Guess Who Got a Makeover?

No, not me (unfortunately). But St. Ives, maker of the beauty-cabinet-staple apricot scrub and other skin care products, just got a little greener.

The company is introducing a reformulated product line that uses 100% natural exfoliants and extracts, and post-consumer recycled packaging whenever possible.

I was also happy to find that many of the products are made without parabens or phthalates, contain no animal derived ingredients, and aren't tested on animals. (Now if only they'd get rid of SLS and SLES!) 

Still, it's a welcome improvement in the drugstore beauty aisle.

Natural Eyes

I have short, wimpy eyelashes, so mascara is one of my must-have products. But I'm picky about my products. For a long time I shunned drugstore brands, and I confess that I've never quite understood the allure of a certain company's famous pink-tubed formula.

But a new crop of natural mascaras, including drugstore brands like Physician's Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Mascara, with its cute leaf-shaped applicator handle, and Almay pure blends volumizing mascara, led me to my neighborhood Ulta store.

I've been using the Almay mascara, and... I like it. The formula is 97.5% natural and gives me thick-but-natural looking lashes. And the not-too-big brush (I hate some of the new jumbo brushes on mascara formulas today—so unwieldy!) allows for a precise application, even to those teeny corner lashes. My only quibble is that I have a habit of picking at my lashes (which may explain why they're short and wimpy) and this mascara flakes off easily. Still, I'd buy it again. And at roughly $7.00 a tube, I can afford to.