Coral necklaces. Fur. IKEA furniture.

We all know you shouldn’t buy these things. Coral is rapidly dying from ocean acidification and changing climate conditions without our harvesting it for jewelry. While I don’t include “animal rights activist” among my list of self-identifiers, it’s hard to get fur that is consciously raised like the meat at the farmers market. And IKEA furniture is both the progenitor and creator of a disposable economy of waste.

But what if you already own these things from before you went through your sustainable awakening?

I have all these things and more, items that I’m not necessarily proud of, attractive detritus from typical status-seeking American consumption. I don’t want to spend the money and resources to replace it. Is it more sustainable to set an example by purging my closet of nice leather boots, fur coats and strip-mined jewelry? Or is it better to hang on to the long-lasting pieces and accept that life is a journey? I would say the latter.

Or I could just be deluding myself. I really like my fierce, red coral necklace from Vienna that seems as if it would prick the fingers that try to touch my neck. Even if I rarely wear it except on those rare occasions where it’s both below freezing and it’s an appropriate occasion, I still like to bury my face in my mother’s silver fox fur coat from the 80’s (thankfully back in style and divested of its démodé bunch sleeves). Though, the fur coat warrants a whole other discussion that you can find in this Elephant Journal post. IKEA furniture, well, my apartment came furnished with it. I’ve filled out the rest of my space with used and antique, real wood pieces, but the table and Murphy bed are square and center.

What are my options? I could:

A) Forget the whole thing and buy whatever strikes my fancy. Fortunately I’ve outgrown that.

B) Put a minimal amount of effort into finding locally-made, sustainable items, when convenient, and keep the old stuff. Easy, but not exactly thoughtful.

C) Do a partial purge to get my closet down to the minimum viable possessions, and put effort into thoughtful purchases in the future. That means continue to wear everything from leather boots to fur coats to conventional jewelry.

D) Purge my closet of anything that isn’t sustainable. This would mean taking some to consignment stores and Goodwill, and throwing the rest that isn’t fit for consumption out, thus contributing to waste, but living a model lifestyle moving forward. Also, that would be expensive.

I choose C. But tell me: What are your thoughts?

Kayu Purses

Whenever I need a classy clutch, this is my go-to. It’s eco-friendly, and purchasing one means a donation is made towards buying backpacks and school supplies for children in Cambodia. It comes with a chain too, in case you’re tired of carrying it/don’t trust your drunk self not to leave it on the open bar while you dart after a cute boy.

The Sway Purses

This NYC-based company makes my other go-to purse when I want something more casual and edgy. It’s made from reclaimed leather, and the cross-body strap means you can dance crazily. It’s roomy enough for a wallet, phone, keys and even a pair of fold up flats.

Pinterest

I put every cute thing I find on Pinterest. And when I say cute, I mean it. I don’t put up anything that is eco-friendly but ugly (of which there is a lot).

I can’t blog about everything, so if you’re in the market for a new dress or a DIY project, you can find what you need by following my pins. I put a special emphasis on NYC-based companies.

tarte Eye Makeup

I had given up on finding effective non-toxic eyeliner and resigned myself to Cover Girl … until I found Tarte’s little pot and brush for the best cat eyes ever. Combined with this tutorial, I’m looking pretty fierce. And then I discovered the Amazonian clay mascara, and was roundly hooked. You can find it at Sephora and Henri Bendel.

Almond Butter

For breakfast, on slices of empire apples from the farmers-market, with a drizzle of Brooklyn-rooftop honey.

By rchickens on Instagram

Third avenue is already muddy and oily, but my little side street has retained that quiet, muffled quality of a good snow day. And the snow is still coming down hard!

So here’s something nice to listen to while you sip hot chocolate indoors. (Meanwhile, I’m going to stop by the farmers market and see if and intrepid farmers made it down.)

