by Jane Waide
The Green Beauty Team is a unique, eco-centered site dedicated to a holistic mind, body and spirit
approach to beauty. Founded by international beauty expert and make-up artist Kristen Arnett, the team
is comprised of seven experts, including Arnett, each an authority in her own field. We caught up with
her between Fashion Week and heading off to a photo shoot in Mexico.
Where did the inspiration come from for the Green Beauty
Team website?
Honestly, it came from a need to change my own products to
something more natural. Then i realized that professionally i
wanted to do the same thing. it felt hypocritical to be putting
things on people’s faces that i didn’t want on my own skin or to
be touching my own hands. Originally, the site was meant to be a
way to put information out there. Then, as it progressed, it just
got bigger and bigger and i realized all the things we could do.
That’s how it formed and it’s been a labor of love since!
How did you go about selecting the specialists for your team?
i had my criteria, which included that each member be passion-
ately living examples of what they preach. in the end, i chose people
i really respected. i already knew that they were green and healthy
and holistic and passionate about what they do.
I’m going to ask the same question you asked in the film clip on
your Green Beauty Team website. If we were to take a peek
inside your makeup bag, what would we find?
My personal makeup bag is tiny. i use RMS beauty crème pots
(rmsbeauty.com) for just about everything on my face. i use
Shobha eyebrow pencil (myshobha.com); it’s a brand here in new
york. you’d find Korres mascara (korresusa.com) and Physicians
Formula Organic Wear eyeliner and their tinted moisturizer
(organicwearmakeup.com). i also use youngblood Mineral pow-
der (ybskin.com) to set the makeup, if needed. and that’s it! i love
tinted lip balm for summer. burt’s bees (burtsbees.com) is the first
one that comes to mind, and there’s a company called Jenulence
(jenulence.com). They make a lip balm from alkanet root that’s a
beautiful, deep color. it’s really nice and it smells really earthy. i
was surprised that it’s so natural. i just got some lip balms from
alima (www.alimapure.com) that aren't even on the market yet.
They’re very conditioning and i love the peppermint smell!
Please tell us what we should be looking for in a sunscreen and
what should we be looking out for?
This is a topic of conversation i’ve been on for a couple of weeks
now. i used to wear sunscreen every single day. Then people
52 a diSTinCTiVe STyLe . COM
began saying the chemicals in sunscreens are either nanoparticles
that are actually being absorbed by your skin or they absorb the
UVa rays and basically cook in your skin. The jury is still out and
there just isn’t enough information. you want to avoid chemical
sunscreens. My sunscreen of choice is a mineral sunscreen. it’s
hard to absorb and goes on white on the skin. it’s probably the
safest because it’s sitting on the surface of my skin … and it’s
really, physically, blocking the sun.
Is there a toxic ingredient that keeps showing up in products?
Parabens. They’re everywhere: in skincare, makeup and even in
baby wipes. There’s so much information currently being released
that links them to breast cancer and other diseases, making it an
ingredient to be concerned about.
Have you any age-defying techniques for women over 40?
Coloring in the eyebrows with pencil or powder helps significantly.
it helps to frame and “lift” the eye. When you add fullness to the
eyebrow, it minimizes facial length and registers in a subliminal
way. Stay away from black or brown eyeliners drawn on the top
of the lower lid. instead, go for a soft, diffused look.
Is it ever too late for women to begin using green cosmetics?
no! The more healthy and vibrantly you want to live, the more i
would encourage you to change as many things as you can to give
your body a break. but you don’t have to change it all at once. i’d
love for the Green beauty Team website to be a way for people to
say, “OK, i want to make a change. Let me find something on here
that will help me make that change in the best manner possible.”
How about products our readers can make at home?
Jojoba oil and lavender essential oil are the two “at home” prod-
ucts i use the most. Jojoba oil is very nurturing for the skin. it’s as
close to the natural sebum production of the skin as any other oil
you’re going to find outside of the human body. The skin recog-
nizes it and knows what to do with it. you can mix in coffee
grounds or sugar to make a scrub. i mix lavender essential oil with
jojoba, as well as with my unscented soaps, and even add it to my
bathwater for a nice relaxing bath.