Jessica Alba tells us about The Honest Company’s latest offerings and exclusive sale

It’s been 10 months since Jessica Alba and Christopher Gavigan launched The Honest Company, an eco-friendly and toxin-free baby products and household items company. If anyone thinks that the actress is just the face of the company who only shows up to draw attention to the products and then goes back to her Hollywood life, they’d be sorely mistaken. The company is truly the brainchild of the mom of two — to Honor, 4, and Haven, 1 — and she takes personal pride in its success.

The company will launch its newest styles — purple leopard and green-and-gray lumberjack patterned diapers — and latest product — a trio of lip balms for mom — on GiltKids.com tomorrow afternoon as part of the company’s first sale on the site. We joined Gilt Groupe, Jessica, and Christopher at Honest’s offices to discuss the brand, the new products, and what moms really want in their products. And come back tomorrow for the rest of our conversation about Jessica’s seamless transition from actress to businesswoman, and the products her kids like best.

Moderator: So we were talking a little bit about the partnership with Gilt; what made you want to partner with them? How did that come about?
Jessica Alba: I just think it’s a great site. I love a good deal myself as a mom, and I love that they have a curation of the best in class. So because we’re the best in class, and it’s also a very stylish site, I just thought it would be the perfect place to have an exclusive partnership and launch our most fashionable two designs.

Moderator: And how did you decide to step out with these particular new products? What was the reasoning behind that?
JA: We have tons and tons of designs and they fall into the category of traditional, sort of whimsical, and kind of edgy. I feel like parents have kind of fallen into a couple of those categories, if not all three. I know I do, and so depending on what kind of mom you are, you’re obviously going to be attracted to the different designs. So we had about 10 per category, and we went out to parents and they pulled their favorites and then everyone here at the office. That’s how we end up with our designs — people choosing it.

Moderator: So the things that Gilt’s launching, are they an extension of items you already have?
JA: So we already have these, and these are our boy options, and these are our girl options, and so what I was saying is this is the edgy girl option; this is the whimsical and this is the more traditional. For whatever reason, the sweets and the skulls are the ones that everyone talks about, so when our moms post on our Facebook, or whenever anyone takes a photo of their babies in our diapers, they love showing them in our edgiest designs, so we felt that would be the best to launch with Gilt Groupe. We have the highest absorbency than any other diaper on the market, conventional or eco, and then we have obviously the edgiest and coolest designs. And no other company allows you to pick and choose. If you’re part of our monthly delivery program you get to pick and choose what designs you want, so you’re like, “Oh, I really love lumberjack, but I also love the skulls and I love the anchors,” and so you can get all of that in your monthly package if you want.

Moderator: So is that kind of what you do at home? You switch it up, too? You don’t always do the cutesy.
JA: Oh, I do everything. Yeah, sometimes she wears a little black dress and then the little skulls are cute. And then, sometimes she wears a nautical look and she’ll wear the anchors. I put a lot of . . . I put the boy diapers on her and the girl diapers.

Moderator: And so is the lip balm a new category for you guys?
JA: That’s a new category completely and that’s more in the personal care. You essentially eat whatever is on your lips, you ingest it, and it goes into your bloodstream and your system. If you’re kissing your baby, you don’t have to worry about any sort of parabens, no lead; it’s completely natural — your baby won’t get a rash. We did this [in] three different flavors, so we did more of a kind of soft minty one, a completely neutral one, and a little bit more of a creamsicle one.

Moderator: So do you get a lot of your ideas from what moms are asking?
JA: Oh yeah, for sure. That’s how we knew what to even launch with initially. We wanted to cover the basic needs, so it’s what are you putting on your kid, what are you bathing your kid with, and what are you cleaning your house with. We’re expanding with the cleaning-your-house option because we know there are other needs, like tile cleaners and floor cleaners and toilet cleaners, things like that, the basic stuff, we covered with our launch, and now we’re going into expanding it because parents want it.

Moderator: We love eco-friendly products and it’s really hard to find them that tie very stylish designs with sustainability and eco-friendly organic materials, and at a reasonable price.
JA: I was . . . obviously looking for the best in class and ingredients, and then when you find that it’s like a picture of a lady in a headdress and she’s making it in her backyard, which is fine, or it has twigs on it. I think all of that is fine, but that’s not me. I grew up with MTV, and tattoos, and rock and roll, and hip-hop. I feel like we’re the moms now and there aren’t any companies that are really made for us, and we’re the ones that are having families. The companies that we grew up with are just so out of touch, so we try to be somewhat cool.

