Organic beauty products, of course, are nothing new. They've been with us since antiquity, had a resurgence in the 1960s, and had, by the turn of this century, gone mainstream. By 1990, Estée Lauder had unveiled its first green line, Origins. Seven years later, the company acquired Aveda for a then-staggering $300 million. L'Oréal bought the Body Shop for an estimated $1 billion in 2006 — the same year corporate behemoth Clorox nabbed Vermont-based Burt's Bees.
But even while these brands bloomed, natural beauty regimens remained mostly a fringe phenomenon. Products formulated with cutting-edge chemistry retained their popularity. Plus, synthetic products had silkier textures and more enticing scents.
That's changed, and happily for today's green-leaning consumers, skin care is one piece of the ecopuzzle that's markedly improving. Pure, organic ingredients and effective formulations are no longer mutually exclusive. "Most of the ingredients in high-end organic skin care today were found in the crunchier products of the past, but they're being combined in more sophisticated ways, and in higher concentrations," says Siobhan O'Connor, co-author of "No More Dirty Looks" and a beauty blog of the same name. Call these products ecoluxe: they feel indulgent, the packaging is beautiful, and they work wonders. …
Click here to read more in the Fall 2012 issue of The Ritz-Carlton Magazine
From New York to Los Angeles, London to Hong Kong, Melbourne to Manila, the high-powered and well-heeled are toting around mysterious liquids in shades of beet red and mossy green. Look a bit closer, and you'll see the names: BluePrintCleanse, Urban Remedy, Punch Detox and Purifyne. No matter the brand, the message is clear: The juice cleanse craze is catching on around the world.
A health-oriented fix, this liquid diet is seen as the ultimate reset: a fast (if not painless) way to drop a few pounds before a beach vacation or to atone for the indulgence of an Italian holiday.
Perhaps most appealing about today's juice cleanse is that it can be done without putting a busy life on pause. "People are no longer spending 10 days at a destination spa learning health skills," says Melisse Gelula, a wellness trendspotter and cofounder of wellandgoodnyc.com, an online publication about all things healthy. "They don't need to learn about nutrition; they just need three days to drink the juice that's delivered." …
Click here to read more in the Summer 2012 issue of The Ritz-Carlton Magazine