You’ve no doubt discovered the “Shit ____ Say” meme by now, and it is utterly hilarious. Combine the Shit New Yorkers Say video with this one, and you have me. (Minus the spirulina, yuck.)

Shit Foodies Say from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.

So there I was, at 11 p.m. on the Monday after Christmas with work the next day, at the LaGuardia airport trying to pick the best way to get home. Last time I was in this situation, I took the M60 bus, which costs all of $2.25 and is more eco-friendly than a cab.

But I was tired, and the last thing I wanted to do was sit in a trundling bus for 45 minutes. I wanted sleep!

So I guiltily found the line for cabs. It was a long one, and while I waited, I had time to think and realize that I was in a long line of singles. So silly–a waste of money and Co2. I considered the skinny college-age dude in front of me, and then the 40-ish, well-dressed guy behind me. I chose the latter. It turned out to be a wise choice.

“Hey, are you going to Manhattan?” I asked.

He considered me a moment before replying. (I was glad I had put some effort into my outfit so I didn’t look crazy.) “Yes, I am … ”

“Do you want to share a cab?”

“Sure, why not?”

So we got to know each other. I told him about my job, he told me about his at a hedge fund. Well, “told me about” isn’t really accurate. Whatever do you say when someone says that? Oh, so interesting. Do you enjoy moving money around on a daily basis? How does it feel to be part of the 1%?

So anyway, I said something bland and we moved onto other topics. By the time our cab came around, we had satisfactorily ascertained that neither of us was crazy, though he did make a comment on what my mom would think if she knew I were taking cab rides with strange men in New York City. “Well, it’s not just you and me. The cab driver is up there.” He agreed, that was something to consider.

Around this time, I guess he decided I wasn’t worth hitting on and brought up his college-age kids, saying they were about my age. Well, I’m 25, but point taken.  I didn’t want him to flirt with me anyway.

His was the first stop, as I’m in Gramercy and he was on Central Park South in the Trump Tower. We pulled up in front, and he hand me $40. “I can expense it,” he said. The meter was only at $25. I shrugged and took it, thanking him. “Hey, I never got your name,” I said. I forget what his was. Bill or something. I told him mine, he got out, and I will never see him again.

The cab driver got an awesome tip, we split our emissions in half, and I got a free ride home. Things like this in New York make me happy.

Photo credit: Nestor’s Blurrylife on Flickr

This post on non-toxic makeup originally appeared at LearnVest.com, where I work as an editorial assistant and community manager.

At LearnVest, we believe in investing in your health. Eating right, getting the necessary checkups and taking time for yourself all pay dividends down the road.

But sometimes the information out there about what’s actually good for you can be confusing. Take beauty products, for example: We’ve all heard of “green” cosmetics. But is it worth shelling out more for organic lipstick? What’s all the fuss about parabens? And could the makeup you wear every day actually be hurting you at the same time it’s beautifying you?

Today we tackle green and toxin-free makeup—to help you get to the bottom line about natural and organic beauty.

The Pink Ribbon Conundrum

It’s a timely topic—October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and major cosmetics companies are rolling out products branded with pink ribbons, even as it’s becoming clear that certain ingredients in products we use every day may increase our risk of developing breast cancer.

According to the Environmental Working Group, “Nearly 90 percent of the 10,500 ingredients the FDA has determined are used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety by the CIR, the FDA or any other publicly accountable institution.” Many of these ingredients, which are known carcinogens, have been linked to breast cancer. Further complicating matters, the United States currently has no system in place to regulate potentially toxic ingredients in cosmetics, although a bill has just been introduced. (More on that below.)

With one in eight American women predicted to develop breast cancer over her lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society, odds are the disease will impact someone you know. That’s why we believe it’s worth looking a little deeper into the products we use every day.

Let’s go take a peek in your makeup drawer, and find out what you need to know to go natural the LearnVest way: wisely and affordably.

