The Causecast 005: All American Rejects, President Donations, and Breast Cancer
Sarah & Kestrin are featured on Causecast.org’s news report!
Breast Cancer Stories
Take A Stand | Sarah Carter | State Your Change
Sarah tells Causecast.org what changes she would like to see in the world…
Education | Kestrin Pantera | State Your Change
Kestrin tells Causecast.org what changes she would like to see in the world…
What You’re Wearing
Sarah and Kestrin hit the streets of Santa Monica asking unsuspecting passers-by if they knew what was in their make-up– here are the results (you may be surprised!)
D&A Green Show
This weekend we went to D&A’s Green Trade Show and it was fantastic. Created by our friend Barbara Kramer and her fabulous business partner, we were blown away by the quality of green fashion and especially the green cosmetics we got in our giftbags. The breakout corporate success was Future Natural, an organic make-up distribution company. Their website is great– it features an ingredient database, which is completely glamorous.
Our favorite clean, non-toxic product was Good Plain Cream, by Kathleen Lewis. We love how it has 7 ingredients– all of which are common words like “cocoa butter” and “beeswax”. Even better is how smooth and refreshed our skin was after using it– better than any mainstream cosmetic product we’ve used in a long time.
Sarah & Kestrin on CAUSECAST.ORG
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we’ve been spreading the word about the preventable causes of cancer and harmful chemicals found in cosmetics. This month we are stoked to be featured leaders on Causecast.org, an online community that gives people the tools they need take action for the causes they are passionate about. Here’s our first Causecast video– with more on the way!
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’d like to remind you to use the Skin Deep Database before making your next cosmetic purchase. An electronic product database created by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, it details ingredients in over 33,000 products, and is one of the most powerful tools available to consumers.
Wonder if that lipstick you “need” to get is clean? Go to the Skin Deep Database, type in a product, brand, or company. A list of products with safety ratings will appear:
Select your product from the list, and you will see ALL the details of what ingredients are in the product and whether the product contains chemicals that are known carcinogens.
Can you find out who makes this toxic product?
You can also find out what products are SAFE and CLEAN on the Skin Deep Database. Try it out, and let us know how you like it! You can also post video responses and let us know what you find at CAUSECAST.ORG.
Changing the face of the cosmetic industry: One rack at a time.
There are thousands of easily identifiable toxic ingredients in American cosmetic products that have been directly linked to cancer for the past 25 years (and consequently been banned from the European Union).
Many Americans are “hooked” on at least one product that they “need” to feel attractive–something that makes them feel complete, that relates directly to their sense of self-worth. Whether it’s that “special” mascara (full of mercury), the “best” deodorant (with aluminum), or that de-frizzing hair gel (with pthalates, which cause birth defects), Operation Ugly Beauty searches for the “beauty addict” in every subject and intervenes to replace toxic products with healthy alternatives.
“Operation Ugly Beauty” follows actress Sarah Carter, musician Kestrin Pantera, and make-up artist revolutionary Victoria Rowe, as they uncover the toxic beauty addictions of celebrities, tastemakers, and the American “everywoman”, and help educate and purify their beauty regimens.
“Operation Ugly Beauty” is entertainment, education, and EMPOWERMENT.
View Trailer:
Click for Hi-Res Version
Our hosts go on-site to subjects’ homes and workplaces to uncover deep-set attachments to unhealthy cosmetics, delving to the heart of why each subject “needs” a certain product to feel beautiful. The hosts then perform a cosmetic coup, eliminating unhealthy products, while educating their subject (and the audience) on different chemicals’ harmful biological effects, with the help of experts.
Subjects are then treated to a pure makeover, where all harmful cosmetics are replaces with healthy alternatives, and we learn about the different non-toxic options available to consumers. The show closes with a celebration of the subject and their talents, in which they share their new found perspective on what they put on (and in) their bodies.