— LilSugar

Rosario Dawson very recently confirmed her involvement in “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.” Now, she’s revealing a start date: this coming November.  Via MTV’s Splash Page:

“I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say that, but I’m going to say November, I’m going to be honest and put it out there,” the actress, who stars in the “Sin City” films as Gail, told MTV News on the red carpet for “Ten Years,” her new Channing Tatum-starring rom-com. “It’s very soon. Very excited.”

 

Though Dawson has yet to read a script for the “Sin City” sequel, she’s already well acquainted with the graphic novel that “A Dame to Kill For” is based on.

“It’s sort of a prequel to the ‘Sin City’ we’ve already watched, so you’ll understand the references we were making in that one,” she said. “The new face thing, all of that interesting stuff.”

It’s not Gail’s face that gets reworked in the comics — that honor goes to Dwight McCarthy, the good-intentioned photographer played by Clive Owen in the first “Sin City” film — but Gail might be getting some kind of makeover anyway.

“You might have to figure out which one’s me at some point,” she teased. “We’re going to play with that.”

#I’mREADYforthemovieeventofthecentury.

As we previously discussed, other recipients of the Women Doing Good Awards appeared on NBC News on Wednesday, September 12th. Click Here or watch the video above.

Each year, Self magazine recognizes women making a difference globally, nationally or in their own communities with its ‘Women Doing Good’ awards. Actress Jessica Alba and three other remarkable women share their stories with TODAY’s Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.

You might have seen Jessica Alba kill a bad guy with a stiletto heel in the gory action flick Machete. You might also have spotted her on the cover of Maxim (twice). But fewer people probably caught her on C-SPAN lecturing Congress about the urgency of passing laws to regulate the chemicals in the products we buy. A staunch environmental advocate, the 31-year-old star recently launched the Honest Company, which makes nontoxic, ecofriendly baby gear. She took some time to answer our questions about her commitment to safe chemistry.

Q: Why did you go to D.C. to lobby for the Safe Chemicals Act last year?

A: Basically, it’s legislation that hasn’t been reformed in more than 30 years. It’s about regulating chemicals in everyday products. There are more than 80,000 chemicals in the U.S. marketplace right now — only five have been banned. In Europe, 1,100 are banned because they’re not safe for humans. When they’re creating and selling new chemicals, companies aren’t thinking about how they affect people’s health — it’s about their bottom line.

Q: You had asthma as a kid, right? Does that make you worry more about air pollution?

A: I grew up with asthma and allergies, among other health issues. That forced me from a very early age to look at my environment in a different way. I don’t take things at face value. I don’t automatically trust the conglomerates. I question processes, I question ingredients, I look for a better way. I always try to find a more natural and holistic approach before just slapping on a Band-Aid. Better to prevent something bad from happening in the first place.

Q: We assume that you’re the only woman who’s topped Maxim’s ”Hot 100″ list and also testified before Congress about environmental legislation. How do you walk that balance?

A: [Laughs] I don’t know. I don’t even really think about it in those terms. The marketing I’ve done to promote TV and film has been wonderful because it’s given me a platform to be able to speak about things that are important to me.

Q: What’s the main message you try to deliver about the environment?

A: That there’s a cause and effect to every action you take. So all of your purchasing and consuming choices are going to affect the planet and the people around you in some way, be it positive or negative. Just being a thoughtful, conscientious consumer is the first step.

Q: Do you get overwhelmed thinking about how many chemicals kids are exposed to?

A: I felt overwhelmed as a parent at first. But now I know that there are steps we can take. You can really change the health of your environment by doing anything from buying fresh, organic food to choosing the paint and carpeting in your home. Just understanding the quality of those products and what the potential hazards are. I’ve taken steps to eliminate as much that’s hazardous as I could from my home. So I feel great about the environment now that I’ve been able to create for my family. I know it’s possible.

Q: What else do you do to go green in your personal life?