The ABCs of Organic Beauty

1. Read the Label

Every makeup product has a list of ingredients, and there are a few red flags that should make you think twice about buying that mascara. Namely, ingredients like “phthalate,” “sulfate,” “paraben,” “triclosan” or “toluene,” listed as either a stand-alone ingredient, or as part of a longer-named ingredient, means you can be sure this product isn’t safe for your health, no matter how natural it claims to be. For more details on how to tell green from “greenwashing”—a phenomenon in which companies trump up their green claims with false labeling—read our post on the subject.

2. Look It Up

You don’t have to commit a list of suspect ingredients to memory. This is such a hot topic, there are two different websites where you can look up the ingredients in your favorite products and get a quick and dirty rating in the form of a single number. The Skin Deep database, by the Environmental Working Group, focuses on personal care items, while Good Guide rates just about every household product out there, and even has a smartphone version by the same name that lets you scan the barcodes of a product you’re considering right in the store aisle. 

3. Support the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

As it stands now, the FDA has no power to evaluate or approve ingredients before they make it into the products you use every day, which is why carcinogenic and hazardous ingredients are in our mascaras, foundations and lipsticks, even in items that are supposed to support the fight against breast cancer (that’s called “pinkwashing”). If this bothers you, you can do something about it. A bill has been introduced to close some loopholes in how companies list their ingredients. To support its passage, go to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics website and learn more.

Know what’s never trendy? Being broke. Find out how to get great style without overspending with our Priceless Style Bootcamp
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4. Find Trustworthy Brands You Like

Unfortunately, every single drugstore brand of makeup has at least one of the offending ingredients listed above in some or all of their products. You can look your favorite brand up in one of the websites mentioned above to find their safer offerings. Or you can save yourself time and stress by finding a quality brand of makeup that you love and trust with your health. (Find out other ways to take care of your skin; read this.)

Not all non-toxic makeup is created equal—or exactly like what you’re used to—so we took the time to test six toxin-free lines and reveal our pick for their product we think is most worth the investment. In other words, these picks for everything from lipstick to foundation aren’t just great for being safe, they’re just plain great.

Lavera

In Europe, there are actually stricter regulations for which ingredients can go in your makeup. This German skin and makeup company has exported its high standards to the US with its line of organic, cruelty-free and vegan makeup products. It’s a relief to actual recognize the ingredients on the label!

Price Range: From $14.50 for eyeliner to $25 for mineral powder

Executive Editor Carrie Sloan says: “I’ve never worn organic makeup before, but the foundation smells pleasantly lemony and goes on light and natural, giving me great coverage with a dewy finish. I’m a convert!”

$22.50 at Lavera.com, or your local Whole Foods

Juice Beauty

After learning that your skin absorbs 60% of what’s placed on it, Karen Behnke, who was pregnant with her first child at the time, created Juice: A brand of makeup and skincare products that uses 98% USDA certified organic ingredients.

Price range: From $12 for eyeshadow to $35 for foundation

Editorial assistant Gabrielle Karol says: “I like the blush in organic fig. It’s a nice bronze color—not too rosy—and gives me a healthy glow!”

$16 at JuiceBeauty.com, your local Whole Foods or your local Ulta

Afterglow Cosmetics

This line of makeup has an impressive colorwheel of rich hues for its lipsticks and eyeshadows, not surprising with founder Kristin Adams’ background in fine art and color theory. All Afterglow products are cruelty free, and there are even options for those of you who are vegans.

Price range: From $18 for the eyeshadows to $32 for the organic mineral foundation

Deputy Editor Allison Kade says: “I really like the under eye concealer. It blends well and is creamier than what most other regular brands offer.”

$29 at AfterglowCosmetics.com or at your local Whole Foods

Gabriel Cosmetics

The founder of Gabriel draws his inspiration for this natural and cruelty-free brand from memories of his grandmother concocting traditional remedies from the sea. His modern versions all involve those same healing ingredients … only created in consultation with biochemists.

