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Earth Day 2012, Sensible Six Beauty Products: Hair, Skin, & Nails

This slideshow shows my top six favorite hair, skin, and nail products that are considered sensible for Earth Day. Some of them are natural and some of them are eco-friendly, but all of them are just plain smart. Click through the photographs to see each product and learn more about them!

The Safer Nail Polish: Zoya Nail Lacquer

Zoya Nail Lacquer is toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate free. Using safer nail polish allows you to paint your nails as often as you'd like without worrying about harsh chemicals or irritants, especially if you're pregnant.

The Zoya Badge of Safety

Zoya is considered a safe and healthy polish for pregnant moms and smart women worldwide. This is also great if you have children, such as teenagers, and would prefer them to use safer nail lacquer.

Zoya Beach Collection - Summer 2012

The six-piece Zoya Beach Collection for summer 2012 features bright hues for pretty fingers and toes! I love that this collection mixes brights with pastels.

Zoya Surf Collection - Summer 2012

The Zoya Surf Collection for summer 2012 features shimmering, metallic versions of the previous "Beach Collection." The colors are very similar except that these have a ton of gorgeous shimmer in them.

The Natural Cleanser: Simple Moisturizing Facial Wash

This cleanser contains no perfumes or dyes, as well as vital vitamins and nutrients that your skin needs. If your skin is sensitive or you would prefer to use a face wash with as few additives as possible, this is a great option!

Simple Moisturizing Facial Wash

I stumbled across this face wash in my local drugstore, which happens to be a skincare brand from the United Kingdom. Since this product contains no perfumes or dyes, it is super gentle on your skin.

The Natural Shampoo & Conditioner in One: L'oreal EverCreme Cleansing Conditioner

This brand new product is a shampoo and a conditioner in one. It contains no sulfate, which often only further dries out your hair. This is a low-lathering formula that you place on your scalp and hair, massage in, and then rinse out.

L'oreal EverCreme Cleansing Conditioner

This product not only saves time, but it also saves your hair. The sulfate-free product keeps your hair from dying out, especially if your hair is coarse, curly, or color-treated. I really love this new product and have noticed a huge difference in my hair!

The All-Natural Makeup Primer: Reviva Labs Makeup Primer

Makeup primer is a must-have for applying underneath foundation and/or concealer. This product will fill in lines, conceal pores, and control excess oil. Most makeup primer's break my skin out, but this all-natural formula leaves your skin prepped and primed, smooth as can be, for makeup.

Reviva Labs Makeup Primer

The ingredients in this makeup primer include Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Olive Oil, and Coenzyme Q10. There are no harsh ingredients like silicone in it which tends to cause breakouts.

The Sea Moisturizer: Gabriel Cosmetics Seaweed Nourishing Moisturizer

This moisturizer is formulated for normal to combination skin, and is super protective for your skin. With blue green algae from the sea and rose hip seed oil, it will smooth your skin and prevent aging.

Global Inspired Natural Beauty: Bella Lucce Tropical Hawaiian Fruit Peel

Bella Lucce is a globally inspired spa and beauty company that creates products from nature around the world. This company has been featured in Vegetarian Times for their cruelty-free, natural products. Every product feels so luxurious and brings the spa to your home. Also, the owner and company is from Columbia, South Carolina, where I reside!

Bella Lucce Tropical Hawaiian Fruit Peel

The beautiful packaging is only half of the luxury. This face peel comes in powder form, which you then mix with some water or warm milk. The attached spa fan brush helps you apply the product. This product can be used on the face and on the body.

Bella Lucce Tropical Hawaiian Fruit Peel

This peel has natural vitamins and enzymes harvested from tropical coconuts, mangoes, papayas, and pineapples. This will purify your skin and transport you to a tropical place. Plus, having the product in powder form means it will last you for a very long time!

Beauty Gala's Earth Day 2012 Appreciation

Questions or comments about any of the products listed here? Feel free to comment below. Stay tuned for a makeup slideshow!

[ALL PHOTOGRAPHY ON THIS SITE IS TAKEN BY REBECCA KAZIMIR. NO PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION.]

[This article contains a sample product sent by PR. Beauty Gala's opinions are our own, and we commit ourselves to honesty in our reviews and descriptions at all times. Sample products are not guaranteed a review. For consideration of your product, please send all PR requests to Rebecca@beautygala.com, or by using our Press Inquiry Form.]

