ModernGear Beauty: Clean hair in more ways than one

I love trying new shampoos. Generally I have favourites that I go back to, every second bottle, like the wonderfully eco-friendly Eufora, and my save-for-once-a-week French love Kerastase. In between, though, I like the fun of testing new hair products.

I have shied away from indiscriminate use of whatever just smells nice though, after digging a little deeper into the subject of what is in most shampoos. Things like lauryl and laureth sulfates, and the dreaded bens (suspected endocrine disruptors - here's an older article about parabens from Ideal Bite). So when it came time for a new clean, I decided it was time to try to find one that was truly clean, in the "green" sense.

So I sought the wise counsel of my friendly neighborhood vitamin and bath/body specialist at Whole Foods. She has fabulous hair AND is very eco-minded...and with both of those things in mind, she introduced me to JASON... who is also known as Jason Natural Personal Care Products, available along with a whole host of other body products and more, at jason-natural.com.

She warned me that the shampoo might feel a bit odd at first, because it doesn't foam up like regular shampoos (which actually do that due to those dreaded lauryl and laureth sulfates). Well I have to admit, I love me some foam. But I just took another look at her soft and curly hair, and new it was time to be adventurous.

I just got the shampoo as I have a few half-empty (or half-full, depending on how you look at it!) bottles of conditioner at home. I took home the Natural Biotin Shampoo Hair Fortifying formula.

I paid $7.99 but it's also available on Amazon for as low as $5.19 a bottle. (The reviews there are glowing.) Click here: Jason Natural Cosmetics - Natural Biotin Shampoo to check it out on Amazon.
But here's an interesting thing about that lather. Sure, the first one is not very foamy and doesn't do much - but that second one? Second time's a charm, baby. I'm not sure my Whole Foods Friend read the back of the bottle:
Once you follow the directions and do that light shampoo, followed by a second super-lathering one, you are well on your way to gorgeous hair.

Why is it so great? My hair has never been softer. On the first day, air dried, it didn't frizz out like it usually does. The fragrance was soft but so fresh. A day later, still sooooo soft. And...it's organic. The JASON Naturals company philosophy is that it is equally important to pay attention to what you put on your body as well as what you put in your body. I buy organic fruits, veggies, meat, milk and anything else we eat, as often as I can. It's time to start looking at those everyday things we use, in our journey towards better health.

And P.S. I went back and bought the conditioner, and am off to use both products as soon as I publish this post! The Conditioner-Biotin - 16 oz - Liquid is available at Amazon, for as little as $5.36.

Enjoy your good hair!
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ModernGear Monday: what wish I could be doing today

I always like to brag that I don't get sick, when everyone around me is coming down with the sniffles and sneezes. Well, I now have the first cold I can remember in a very long time. I guess only getting sick every few years is a good thing, but then the illness just seems to just gather up more power.

I have lost my sense of taste so there's no cooking for me today, but instead here's an inspiration board of how I would rather be spending my day (rather than what? Pretty much anything!)...click to open it larger.


1. Walk into my stunning Provence chateau meets modern industrial kitchen, and make myself a pot of healing, immune system-boosting tea with lemon, honey and cayenne pepper (and if I was planning to spend the day alone, a clove of garlic). Refill mug frequently.
2. Light a few scented taper candles in the Tove Adman concrete candlesticks.
3. Slip into a hot bath with eucalyptus and cedar oil, in the egg-shaped bathtub.
4. Wrap myself in an anatolian bath towel from toast.
5. Slather on some Pure Garden Flower Body Oil
6. Then slip into a Baresuit.
7. Rest easy in a Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman, to read a book.
8. I've really been enjoying one my hubby gave me for Christmas: Le Corbusier: A Life.
9. After a few chapters, retire to the bedroom. Get tucked in to the Sferra Grande Hotel sheets. 10. Lay my head down on a Branché silk pillowcase.

Then repeat as needed. Wouldn't those be lovely doctor's orders? Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to reality, and to work!
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ModernGear Women: A cheeky, squeaky clean NOW IN CANADA!

Today's post is a re-hash of an old one, but with a happy new twist. Read on, my friends.

I'm very good at starting things, but not so good at the continuing or the finishing...latin class, painting lessons, voice coaching, a new perfume.

