KRISSY FERRO'S CRUSADE
FOR SAFE COSMETICS
Envi-Image settles in for a chat with the website's founder Carrie Stevens and the founder of her favorite safe cosmetics brand, Krissy Ferro of Ferro Cosmetics
By Envi-Image
Envi-Image: With all the talk these days of environmental issues and the need to go "green," why are environmentally responsible cosmetics so important?
Carrie Stevens: What's important to me is getting the facts out, because I feel that women like me have been completely brainwashed about cosmetics. You might assume I am talking about the ads that are designed to make us think that if we use these products, they'll make us beautiful. But it goes far beyond that.
American women today have become so brainwashed that we think we are protected by the Food and Drug Administration, but we are not. We think we are using safe products because they are on our drugstores' shelves and we have no idea that, due to a lack of strict government regulations, some of these products contain chemicals that have the potential to give us everything from PMS to breast cancer.
We feel so secure because we see our favorite celebrities endorsing these products. We never even stop to think that the ingredients are contributing to rising gas prices. Why? Think about it! Petroleum jelly, or petrolatum, is a petrochemical product! And not only is petrolatum banned from use in cosmetics in Europe until its safety is proven, but it is also a possible carcinogen. There is no sane reason why petrochemicals need to be in our medicine cabinets or our make-up bags. And did you know that propylene glycol, used in many personal care products, is also an engine coolant? I don't want to put that stuff on my body or on that of my six-year-old son!
Our skin is our largest organ. It eliminates toxins, and it also absorbs them. Within 60 seconds of applying lotion to your skin, its chemicals are absorbed into your bloodstream.
Environmentally responsible cosmetics are important for our health, our economy, and also our planet's ecology. When we pour chemicals down our drains, we are poisoning the earth and disrupting our ecosystems. It has been reported that sunscreens washing off peoples' bodies into the ocean are destroying the coral reefs.
So, why not just use plant-derived ingredients to save ourselves and our planet?
Krissy Ferro: Women make the world go round, I think we're the quiet rulers of the world, so it's only natural we're the ones spearheading the safety of the cosmetics industry and taking care of our world!
Almost every woman is caring for someone other than herself first, for most of us starting from the moment we carry children in our bodies. And yet the greed factor within the cosmetics industry encourages us to slather oil spills all over our bodies and hurt our unborn.
But we women have the power to change that. We use the most cosmetics on a daily basis, and we decide which personal care products to use on our entire family.
E-I: What makes cosmetics or beauty products "green" or eco-friendly?
CS: From my perspective, that's a simple answer. A beauty product is "green" if it doesn't harm people, animals, or the planet, from its production to its consumption.
KF: "Green" cosmetics from my perspective, especially as a manufacturer and president of a beauty products company, means using ingredients that are naturally derived with a very low toxic rating. They should be safe enough to eat! And we manufacture them using little or no carbon footprint.
At Ferro Cosmetics, we even get as detailed as buying supplies from U.S. vendors only, to reduce the use of fossil fuels in shipping. We package our products in sustainable packaging made and purchased in the U.S., and we follow green office practices, using recycled-content catalog paper, unplugging everything at night, installing smart light bulbs, and using shredded office waste paper as shipping/packaging supplies. Green isn't just putting things in a recycled box. For us, it's a promise.
The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Safety Database was my go-to source when I started formulating my very first products. We use that as our "Formulating Goddess" for everything we create. Natural doesn't always mean safe, so we always check each natural ingredient on Skin Deep. We also guide women to this valuable resource so they can protect the rest of their family by checking on regular everyday personal-care products for safety and to find safer alternatives.
E-I: Why, from both a health and a beauty perspective, are eco-friendly beauty products a better choice for today's woman?
CS: Unfortunately the dangers of toxins in our products have always been there. You can draw links between the use of certain kinds of beauty products and the rise of such public-health problems as birth defects and cancer.
Hair color, for example, is especially dangerous. Studies have show that some chemicals in the hair dyes found on our grocery store shelves can cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and bladder cancer.
So, why choose those products? As intelligent consumers, we should buy products that do not hold the potential to cause harm. There are other options!
I'll tell you, I am they last person who would let my hair go gray, so I've done some experimenting. After a disaster with one natural brand, I tried Eco Colors, and the product was amazing. It delivers a look no different what I used to get from the toxic stuff, and I feel good knowing I won't get sick from it and that it's made by a company that cares about the environment.
So, to look great, and to feel better about making responsible choices, eco-friendly products are better for everyone.
KF: Well, I'm biased, because I think my Ferro products perform better. So if it's about how well it works, then the choice is easy.
However, since the world at large doesn't know about us yet, from the health perspective I'll tell you that women use on average 9 to 12 different beauty products each day, and some of us even more if you're the glam type. Now, factor in that when all those chemicals are loaded into our bodies and blend synergistically, they can magnify the chemical damage. We're mothers carrying children in our bodies, nurturing our loved ones, and of course ruling the world, so we need to be aware and protect ourselves.
From a beauty standpoint, eco-friendly products, including most of the ones I've tried, perform so much better. They make us look so much more beautiful. Health-wise, too, I feel so much better now using only natural products on my entire body. And I have definitely noticed the results, too!
E-I: How did each of you "discover" the other, and what made you click from the start?
CS: I had just read the award-winning book "Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Cosmetics Industry" by Stacy Malkin. So I was interested in finding a non-toxic makeup line, but one that would still be glittery and glamorous. I searched on the Skin Deep Cosmetics Safety Database website, and found that most of the impressive companies were out of Australia.
So I was shocked to find on the site Ferro Cosmetics, a company from my birthplace of Buffalo, New York. I emailed them to ask how to buy samples, and they recognized my name and told me that the founder, Krissy Ferro, would love to speak to me personally. Well, that turned into a three-hour phone call. I felt like she was my long-lost sister. We're both single moms, and we had the same goals about educating people, especially young girls, on the dangers of the cosmetics industry.