Happy Friday everyone! It feels like it has been a long week over here, but I am definitely glad it’s the weekend and time to relax again. I decided to pull out some drugstore products to create an eye look because there are so many great drugstore available options out there! If your budget doesn’t call for high-end makeup you can still purchase products with great pigmentation and create gorgeous looks. This look, Violet Sunset, is inspired by my favorite color of all-time…purple, and of course the sky during a sunset, when it takes on various shades of bronze, orange, and coral. Two unsuspecting colors complement each other very well by blending seamlessly into each other, and they each make the other stand out. To see how to achieve this look, the products I used, and more pictures, read more…

When it comes to foundations, I’m always trying the newest ones that come out and hoping they are the holy grail of product for me. Fortunately, I stumbled upon L’oreal True Match Foundation last year, and I have been loving it since then. Also, get this…you can actually download the L’oreal Matchmaster App for your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch and get a personalized match to your complexion and skin tone, with notes about what type of undertones your skin has! Where will technology take us next? To see my review, photographs, swatches, how I apply this foundation, as well as some screenshots of the amazing Matchmaster app, read more…

I’m so, so excited to bring details of this sweepstakes to you all! Have you ever dreamed of being a VIP at New York Fashion Week? Well, Kohls and Rock & Republic are offering you a chance of a lifetime! When I want to feel like a total rockstar, this is my go-to look. I pile on the eyeliner, the false lashes, and add some glitter to it. Want to have the time of your life in NYC? To enter, read more…

While attempting to come up with a makeup look using my L’oreal Project Runway Palette in Audacious Amazon’s Gaze, I literally found myself staring at the palette over and over again, drawing no creativity at all. My final creation was very spontaneous, and I decided to take the colors and create an 80′s-inspired eye look that is colorful but still wearable. This is a great look for the weekend, or even for Halloween if you plan on doing an 80′s themed costume. I was happy that the shades in the palette were buildable, meaning they didn’t come onto your eye so richly pigmented that you feel like you can’t wear this look out anywhere. I wore this eye look out on the weekend while shopping, and it added that colorful, fun pop to my eyes without overwhelming them. To see how I achieved this look, read more…

I was adamantly searching for the Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Collection when I stumbled across a huge display from L’oreal that was all limited edition. There were four separate “compartments” to the display, where each had a specific makeup look and corresponding eye palettes, blush, and lipstick to go along with it. The one that attracted me the most was the Project Runway Eyeshadow Quad in Audacious Amazon’s Gaze, mostly because the shades were so bright yet they also reminded me a lot of fall. I wasn’t sure how the quality would be, since two of the four eyeshadows are matte, but I decided to go ahead and give it a chance anyway because I can see myself creating a colorful yet autumn-inspired makeup look with the palette. To see photographs and swatches, read more…

A natural-looking, face enhancing, “Blushed Beauty” makeup tutorial. read more…

I found this lovely L’oreal display at an Ulta in Florida on my trip, and it was composed of a brand new colorful collection for summer. Mark my words…yellow is hot this spring and summer, with models wearing it all over the runway, and the Queen of England showing up in a beautiful pastel yellow skirt-suit for the Royal Wedding. L’oreal Yellow Seahorse Nail Polish is a bright solar yellow with very noticeable orange sheen. It was difficult at times to pick up just how strong and gorgeous the orange sheen in this polish is, but it adds the perfect amount of pop to the color. Ironically, this polish is a great dupe for Nicole by OPI’s “Yellow, It’s Me” from last year, which was also my very first Beauty Gala post ever. To see photographs and swatches, read more…

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L’oreal’s newest mascara to hit the market is the Double Extend Eye Illuminator, which has a double-end opening with two separate wands to lengthen, volumize, separate, and illuminate eyelashes. This mascara is no larger than your typical mascara, only it has two ends that both twist to open up, each working to make your peepers look extra beautiful and luminous. Upon seeing this in the store, I was intrigued, as this comes in several different shades, including one to enhance each eye color, and one for all eye colors. Since Beauty Gala readers have all color eyes, I decided to go with the universal shade, which is Blackest Black with a Crystal illuminator. To see swatches and how effective this drugstore mascara is at waking up your eyes, read more…