We’re honored that Natural Solutions Magazine has selected 2 Alima Pure products to win their 2008 ‘Beauty With a Conscience’ awards: 

Best Foundation - Alima Satin Matte Foundation 
“Never cakey, this light powder imparted a healthy radiance and all-day coverage. Plus, their 60 shades are bound to match any skintone.” 

Best Blush - Alima Satin Matte Blush 
“This color left our cheeks with a lovely glow that garnered us a boatload of compliments whenever we wore it.” 

Our dear friends at Talulah won ‘Best Cleanser for Dry to Normal Skin’ for their fabulous Vanilla Bean Cleanser.

A tribute to the sirens of the silver screen, the Alima Pure holiday gift collection is presented in two acts designed to create classic, festive looks. With versatile shades to take you from matinee to evening premier, the Act I and Act II Silver Screen sets offer a modern take on vintage Hollywood glamour.

 Act I: Four coordinated shadows to create sculpted and smoky looks for the eye

Lana – a dusting of creamy shimmer with the graceful whisper of pink to swath the lid in sparkle

Ingrid – a pearly taupe to deepen contrast and provide depth and drama
Ava – pure sterling silver, sparkly and rich for true movie star sheen
Bette – a deep, velvety blue with hints of silver to add mystery

Act II: All you need to create classic contoured cheekbones updated for natural, everyday wear

Harlow – a softly pearled highlighter with no obvious shimmer to brighten the skin and illuminate facial structure
Garbo – matte, neutral brown to create depth and drama with subtle contouring
Leigh – a beautiful, neutral rose; nearly matte but with the hint of copper shimmer to create the perfect starlet glow

Each holiday gift collection is $25 (a $36 value) and $2 from the sale of each will be donated to the Global Fund for Women.  Alima Pure products are available at www.alimapure.com and at select boutiques and spas nationwide. 

As the holiday party season approaches, it’s not too early to think about your “look” and what features you want to emphasize this season.  Planning ahead will mean you’ll have more time to spend on your hair and outfit, or having fun at the soiree!

The three things that come to mind for holiday makeup are shimmer, dramatic eyes and red lips.  Since you don’t generally want to use more than two of these at a time, the looks below are festive but still tasteful.

For holiday shimmer and shine, go with cool-toned shimmers (silver and white-based shimmers) for an “ice-princess” type look; or choose warmer, gold-based shimmers for a more traditional holiday glow.  Red lips create a dramatic look and can be easily achieved by blending a red-toned blush with a clear lip balm or gloss.

Shimmer powders carry the shimmer theme from your face to your body, and can look beautiful in low-light situations.  They can be dusted on with a fluffy brush, or blended with your favorite body lotion for an even and more subtle glow.

Ice Princess look 

• Apply Opal Luminous Shimmer Eyeshadow all over the lid and brow bone.  
• Use Sky Pearluster Eyeshadow on the lid, with Zen Pearluster shadow smudged along the lash line and extending past the outer corner.  
• Finish with a strong defined line of Black Satin Matte Eyeliner.  
• On the cheeks, use a light dusting of Lotus Luminous Shimmer Blush.  
• Dust Whisper Luminous Shimmer Powder over the rest of the face, shoulders and décolletage.  
• Finish with Acai lip balm.

Gleaming Gold look –

• Apply Soleil Luminous Shimmer Eyeshadow over the entire lid and brow bone.  
• Blend Pyrite Luminous Shimmer Eyeshadow into the crease and along the lower lash line.  
• Add a touch of Sphinx Luminous Shimmer Eyeshadow in the outer corner and blend well. 
• Line with Paparazzi Luminous Shimmer liner on a damp brush.  
• Extend the liner past the outer corner, and angle it gently across and up from the mid-point of the eye, rather than following the downward slope of the lid. 
• Dust Café Luminous Shimmer Powder along cheekbones, shoulders and décolletage.  
• If Café is too dark for your body, try blending just a touch of it with your body lotion.  
• Add a spot of  Honey Rose Satin Matte Blush on the apples of cheeks.  
• Cranberry Lip Balm will give lips a muted red stain that will complete the look.

Hollywood Glamour look –Use the new limited edition Silver Screen Act I and Act II sets to achieve a look worthy of a starlet.  

