Actor, Author, and Activist Alicia Silverstone has always been the perfectly glowing poster child for healthy, ethical, and green living.  She’s also a gal after our own heart - who knows that style and cruelty-free living can coexist and thrive!  So it makes perfect sense that she would team up with earth-friendly beauty company ECOTOOLS to create a lovely line of eco-friendly make up tools and cosmetics bags, launching for Holiday 2009 in Walmart and Target. “With this collection, we wanted to show everyone that you don’t have to sacrifice style to make environmentally-conscious choices,” Alicia says. “You can use earth-friendly materials and still look fantastic!”  Amen sister.  Here, Alicia gives Chloé Jo the scoop on her delicious new projects;

CHLOE JO: You are such a tireless activist for the animals and the environment, and a prime example of how living ethically makes you emanate glitter and beauty!  We love that you totally get the power of offering luxurious and glamorous tools (whether it be food, fashion, or literature) to entice people into living a more cruelty-free and green lifestyle. What inspired you to make vegan brushes and make up bags specifically, rather than a shoe line or clothing line… or is that coming soon?

ALICIA SILVERSTONE: Regular make up brushes are often made with animal hair, and i promise the animals didn’t sit in a salon and get a little trim - you can be sure it was a painful horrid experience. Anywhoo, the other side of the coin is that synthetic brushes although way better option than animal hair, they are not awesome for the enviroment either, but still better.  And actually the best option (if I do say so myself) is my eco tools, ’cause they are free of animal - but also using bamboo and recycled metal and the kindest synthetic hair for the planet possible to date that works great.  So they are cruelty-free, but also the most enviromentally friendly option out there.  And the bags are all made with hemp and veg inks and recylced plastics for the lining are as pretty and stylish as it gets, while still being green! I would love to launch a shoe line….one day!  That is a dream I have had, but I’m only one person!  So one thing at a time, currently the book (The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet) and make-up brushes, and Broadway show (Time Stands Still at Manhattan Theater Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway begins previews on January 5, 2010) were a lot at the same time!  As for clothes, well right now I feel like that hole is filled.  It’s not something we need as much at the moment.  Reusing clothes is my first stop - I love vintage and thrift stores.  And my second choice is organic cotton lines and hemp and such.  I’ll be sharing tons more information on that on my new website (the upcoming thekindlife.com) which will share some of my favorite cruelty-free style and beauty tips, and my latest groovey finds.

The chic carryalls have a design inspired by Alicia’s favorite flowers: lavender, rose, chrysanthemum, cosmo, and thyme.

A complaint we get often is that eco items/ vegan living is for the rich, that they are untouchable for those on a budget… and yet these tools are absolutely affordable and entirely green and cruelty-free (and beans n’ rice is certainly cheaper and gobs healthier than any chuck steak!)  If you could manage to create an eco affordable line so seamlessly, why do you think more companies haven’t caught on?  Do you think because it’s literally too much of a hassle?

I don’t know, but I do know that when we make our selves heard through our dollars, people listen.  So the more you support green and cruelty-free options, the more progress we will make… and I do think that a lot of progress is being made.

Are there more products coming in this line down the road?  What is something you are dying to have (vegan) that you simply do not see and personally need/ crave.

I would like to master foundation for woman one day, but that’s not at the top of my list.  Shoes are, for sure…  more affordable, but sexy like Stella (McCartney.)  I’d like to design handbags, like eveyday purses.  Maybe groovey socks done all enviromentally-friendly and healthy.  And of course, more books.

You'll want to buy "The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet" for all your friends. It will be available anywhere books are sold starting Oct 13 09, and is currently available for pre-order through amazon.

People don’t always realize that living ethically goes beyond our plate. What (other than switching out our make up tools) are other often underlooked changes we can make in our regular routines to make a difference?

Use all recycled paper products, buy recycled toilet paper, use dish towels instead of paper, use blank sides of paper in the printer (no need to buy new paper), get a water filter (no more plastic bottles) and for on the go… get a bottle and fill up.  Buy all biodegradeable products for household stuff and all-natural cosmetics.
And always buy used before new - craigslist, ebay, thrift stores are not only more fun - they are cheaper AND better for planet.

What is currently in your make up bag (other than the tools)?
Josie Maran lip gloss, Eco Bella concealer, Josie Maran eye shadow, Bare Minerals powder,  Tammy Fender epi peel (for scrub.)

Josie Maran Plumping Lip Gloss, $20.