A: I spend time outdoors with my kids. I have a nontoxic turf lawn instead of grass so we don’t have to water it. We have all energy-efficient appliances in our house, and most of the materials that we used to build it — probably 70% of them — are upcycled. I bought them off Craigslist or at flea markets or vintage stores. With the rest, I made an effort to buy sustainable materials, bamboo flooring, recycled glass tiles, things like that.

Q: Are people surprised to see a Hollywood actress buying things from them off Craigslist? 

A: I don’t go and pick them up [laughs]. I don’t even think that’s safe for a girl by herself to go to a random address and go pick something up. No, I have a family member — a guy, obviously, my husband or someone — go and pick up a piece here and there.

Q: You’ve said that your favorite place in the outdoors is Franklin Canyon Park in Los Angeles. Why that spot?

A: I like any piece of nature in urban environments because it feels like you can get a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. You can just escape and quickly be surrounded by nature. One of my favorite places in New York is Central Park, for that same reason. In L.A., Topanga Canyon is another really great place, and so is Malibu Canyon.

Q: What made you want to start the Honest Company? 

A: Frankly, I needed a company like it. As a parent, I think there’s a lot of confusion in the marketplace around what’s eco, what isn’t, toxic chemicals and how they affect the health of your family. There’s just so much information out there that there needed to be one company that’s done all the research and finds the formulations that perform best.

Q: How does the Honest Company work?

A: It delivers nontoxic products straight to your door, everything from laundry detergent to bubble bath to diapers and wipes. We also have what we call an “essentials kit”: Out of 16 items, you get to choose five, and that’s what you get delivered every month. Ninety-nine percent of our products are made here in the U.S. Our diapers are really the best on the market — they’re made from plant-based materials, are completely nontoxic, and have the cutest designs. We really wanted to innovate the diapering space. It was important for me as a parent to make sure that everyone could get these products delivered straight to their door.

Q: Do you have Hollywood mom friends who’ve signed up to use the service?

A: Yeah, quite a few!

—interview by Orli Cote / SierraClub

According to E! Online, Jessica will be honored at the upcoming Environmental Media Awards with the inaugural EMA Green Parent Award later this month. Read the full article below:

Jessica Alba is getting a second Mother’s Day this year.

The Sin City starlet and mom of two will be honored at the upcoming Environmental Media Awards with the inaugural EMA Green Parent Award, E! News has exclusively confirmed.

Not only has Alba, 31, been an outspoken supporter of the Safe Chemicals Act, but also her The Honest Company aims to help parents choose affordable green products. In March, Rodale will publish her first book, The Honest Life, a guide to natural and non-toxic living.

“Becoming a parent is life-changing and brings into focus the priority of healthy choices and the responsibility of the environmental sustainability of our planet,” says EMA president Debbie Levin. “Jessica is a great example of how you can turn that passion into positive change.”

The EMAs also recognize movies and television series for their promotion of environmental issues. Among this year’s nominees are feature films The Lorax, 21 Jump Street and Big Miracle, along with TV’s Whitney, Veep, Happy Endings, Harry’s Law, Dallas and Rizzoli & Isles.

The green gala takes place Sept. 29 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif.

Priorities USA Action, Majority PAC, House Majority PAC to Throw Super-O-Rama Party at Democratic National Convention

Closing Night Event, Hosted by Jessica Alba and Cash Warren, to Feature Performances by Pitbull and Scissor Sisters

Washington, D.C. – Priorities USA Action, Majority PAC and House Majority PAC today announced that they will jointly throw a convention closing party, Super-O-Rama, on Thursday, September 6, after President Obama accepts the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in Charlotte.

Award-winning actress Jessica Alba and producer Cash Warren will host the event as musical sensations Pitbull and Scissor Sisters perform. Super-O-Rama will be held at the Fillmore Charlotte, part of the NC Music Factory, the premier music and entertainment destination in the Queen City.

Pitbull has risen to become a global superstar as both a recording and performing artist after releasing his debut album in 2004. The Miami-native recently teamed with international superstar Shakira for his latest single “Get It Started,” the first release from his upcoming Global Warming album. “Get It Started” comes on the heels of Pitbull’s 2 million-selling single “Back In Time,” the chart-topping anthem from the action-adventure-comedy Men In Black 3. His 2012 Planet Pit world tour sold out concerts in Mexico, Canada and Europe, before heading to the United States, Japan and Australia.