• Apply Lana Luminous Shimmer Eyeshadow over the entire lid and brow bone.  
• Smudge Black Satin Matte liner or Bette Luminous Shimmer Eyeshadow along the top and bottom lash-line, extending past the outer corner.  
• Blend Ingrid Luminous Shimmer Eyeshadow or Garbo Contour lightly into the crease.  
• Dust Harlow Highlighter over the high areas of the face (cheekbones, forehead), then 
• Add a light spot of Leigh blush on the apples of the cheeks and blend well.  
• Contour under the cheekbones and jawline with Garbo Contour.  
• Mix Geranium Satin Matte Blush with your favorite clear lip balm or gloss for a beautiful red lip.  

Mineral pigments, including titanium dioxide, are very highly regulated by the FDA, and must adhere to strict standards for purity, particle size, etc. Frankly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

The term ‘natural’ is bandied about in the cosmetics world quite a bit these days. Cosmetic grade mineral pigments are generally considered to be natural because they are purified, natural substances. One industry standard bearer, BDIH, has a comprehensive list of guidelines they use to certify natural cosmetics, and you can read about them here.

What is not natural are the many polysyllabic synthetic chemicals that populate the long ingredients lists of most conventional cosmetics, and even many claiming to be natural. You can find some of the worst offenders here.

Alima Pure worked hard for our BDIH natural cosmetics certification, and we’re proud to carry the symbol of assurance that our ingredient deck has been carefully audited, and falls within meaningful guidelines.

If you have any questions, please ask us. We love hearing from you.

Alima display

You’ll find the Alima Pure corner in the natural cosmetics department. So on your next trip to Paris, between fabulous meals and sightseeing, stop by Le Bon Marché and get yourself a little something that you know you’ll use!

How do some mineral cosmetics manage to call themselves organic? They add a little organic something - corn starch,  lavender oil, or plant extracts, for example.  Just a little bit, and they can claim to be ‘organic minerals’, however non-sensical that may sound to a chemist. And with that they need preservatives, because they are no longer inert.

We prefer to keep it simple. Pure minerals, and nothing more. It’s really all you need.

We didn’t believe it at first, either. But after a week of use, Unpetroleum Jelly has won our hearts. Smooth it on your nails a couple of times each day, and you won’t believe the transformation. Rub it into your cuticles and they will become soft and well behaved. Each additional application seems to make nails stronger and more lustrous. Okay, maybe it’s not quite as shiny as polish, but we think it’s infinitely better. You only need a tiny bit at a time, so a tube will last forever. It’s great for keeping feet soft, too.

If passed, the law would require small cosmetics companies to pay thousands of dollars a year in registration fees and comply with burdensome paperwork that would serve only to put them out of business.

Alima Pure supports reasonable laws that protect consumers and regulate cosmetic chemical safety. But when the compliance hoops become too burdensome nobody benefits except the big brand cosmetics companies with their crack legal teams and vast resources. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.

After discussions with EWG, we discovered that the reclassification is related to their mistaken belief that nano-sized titanium dioxide particles, which are often used in sunscreens because of their transparency, are a component of mineral cosmetics. We would like to go out on a limb and say that it is very unlikely that any mineral cosmetics manufacturer, not just Alima Pure, uses nano-sized titanium dioxide and zinc oxide for precisely this reason: nano-sized particles are so tiny that they are nearly transparent. Transparency is great in sunscreen, but totally useless in, say, foundation, where coverage is the point.

We’ve been in contact with EWG about correcting their records. Meanwhile, Alima Pure is committed to bringing you the very safest, purest cosmetics available, and we are following this issue carefully. As you know, all of our products are compliant with the European Union Cosmetics Directive and the strict standards of the BDIH. For our part, we intend to err on the side of caution in our formulations. We’ll certainly keep you posted as this issue unfolds, and please let us know if you have any questions.

We’re delighted to have you join the conversation about natural beauty, healthy living, cosmetic safety, and whatever cool, fun topics happen to strike our fancy. We’ll be testing skincare products, doing mineral makeup makeovers, chatting with practitioners and cosmetic chemists about the latest, greatest (and not so great) developments in the field, and even submitting ourselves to strenuous spa evaluations. We’re passionate about green beauty, and look forward to your thoughts and ideas on the topic. Pour yourself a cup of tea, and make yourself at home. We look forward to hearing from you!