do that heavy pancake thing that too many of us girls of the 90s grew up on. Really, don't be afraid to let those freckles or other points of interest peer through. After all, that's your face. That's your beauty.

Side note on foundations/primers: You may notice that the products I'm listing don't have added SPF. That's NOT because you can skip the sunscreen. It's simply because none of the combo products use sunscreen ingredients that are safe. Apply your sunscreen BEFORE your cosmetics, to reduce the chalkiness from the mineral ingredients.

EWG gives L'Oreal's Magic Smooth Souffle (MSRP $15.95USD) a rating of '1' -- with limited data -- for all shades. It's encouraging, but doesn't mean all L'Oreal products rate well. Another product with similar rating and similar ingredients is Pur Minerals Correcting Primer (MSRP $31.00USD). I don't like the use of the word 'correcting' because of the negative implication, but we'll take whatever options we can get.

Over at GoodGuide, L'Oreal's Infallible Never Fail Concealer gets top marks in the health category. 

I am surprised at the number of powder-based products -- either loose or pressed powder -- that are getting good ratings from either site. But that's another post for another day. We have makeup to buy and try.

Next, the liner. The good news is that you don't have to splurge to get a really good kohl. Last year I reviewed Neutrogena's Nourishing Eye Liner (see the original post here) and my preference for it still stands. It goes on smoothly, comes in a nice selection of shades, and removes easily. Best part -- it's in nearly any drugstore and costs under $10!  GoodGuide gives it an '8' for health.

If you want to spend a bit more, Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils retail for $20. Only some shades get good health ratings from GoodGuide (see the full list here), so take care when you pick your poison.

A dramatic eye just doesn't happen without mascara. Check out my review for Big Blink Mascara by Pur here. They're now calling it 'Big Look' -- check it here. GoodGuide gives top health scores to mascaras from Shu Uemura, The Body Shop and Maybelline, among others (the full list is here). EWG gives Ecco Bella a great score with the best data (most of the other top scoring products are based on limited data, which I take to mean limited ingredient data). 

Last, but not least, the lip. Lorde's uber-hip pout is dressed up with really dark, really matte colors. GoodGuide's favorite matte lip is from Golden Rose, scoring an '8' for health, but the product isn't on the Golden Rose website. EWG gives Revlon's matte lipstick a '2' rating but with limited data. Turns out this is the trickiest part to replicating Lorde's look. I'm going to keep looking.

On the hunt for safer cosmetics,
Jazzy

 

About Face: Lorde (Part 1)

Call all the ladies out
They're in their finery

Lorde. So, so many reasons to love her. But this tweet of hers might very well be my favorite:

I love that she so willingly makes an example of herself -- in all the best ways. So that's why Lorde gets the spotlight in the latest About Face feature. About Face is where we break down popular cosmetic styles to get you the look you want with all the toxic junk. 

(this will actually be a 2-part post because the early drafts were getting really long and I felt like I was rambling and well, you get the idea...)

Lorde's style is feminine without being fussy, polished but not overdone, fresh with just the right amount of edge. The cornerstone of her look are those eyes. Really, Lorde rocks some serious liner. More than that, though, is the way her liner makes her eyes pop without ten layers of shadow. The beauty is in the simplicity. And you can see how the simple eye makeup plays off her light skin and easy hair. It's a whole package, and she's nailed it.

Now, we don't cover technique here. That would be...rather...disastrous. If you want tips on drawing the perfect line or blending the perfect highlighter, hit up YouTube. I mean, there are just way too many variables to finding the right winged eye style: face shape, eye/hair color, hair length, skin tone, brow shape, so on and so forth. 

BUT, if you want to know which products won't leech nasty things into your body, keep on clicking and reading! In the next half of this post, we will find products you could use to get your own version of Lorde's finery -- all products that score decent ratings through either EWG's Skin Deep or GoodGuide (or both). 

Stay tuned!
-- Jazzy

In with the new

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm working on a fresh new version of SMACK! It should be ready to go live later in the week. It will look and feel really familiar, but will have a newer layout that Blogger promises will make it easier for readers to browse through content. We're coming up on a very important first anniversary, so it seemed apropos to spruce things up a little. Wow, a year already! Can't believe it.

