"cosmetics" news and stories

Consumer Reports has a little application to test your organic IQ. The program lets you select common items from the "aisles" of their virtual market and lets you know whether it is a good idea to buy them organic or not, as well as supplying the reasoning behind their advice. The three different categorizations are: buy organic as often as possible, buy organic if price is no object and don't bother buying organic.

They mostly recommend "organic if price is no object," but some of their specific recommendations include:

• Buying dairy organic as often as possible. It could cost twice as much as nonorganic, but will help you avoid hormones, antibiotics and "potential toxins in nonorganic feed." (The cost could be mitigated by opting for hormone free dairy).
• Buying organic pasta if price is no object to avoid over-processed food (Nutritional benefits could be increased by opting for whole wheat pasta, though).
• Don't bother with organic cosmetics. CR says that they are allowed to use the organic label if they are water-based and use water in which something organic (like lavender) has been soaked. They also say that they found violations of food labeling standards in their investigation of cosmetics companies.

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Sarah mentioned that studies have recently been done that show chocolate is good for your skin. One beauty company, Borba, took that seriously. They have just introduced a line of chocolate bars that will supposedly clear your skin. The bars are made out of Swiss dark chocolate and are infused with a parented "skin clarifying boost ."

Borba also has a few other edible beauty supplements, like age-defying Acai gummies and jelly beans, both of which are organic candies flavored with Acai, green tea and vitamin C, intended to improve the look and feel of the skin. The company also sells a number of variously flavored waters with different skin rejuvaniting purposes.

Perhaps I'm being too cynical, but I'm not sure that chocolate and gummi candies are going to give me perfect skin. And it is worth noting that products that market themselves as nutritional supplements to not have to have their claims proven by the FDA, so any results are most likely anecdotal. But as long as they taste good, I guess it's worth a shot, right? 

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Despite the fact that the advertising slogan for Cadbury Thins is "Thin is in," clearly Cadbury does not think so. The 100-calorie Canadian snack bar is being tucked away in tiny packaging at the end of the checkout counter and mixed in with the cosmetics selection at drug stores so that people who purchase the product will not feel embarrassed. And by people, Cadbury means women. Cadbury feels that not only do women feel guilty when they go to purchase chocolate, but they are ashamed to purchase the slimmer chocolate bar. If this marketing strategy works for the company in their Canadian market, it is only a matter of time before other snack food producers follow Cadbury's lead and begin to tuck their products where shoppers will not expect  to find them.

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