Green Beauty all my questions by Liz McCarthy

I couldn't be more thrilled to have this expert and lovely person who has been guiding me through the quagmire as I got on the natural skincare train couple of months ago. She has unearthed some of my favourite chemical free finds by far, and always knows exactly what you're after, so do check out A Beautiful World for hot new brands from the US and all her expertise in one place. MY TOP NATURAL SUMMER BEAUTY PICKS:

1. From Josh Rosebrook, my favourite new find from LA, the all in one summer moisturiser with sunscreen inbuilt: Nutrient Day Cream SPF
2. A fresh, gel cleanser for summer days that doesn't make your face feel tight - morning favourite of mine right now: Yuli Halcyon Cleanser
3. For the summer perk up of fake tan without the chemicals - hot from Santa Monica this is heaven, golden skin with none of the smell or crap: Chocolate Sun Glow
4. And the cream deodorant sticks that smell amazing, do the job and don't fill your lymph glands up with nasties: Schmidt's Sticks Calendula & Ylang Ylang
5. Just the most incredible skin balm I have ever come across. Luxurious, melty and smelling of Tahitian Monoi, this is what I would save my pennies for, to smell, look and feel incredible for the summer! I'm fully hooked: Bleu Body Wax

Lizzie talks to Liz McCarthy, Founder A Beautiful World Liz McCarthy is CEO of online beauty website abeautifulworld. She has had over 20 years experience within the beauty industry with a background in advertising and marketing. Her passion lies in bringing the latest and greatest in organic and Natural-Beauty to the UK. She’s a firm believer that you don’t need to compromise on efficacy or design when choosing cleaner beauty. She lives in Chiswick with her husband and beautiful daughter Aggy, and owns way too many handbags. 1). Coming from a brilliant career in beauty marketing and advertising, what was it that made you start A Beautiful World? I had a wonderful fifteen years working in advertising and marketing for some of the world’s leading beauty brands, I spent a lot of time in the US specifically New York and LA. While there I saw that the green beauty evolution was fast becoming a revolution. Historically organic and natural products were a little dull, ineffective and a bit ‘knit your own slippers’. In the states there was a huge movement towards organic and Natural-Beauty with brands like Indie Lee, Josh Rosebrook and Dahliana which weren’t willing to compromise. They were high end, and looked and performed just as well as their synthetic counterparts. I came back to the UK and I couldn’t find them anywhere. I knew I didn’t want to put harsh toxins on my skin, but I couldn’t find brilliant, effective natural skincare. My mission was to bring this beautiful beauty to the UK, so I set up abeautifulworld.co.uk, a ecomm site which stocks the worlds best in organic and Natural-Beauty, ‘Beauty without Compromise’. 2). When you were starting to shift away from chemical filled products, and noticing a difference in your skin, what would you say to our readers would be the first thing to look t changing up? AS it’s overwhelming to look at changing the whole shooting match in one go! Yes, I totally understand that it can be overwhelming to try to change everything. I’d suggest operating a one in one out process. As you finish a product, then look to buy a new one that is the same but it’s natural equivalent. The one I’d really recommend looking to change is your cleanser. This will have an immediate and dramatic effect on your skin, the right cleanser won’t strip your skin of it’s natural oils and will immediately make you look more radiant. 3) Equally as I get better at reading labels to see what I want to avoid, it can still be a minefield. What are your top tips when you’re starting out, for avoiding the worst culprits. Your skin can absorb up to 60% of what you put on it, so it is really important to understand what’s in your product. Its also a learning process. The more labels you read the more fluent you’ll get on which ingredients are to be avoided. Here’s the top six biggies to look out for;

• Parabens – often used as a preservative, nasty links with cancer
• Phthalates – used to keep products fluid, hormone disruptors
• Synthetic Fragrance – look for plant based fragrance, synthetic links to asthma and headaches
• Sodium Lauryl / Laureth Sulfate – found in shampoos and soaps that later, an irritant
• Formaldehyde – used as a product adhesive and preservative, links to cancer
• Aluminium – often found in deodorant, blocks pores and links to cancer