Price range: From $12 for the lip and eyeliner to $28 for the liquid foundation

Senior Editor Laura Shin says: “I love the lipstick. It goes on smoothly, feels nice, and the colors are amazing.”

$16.75 at GabrielCosmeticsInc.com or your local Whole Foods.

Alima Pure

Alima Pure really does live up to its name with its ladylike line of mineral makeup. Its eyeshadows, which come in subtle, shimmery colors perfect for daytime, score a perfect 10 on GoodGuide—that’s practically unheard of.

Price range: From $11 for eyeshadows and eyeliners to $29 for the kitten makeup brush

LV Moms Editor Cheryl Lock says: “The satin matte powder foundation gave me more coverage than I would expect from something so lightweight. And the eco-friendly brush I applied it with is so soft.”

$22 at AlimaPure.com

Jane Iredale

You’ll find anything you could ever desire in this professional grade line of mineral makeup, from lip glosses to kits stocked with brushes and an array of eye colors. If you’re serious about your makeup routine, and not just dabbling in green, this is the brand for you.

Price range: From $11 for an eyeliner pencil to $52 for pressed base powder

Account Manager Corey Laffel says: “I never wear lip color, but I got so many compliments when I tried the red dual lip stain and gloss that it’s changed my mind. Plus it smells really nice.”

$30 at JaneIredale.com or Nordstrom.com

More From LearnVest

To find out how to buy safe, consciously and green in every aspect of your life, read our guide.

You’ve detoxified your makeup drawer, now detoxify your cleaning supply closet. Read this.

Photo credits: Top – jerine on Flickr; Headshots – Trevor Wilson

Life is not a store.

This may not sound profound. Of course life isn’t a store. You can’t buy happiness, right?

But America thinks you can. Want health? Buy pills. Want friends? Buy yourself a kickass wardrobe and a bottle of champagne. Want beauty? Buy artwork and curtains.

I don’t have it figured out. I still buy myself life. I buy myself goodness at the farmers market, and identity (and a hobby) through the hosting fee for my blog. And I have a Bloomingdale’s credit card that I use and abuse like no one’s business. Consider this not a lecture, but a pep talk for you and myself.

What if we treated life like a museum instead of a store? What if, instead of thinking how we could make the good stuff ours, we studied it, read up on its history, discussed it, and then moved on? We could always come back later, and appreciate it again. Or take a picture so we could savor the fact that we were there. But I bet it would save us a lot of grief and money if we stopped trying to own things and instead just appreciated them.

Taragana Pyjarama – Ocean (Teengirl Fantasy remix) by FoolHouse

Life as a store is buying a DVD to watch on your laptop. Life as a museum is seeing a showing in the park with friends.

Life as a store is bottle service with a skimpily-clad waitress and i-bankers hitting on you from the table next to yours. Life as a museum is BYOB at your apartment with good friends and a few new people who’ve tagged along.

Life as a store is a touristy tour of historic and nature sites. Life as a museum is a self-guided hike with nothing but a map and a sense of curiosity.

Life as a store is seeing a beautiful, stylish woman, and adding what she’s wearing to your shopping list. Life as a museum is admiring her, and maybe paying her a sincere compliment. And then moving on.

I want to live life in a well-stocked museum with rotating exhibits, where you could linger for hours and drink in so much beauty it makes your brain tired. I don’t want to live life in a place where people hover, waiting for you to either give them money or leave. Let’s drink in the beauty, take a picture, or just remember it, and then keep going.

(BTW, I’m on Pinterest. Check out my “Surround Yourself With Beauty” board.)

Tell me: What do you do to drink in life like a museum exhibit?

Photo credit: digital cat  on Flickr

Well, it’s not the way you think. I’m sure you have visions of Soho brats filling their shopping basket with 300 calories of Dean & Deluca caviar and a bottle of champagne for dinner. But that’s not quite the gist of the December issue.