As with everything, I love your feedback. After all, I don't keep the blog going because it makes me famous or pays my bills or anything remotely like that. I do it because I know that taking time out of your busy days to check for new stories and posts is a real thing, and a big deal to me. So it's the same big deal to hear what you think about how the site looks and works and everything else. My forever thanks for your visits.

Happy Spring,
Jazzy

SMACK! Reviews: Better Life What-EVER! Natural All-Purpose Cleaner

Sorry for the way too wordy post title. That's how we title product reviews here, and, well, the product name is just. so. long.

One thing I've learned about myself as I enter middle age is that I really like my spray cleaners. Like, to me, the kitchen's not clean unless I've sprayed everything down and cleaned it with hot water (with those great Trader Joe's Super Amazing Kitchen Cloths. Save the trees!).

I used to be a big fan of Method, but I wasn't happy with the ratings that some of the products get from EWG and GoodGuide. Also, the more I learn about fragrance, the more I realize that good-smelling cleaning products aren't always all that healthy for you and your home. So I took a break from Method and have been trying out different spray cleaners. You all haven't heard much about this because frankly, I haven't found one that's worth writing home about, if you know what I mean.

But here's one I like. Better Life's What-EVER! Natural All-Purpose Cleaner comes in a 32 oz spray bottle. The cute pictures on the front label show me I can use it in the bathroom, in my car and even when I'm skiing. The fine print on the back label tells me that it's a plant-based, biodegradable formula that's gluten-free and made in the USA. I bought the Clary Sage Citrus scent and went to town spraying all different surfaces in my house.

The scent is really nice. Definitely more fruity than floral, but not that fake cloying orange scent that makes me think of the roses in Hunger Games. Very light. Great for this time of year, when I want to things to be fresh and clean smelling. It's too soon for the heady, drunken flowery scents of high summer. If you prefer, there's an unscented version.

The spray bottle works perfectly. Believe it or not, this is still an issue for some companies. And I find it never more annoying than when the one thing you're selling doesn't work. I don't care how great your cleaner is, if it's in a crap spray bottle that doesn't dispense, the whole thing's a giant fail.

The cleaner itself works great. I use it in the kitchen, in the bathroom, on wood. Seems gentle but effective. Even a little soapy. Plenty of water on your washrag takes care of that. No greasy or filmy weirdness, just clean surfaces. Perfect.

The price leaves a bit to be desired. I paid $4.49 for this bottle at my local Whole Foods. Amazon sells it for more than $6 each, and list price on the Better Life website is a whopping $7.99!! Seriously? I raise this issue because all too often the healthier products are also the more expensive ones, which shuts out folks who really can't spend $5-10 on a natural kitchen cleaner when the 300-oz jug of PineSol is $1.99 at WalMart. It's not right.

So I really like this spray cleaner, and want to recommend it. But I'm determined to find something that's green AND affordable. I don't think that in this day and age, that's be too much to ask.

Yours,
Jazzy

The big picture

Over the weekend I saw that CNN ran this opinion piece on Friday from the Breast Cancer Fund's director of science Sharima Rasanayagam. She makes the case for the lack of oversight in the cosmetics industry, citing the presence of lead in lipsticks.

I mention it because it seems the Breast Cancer Fund and its cousin organizations EWG and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics have a new friend in the media. For a long time, the Huffington Post served as their mouthpiece. It's pretty nice to see another mainstream news organization picking up their message and giving them some play. 

As I like to say, the efforts to make noise and raise awareness are working. Every time you complain to local retailers about the products on their shelves. Every conversation you have with your friends about the shady ingredients in cosmetics and beauty products. Every headline in your news feed about the toxic chemicals in household products that you share with your peers.

It's not a small thing to have the attention of the world's largest and most recognized news channel. Kudos to the Breast Cancer Fund for not only sounding the alarm, but working doubly hard to make sure people are hearing it.

-- Jazzy

Monday open

Another week, but not just another Monday. Today is THE Monday, the day AFTER the first episode of Game of Thrones. And we get just nine more of these Mondays, when we bask in the flush of another new episode. 

