On our very first date (which I asked him out on), my husband and I went to one of the foreign film nights at the Paramount in the next town over.
The movie playing was Dirty Pretty Things.
It's a flick out of the UK and the most recognizable stars are Chiwetel Ejiofor and Audrey Tautou. It's directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight. It was released in December of 2002 and is Oscar nominated.
Contrary to what the title implies, the movie is not about sex. The phrase, 'dirty pretty things' refers offhandedly to the illegal trafficking of human organs; in this case, the organs of illegal immigrants. Ejiofor stars as Okwe, a Nigerian who was a doctor in his homeland. Tautou plays Senay, a housemaid in the hotel where Okwe also works the desk clerk midnight shift when he's not at his cab driver day job.
Dirty Pretty Things was and is an amazing film - I've seen it probably an additional 10-12 times since the theater and it hasn't lost it's quality in the least. It is rated R for disturbing images and languages as well as sexual content. Run time is 97 minutes and spoken in English with some Somali.
This post however, is not about the foreign flick Dirty Pretty Things...
It's about how dirty the things you use to make yourself pretty are.
I was reading one of the blogs I scan everyday and in the comments of that day's article (regarding beautifying oneself), a reader recommended that we have a look at a website called Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database. A few days beforehand I had actually been wondering if Cover Girl tests on animals...so I took this as a sign and told myself to check out the website when I had a chance.
Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products created by researchers at the Environmental Working Group, a small non profit organization. They took on this massive project because the FDA does not require companies to test their own products for safety.
My reactions were similar to that of those when I found out what's in the cleaning products I used to use on a very regular basis. The Big Dirty (Clean, That Is) Pt. 1 and The Big Dirty (Clean, That Is) Pt. 2.
I myself use the following makeup products on an everyday basis:
Cover Girl Clean Pressed Powder - Score of 5/10 (moderate hazard). Ingredients in this product are linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions and warnings, allergies and immunotoxicity as well as other concerns for neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, persistence and bioaccumu lation, organ system toxicity, miscellaneous and multiple additive exposure sources, skin eyes and lung irritation, contamination concerns, occupational hazards and biochemical or cellular level changes. Tests on animals.
Ingredients As Listed On Packaging:
Talc, Oat Flour, Polyethylene, Zinc Stearate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Fragrance, Calcium Silicate, Quaternium-15, Eucalyptus Oil, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Dimethicone, Camphor, Menthol, Propylparaben, Clove Oil, Methylparaben, BHT, Lauroyl Lysine, Iron Oxides, Mica. May Contain Ultramarines.
Cover Girl LashExact Mascara - Score of 7/10 (high hazard). Ingredients in this product are linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions and warnings, allergies and immunotoxicity as well as other concerns for neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity, multiple additive exposure sources, skin eyes and lung irritation, enhanced skin absorption, contamination concerns, occupational hazards, biochemical or cellular level changes. Tests on animals.
Ingredients As Listed On Packaging:
Water, glyceryl stearate, ammonium acrylates copolymer, disteardimonium hectorite, propylene glycol, stearic acid, copernica cerifera (carnuba) wax, triethanolamine, acrylates copolymer, synthetic wax, lecithin, propylene carbonate, oleic acid, alcohol denatured, glycerin, polyvinyl alcohol, benzy alcohol, panthenol, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, ethylparaben, sodium laureth sulfate, propylparaben, trisodium EDTA, xanthan gum, simethicone, iron oxides. May contain ultramarines, titanium dioxide.
Clinique Color Surge Lipcolor - Score of 2-7/10. I could not find my specific product so the following information is related to Clinique products in general. Ingredients used by this brand are linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions and warnings, allergies and immunotoxicity as well as other concerns for ingredients used by this brand are neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity, miscellaneous and multiple additive exposure sources, skin eyes and lung irritation, enhanced skin absorption, contamination concerns, occupational hazards, biochemical or cellular level changes. Does not test on animals.
Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer With SPF 15 - Score of 7/10 (not recommended). Ingredients in this product are linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions and warnings, allergies and immunotoxicity as well as other concerns for neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity, multiple additive exposure sources, skin eyes and lung irritation, enhanced skin absorption, contamination concerns, occupational hazards, biochemical or cellular level changes. Tests on animals.
Ingredients As Listed On Packaging:
Active: avobenzone 3%, octinoxate 7.5%, octisalate 2%. Inactive: arachidyl alcohol, arachidyl glucoside, behenyl alcholo, benzalkonium choloride, benzy alcohol, BHT, bis-phenylpropyl dimethicone, butylparaben, C12-15 alkyl benzoate, C13-14 isoparaffin, cetearyl alcohol, cetearyl glucoside, dimethicone, disodium EDTA, ethylene/acrylic acid copolymer, ethylparaben, fragrance, glycerin, glycine soja (soybean) seed extract, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, isobutylparaben, laureth-7, methylparaben, mica, panthenol, phenoyethanol, polyacrylamide, polymethyl methacrylate, propylparaben, silica, steareth-2, steareth-21, titanium dioxide, water. May Contain sodium hydroxide, citric acid.
Mario Badescu Hyaluronic Eye Cream - not found in their system.
And to think I've been applying most of these products to my skin for better than 10 years. Is it also a coincidence that my son has endocrine issues? Something to ask the doc about, anyway.
To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do yet. I have no idea where to start when it comes to 'going green' with cosmetics...but I'm going to be doing a bit of research for sure!
