In the two years she's sold green products in downtown Royal Oak, Lori Broesamle has seen a huge boom in stylish high-end organics and earth-friendly goods .
Today, she stocks everything from bright raspberry towels in organic cotton with earth-friendly dyes to high-end natural-ingredient cosmetics at her Mia Mahalo store.
"We can't keep wrecking things, but we can't keep selling things unless they're nice things," she says.
In celebration of the 35th annual Earth Day today, here are a few earth-friendly and pampering shopping picks. Just try not to drive the monster SUV to pick them up -- or at least car pool!
• Mia Mahalo, 407 S. Washington Ave. in Royal Oak, sells Michigan-made WoodSprite natural soap, in yummy scents such as oats and almonds with cocoa butter, rosemary mint with avocado oil and lavender with shea butter for $6 to $11. For $55, you can buy a WoodSprite gift set filled with natural body scrub, a soy candle, bath massage oil, soap and sea salts. The store also has a wide array of "Food for Thought" Michigan grown organic preserves. The Apple Butter, Cherry Butter and Apricot Chardonnay sell for $5.59 to $6.95. Find out more at www.miamahalo.com.
• Through April, Aveda at the Somerset Collection in Troy is booking $25 mini-spa days that include a mini-facial, hand massage and mini makeup sessions (or a $15 mini-facial) with proceeds going to United Plant Savers, a nonprofit Ohio group working to preserve native medicinal plants. You can also register to win a tree.
• Viva Terra, the California-based retailer of stylish organic and earth-friendly gifts has a great eco-friendly option for gift wrap: silk-scarflike wraps and roses. Buy the "furoshiiki" wraps in a colorful polka dot or striped pattern for $16 at www.vivaterra.com. The catalog/Web retailer also sells hand-carved bowls made from discarded Chinese fir tree roots. Alone, the bowls are $49 or $95, or order them as gift baskets filled with handmade (alkaline-free) organic chocolates, including truffles, dark chocolate almonds and espresso beans for $79 or $175. Or, try the organic chocolate tasting set, $49.
By Kara G. Morrison / The Detroit News |
