Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Eco Chick Giveaway: Win a Set of RubyBlaise Essentials Aromatherapy Mists

UPDATE: Thanks for participating, everyone! The winner is – Nicole Galland!

Scent can be so powerful, changing our moods and awakening memories – but sometimes it can be dangerous too, namely when it’s coming from a toxic blend of chemicals vaguely labeled as “fragrance”. Essential oils make it easy to avoid the bad stuff and get even more benefits than simply pleasing scents – promoting skin healing and even killing germs. It’s a no-brainer to ditch the synthetic perfumes and room sprays and switch to healthy products like RubyBlaise Essentials aromatherapy mists.

Learn more and enter the giveaway More »

NKD Naked Candles: Zero Bad Stuff

There are so many holiday candles and air fresheners out there, but many are created from synthetic fragrances that contain harmful chemicals. In this day and age when people are “Febreezing” their environments, it is important to use natural toxin-free products.

I was introduced to the nkd: Naked Candles at Our Green House last year and got hooked. NKD attempts to engage in eco-friendly practices by producing their candles domestically (home base is Boulder, CO) from recycled materials. These yummy soy wax candles are 97% pure and natural. The scents are subtle and pleasant.

My favorite is Jack Frost, a buttery peppermint-pine scent that is warm, yet refreshing for the holidays. Other notables are: Moonstruck: strawberries and champagne, Thunderhead: lavender and citrus create this crisp, fresh scent. Ginger Papaya, Farmers Market (fresh greens,) and Dreamsicle are also delicious.

As of December 3rd, 2008, NKD is offering a 25% discount to Eco Chick readers. Use code: K25D08 Good through December 31st

Tsi~La Organics

Tsi~la Organics is a line of body products and fragrances that use no preservatives, alcohol, additives, coloring, or other nasty synthetic chemicals that many other perfumes contain. Pronounced “chee-la,” the name is Cherokee for ‘flower.’ The Tsi~La fragrances seek to combine exotic notes of ylang ylang, citrus, bergamot, lavender, vanilla, lime, amber and various spices to generate unique scents that transcend the traditional “natural” or organic perfumes that can tend to be simplistic or unoriginal.

There are a number of different formulations that Annie Morton, former model, and her sister-in-law, Natalie Szapowalo, have combined. All of the fragrances are very wearable.

My favorites are Saqui: a very clean, warm scent of ginger, clove, nutmeg mingling with tangy citrus; Kesu: warm woods and slightly smoky incense mixed with lime create a unisex blend; Fleur Savage: jasmine and neroli are tempered with notes of tuberose; Kizes: reminds me of biting into a kumkwat – very fresh and tart. They are all lovely. If I had to choose just one, it’d be Saqui. The scent is warm and hearty but crisp. Tsi~La wears well for hours, mingling with your own body’s chemistry. Because they come in small, roll-on bottles, you can control the quantity of perfume you wish to wear, without being inundated with a cloud of chemical haze, as is so common in today’s factory-generated commercial fragrances that come in spray bottles.

Hilarious Greenpeace Commercial

I’m loving this ad….for anyone needing motivation to change their conventional bulbs to compact fluorescents (or better yet, LEDs).

Via: Snarfd

Lululemon & oqoqo in Chicago

One thing that’s driven me crazy since moving to Germany is the total lack of decent clothing for working out … and by decent, I mean that it had to fulfill at least one of my sustainability criteria: be made of organic or sustainable fabric, be recycled or secondhand, or be manufactured sweatshop-free (something that fulfilled all 3 would, of course, be my dream).

Over here, I can buy sweatshop free (though not otherwise uncontroversial) pants from American Apparel and I can grab t-shirts from the local secondhand shops. But I’m not a small-chested girl and I need something to keep my boobs from hitting me in the eyes during downward dog. Of course, I could always buy from those big-name athletic companies, but guilt overwhelms when I pick up the latest sneaker and know that of the $100 I’m about to drop, more money will have been spent on getting David Beckham to hawk it than to the woman who sewed it together; that same guilt would surely haunt me during corpse pose … not my idea of a good meditation.

Thankfully, my singular sports bra kept its elasticity until I hightailed it back to the States this summer for a vacation. And though I didn’t know it before my trip, I soon found out that a tiny little yoga retailer I’d visited in Canada several years ago had finally come down to the US from the great white north, bringing its leg warmers and yoga pants along with it.

Lululemon, which started in Vancouver as a yoga lifestyle store, recently opened stores in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Though I only got to visit the Chicago store, it was clear the place was built with the environment in mind – placards throughout said the floors were made with reclaimed wood, the paint was VOC-free, and there were compact fluorescents throughout.

Sadly, the store’s greenness didn’t extend throughout the entire clothing line … instead, I stuck to the side of the store featuring oqoqo clothing, a line that contains fabrics made with 75% natural fibers including hemp, bamboo, and organic cotton. It doesn’t just include yoga pants and tops; the summer line, anyway, had a few flowy dresses, linen-like pants, and plenty of shirts to wear on or off the mat. I walked away with a few finds that I’m proud to show off (and seriously, people are still getting the “This is made out of bamboo!” comment two months later, as if I’m some sort of walking advertorial) and a great reusable shopping bag with an inspiring manifesto (check out their website if you can’t make it into the store – it’s a great reminder of positive philosophy).

Unfortunately, their Flash website doesn’t let me show you the goods here – and the company’s strong devotion to community keeps their stuff in stores, but not online (they really want you to come chat with their uber-friendly salespeople) – but the next time you’re near one of their stores, which are sprouting up all over, check out Lululemon and see what kind of support you can get for all your yogic poses.