Get to Know: Kiss My Face

I've long thought of Kiss My Face as being a crunchy, hippie personal care company.  After all, it was founded by two vegetarians who were on a mission to find healthy body care products.  Kiss My Face is committed to using natural, organic ingredients to create their cruelty-free products.  Because I've dismissed Kiss My Face as a sort of hippie-dippy company, I never really tried their products.

Silly me!  Kiss My Face has some really good products...and their eco-friendly, cruelty free stance is a huge plus.  Be on the lookout for their new line of skin care products in the start of the new year (available in January at Whole Foods).  Their Potent and Pure Organic Face Care line is worth a look.  It includes:

• Clean for a Day, $15: a creamy face cleaner that is soap-free and non-drying.  
• Startup, $15: an exfoliating cleanser that contains natural fruit alpha hydroxy acids for gentle exfoliation.
• Brightening Day Creme, $23: a cream that includes SPF to help protect from the sun's damaging rays.
• Night Creme, $23: a cream that provides extra moisturizing power along with detoxificaiton.
• Underage, $21: a "mega-moist" blend of organic botanicals and vitamins that will smooth lines and nourish skin.

Kiss My Face is a great brand to get to know if you're concerned about organic ingredients, animal testing, etc.  Their new skin care line will leave your face looking good and your conscious clean!  Check it out at Whole Foods in January.

Be a Caring Consumer

I've written about this before, but this is a subject that I find to be rather important. So bear with me if you've heard this before.

When it comes to being a beauty consumer, I find it very important to support cosmetics companies that do NOT test their products on animals. I don't think that one single animal should have to suffer for us to have longer lashes, redder lips, or fuller hair. And yet, I cannot say with 100% certainty that ALL of the products I use are cruelty free. This is frustrating and makes me feel like I'm not living up to my ideals.

The subject of animal testing is an emotion one. And PETA, the organization that helps maintain the cruelty-free list also brings up a lot of emotional responses. People think that PETA is too militant at times and because of their tactics, people don't want to listen to what the organization has to say. That's unfortunate because they really do a great job of informing consumers about animal testing.

Now, I am a meat-eating, leather-wearing woman. I don't make any excuses for eating meat. I don't think I should have to. However, that doesn't mean that I am an evil person who likes animals to suffer for my lifestyle. I bet many of you feel the same.

If you're at all interested in this topic, I urge you to visit the Caring Consumer website, put together by PETA. See if products you use are made my companies that test on animals, and then try to find a cruelty-free alternative.

Like I said, I am not perfect. I do use products made by Unilever, Olay, and Pantene--all of which DO test on animals. Yikes. Perhaps it's time for me to rethink my personal care purchases.