I chalk it up to (blame it on) being a reporter for 14+ years - journalists need to quickly get up to speed on a topic and just as quickly be able to drop it and move on to the next story. So, I figure I come by it honestly - getting bored easily and running off to a new adventure (or a new perfume) after a few tries, is in my blood.

Luckily that penchant for seeking what's hot just around the corner doesn't apply to my love life (very happily married) and I am actually surprised to find myself saying this, but I think I might actually be settling down in another way as well - with a line of bath and body products I discovered recently.

Both - husband, and soap/lotion - smell great, do what they say they're going to do, and have a wicked sense of humour.

Now, my husband's name is Konrad, but you can't have him! The other stuff, you can! Created by the woman behind Blissworld.com,Canadian Marcia Kilgore, Soap & Glory Cosmetics are delicately and femininely scented, leave skin gently scrubbed, soft and moisturized. No wonder my commitment phobia is waning.

The line can be bought in all Boots locations in the UK, at Target stores in the U.S., online at Amazon.com AND NOW IN CANADA at Shopper's Drug Mart! To prep you for seeing the lovely bottles on the store shelves, here's a primer with my favourite products, and why I like them.

Shop at Target.com has:

Soap & Glory Glow Hydrating Shimmer Lotion
$9.99
The irresistible scent is why I bought this lotion, the shimmer it gives is what will make me buy it again...and unfortunately, that is now rather than when I use it all. It was confiscated at the airport when I was too late to check in my baggage. Hopefully an LAX airport worker is using it as I'd hate to see it go to waste.
Calm One, Calm All Body Soak
$9.99
With its lemon balm and mallow extracts, it gives yummy big bubbles with a heavenly scent. I pour a few capfuls in, let the bubbles grow and sink back to enjoy. Add a glass of wine and it's bound to live up to its name.
Put your best hand forward with the softening Great Shakes Hand Cream, $9.99.
The Scrub of Your Life body scrub leaves a lovely fresh scent on skin, but what I like most about it is that it helps to get rid of my dreaded upper arm bumps! It says so on the bottle and using it has proved to substantiate this claim.

I found it at Amazon.com for $14.99:



The Righteous Butter is great for when you want a body butter - I love to slather it on my legs after shaving as its rich formulation leaves them silky soft.



There are quite a few other products in the line but I often see empty shelves where they should be in Target, and some are only available for pre-order at Amazon.

Now, I can't say I won't try new things out (body and bath products...not men) but I will always keep Soap & Glory on hand as a favourite.


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ModernGear Women: Stop hoofing it!

If you were one of the intrepid few who allowed fish to nibble at your feet during this summer's fish pedicure craze (it's said to tickle and not hurt), consider yourself lucky to have had the experience...it seems that some states are disallowing the procedure due to hygiene and health concerns.

Dallas News reported yesterday that "The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation announced today that fish pedicures...are no longer permitted in the state. "

Oh, shoot. What are we going to do now? Foot care is incredibly important for overall health and we really shouldn't stop even when we put our sandals away for the fall and winter.

Well, times are tough so I suppose...do our own pedicures? Some of you are going..."gaaasp" (Kathryn, I'm talking to you!)... but don't freak out. There are a few products and tools that will make the process easier, quicker and more effective than ever before.

First up is the Ped Egg Pro Foot File.
I was definitely curious and mildly horrified when I first saw the product on an infomercial. You'll know what I mean if you've seen the same one. The Ped Egg is cupped in the hand while you rub the cheese grater-looking part over the worst dry and thick areas of your feet, and then you can dump out the "shavings" into the garbage can and have smooth heels. When the Ped Egg was emptied in the infomercial, you'd think the thing had done an entire football team for all of the powdery reside that poured out. Yech.

However, it's kind of true. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, either. Better there than on my feet, looking like a hoof.