Glamour describes the snob diet strategy as, “Eat the good stuff, turn your nose up at anything else and–nutritionists swear it will happen–watch yourself lose weight.”

Well, bravo Glamour. You took a concept that locavores know quite well–staying away from gross, processed food–gussied it up with some pictures of a blond girl wearing a purple fur and lacy panties eating chocolate, and called it chic and new. I’m actually quite impressed with your creative prowess.

But let’s be real, this is not a new concept. When Michael Pollan spends a whole chapter discussing in sumptuous detail a dinner party he threw involving hand-picked mushrooms and a hand-made pasta, he was absolutely being a snob. In fact, proponents of all things green, organic, and local are often called snobs, but unlike here, it is not an endearment. And yet, I can personally attest that the snob/eat real food diet does, in fact, work.

So I’m going to agree with Glamour on this one: be a snob! Screw meal replacement bars and low fat cheese wedges, just like Glamour says, and go for delicious, Upstate New York camembert. Let a bit of fair trade, three-ingredient chocolate melt slowly in your mouth instead of Hershey’s. Drizzle honey from Brooklyn over your toast, or delicately place a morsel of Hudson Valley duck on your tongue at a farm-to-table restaurant–instead of wolfing down Chinese takeout. I totally support this idea, and I’m sure the farmers at the farmers market do too. Bravo for Glamour for standing up for real food!

Now, if we can just convince Self to stop publishing drivel promoting low-fat frozen dinners and the weight-loss powers of smoking, we’ll be all set.

But I kept that resolution, and I still brush my teeth at night to this day … except when I’m too tired and I get in late.

Strangers In The Wind

In honor of what I learned from this, that resolutions should be simple, specific and actionable, I present you with my three resolutions. Which are not simple, specific or actionable. But, that is the life of a New Yorker, isn’t it? We’re always overreaching.

1. Cultivate Relationships with Good People

Have you ever found yourself in a friendship or relationship where you’re justifying? “Well, he has amazing taste in music; my Spotify playlist is so much better with him around.” Or, “She helped me move once and that was really sweet.” But eventually, you realize you’re not doing anyone favors by keeping it alive. You’re teaching that person it’s OK to be a flake and self-absorbed, and you’re undermining your own happiness and kindness by continuing to hang out with that person.

So this year I’m going to focus on relationships with people. If it is true that you are the five people you spend the most time with, I’m going to choose those people carefully. They are going to be kind, authentic, creative, intelligent people. It’s going to be hard. I’m not in a relationship, and my best friend just moved to Europe. I am going to have the strength to refuse to fill my weekend nights with people I don’t truly admire just for the sake of having them filled. But I’m a firm believer in the idea that if you create space, and stay true to yourself, good people will move in to occupy your world.

Action Steps: Reach out to people I truly admire. Turn down invitations to events with people I don’t.

2. Practice Authenticity

After a hard Friday night, when I found out the guy I had been dating–and for all intents and purposes had been treating me like a girlfriend, I mean, he invited me on a double-date dinner party and a day hiking trip–didn’t want a relationship, I got really down on myself.

I was rescued by a heart-to-heart with one of my best friends. And he told me something. He said, “You seem like different people at different times. Sometimes you are totally nonmaterialistic and genuine, with your heart in the right place. Sometimes it seems like you care a lot about status.” And I realized he was right. I’m always fiddling with the music so I can trot out an obscure song that no one recognizes and hence no one actually enjoys. I love one liners and zingers. I collect experiences with the intent of sharing them like trophies. Come on, Alden.

So this year I’m going to practice simplicity in my life. I’m going to do things because they are right in that moment, put on music that everyone can enjoy together, and find a guy who is right for me because he is him, not because he has a good bio (artist-living-in-Brooklyn, hedge-fund-guy-living-in-FiDi, Buckley-graduate-turned-DJ-in-Harlem … yes, those are all actual guys I’ve dated).

