The Cultivate Centre are presenting ideas for a cooler earth at this years Electric Picnic!

For those of you who not in the know Electric Picnic is quite simply the best music festival to hit our green shores! This year the festival is on from 29th – 31st August in the lush grounds of Stradbally Hall in Co. Laois!

The focus of Cultivates Global Green is to Rethink, Redress, Reform & Re-engage environmental issues and climate change.

The forum for these events is the eco-cool Global Green at the Electric Picnic where festival punters can slowdown and take in some good organic food, eco beats, and reflect on a better world.

This year The Cultivate Centre are bringing together a collection of leading edge organisations artists, designers, thinkers to creatively explore a more just and sustainable world.

The hub of The Global Green is the Cultivate dome, which will see a packed schedule of films, new media, world-café, world-music, discussions and talks around the very hot issues of energy scarcity and our shifting climate.

As always the themes are geared towards proactive, positive responses, and looking at ways to adapt and change our behaviour to the changing environment.

• Rethink.. the future and the way we live.
• Redress.. ideas for ethical fashion.
• Reform.. the latest in eco-design.
• Re-engage.. artists and designers come together around critical issues.

We recently attended the launch of designer, Pearl Lowe’s dresses, which are available exclusively in Ireland at fab fashion emporium, Butik in Newbridge, County Kildare.

For those not in the rock n roll know, Pearl is a one-time supreme rock chick turned organic Goddess! Now married to Danny Goffey of Supergrass fame, Pearl has shunned the bright lights of London for a 14th century country retreat in Hampshire with organic gardens and nature abound.

Pearl’s new range of divine, vintage inspired lace dresses are just gorgeous & make us feel like pretty Audrey Tatou and Audrey Heburn look-a-likes!

Her range is made from ethically sourced vintage lace and each dress is bespoke and can be tailered to the customers own size. Pearl works with a fab dress-maker and takes orders for one-off pieces too, she’s currently making a vintage inspired, eco-chic wedding dress for a client using salvaged lace.

Butik, which is owned by the fab Mel Coyne, is just brimming with fabulous frocks in all colours and designs, but Pearl’s range is the first ethically inspired range to adorn this chic boutique and hopefully we’ll see more ethical brands in the store soon (hint).

Butik, Whitewater Avenue, Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
Telephone: 045-435 256.

Organic and natural make-up is bang on trend for 2008 & some really exciting new brands have emerged which are glamming up cosmetics au natural. There is also increasing crossover between mineral and organic make up too.

Most cosmetics on the market are loaded with toxins, artifical fragrances and preservatives. When you consider the average woman eats 5 pounds (450g) of lipstick throughout her life, using a natural and organic lip stick is key.

 Some of our favourite brands are listed below:

 
Dr Hauschka
Created over 40 years ago Dr Hauschka is one of the original natural skincare brands. The products are BDIH certified and free from synthetic chemical fragrances, colours and preservatives. We love the Translucent Make-up (liquid foundation in Colour 01) for pale Irish skin gives good coverage and blends in nicely for a very natural look.

Logona
Another German brand, Logona utilisee the highest quality natural raw materials such as premium waxes, veggie oils, floral distillates and herbal extracts in their formulations. We’re big fans of their Maroon 08 Lipstick, for kiss me quick, ruby red lips!

Nvey Eco
Nvey Eco a new brand from down under, explodes the myth that going green reduces performance. The products are slickly packaged and come in a variety of colours for every skin type! Nvey Eco is available in Gloss Beauty (Dublin 8), Carter Beauty (Dun Laoghaire) & for further nationwide stockists visit Irish Distribution company House Of Wellness.

Organic Glam
Created by cult-organic brand The Organic Pharmacy, OG (Organic Glam) is a divine range of make-up that uses mineral colours, herbal extracts and antioxidants to enhance the skin even more. We love love love their liquid eyeliner, which glides on smoothly making us look like a young Audrey Hepburn!

As more and more organic cosmetic launches are expected in 2008, ethical considerations will be more prominent & segmentation by age is helping to refine the trend.
New brands to watch out for are:
Mode Cosmetics (US) – new face and eye products with natural, organic ingredients.
Devita International (US) – 100% vegan make up in for women aged between 40 and 70 years old.
Von Natur (US) vegan-friendly, non-talc-based mineral make-up range.