Blog: Crossroads Style

Natasha Goldenberg is one of those women who just stand out in the crowd during fashion month each season. She has been on the fashion scene for a long time now and holds the title of stylist, consultant and designer.  Her looks are always comfort-tomboy-chic with an unexpected dash of feminine whimsy.  She gives mom-style a really good name, running around town with her daughter and always making it look good.

She’s our style icon of the week!

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Androgynous style is about dressing for yourself and your identity, without being confined to either extreme side of the gender spectrum. Although it’s no new idea to mix feminine and masculine (heels with your boyfriend jeans or trousers and suspenders with a silky blouse, for example), these looks are rapidly gaining traction in the fashion world, and we are slowly breaking down the barriers of what it means to dress like a girl versus dress like a boy. We’re loving looks that take elements from both gender norms to create a neutral, fluid style.

Check out my round-up below for my favorite androgynous street style looks.

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I was delighted when Style Council member Micaela of Oh My Drifter told me she had been working on her own organic and gluten-free line of body butters.

I’ve been switching up my own beauty, health and meal routine to make sure I’m putting only the best onto and into my body—so naturally, I had to get all the info! I asked Micaela to sit down and talk about everything from her products’ ingredients to why Drifter Organics will change your mind about what you put on your skin.

S: Tell us how Drifter Organics came about. What’s the number one reason you developed your own skincare line?

M: We started Drifter Organics in 2014 when I was diagnosed with Celiac disease, as well as a bunch of other arbitrary food intolerances. I learned to not only be careful of what I ate but also to be mindful of what I put on my skin. Whether you ingest it or massage it in, it’s getting absorbed by your body one way or another! That was a huge eye-opener for me. My mom and I spent countless hours online and in health food stores trying to find skincare I could use. With the amount of time we invested in trying to find allergy-friendly skincare options, we figured we might as well make them ourselves!

S: You talk about putting “things you would eat” on your skin. What kind of ingredients can be found in Drifter Organics?

M: Drifter Organics is made with a base of shea and/or cacao butters, various carrier oils, such as jojoba, safflower, and sunflower, and scented with essential oils. We are launching with three body butters: Blushing Ambition, Serenity Now, and Neutralizer. Blushing Ambition has uplifting and floral notes, Serenity Now has calming and grounding properties, and Neutralizer is a muted, everyday staple scent.

S: Which body butter do you use the most of the three you are launching first?

M: I use Serenity Now every night before bed. The scent helps me sleep better.

S: What is your favorite base oil and your favorite essential oil in the lineup?

M: My favorite base oil is sunflower oil. It is very light and dries in fast, leaving no greasy residue. My favorite essential oil is Helichrysum, which can be found in our Serenity Now body butter. It has so many healing properties, smells incredibly soothing, and I absolutely love the way the name sounds!

S: I bet there was a lot of trial and error while creating the recipes for your skincare line. How long did it take you to finalize the list of ingredients for each product?

M: Ironically, the scent was the easiest part. It took us about two months to get three solid scents. The hardest part was getting the texture right. We have so many reject body butters that are perfectly fine to use, but the consistency is too oily or too hard or too gritty. We ended up having to consult with a cosmetic chemist to get the texture the way we wanted it.

S: I love your tagline “Nature looks good on you.” How did you come up with it?

M: Thank you! I had been racking my brain trying to come up with a catchy tagline that was cute and quirky but not so abstract that no one could understand it. I went through so many iterations that didn’t flow or were too obscure. I call my fruits and vegetables “nature’s candy” because they’re so vibrant and flavorful on their own. Our body butters contain the oils from fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers and other plant matter. One of my ideas was, “nature’s candy looks good on you” but that didn’t flow well. That led to “nature looks good on you” which really stuck.

S: What does holistic beauty mean to Drifter Organics?

M: There are a lot of misconceptions that with holistic beauty you can’t be glamorous or stylish. We endeavor to prove that idea wrong. You most definitely can live a holistic life without sacrificing style. Natural beauty doesn’t mean living off the land in a cabin in the woods. It just means giving a little more thought to what we put on our skin.

S: I think it’s so cool that you are teaming up with your mom on this project. Is it all fun and games when working with family?

M: My mom is my best friend, so our partnership came about very organically. For years, we’d been working a lot together on my blog, Oh My Drifter, since she takes most of my outfit pictures. I tend to sweat the small stuff, whereas my mom tends to not be so crazy (LOL), so it’s a good balance between me and her. She’s the yin to my yang!

S: When can we expect your full line to launch, and where can we buy Drifter Organics?

M: We’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign which will help us raise the necessary funds to produce our body butters on a grander scale and get the certifications we need to be organic, gluten-free, and vegan. The campaign will run until April 28th. Our e-commerce site will launch in the summer of 2016.

If you are interested in helping Micaela and Dawn Marie fund the production of Drifter Organics AND be the first to try their products at discounted pricing, head over to their Kickstarter page and help take their project to the next level!

Thank you Micaela for educating us on your blossoming line of products and Drifter Organics!

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What comes to mind when you think of the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun? Fighter planes, aviators, Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer at their hottest? That’s all fine, but what about Kelly McGillis and her killer style? Don’t know who or what I’m talking about? Get your popcorn and settle in for a movie night–time for a Style Review.

1. That hair.

Oh yeah. She’s got some serious ’80s hair, but it’s soft and still looks good even after she’s been riding on the back of Maverick’s motorcycle–that’s pretty incredible for that era. Rather than try to copy her big-hair style, try a tousled bob with an extreme side part.

2. That bomber jacket.

This jacket, in my opinion, is the main character in the flick. As you can see from the pics above, Charlie wears it with work-appropriate white button-down blouses as well as jeans and a t-shirt. While I can’t condone the cut of her jeans nor the high-top sneakers she’s rocking, I do fully endorse the laid-back cool girl look she’s got going on. That, and her best accessory is Tom Cruise in a flight suit. But that’s not really fair.

3. That bomber jacket/pencil skirt combo.

There is so much style going on here… let’s break it down bit by bit. First, the bomber jacket: amazing by itself, but styled to perfection with pushed up sleeves. Sure, if she’s warm, it would’ve been a lot simpler to just remove the jacket, but that’s just a waste of an awesome jacket. Then there’s that blindingly white blouse and black pencil skirt–what a great counterpoint to the rough-and-tumble look of the bomber. And then there’s the giant envelope clutch: adding that to my wish list. And finally, hello gold jewelry. This could be a street style pic from NYFW–it’s
that perfect.

4. That oversized blazer.

Okay, so not everyone can get away with wearing a bomber to the office. But that doesn’t mean you have to wear just any old boring blazer. Get an oversized one and you can roll up the sleeves and give it some style. Notice the white tee underneath? Yeah… That’s another instance of balancing out an outfit. Love.

5. Did I mention her hair?

Just look at her: Quintessential nonchalant beauty. Her expression says, Wow, I just noticed you’re like 5’2″.

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