These golden, dangly, fun earrings are made from magazine paper! Rolled into delicate cylinders and strung onto these perfectly sized hoops. Light and pretty, a compliment to any outfit day or night.
I've written about Global Goods Partners in the past...because I positively love what they do!
Smitten again and again.
The Los Angeles Bag from Apolis is the perfect accessory to a Sunday farmer’s market adventure in Los Angeles. This stylish, causal, reusable tote is a true tribute to Apolis’ lifestyle brand, as well as a nod to their LA Arts District studio location.
When brother duo Raan and Shea Parton named their company Apolis, meaning “global citizen”, they sent a clear message about their commitment to global advocacy. Founded in 2004 with the idea that business can create social change, they now have grown into a group of entrepreneurs with the same vision. Their “Advocacy through Industry” business model ensures that they source and manufacture locally, while still keeping a global perspective on impact and change. Apolis is also proud to be certified as a B Corporation, which is awarded to organizations that hold high standards of social and economic performance, transparency, and accountability.
Smitten on a global scale!
Sometimes soap smells so good you want to take a bite! While I don’t recommend eating soap, I do endorse the Rosemary Lavender Argan Soap from Kahina Giving Beauty!
Katharine L’Heureux, the founder and CEO of Kahina Giving Beauty, discovered the amazing properties of Argan Oil after a 2007 trip to Morocco. She launched Kahina Giving Beauty in 2008 with the goal of supporting the indigenous women and culture of Morocco, protecting the environment, and giving back.
The impressive and difficult process that the Berber women of Morocco go through to extract the oil from the Argan nut is often undercut by pressure for low-cost oil - often this is achieved by paying unfair labor wages and harvesting oil from low quality nuts. Kahina Giving Beauty works with cooperatives that pay living wages and source nuts from healthy trees.
Kahina Giving Beauty gives 1% of its annual revenue to organizations that directly benefit the women and families of South Morocco. To achieve this, they work with local GNO’s with missions that support the women and families of this region, namely Education For All and High Atlas Foundation.
In addition to all the goodness Kahina Giving Beauty does by ethically sourcing their oil, this soap comes wrapped in a beautiful, colorful printed paper - perfect to gift to yourself or others!
Super Smitten!
I was a buyer for a tiny boutique in Minneapolis a couple of years ago ...and when a rep for Noodle and Boo came in one day, I was smitten instantly. All of their products smell deee-licious, and the packaging is delicate and pleasing.
Noodle and Boo's Believe Honey Bar will more than just bathe and moisten your skin: 100% of the profits from the Believe Honey Bar will go to the Circle of Love campaign.
Circle of Love, created by Noodle and Boo, raises awareness and funds for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT) programs in Africa. Ensuring that babies born to HIV-positive mothers will not contract the virus because moms will receive the necessary immunizations and care they need.
This yummy beauty bar is formulated with natural ingredients to soothe, moisturize and refresh the skin as it cleans. They have created a non-soap formulation that washes off thoroughly, leaving skin thoroughly soft. It also rebalances your skin’s natural pH to help keep your skin moist and not tight.
~ Shea butter, honey and a myriad of vitamins - splendid!
~ Clinically-tested and hypoallergenic - ideal!
~ 5.75 ounce bar - generous!
~ Arrives in signature box - lovely!
Addicted and Smitten!
The (exquisite) Bird Project soap was born in 2010, after the extraordinarily tragic BP spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Tippy Tippens, a design expert and social entrepreneur, was living in New York at the time of the catastrophe and felt the desire to help. After many visits, she decided to relocate to New Orleans and start her (very cool) business, Matter Inc.
Matter Inc. is devoted to “making the world a better place by making meaningful products that matter.”
These delicate, black, bird-shaped soaps are made with natural, locally sourced ingredients: biodiesel glycerin, fair trade olive oil, aloe, activated black charcoal, and exude a light cypress scent…evocative of the bayous of Louisiana.
Soon, wash after wash, the black bird melts away to reveal a white, ceramic memento, handmade by Louisiana Clay. A marvelous symbol of the creatures affected…a lasting token of life, restoration and hope.
The best part is that 50% of the profits go towards the Gulf Restoration Network and International Bird Rescue.
The artistry of the bird…to be cradled in the hand, caressed and cleansed is just brilliant symbolism and an extraordinary literal expression.
I am Smitten with these sumptuous soaps.