No lesser authority than Bono has called Scissor Sisters “the best pop group in the world,” and their first three albums have sold more than seven million copies worldwide. They have collaborated with artists like Elton John and Kylie Minogue, and have pioneered an eclectic dance-pop-rock sound that has brought them international success.

Jessica Alba is known worldwide for her successful acting career in such films as “Fantastic Four” and “Sin City” and James Cameron’s “Dark Angel.” The mother of two daughters, she launched The Honest Company in 2012, which produces safe, effective and affordable eco-friendly products for the home, children and babies. She is a spokesperson for the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition and sits on the board of directors of Baby2Baby. Other charitable affiliations also include 1Goal, V-Day, Healthy Child Healthy World, The Children’s Defense Fund, Declare Yourself and Voto Latino. Her passion for social justice, particularly for women and children, has led to several trips to Capitol Hill.

Cash Warren is an entrepreneur and producer whose production credits include the Christian Hosoi documentary “Rising Sun,” “Crips and Bloods: Made in America,” “Being Terry Kennedy” and ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary on Sonny Vaccaro “Sole Man.” Recently, Warren launched two premium content channels on YouTube, theNOCtv, a sports lifestyle and entertainment channel with the producers of the ESPY Awards and YOMYOMF with director Justin Lin and top online personalities Ryan Higa and KevJumba. Prior to YOMYOMF and theNOCtv, Cash was a co-founder of ibeatyou.com, a destination site and distributed platform for user-generated contests.

Yesterday, popsugar brought you a make-up tutorial with Jessica Alba’s makeup artist Lauren Anderson, and today they bring you a work-out session with Alba’s personal trainer Yumi Lee, whom she has trained with for the past two years. 

In other news, Jessica has made the PopSugar’s 100 list of 2012 landing at #40

Jessica Alba has joined the CrossFit craze! To get her sweat on, the svelte actress can be found in the gym tossing medicine balls and doing sets of burpees with Reebok trainer Yumi Lee counting her reps and checking her form. In fact, Jessica credits her CrossFit workouts for whipping her body quickly into shape after having her second child.

Yumi walked us through five moves that regularly appear in Jessica’s workouts. Watch the video, learn the full-body moves, then get a CrossFit workout on your own.

POP Sugar sat down with Jessica’s Makeup Artist Lauren Anderson to discuss all things Jessica Alba, including: what it is like working with Jessica and a make-up tutorial on how to get Jessica’s flawless signiture glow.

Jessica Alba is known for her enviably luminous skin, and it’s in part thanks to the talents of her makeup artist, Lauren Andersen. So get glowing. See Jessica’s complexion routine, including some tips on how to contour like a professional, in the video now. On Kirbie: BCBG.

Some exciting news here, Jessica Alba and Mickey Rourke are the first actors confirmed to return to Sin City 2, due out next year. Read more info in the article below from Total Film.

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For has released a glut of new information, including an official release date, confirmation of Jessica Alba’s return and the fact that the film will be presented in 3D.

First things first, and that all-important release date has been confirmed as 4 October 2013. That’s when the film will open in the US, with the UK date likely to follow in short order.

Next, we have confirmation that Jessica Alba will join Mickey Rourke in the long-awaited sequel, with both stars named in an official press release. Rosario Dawson is also expected to reappear, although her name is conspicuous by its absence in the official blurb.

What is included is the news that the film will be presented in 3D, lending a new element to the distinctive look of the first film.

“The original Sin City broke new ground with its iconic stylish look and grossed over $160 million worldwide,” explains the release. “Sin City: A Dame To Kill For will not only bring fans back to the world that Rodriguez and Miller created, but will also add a new dimension by bringing their unique visual style to life in 3D.”

Top dimension-based pun there. More importantly however, the date is set, and things are moving forward. Let the stylised slaughter begin!

Jessica Alba is the June 2012 cover girl for Marie Claire, marking her 3rd cover for the magazine (previously in August 2005 and March 2008). High quality scans will be added as soon as I get my hands on the magazine. In the meantime check out the interview highlights, outtakes and behind the scenes footage below.