The next thing I knew, Krissy flew out to L.A. and did the makeup on the Playmates for my premiere Envi-Image shoots. We all loved her and her makeup was awesome!
KF: My brother was managing our affiliate department and recognized Carrie's name right away and replied to her. Carrie then sent a very heartfelt email about what she's doing and working on as well as how similar our personal lives are, being single mothers and the same age.
I thought, I really want to talk to her. I'm just going to call her. I hope she doesn't think I'm a star-stalker! But I really wanted to reach out to her on a personal level, since she was so warm and genuine and shared the same mission.
I called her and discovered that we had the same passion and mission behind the eco-friendly movement, and we both also wanted to keep sex appeal and fashion sense in the green movement, which usually has such a "granola" image.
Carrie has opened so many doors for me that I would have never had the opportunity to knock on, and she is such a truly giving, beautiful spirit. I'm so proud now to have Carrie become the new face of Ferro. I know that women will love her as much as I do, and she's now one of my dearest friends and, yes, like a sister to me. Our paths were destined to cross, and I plan on our combined efforts making us very wealthy eco-chic-hot-mommas!
E-I: What makes Ferro Cosmetics unique and exciting in its field?
KF: Ferro was founded upon making products that women truly wanted, but only using natural ingredients and formulating them to perform like the traditional makeup most women are used to.
But what really sets us apart is that we will not "sell out." We'll never manufacture in China, even though that costs pennies instead of dollars per product. We'll never buy from China for those same reasons.
We make our products by hand, fill each jar by hand, label by hand, shrink-wrap by hand, package orders like a fine boutique, and add some sass and fashion-forward appeal to natural cosmetics.
When was the last time you saw a "made-by-hand" product in the cosmetics aisle, or even one made in the U.S.A.? Or a product without chemicals, preservatives, or cheap fillers? Or one with all those qualities and made by a makeup artist?
CS: I have tried a lot of the mineral makeup lines, and Ferro definitely is my favorite. The foundation matched my skin perfectly, and it's so long-lasting that the models barely needed touching up, even though we were shooting in the hot sun.
I love the shimmer effect of the Radiance Foundation and I love the Rose Mineral Veil. The line looks incredible on my skin and it also keeps my skin clear and healthy, because I don't have to wear sunscreen under it. The minerals are a natural sunscreen. I don't like liquid foundations; I feel like they stick in my pores and make them really visible. Ferro Ultimate Foundation is loose powder and it makes my skin look like porcelain. Ferro makes really fun eye shadow colors, too.
E-I: What makes Envi-Image a unique and exciting new Internet presence?
CS: Envi-Image is unique because we are bringing what I consider to be what many people consider the ultimate role models for self-indulgence, Playboy Playmates and the Hollywood scene, and showing the world that they can look just as sexy in environmentally friendly clothes and nontoxic makeup. There are no granola girls here!
Another unique and invaluable feature of Envi-Image will be our product reviews. The Cosmetics Safety Database has made it easy for us to find out whether or not a product is harmful, but there's not a lot of resources where people can find out if or how particular products work. So, I'll be a guinea pig and test the well-rated products and write reviews.
KF: Women always want to know the truth about a celebrity's choices on products and beauty and fashion, and usually you can only get a generic overview of what they use and who they are. But Carrie's Envi-Image brings together all her years of glitz and glam, combined with über-talented people working with her, to show how to make it green and easily attainable for us regular folks.
Everyone I met when I was in L,A. was so genuine, friendly, and real, and Carrie's got a business that is unique and that women need.
C'mon, where else can you find a hot, smart businesswoman featuring great eco-friendly products, with Playmates, fabulous designers, beautiful photographs, and the best of everything, all in one place?
E-I: What plans, goals, and dreams do you both have for the current and future relationship between Envi-Image and Ferro Cosmetics?
CS: I plan on wearing Ferro all the time, because I love it! I've been having a lot of fun testing all the colors.
KF: I only see our businesses more entwined and thriving off of each other, because to me each business combined brings forth every major element of a woman's fashion, style, and lifestyle, into the smartest and sexiest one-stop shop. Our goals and visions are so right on that you'd think we've been talking and developing this from the start.
What we're doing makes me think of that old story, "The Emperor's New Clothes." It's almost like we're the ones standing with our clothes on while the rest of the liars in the industry stand fully naked, since we're "exposing" the naked truths about the chemicals and the lies they've told us for years.
E-I: If you had to look and predict 10 years or more into the future, what would be your ideal vision of the green relationship between women, their beauty products, and the planet?
KF: I see women looking a lot more gorgeous, since naturally derived, safe ingredients actually work better anyway. They'll live longer, with healthier children and pregnancies, happy knowing the truths about the cosmetic industry and knowing exactly where and how to find the good guys, like us. I see the current big brands scrambling in the lab, trying to fix their false claims and trying to rebuild trust with American women. And this is 10 years from now, even though they should be doing this right now. But they'll ride the wave of ignorance as long as they can.
CS: I would like to see our government ban toxic ingredients and pesticide use. I'd particularly like our American government to pay attention to what the European Union and the Japanese government are doing.
I'd like to see a government that says to other nations that are so far ahead of us now in thinking green, "Thanks for all that research you guys did proving those chemicals are unsafe, instead of spending millions of dollars doing our own studies. We'll follow your lead and ban these chemicals as well.
Imagine a United States where our school systems incorporated safe personal care into health classes, and made sustainable living a mandatory classroom subject. That's where I'd like to see us 10 years from now, and I know my friend Krissy and I are working together to make that kind of dream a reality.
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