Green Glamour

Don’t sacrifice beauty for safety or safety for quality. Have it all!

The first thing I notice when I step into then new Nature of Beauty spa and retail store in Mendota Heights is what’s missing. The smell. You know—the migraine-inducing olfactory chaos emanating from department-store cosmetics counters, each item begging for a lingering glance? ¶ Yet, sitting atop gleaming tables are displays that make my heart go pitter-patter: ruby-red lip gloss, pearly pans of eye shadow, face creams, and perfumes, standing tall like a beauty-armor brigade.

So which is deceiving me—my eyes or my nose? Actually, neither. Because when you build a spa and store with recycled, natural, nontoxic products—and then stock it with natural, organic, nontoxic products—it smells wonderfully…green.

This is not patchouli-laden hippy-dippy stuff. Pick your look—Betty or Veronica, Ginger or Mary Ann—without the potential poison. Every product has passed owner Terri Bly’s rigorous safety critique.

Spend time with her and you’re bound to learn a few things. One, she believes you can be happy and healthy, beautiful and smart. And two, you don’t have to sacrifice quality and performance for safety. “It’s my Midwestern pragmatism,” she says. “If what we’re creating is not sustainable or not safe, we need to change.” We need to focus not only on treating issues like cancer, obesity, and infertility, she says, but also on what may be causing them.

It’s a confusing world out there, though, when any company can slap organic labels on products without fact-checking. We’re all feeling green-washed these days, are we not?

Lucky for us, Bly is an honest and whip-smart advocate for her customers.

“Most of the ingredients in [non-green] cosmetics are designed to mimic what’s in these products,” she says. “They just substitute cheap chemical fillers.”

The prices won’t stop you in your tracks, either: They’re on par with those at your favorite department store.

So stock up, because these products will make you look and feel pretty and healthy. No compromises.

Nature of Beauty, 750 Main Street, Ste. 109, Mendota Heights, 651-314-4435, natureofbeauty.com

 

 

Fresh Greens
It used to be hard to find eco-friendly, body-safe perfumes and cosmetics, unless you wanted something in beige. Not at Nature of Beauty!
Florascent Parfum D’Ambiance
Air freshener that won’t hurt your lungs. Florascent Parfum D’Ambiance, $70
Florascent Aqua Floralis Pivoine
Perfume without dangerous synthetics. Florascent Aqua Floralis Pivoine, $95
Couleur Caramel eye shadow
Highly pigmented makeup with staying power. Couleur Caramel eye shadow, $14
Chocolate Sun Cocoa Glow Sunless Tanning Cream
Get the glow without the rays. Chocolate Sun Cocoa Glow Sunless Tanning Cream, $40