Spa-tacular! Organic beauty goes virtual

Marisa Belger TODAYshow.com • E-mail

What happens when a cosmetology school dropout named Spirit is unable to open the organic spa of her dreams?

Good things, apparently.

After years of touting the benefits of organic beauty to her circle of friends, Spirit Demerson decided to streamline the often-challenging process of locating high-quality, all-natural cosmetics and skin care products by selling them herself. But though the idea was solid, the funding was not. When the cost of opening an organic spa in New York City proved insurmountable, Demerson remained positive — which seems to be the only option when you’re named Spirit — seamlessly moving to plan B: spiritbeautylounge.com. A “virtual beauty lounge,” the site allows users to purchase safe beauty products while tapping into the growing natural beauty community through Demerson’s frequent blog posts and current updates on the latest concepts and trends.

A one-stop beautifying-shop for all things organic and eco-friendly — cosmetics, fragrance, skin care, hair care — Spirit’s got you covered from head to toe. Spirit Beauty Lounge features only brands that have passed Demerson’s strict screening standards, a process she calls the “three P’s.” And though this lounge leans toward luxury brands with luxury prices, and you may be feeling the economic pinch, this might be one area where you still want to splurge. Financial crisis or not, there’s no escaping the fact that your skin is the body’s biggest organ and that it absorbs the majority of what you put on it. But don’t take it from me. Take it from Spirit.

Q: Why did you decide to start a business devoted to organic beauty?

A: I’m the type of person who likes to share everything I’m into with all of my friends. Being both the “greenie” and the beauty expert of my group, I would always encourage others to try organic and natural rather than conventional beauty products, but had to send them in a dozen different, often obscure directions to find the ones that really worked (and were pretty enough to fool even the strictly Sephora types). I knew the best way to reach people who hadn’t “converted” yet was to create a one-stop shop for the best of green beauty in a fun environment that felt more like a boutique or “beauty lounge” than a drugstore. I started hosting organic spa parties here in New York and decided to open an organic spa. When the overhead for opening the spa became prohibitive, we re-created the concept online.

Q: What were you doing before starting Spirit Beauty Lounge?

A: I have always loved making my own beauty products and trying new ones. Even as a child I would make perfume with vanilla from the pantry and facial toner with watermelon rind (my dad’s invention). I ran a beauty supply store and went to cosmetology school, but dropped out when I realized I was great with the chemistry and the theory but terrible at cutting hair.

Q: Why should people who have never considered the ingredients of their personal care products or cosmetics start to pay attention to what they put on their skin?

Q: As much as 60 percent of topical skin care products is absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream. We shouldn’t look at the moisturizer we put on our face every day any differently than we look at the food we eat. But it’s not just about the known toxins we want to avoid. It’s also about the incredible benefits of using antioxidant-rich, organically farmed plant essences and oils to beautify, rejuvenate and heal our skin, hair and nails. Like organic food, organic beauty is also higher in bio-available nutrients that feed your skin.

Q: What are some of the top ingredients to stay away from when shopping for personal care products?

A: I don’t believe in using scare tactics to convince people to go green or organic, but I do believe we should all be informed to help make the most educated decisions for our health and the environment. A wonderful place to get started is the Green Guide’s “Dirty Dozen” and Teens for Safe Cosmetics’ “Dirty Thirty” lists of chemicals to avoid. All are suspected or known carcinogens, hormone disruptors or system toxicants found in many everyday personal care products that you may already be using.

Q: How do you screen the companies represented on your site to ensure that they are meeting organic and/or sustainable standards?

Courtesy Spirit Demerson "Even if the green fad dies, we are going to see more and more safe, natural beauty options going into the future," says spiritbeautylounge.com founder Spirit Demerson.

A: I developed a scoring system called the “3 P’s.” All of the products we offer are selected for their effectiveness, their quality and their beauty or uniqueness.

Performance is our first priority. A product should do what it promises and do it well. 


Potency/purity is next. We demand the highest possible percentage of organic or biodynamic active ingredients. 


Packaging is third. All of our products must be packaged in materials that are beautiful as well as biodegradable or recyclable.

All of the products from any line must score high on all three “P’s.”

We are also “Dirty Dozen”-free and try to ensure that all ingredients are ethically sourced and cruelty-free. I don’t take anything for granted. There is a lot of dialogue that has to take place between the vendors and myself regarding the source of the ingredients and the company’s in-house and manufacturing practices with regard to the environment and fair labor. Organic certification is not the end-all, be-all of the selection process. We still have to look at every product, every ingredient and get answers from manufacturers about anything that isn’t transparent. We also share ongoing dialogue with all of our vendors about product developments and we encourage advancement toward completely certified-organic, chemical-free, fair-labor, cruelty-free products.

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