Josie Maran Creates GOGO Charity Mascara

Get One Give One (GOGO) mascara from Josie Maran Cosmetics will generate more than $25,000 for City of Hope's Women's Cancers Program.

If there’s one beauty application we never leave the house without, it’s mascara. Some women swear by lipstick, but we’re lash lovers all the way. So we were delighted to join former supermodel and now cosmetics exec Josie Maran, 32, for a special day at the City of Hope, a comprehensive cancer treatment center in Duarte, CA, where she announced that her newly created GOGO (Get One Give One) mascara will generate at least $25,000 for the City of Hope’s Women’s Cancers Program.

City of Hope sees about 26,500 cancer patients a year, with 3,750 being treated in its Women’s Cancers Program. The vast majority (80 percent) of those are there for breast cancer care, while the rest have gynecological cancers.

For the first 5,000 purchases of GOGO Natural Volume Argan Mascara, Josie Maran Cosmetics will donate one tube of mascara to a woman in cancer treatment; after that, $1 from each sale of the $22 product will go to the women’s program. The effort continues through August 2012.

“As I did my research, I was shocked at the amount of cancer that was related to cosmetics,” Maran recalls of the early days of her company, which she founded in 2005. She searched for alternative suppliers and formulations that eschewed harmful chemicals and processes, which is why so many items in her line are made with organic argan oil from Morocco. The argan oil in GOGO mascara conditions lashes, and the natural carbon black colorant makes them super-black and boosts volume.

The former Maybelline model’s “cosmetics with a conscience” are available through Sephora, QVC and Maran’s own website, which also hosts her blog and other tidbits. Maran’s popular Bear Naked makeup wipes ($12) also have a charity beneficiary: the Natural Resources Defense Council’s polar bear campaign.

Do you feel strongly about “shopping with a conscience” or are you more focused on getting the best deal?