Online reviews skew mostly in favour of the Ped Egg but some of the negative responses provide a cautionary lesson - test the product out first to see if the "shaving" will irritate your feet. Don't go crazy and scrape away half of your epidermis. Do it frequently but gently and moisturize afterwards. And, do this treatment maybe perched on the side of the bathrub with your feet inside the tub, or over a paper towel or garbage can. Depending on the condition of your feet when you start, it can get messy.
I do have one and love it, and find the results this little thing achieves to be practically miraculous.

has the Ped Egg for $9.99, and on Amazon you can find these prices:
Ped Egg $5.75
Ped Egg Callous Remover $6.99
Pink Ped Egg for Breast Cancer Research $9.99


Extra Large Ped Egg for Men $11.49
And sure, why not get your partners into foot care as well? After all, it's not exactly pleasant to rub up against their sandpaper-feeling tootsies when snuggling, is it?

I also love the Artemis Heel Smoother Optimum, available for $39.99 at Blissworld.com.
It's apparently available outside a doctor's office for the first time and works amazingly well. Replacement power tips are only $5.99, so this also seems like an inexpensive way to keep your feet smooth.
And once you've done so, Blissworld.com also has a great foot product to help keep them that way: bliss the tenderfoot.

It includes Softening Socks and Softening Sock Salve, and was $76 but is now $68. I wouldn't have wanted to wear these during the night while I slept, deep in the heat of summer - but now that it's cooler at night it would be quite lovely.

A pedicure can cost anywhere from $18-35 or more, but these home foot care products are reusable and with proper care, will last a long time. So here's to giving our hooves the boot, on the cheap.

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ModernGear Beauty: My skin doesn't respond well to a treatment, but the company does...

Oh, the things I do in the name of beauty! Both beauty for myself, and for my readers, that is. I have been testing a product that is supposed to grow amazing, thick, long eyelashes so at the beginning of the test I decided to take some close-up pictures of my lashes as a "before" and then would do one in a few months as an "after" shot.

So I took the pics loaded them onto the computer and..."What??? What's that? Are those SPOTS, on my face?" It appeared so. I suspected they were sun spots, not freckles, because I'm not an overly freckly girl.

There were beige-coloured spots across my nose and around my eyes, even though I'm pretty much vigilant when it comes to sunscreen. Well, you've probably read that most of the damage done to your skin happens in your youth, so I was looking at the results of not being so vigilant when I was younger. I decided to check out whether they were treatable, and thought I'd do a story for you here, as well as for Long Beach Magazine, while I was at it.

I went to a great clinic in Torrance called Celibre, and the short version of this long story is that I didn't react well to the laser treatment. What was supposed to be temporary redness turned into extreme swelling and heat, redness, rashiness, and general OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE.

The fact is, I must have extremely sensitive skin. The practitioner Lori (who is also a nurse) did nothing wrong - I just didn't react well. As they say, **** happens. And sometimes it happens to our faces. I am much, much better now and I would heartily, 100% recommend this treatment, and Celibre. I had read up on the treatment and had a good sit-down with Lori before we began, and think it's something that anyone should do if they want to treat their sunspots.

I say this because I believe in the treatment itself, but the response of the company to my reaction was when I truly knew I was dealing with pros.

Some companies and practitioners might look the other way, tell me to go to a drug store for some lotions and creams, or just wait it out. But Lori communicated with me in the days that followed, and even sent me some green tea products to soothe and heal my skin.

I have now experienced Celibre's Fortified Green Tea Wash ($22)
Fortified Green Tea Cream ($55)
and Anti-Photoaging Sunscreen. This product is absolutely amazing - not only is it a great protectant with SPF 45, but it also imparts a glow to my face that leaves me healthier-looking than bare skin. I can't find the specific product online, but here's another of their sunscreens, the Elite Sunscreen Micronized Zinc SPF 30, $22.
I am a complete convert for their Green tea line of products. (I have written about Beautea's green tea line for the body in the past - seems I am a green tea kind of woman!) I'm getting in touch with Lori today to see if she has any recommendations for an eye cream and to order more Fortified Green Tea Cream, as well.

So the lesson of this tale from me to you is, don't be afraid of beauty services but know that you might react funny. And if you happen to, you'll be able to separate the truly caring, class acts from the not-so-much, by their own reaction.

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ModernGear Beauty: Shine on, sister

This is a confusing time of year for women - all the rules! No white after Labor Day. All the sales! But white pants are 50% off! To say nothing of make-up...fall calls for darker hues and more coverage but I just can't carry off bright red or dark burgundy lipstick very convincingly, and I am uncomfortable in layers of blush. So come fall, I end up trying but then feeling, and projecting, that I look like a 10-year-old wearing her mother's lipstick and cheek color.

