<$Susan Goodwill$>

Monday, March 20, 2006

Theatre Eye Candy

I'm not sure where I got this pix or where this gorgeous beast is in real life, but I've had the image on my computer for ages. It serves as one of my touchstones for my Kate London Mystery Series. Kate and her aunt Kitty (a former B-grade movie star) own the Egyptian Theatre in the small town of Mudd Lake on Michigan's west coast.
The Egyptian in my series is slightly less ornate than this beauty (and in much worse shape), but it has a gorgeous inverted stained glass pyramid chandelier brought back from Vienna by Kate's grandparents, retired Vaudeville performers.

Killer Lipstick??? Phth!!!!

Happy first day of Spring!

In the ignorance is bliss department, be forewarned, today's post tells you things that I myself would rather not know. But *sigh,* now I do.
So, I'm gonna tell you.
Maybe you know it already, I tend to live in a cave and learn these things late. If you know this, feel free to skip and play a game of online Bingo.

It's not your safe June Cleaver world anymore, Little Ms. Beaver.
Like it ever was.

There's this to know about lipstick (and makeup in general).
Don't mess with my lipstick, you say!!
I NEED my lipstick.
Me too.
Argh. Again.
You know that Bad Stuff can be put in makeup and hair products, right? If not, read on.
Deep breath, here we go:
The European Union has banned a major ingredient found in many US-made cosmetics: phthalates. Personally, I would never trust an ingredient that starts with "phth." It obviously has something funny going on. Go to the links below for information more eye-opening than extra plumping mascara. I clipped a bit for you here.
"'After three decades of extensive studies [on] carcinogens and reproductive toxins, the EU banned two phthalates...'It is outrageous that American women aren't given the same protections that European women are. How can a whole continent of women be protected, yet Americans ignore this?'" ...
Some good news though:
" L'Oreal and Revlon said in letters to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics that they are in conformity with the new law. "

"... the FDA, by law, can do little. In the agency's own words, 'a cosmetic manufacturer may use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without an approval from FDA.'"

That is scary, although lately I have realized the FDA is not always My Friend.

http://valleyadvocate.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:105698
This gives more on the battle to make our lipstick as safe as a French woman's.

The phthalate ingredient to look for and avoid is on labels as DEP, DBP, or DMP.
Here's a good article giving more details for the phthalate story and suggesting products that do not contain them :
http://www.dermadoctor.com/pages/newsletter237.asp

Ouch.
That hurt.
Sodium lauryl sulfate and propylene glycol are not too great either, but it's too depressing to give up my Coconut Lime Verbena body cream. And just about everything else. Between them, these ingredient are in everything from most baby wipes to toothpaste. Some brands don't have them. Sensodyne toothpaste, for instance. If you want the gory details, here's the link.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/34879
Now this isn't news to many. And this info has been around on phthalates for a year or more, but it was news to me. I'm still squinty- eyed from coming out of the cave, I guess.

Sorry if I either told you junk you new already or ruined your day at the salon.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled and much more cheery programming.