2008 was a rough year for magazines — CosmoGirl and Radar were only two that folded — but one new title is hoping to thrive amidst the doom and gloom. And considering how well the "green" beauty market is growing, Organic Beauty might do just that. The bimonthly magazine focuses on eco-friendly skin care, makeup, and hair care, with additional information on organic supplements and fitness techniques.

Want to check it out? Preview some stories online, and if you like what you see, pick up a copy — because these days, new magazines need all the love they can get.

Want to have sexy hair? Who doesn't? Sexy Hair hopes to let you do just that — in an ecologically friendly way.

Perhaps best known for its "big red can," a high-volume hair spray, the original Sexy Hair's vampy, in-your-face Pussycat Dolls-esque advertising was never my thing. But now, I'm taking another look due to the introduction of an organic line of sulfate, petrochemical, and paraben-free hair products aptly named Sexy Hair Organics. See what I thought of these new products when you

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One of my friends is a true follower of all things natural. Food? All organic and local. Clothing? Either recycled or handsewn. Beauty? When it comes to products, nothing of the paraben/synthetic nature remotely touches her body.

So, when I saw her splash a little bergamot oil on her pits one day, I was intrigued. "It's a natural deodorizer," she said. I gave it a whirl. With surprising results, I was practically stink-free. From what I could tell, my underarms smelled rather nice — well, like citrus. She also recommended I dab on a little baking soda if I ever felt a little drippy.

Like playing mad scientist? You can always mix up your own custom scent. Try Aura Cacia Bergamot Essential Oil ($13.59) paired with a complementary aroma such as sandalwood, nutmeg, vetiver, geranium, lavender, lemon, neroli, or ylang ylang.

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How do I love these Anti-Body Bath Fizzers ($9.95)? Let me count the ways:

1. They're vegan, paraben-free, and not tested on animals.
2. They're tucked in a cute farm-themed recyclable carton.
3. They smell like fresh lemongrass (or lavender or flowers, if you prefer).
4. You get six for just under $10 — an affordable bit of luxury.
5. They fizz up, then soften skin with shea butter.
6. Best of all, the fair-trade shea butter provides jobs for women in Togo.

You might find your own reasons, but these six are a pretty good start.

Beloved crunchy beauty brand Dr. Bronner's has gotten the green light to proceed with its lawsuit against other brands that claim to be organic, including Stella McCartney CARE, Jason Natural, Avalon Organics and Nature's Gate Organics. I have to admit, when the news first broke about this I wondered what E.H. Bronner, who would have been 100 this year, would have thought. Beauty nerd that I am, I'm well aware of the founder's complicated past (his parents were killed in the Holocaust, he escaped from a mental institution, and he read a lot of Kipling). But, Bronner was very concerned about morality and it will be interesting to see how his company's claim about "organic noise" in the natural product market will continue to unfold. This Summer the company settled with former defendant Juice Beauty who agreed to reformulate problem products and be petrochemical-free by February 2010.

To read the full press release from the Organic Consumers Association, click here.

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Environmentally-friendly beauty products are popping up everywhere! We try to make the array of beauty options more manageable by rounding up a sample of products and categorizing them by levels of green. Check out our Web-exclusive tips for shopping in the green beauty aisle.

<b>What it is:</b><br>A set of ten dynamic eyeshadows, an eyeshadow brush, and a travel-size bottle of Eyeshadow Primer Potion. <br><br><b>What it does:</b><br> Urban Decay Sustainable Shadow Box contains ten best-selling eyeshadows, an eco-friendl

Wherever you fall on the organic cosmetic-use spectrum, you can never have too much information (wait . . . maybe you can). The Environmental Working Group has a website, The Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, that functions as a directory of products — over 32,000 of them, or a quarter of the market — rated for safety by a number of criteria.

This is also genius for those with allergies, as over 100,000 ingredients are condensed into 7,697 unique chemical ingredients. I am thankful for the section on eye drops because there are so many brands and eyesight is not something I'm ready to part with. Do you think you'll use this site?

Sharing the World's Best Kept Natural and Organic Beauty Secrets. Effective, Elegant, and Explained. Who said Organic can’t mean Luxury?

Since the term "organic" is loosely defined within the skincare and cosmetics industry, many brands have taken quite a bit of leeway with the term. And one brand is not too happy about it.

Dr. Bronner's, which has voluntarily adopted the FDA standards of "organic" in its product line, is suing a bevy of brands, including Estée Lauder, Kiss My Face, Stella McCartney, and Juice Beauty. Dr. Bronner's claims that these brands use the term organic to sell products that are anything but. The suit also accuses the OASIS standards, which define the term "organic" for 30 top skincare companies, of being too lenient.

We'll see how it all plays out, but no matter whether Dr. Bronner's wins or loses in the courtroom, the company is winning some free press. Do you think the lawsuit has merit, or is the company in no place to dictate how others should run their businesses?

When it comes to animal testing, there's really no reason to do it with cosmetics. And it's not just me and PETA who think this way; the European Union has banned all cosmetics-related animal testing, effective next year. It's not only about saving bunnies from having shampoo poured in their eyes — although that seems like a good-enough reason to me. It's about creating new ways to test ingredients, too; for instance, L'Oreal is developing ways to test on in vitro skin tissue, which is not only cruelty-free, it's also more reliable.

But that's the European Union. In the States, animal testing is unregulated, with major cosmetics companies such as Procter & Gamble continuing to test on our furry friends. If you'd like to avoid animal testing, here are some things to look out for.

• The Leaping Bunny, shown here. Whenever you see this cute rabbit, you'll know that the product has been developed without any animal testing in any phase of product development by the company, its suppliers, or its outsourced laboratories. Independent audits confirm this, so the seal is trustworthy.
• Final product not tested on animals. Pay attention to the wording here. The final product isn't tested on animals, but its ingredients probably were.
• This brand does not test on animals. Again, the phrasing is tricky. Maybe Brand X doesn't test on animals, but its supplier does. Or Brand X has a laboratory formulate its products, and some mad scientist is injecting poor little mice with poison.

If you're interested in finding out which companies do and don't test on animals, these lists should help. Keep in mind that most beauty companies are owned by a corporate parent who owns other companies. For instance, Burt's Bees does not test on animals, but Clorox, its parent company, does. So when you shop, you may want to keep that in mind.