Did you know to get that pearly or sparkly shimmer in nail polish, fish scales  are often used? Yep. After learning more about SpaRitual nail lacquers, which are vegan and free of toluene, formaldehyde and DBP, I’m beginning to examine my beauty products more closely.

In fact, DBP, or dibutyl phthalate, is an ingredient that was recently banned in the European Union as it’s been linked to cancer in lab animals among other things. Although companies like OPI claim the level of DBP in their polishes is so low that it poses no health hazard, I have to ask myself if it’s really worth the risk? And polishes like SpaRitual’s “Hope Springs Eternal” below look great and last just as long (I’ve tried them) as other top-of-the-line polishes, so I’m making the switch.

Another brand I came across recently is Yes To, Inc whose tagline is, “Paraben Free—Cruelty Free—Natural, organic skin, hair and lip care.” While on the hunt at Target for a new nighttime moisturizer, these products caught my eye. I purchased the Yes To Carrots Night Moisturizing Cream and absolutely love it. I require any moisturizer I purchase to smell good, particularly one going on my face, and this one feels and smells amazing.

Want to learn more? Here are some green beauty blogs I found:

• Gorgeously Green – http://www.gorgeouslygreen.com/
• Clean Green Beauty – http://cleangreenbeauty.com/
• The Green Girls – http://www.thegreengirls.tv/

Tell me some of your favorite green beauty products below!

To celebrate its new Believe Collection for Spring 2010, SpaRitual is asking fans to unleash their creativity and imagination and answer the question, what do you believe?

They’ve started the ‘Believe’ video sweepstakes that runs until April 21st and asks people to upload a video or record a video response on the SpaRitual Believe sweepstakes page hosted on YouTube expressing their unique take on what matters, inspires, or stirs passion — in short, what they believe.

To get inspired, watch the SpaRitual Believe video below.

Winners will be selected by an incredible panel of judges, featuring:

• Stephanie Yaggy, Executive Editor, Nailpro
• Hannah Lee, Executive Editor, Nails
• Shel Pink, Founder and VP, SpaRitual

A weekly winner will be selected from entries submitted from Wednesday through Tuesday at 11:59pm PDT and will receive the SpaRitual Believe Collection and Multi-Tasker Base & Topcoat in One.

One final grand prize winner will be selected on April 21. The grand prize winner will receive $500 worth of SpaRitual Products including the new Believe Spring 2010 collection.

When you enter, be sure to also email your real name, age and birthday, mailing address, and name of YouTube account holder to: TheSpaRitual [at] http://gmail.com/

Disclosure: In addition to being a contributor to bub.blicio.us, I also work at FutureWorks where one of my clients is SpaRitual, but that doesn’t make this sweepstakes any less fabulous.

By Miiko Mentz (@miikomentz) and Alison McNeill (@alisonmcneill)

As we head on into the weekend we thought we’d get you in a weekend spa mood by sharing more interviews from the 2009 Face & Body Expo. So far we’ve shared our interviews with Danielle Farnan of GoSmile and Lisbeth Boger of Eminence Organic Skin Care. Next up are Sanitas Skincare and Sparitual.

Josie Dembikzak of Sanitas Skincare talked to us about the importance of having good skin and how it comes from the inside out. Sanitas skincare has both nutritional and topical skincare products. And we got to throw back a couple of shots (no, they didn’t contain alcohol) with Josie, check it out:

In the video below, Anya Whisenhunt of Sparitual shares with us the Sparitual philosophy of creating eco-friendly products, and she talks about a few of their vegan products from nail polish to bath salts. Sparitual nail care and spa product formulations are naturally colored and free of unhealthy ingredients such as synthetic dyes, formaldehyde and toluene, which are common ingredients found in most mainstream nail polish brands.

Sanitas has not jumped on the social media bandwagon and does not have a twitter handle or Facebook fan page (maybe after reading this they will engage). However, we did find an active Sparitual Facebook fan page and a Twitter handle (@SpaRitual), but no tweets. I suspect that the company didn’t create the Twitter handle. However, they should claim it because they have lots of customers and fans talking about them on Twitter.

The next time you’re at the spa, perhaps this weekend, ask about Sanitas Skincare and Sparitual.

Related Posts:

Face and Body Expo 2009: GoSmile

Face & Body Expo 2009: Eminence Organics