MASCARA

The newest object of my adoration is the lights, camera, lashes! mascara by tarte™. This mascara is revolutionary not only because, as proclaimed by the label, it “increases lash volume by 424%,” but because it is an eco-friendly mascara. This mascara is as green as they come with our current production technologies that can be made; and as green as it is, it simply turns your lashes longer and darker! When you purchase this mascara, let me be the first to warn you: its wand is not lengthily bristled and the bristles aren’t carefully spread out to “grab each eyelash individually”. I did have a little bit of a freak out when I saw this, but not to worry! Their wand approach is as new as their green beauty products idea, and they are both successful.

This mascara is natural mascara, and clinically proven to be effective and safe for your body. While the list of qualities it does have are quite admirable—it lengthens, emphasizes, darkens, and is au naturel—its résumé of things it lacks is even more impressive. This is an excerpt from the box:

Formulated without: parabens  *  mineral oil  *  petrolatum  *  phthalates  *  sodium lauryl sulfate  *  synthetic fragrance

There’s also an adorable little doodle of bunny ears that’s captioned with a “cruelty free” promise. So now you can see for yourself that tarte’s new mascara isn’t just an awesome, fun type of eco-friendly and animal-friendly mascara, it’s also a successful pioneer in a new race of cosmetics: cosmetics that make you feel prettier, perform as advertised, protect your body from harmful and corruptive substances/ chemicals, and refrains from harming animals and our environment. Wearing this mascara is not just a fashion statement; if you wear this mascara, you are telling people that you care about animal cruelty, your role in protecting our world, and finding a way to do what you want without causing harm to others. Tarte’s new mascara doesn’t just make your eyes pop and lengthen those lashes; it reflects that you’re beautiful inside, too!

While tarte is doing the best job advertising their new strategy and collections (there's a rumor going around that they're launching an entire green line soon!!!), they aren’t the only ones making products that beautify you and amend to the world at the same time. Others are following their lead—and it’s about time! For example, Lady Gaga teamed up with Barney’s in Madison Square and top fashion designers to design Gaga’s Workshop, a holiday-time special in Barney’s that features special and limited-edition Gaga designed and inspired cosmetics, crafts, clothes, and accessories. In her beauty products, she has an “Extreme Sheen Lip Kit” of three (rather pricey) lip-glosses that are, of course, in excellent colors. Aside from the typical alibi of making your lips shiny and glossy (no duh), the description also includes this: “no parabens, no sulfates, no phthalates”. Lady Gaga’s in on the trend, too, and we all know that she’s nothing if not a trend setting fashion statement (if you have the nerve not to believe me, check out her houndstooth outfit she wore for a TV interview—it’s all over the place, now!). Lady Gaga has a very similar mission with these lip-glosses as tarte: to make you prettier by accentuating your lips, and to make you feel prettier by helping the planet. Lady Gaga believes in her little monsters, but she doesn’t believe we should be monsters to the Earth and to our bodies. Tarte also knows that there are innumerable ways to make good green cosmetics that are effective, and that’s why you should try this new mascara.

So go ahead! Be a green, clean, beauty queen!

With a case like this, who wouldn't follow your fashion lead?