When it comes to really famous people, the ones we identify in our brains as belonging to a special breed of superhumans—glossy, glam, and perpetually camera-ready—it’s easy to forget that, to those in their inner orbit, they’re actually just normal, regular people. Somebody somewhere sees George Clooney’s number pop up on the caller ID and says, “Him again?” Or, as is the case today, when a visitor arrives at a small, modern Los Angeles building in an industrial part of town for a meeting with Jessica Alba, the guy she shares an office with shrugs indifferently and mumbles, “I think she’s upstairs?” before returning to his feverish typing.

These nondescript offices are the headquarters of The Honest Company, a kind of Amazon for nontoxic, environmentally friendly baby products and household supplies that Alba launched earlier this year. Alba loves coming to work here, a paparazzi-free zone where she’s absolved of having to preen and pose. It’s obvious as she bounds down the stairs to meet me that she savors the regular-ness of having an office, replete with coffeemaker and a fridge filled with yesterday’s lunches. To the cubicle jockeys who inhabit the space, she’s “just Jessica,” another clock-puncher who parks her SUV (outfitted with two car seats for daughters Honor, 4, and Haven, 9 months) alongside everyone else’s, and who shares mommy war stories without feeling exposed or judged—like the time she and her husband, film producer Cash Warren, found Honor lying in her crib eating particles of her diaper, which had fallen apart. The event crystallized Alba’s interest in safe, sustainable products, including disposable diapers, which The Honest Company delivers monthly to subscribers for upwards of $80 per month.

“I started working on this three and a half years ago,” Alba tells me. “I took a year off from acting when I had Honor, and I was home with her, diapering her, cleaning up after her, and I had a real frustration that I couldn’t find healthy, nontoxic, and affordable products that actually worked. So I decided I needed to do something about it while my family and friends have young children.”Yet despite Alba’s best efforts to come across as just another mom, she is—let’s face it—anything but. As she leads me to a conference room, I can’t help but stare at her enviable form and wonder: Is that what jet-black J Brand skinny jeans are supposed to look like on a human body? Would those Margiela for Opening Ceremony black boots make my legs look that long? If I ran out and bought an identical rose-gold channel-set diamond ring that spans two fingers, would that technically make me a stalker or just an admirer?

 

Though Alba clearly relishes being a businesswoman, her latest role is as a fashion darling, a woman whose every ensemble, whether for a movie premiere or sandbox play-date, is photographed and quickly dispatched to celebrity magazines and blogs that feverishly monitor her unique sartorial choices. Despite what the tabloids suggest about the symbiotic relationship between celebrities and the fashion world, actresses like Alba—true trendsetters—are rare. It could be argued that the fashion flock are harder to impress than the Hollywood machine. But thanks to her infallible Cali-cool style and fluid transition from streetwear to couture, honed from years of red-carpet swanning, Alba is a favorite among the most rarefied of designers—Alber, Donatella, Narciso, to name just a few—who decide whom they dress (and not the other way around). She’s managed to totally remake her image, trading her postpubescent-boy fan base for fashion’s überchic style arbiters and the legions who follow them. “She is an extraordinary beauty,” says Narciso Rodriguez. “Her style is her own, and it has made her someone to watch.”

“She has a perfect body, sexy with curves,” effuses Donatella Versace. “She is true to herself. She always looks fresh, never vulgar.”

Alba, 31, has come a long way. Early in her career, she was often showcased in Maxim-ready looks, from jeans and halter tops to body-hugging dresses, that played up her lean yet impossibly curvy 5’7″ frame to eye-popping effect. “I had a show [Fox's Dark Angel] that premiered when I was 19,” Alba explains. “And right away, everyone formed a strong opinion about me because of the way I was marketed. I was supposed to be sexy, this tough action girl. That’s what people expected.”

Even when she dressed demurely, her killer body always took center stage. “I felt like I was being objectified, and it made me uncomfortable,” she concedes. “I wanted to be chic and elegant!”

In recent years, owing to marriage, motherhood, and the maturity that comes from more than a decade in Hollywood, Alba has grown more assured of herself and how to work her figure in her own way. “Now that I’m older, I’ve learned how to own it, but I’m still not very overt,” she says. “There are some women who dress for men. I dress for myself. It took me some time to get here. Being a mom and feeling grown-up have helped. Now if I’m going to wear something short, it has to have a high neck or a little sci-fi toughness to it, an edge.”

Read Jessica’s full interview when the June issue of Marie Claire hits newsstands on May 22.