Summer's sheers and shimmers are much more flattering to my pale complexion, and are infinitely easier to wear. The kids haven't gone back to school, there's still one more long weekend to come, and so these sparkly products shouldn't have to fade away just yet - and that's good because I'm just not ready to let go. The following were my go-to products for Summer '08, that I am still going to (and they can work for you brunettes and reds, too)...

If last summer was the year of Benefit Cosmetics High Beam ($24), a shimmery accent/complexion highlighter (which I still love),
then this is the year of Benefit Cosmetics Posietint ($28), which is pretty much what it says - a posie-coloured tint for cheeks and lips. It imparts a fresh, healthy tone and has been perfect for my lighter complexion, but I've also seen it work nicely on girlfriends with darker features.I've also been enjoying the $22 Smashbox O-Gloss Intuitive Lip Gloss. I bought it on a lark, because I thought the concept of a lip gloss with intuition sounded intriguing. Why decide between colors when it will do all the work for me?! I didn't think it would work or that I would like it - I actually bought it to try to debunk it for my dear readers but what do you know - I actually like the pink it brings out in my lips, very much...but I did decide to stay away from the Intuitive Cheek Color as it seemed to guess that the best color for my cheeks was, "Had Two Too Many Glass of Wine" pink...

I've also enjoyed the results of Prescriptives Illuminating Cream PotionTranslucent, $35.
The marketing information describes this product in pretty glowing terms: "The Magic: Instantly imparts an image of perfection." I don't know that I'd go quite that far, but I did enjoy how it seemed to hide imperfections nicely and even out my skin tone, with an overall brightening effect.

And the last in my arsenal of shine and shimmer products are Cargo EyeLighters.
Cargo EyeLighter White, $17

CARGO EyeLighter Pink, $17
Trust the smart people at Cargo to come up with a great product, and one I'll use for summers to come. You know that little tip of widening and brightening the eyes with white/bright at the corners and along the rims? This beauty - a double-ended highlighting pen - simplifies the process by not making you guess how to do it. One end of the EyeLighter is labeled Inner Corner and features a shimmering shadow , and the other, you guessed it, Outer Corner, with matte shadow. The product is dispensed automatically when you remove the cap from the EyeLighter pen, via a spring-loaded tip. No fuss, no muss.

That's also what I like about these products...use any one of them and people who haven't seen you for a while will notice a pretty, bright complexion and automatically assume think you've been summering in Monaco.
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ModernGear Video: Soapylove!

I met and interviewed Soapylove's Debbie Chialtas at the Appel and Frank shopping event in San Diego earlier in the year. Check it out...

I really love using Soapylove soap - it's just so yummy-smelling and I appreciate that Debbie doesn't use SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) in her soaps - an ingredient that is often found in all sorts of products from toothpaste and bubble bath to shampoos and soaps. SLS is the ingredient that brings a lot of bubbles, but it is also thought to bring skin and eye irritation, hormone imbalance, and more bad stuff.


My favourite product and the one that kids just love is the Soapsicle! There are 12 varieties (flavours, I think of them as!) of Soapsicles, like these:

Clearly Lovely, with sweet raspberry scent

Bath Blaster - cherry, lime and berry

Squeaky Melon - watermelon

Neopolitan
Nilla Sammie, chocolate

Soapsicles are so great for kids not only because they're a load of fun, but the stick enables little hands to get a grip, rather than let it slip! And they're good for gift-giving as they're priced at a very reasonable $8.00. (It might be a little early, but I'm already thinking about stocking stuffers!)

You can get Soapylove soap in some stores (see stores list on their web site), as well as at Soapylove.com, and there are also a few other soaps on her Etsy shop.

Make sure to wash behind your ears!

PS A Soapsicle goes to the first person to leave a comment on this blog post!

Wardrobe note: People have e-mailed to ask me what I am wearing in the opening video - my beautiful kaftan by LottyB! The Classic Mustique Kaftan, 3/4 length in beautiful chiffon silk. And in the tub, well, bubbles. Click here to read rest of story...