Sorry if you're not a GoT fan. You're still welcome here at SMACK! but know that the next couple months will be heavy on the GoT references. I can't help it. Winters are long in Westeros, some lasting a generation, and that's how it feels when we wait 10 long months for a new season to begin.

A busy week at SMACK! Today will be at least a double post day, and we've got a product review slated for later in the week. As always, there is news to cover, trends and happenings to catch up on, and more!

All my thanks in advance for visiting often and staying tuned in!
--Jazzy

Fifty shades

Hahaha, you were secretly thinking this post would be something dirty, didn't you! I'm having a good laugh over here. That was such a poorly written book.

Really, it's just another nail polish post. Wednesday I ditched about two dozen bottles of gross, toxic, separated and rancid nail polish. I'm rebuilding my home collection with Zoya colors, and maybe soon with picks from Pacifica.

Pacifica's a totally vegan line of fragrances and beauty products. Based on their website, their bread and butter is perfume, which I'll admit has me wondering just how 'natural' their ingredients are. EWG has just 39 Pacifica products in the Skin Deep database, all with ratings of 5 or lower, but most with limited data (which can mean that not all ingredient information has been disclosed). Good Guide has even fewer product listings -- just a half dozen, all with just partial data -- and doesn't give their solid perfumes very good health ratings. You can see for yourself here. I guess we'll hold off on final judgment for now?

The company announced the nail color line last month on Instagram of all places. 

They have just two colors going for Spring: Dark Desert Highway and Turquoise Tiara. But -- according to the website -- all colors will be '7 free'. Pacifica's adding xylene and parabens to the industry's nearly standard list of offensive ingredients.

Will those ingredients be replaced with other harmful chemicals? Don't know. Don't know much of anything because Pacifica itself hasn't said or done a whole lot with this launch. But apparently they've said enough, since I'm now watching closely for a new nail product that will chase off the likes of OPI and Essie back to the toxic hells from which they came.

Happy Friday,
Jazzy

No Joke

That post yesterday wasn't an April Fool's joke -- we're back to a regular blogging schedule. So what's doing on this glorious Hump Day? I'm *trying* to do some Spring cleaning. It's slow going. But I did find way too many yucky nail polishes among my bathroom treasures.

In. The. Trash! Which of course I then feel really guilty about doing, because if the chemicals in all these nail polishes are too toxic for me to use, what do they do to the environment? 

Really, Jazzy? You're making us read about your tendencies to clutter and emote over inanimate objects?

Actually, what I'm trying to do is show what real folks have to do, have to choose, have to consider while trying clean up their lifestyles. Because healthier living isn't just for the privileged and the well-off. Sustainable health is a basic human right. For everyone. And change isn't just big Internet marketing campaigns and publicity events. Change is what happens when we adjust the small things in our daily lives, in our habits and choices. Those small things add up, everyday, to have a big impact. 

One bottle of nail polish at a time.

Yours in cleaner living,
Jazzy

Big Talker

So much for a new month of posts and news and tips and reviews, huh? I was all talk about churning out posts in March, but it was just more radio silence. Alright, well, I'm making amends. Not just because I don't want to suck as a blogger but also because there's so much going on in our corner of cause-related social media.

While I was slacking, the movie Toxic Hot Seat premiered selected U.S. cities. The HBO documentary is the cornerstone of the "Give Toxics the Boot" campaign created by HBO, the International Association of Fire Fights (IAFF) and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Firefighters in at least a dozen cities across the country last week participated in demonstrations and other events to garner media coverage and public attention for the film and the cause. 

You can read about the campaign over at HuffPo, and see other coverage at WLBZ in Maine and KREM in Washington. The deadly fire in Boston that killed two firefighters made the hazards to firefighters all the more apparent.

The chemical industry was definitely feeling the heat (see what I did there? cute puns are my specialty). The American Chemistry Council issued this statement regarding the campaign, which basically said nothing but clearly indicated that the campaign managed to make some of those chemical companies hot under the collar.

We could do this all day, but I won't annoy you with my cutesie word choice. Read up on how speaking up -- and speaking out -- can raise awareness and plant the seed for reform and real, meaningful change. It DOES work.

Yours for a cleaner future,
Jazzy