If in doubt look it up on a brilliant website called ewg which will give you a ‘safe’ rating. https://www.ewg.org/, or buy your products from a site which checks them all for you, like we do at abeautifulworld.co.uk. 4) Now you have the dream of picking and choosing all your favourite brands and products from all over the world. I know you like sourcing unknown or exclusive brands that are effective and all natural, how do you go about finding them? I read the story about the sheep farm in New Zealand! I like to think of myself as a ‘beauty hunter’ I spend a lot of my time travelling the world, finding the latest and greatest in natural and organic beauty. What really interests me is what the future looks like, what are they using in the plastic surgery clinics in LA, what’s the latest ingredient to come from the depths of the rainforest, or even from below the glaciers. We’ve also built a fantastic beauty community on abeautifulworld, we have a ‘recommend a product’ section on our site, and I get emails daily with wonderful recommendations from all around the world. So it’s not just me now…there are a huge number of people out there helping abeautifulworld find these fabulous and inspiring brands. 5) What is your number one skin tip for all of us struggling with not enough sleep / children that tire us / busy jobs etc to look brighter, plumper of face or perkier? Ummm..honestly…fake tan! Life is busy and hectic and we know we should be getting a good eight hours sleep and double cleansing every evening, but sometimes that’s not just the way it works out. I am a massive fan of The Chocolate Sun Organic Fake Tan, I found them just off the beach in Santa Monica LA, they are the secret hide out of many US stars (Cameron Dias, Pink, Wonder Woman…yes Wonder Woman uses this!). It comes in three shades, and suits all skin tones. I have super pale skin and The Chocolate Sun Lite gives me a wonderful natural healthy glow, I use it on my face and body, and it works wonders to make my skin look healthy and glowey even after a 5am start with my toddler. 6) I’ve fallen for Josh Rosebrook, your lovely brand from LA, who is your exciting new find that you can’t wait to see more from? So glad you love Josh Rosebrook, he’s amazing, I love him too! My latest find is YULI. Just a brilliant range that is right at the cutting edge of where science meets natural. It uses powerful ingredients, clean formulations and advanced scientific breakthrough to create products that really work. For example their latest product YULI Ambroisa Serum is remarkable, it uses EGF (Epidermal Growth Factors) to stimulate the production of ‘youthful’ skin cells. It’s a really lightweight serum that sinks deeply into the skin. It takes about two weeks to start working, but then fine lines start to disappear. This product smashes the myth that natural skincare don’t work, as this is by far the most effective product I have ever put on my skin. 7) What we eat and drink is always so important to me for overall health as well as how my skin looks, what is your favourite skin food recipe or ingredient that you think makes a difference to your glow? Living in LA I got really into juicing, my green juice recipe makes me feels SO good; Liz’s Californian Greenie;

• 4 stalks of celery
• Large handful of parsley
• 1 large red apple
• half a bag of kale
• half a bag of spinach
• half a cucumber
• 1 lemon
• A nice big bit of ginger

8) And finally…..do you think the beauty world is at last changing and that more and more brands will be offering natural, chemical free products honestly? Do you see this as the future of beauty? That’s a very good question. Kirstie Sheriff, from Organic Spa Brand Pinks Boutique, and I debate this a lot. The organic beauty market is in growth by 13% year on year, with the Natural-Beauty market in the UK worth around £61.2M. This is a figure the mutlinationals can’t ignore. Media coverage of our brands in publications such as Vogue, Grazia and Cosmo plus coverage by leading experts in this field such as Caroline Hirons, shows ‘naturals’ are becoming normalized. As the ‘selfie’ generation comes of age, and their buying power increases so does demand for brands such as YTTP, The Body Deli and Yarok who offer non-toxic products that are effective and look beautiful on their instagram. With the recent purchase of natural deodorant brand Schmidts by Unilever, and I know more buyouts in the pipeline, there is most definitely a huge pivot in their approach and ‘green’ beauty moves away from being a segment, and become the norm.