THE TEAM
Spokeswoman for the Breast Cancer Fund and the heart and soul of Operation Ugly Beauty, Sarah is firmly established as one of young Hollywood’s leading ladies. She most recently starred opposite Hollywood powerhouse James Woods in CBS’s “Shark” and her extensive resume includes leading roles in projects with Orlando Bloom, Bill Paxton, and Judd Apatow. Her talent and accomplishment are surpassed only by her passion for her work with the Breast Cancer Fund.
The girl who “brings the party”, Kestrin pays her bills sharing the screen with geniuses like Samantha Morton and her own rotating cast of KP2 Production’s worthy artists. A force of nature of in the Los Angeles music scene, she has performed as a cellist and vocalist with ground-breaking artists such as Beck, The Fray, Cary Brothers (Grammy Award winning “Garden State” soundtrack), Adam Freeland (at Coachella, 2008), and Twiggy (Nine Inch Nails).
If Michael Moore and Borat morphed into a kick ass, no bulls@#t, sexy mama, it would be our own revolutionary Hollywood make-up artist Victoria Rowe. With a roster of celebrity clients and a long-standing passion for safe cosmetics, Victoria brings the “what’s what” of the cosmetic industry to the “who’s who” of the entertainment industry.
Success Story: “Artists in Support of the Climb Against the Odds”
Sarah and Kestrin raised over $30,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund with Host Committee members Jaime Pressly (My Name is Earl), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), James Woods (Shark, Casino, The Way We Were), A.J. Cook (The Virgin Suicides), and Cobie Smaulders (How I Met Your Mother) among many other accomplished actors.
The event attracted extensive publicity & continues to raise funds, the first of many more exciting projects that put the “sexy” into change. “Operation Ugly Beauty” is “Phase Two”: expediting the inevitable shift away from toxic chemicals in cosmetics through our existing network of talent and hotness.
Top 5 Reasons Why I Put You On My Face
I was thinking about the personal connection every woman has with her make-up– the ritualistic nature of starting the day, “putting her face on”, being “ready”, feeling “pretty”. If we’re going to ask people why they put crap on their face and ask them to surrender their favorite poison, it’s only fair to volunteer the info first…
1) You make me feel strong
I always ask myself, “What would Jackie O do?”, and usually the answer is, “Wear red lipstick.” When I’m wearing red lipstick, I feel 30% more super-hero than when I’m not.
2) You make me feel sexy
People treat me differently when I’m wearing red lipstick. Guys look at me longer, girls compliment me more, and I take better pictures– instead of looking like a little german boy named “Hans”, I look like a hot chick.
3) You are therapy
It just feels really good to do something for myself that makes me look better. Everyone wants to be Julia Roberts on Rodeo Drive getting a fabulous make-over and going from tramp to goddess. It’s something in our mutated DNA…
4) You shield me from the real world
I often refer to make-up as “war paint”. I feel that it protects me in some way– people have to go through a layer of something that isn’t quite me yet, if they want to “get to me”.
5) I look more like a traditional “hot chick” and it helps me conform
Yes, we’re all crazy. For some reason, we like to conform to a set of arbitrary standards in order to sustain the illusion that we’re not completely nuts inside. Make-up, you are an easy and inexpensive device that helps me conform.
So, what did I do the day Sarah Carter (citing her work with The Breast Cancer Fund) told me that my favorite Viva Glam II Lipstick I’ve been wearing EVERY DAY for YEARS has LEAD in it?
a) I pretended to already knew
b) I continued to wear it religiously, because of items 1-5 above, and
c) I was in denial until someone stole my purse in Copenhagen and I was “forced” to buy more red lipstick in Denmark, so that I “could take a new passport photo”. (They stole my passport, too.)
The funny thing is, in the EU, they have laws banning those substances in make-up, so the lipstick I use now is the non-toxic alternative I should have been using all along. But it literally took getting my passport stolen in a foreign country to get me off the Viva. I KNEW and took NO ACTION until a traumatic event ripped it away from me. And it involved lots of tears.
I think everyone has a substance like this in their lives. What else do we take for granted that is taking a toll on our health?
Now That You Know, what will you do?