Action Steps: Practice mindfulness in my interactions with people. Always ask myself why I’m doing something. Is it to impress? Or to just enjoy the moment?

3. Treat My Body With Respect

When we’re young, we act as though our body is a utilitarian vehicle that transports us through our life. We accumulate dings on our psyche and our health during all-nighters, gross binges, and reckless drama-fests. But I can’t sell this body on Craiglist and buy a new one. What I do to it you can see, both in the bags under my eyes and the irritation in my voice.

I’m going to eat healthfully. Locally when I can, organic when I can, and mindfully always. I’m going to continue to do yoga, and try to do it more often. I’m going to take delicious afternoon naps, prioritize sleep over reading blogs, avoid sugar, and brush my teeth before I go to bed. I’m going to smile more and snap less.

Action steps: Take opportunities to go to bed early as just that: golden opportunities. Visit the farmers market more often. Put yoga on the schedule.

But first, I’m going to stay up all night on New Years. Duh.

I spent Christmas in Phoenix, as I said before. It was wonderful and sunny and relaxing, with just a tiny bite of cold.

But I just need to say this: Get a window seat.

I had forgotten the wonder I held when I used to fly out to Phoenix when I was 10, 11, 14. How curious I was at what created the patterns and colors below me. But it all came rushing back.

The airport was strangely deserted the day after Christmas, and I had an empty seat next to me on the plane. It was a cloudless day in the desert. As the plane lifted off, it shuddered and gravity sucked at our feet. We trembled and struggled higher, passing over grids of houses. The smog obscured the far edges of Phoenix and partially obscured the mountains at the edge of the valley, and as we reached the east-most edges of the desert city, I saw empty cul-de-sacs, constructed at the height of the housing boom but never quite filled with houses. Then civilization receded, the ground spiked and jutted, and the plane lifted higher and all that was left were dark lakes pooling in the center of ridges, carved by millennia of rivers running over the sand.

As we continued east, a dusting and then a blanket of snow appeared. The world turned black and white, with aspens freckling the white canvas. The day was clear and there was no sign of human life save a single road running straight toward the horizon, or an occasional grid created by what, I don’t know. It was as if we had left our earth behind and found ourselves on a different planet, the one that Native Americans had lived in centuries ago.

I had “White Christmas” stuck in my head, so I put on M83 and allowed myself to fall into a complete reverie for hours, watching the world go by, literally, my face pressed to the window.

M83 – Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun

Powered by mp3skull.com

The landscapes reminded me of the book that I gave my stepdad—who is a photographer—for Christmas: Leave No Trace: The Vanishing North American Wilderness. It features photos of glaciers, estuaries and mountains from a plane. I hoped my stepdad had a window seat in his plane and his camera ready. (You can see his pictures of Denali here.)

All I had was my iPhone, and I pined for my real camera, which at least has a zoom. I used Instagram to color-correct some of the photos, and then gave that up when I realized the intense blue of the sky and white was just fine.

The horizon was so far away and so flat I wondered if I could see Mexico from the plane. The shadows pooled so blue on the backside of veined mountains they looked like opaque lakes, or pieces of sky fallen to the ground. I watched a small plane pierce straight up into the sky, leaving a trail of white condensation behind it, then slowly curve backward, glinting in the sun, like a person diving in exquisite slow motion off of a diving board.

The mountains fell away with a sharp cut, and we passed over farmland, betrayed by the edges of wheel-shaped fields, pressed together like poker chips on a table. The wheel shape allows long sprinkler systems to pass over the field from one center point, creating a mid-century modern pattern on the ground. They went on forever, miles and miles of discs as far as the plane-elevated eye could see. Fly-over states indeed.

From the east, a front of clouds greeted us, turning yellow, peach and pink as the sun died behind us. By the time we arrived to the clouds, it was dark outside and the lights were just winking on below us outside of Chicago.

Long, meditative moments like this bring me back to myself, and remind me of all the amazing beauty in the world.