Back in 2007 Chantecaille released a beautiful highlighting powder featuring a coral reef design. Five percent of the proceeds went to Reefs of Hope, an initiative to preserve coral reefs run by the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science. This spring, the company has released a cheek and eye shadow palette and is once again donating proceeds to help save the reefs (but this time, profits go to the Marine Conservation Institute).
The paper insert showing which colors go where is a nice touch:
With flash:
Buying a beautiful palette is a great way of contributing to saving the coral reefs, but there's also a pretty interesting art-based approach to help raise awareness for the reefs – the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project. Run by the Institute for Figuring, the HCCR project is a participatory community art project that invites people to submit their own crocheted coral pieces to be displayed in galleries and museums worldwide. You can read more about how it works here.
A couple of examples from various exhibitions – I think the second picture most resembles the coral seen on the Chantecaille palette:
(image from crochetcoralreef.blogspot.com)
(image form hellejorgensen.typepad.com)
So that's your dose of art/environmental activism for the day. 🙂
While I love that Chantecaille comes out with these truly gorgeously designed palettes and that they donate a portion of the profits to good causes, I would like to see more than 5% go to those organizations. I think a major company like Chantecaille could spare it. Still, it's nice to see them donate anything, so I can't complain too much. Also, this is one of those collectibles that I wish I could buy two of – one to use and one for the Museum. The colors are so pretty and versatile.
What do you think about the palette and the HCCR project?