These socks walk the walk they talk! Conscious Step helps “give an ordinary purchase an extraordinary purpose.”
Can socks change the world…why yes, they can! Conscious Step is surely going to make a difference “one pair of socks at a time” – 50 percent of all profits go toward 3 partnering charities. Currently Conscious Step offers three exclusive sock designs, each reflective of the cause it supports:
One pair funds Action Against Hunger that provides three therapeutic food packages for malnourished children living in refugee camps in Kenya, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The second pair funds Trees for the Future, which plants 30 trees in rural Ghana and provides an education in agroforestry to women and children, giving them the ability to replenish degraded soils and generate sustainable sources of food and fuel.
The third pair funds Engineers Without Borders that sends Australian engineers to Nepal to build clean water sources in schools so that young girls can have the same education opportunities as boys.
The wonderful entrepreneurs behind Conscious Step are Dr. Hassan Ahmad and Adam Long from Sydney, and Prashant Mehta from New York City. All three, firm believers in “the more profitable you are, the greater your impact”…and “knowing that my sock drawer planted a forest in Ghana”, is more motivating than donating $5 to a charity and having no idea how it will be used or what difference it will make,” says Dr. Ahmad.
These socks are made from 200-needle count, organic, fair trade cotton and are sweat resistant. Each style is embroidered with it’s own unique distinguishable symbol…and did I say they kick a**!
Smitten with these socks.
This is about a movement, and it is called the Red Thread Movement. It is a call to action with the sale of red thread bracelets. This is what one little vibrantly colored, handsomely crafted little bracelet can do!
The Red Thread Movement battles human trafficking and has partnered with a Nepalese anti-trafficking organization that has set up border units between Nepal and India (which is open and allows for citizens from both countries to travel freely with no visa or passport.) As there is an estimated 12,000 victims of sex trafficking between these countries every year, the success rate of these border units is extremely high, each rescuing up to 15 girls a month.
Many girls are not able to return to their villages after rescue, as social rejection and shame are common. Safe houses are established to provide shelter, counseling and vocational training for girls who cannot return to their villages. It is at these safe houses that the girls make the Red Thread Movement bracelets.
The bracelets make a difference in 3 important ways:
1. They provide a Fair Trade income for rescued girls who do the craftsmanship and hand weave the bracelets themselves.
2. Additional proceeds fund anti-trafficking border units and safe houses through the work of Red Thread’s partner, Kingdom Investments Nepal (K.I. Nepal.)
3. Wearing the bracelet generates awareness and declares sex trafficking as human rights crime.
These bracelets are an outstanding way to fundraise and spread the word!
I am Smitten.
I cannot do a blog about conscious gifts and giving and not write about Lauren Bush Lauren, who had the brilliant idea in 2007 of founding FEED.
As an Honorary Student Spokesperson for the World Food Programme she had witnessed the effects of hunger firsthand and decided FEED’s mission would be: "Creating Good Products That Help FEED the World."
The conscious company’s first creation was the FEED 1 Bag, a reversible burlap and organic cotton bag stamped with "FEED the Children of the World" and the number '1' to signify that each bag would provide enough meals to feed one child in school for one year.
Every product sold has a measurable donation attached to it. To date, FEED has been able to provide nearly 84 million meals globally through the WFP and Feeding America. FEED has also supported nutrition programs around the world, providing over 3.6 million children with Vitamin A supplements through the WFP and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
Throughout the years, FEED has also forged successful partnerships with Target, Disney, Pottery Barn, Clarins, Whole Foods Market, Gap, Tory Burch, Rachel Roy, DKNY, Links of London, Godiva and TOMS, among many others.
Smitten with FEED.
Who knew that an attractive little tube of delectable shiny lip balm could do so much good in the world? Jody Weiss did!
In 2002 Jody created an all-natural cosmetics line called PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics, the first cosmetics line to donate 100 percent of all profits (after taxes) to women’s health and human rights organizations.
Their focus is to help bond the exceptional, fortuitous women of this country, with the women who by chance of birthplace, have been born into a world with challenged resources and opportunities.
Jody’s own personal journey is a potent and inspiring one!
She’s also conceived an efficient way to participate effectively as a philanthropist with PeaceKeeper, and help end the cycle of poverty and exploitation for millions of women and girls around the world for just a dollar a day!
Please check out the rest of the Cause-Metic line: Mega Balms, Lip Sticks, Glosses and Nail Polish.
Smitten.