Halloween is here! The official kick-off to the season of feeling guilty for over-indulging in sugary sweets! Well, what if you could cancel out that guilt by indulging in sweets that are practicing fair trade, and simultaneously helping endangered species or protecting the environment? While you are out shopping for Halloween candy, think about giving back. Make the world a better place one trick-or-treater at a time… and by letting that chocolate melt slowly in your mouth. There are a handful of forward-thinking candy companies not only crafting delicious treats, but helping craft a better planet. Here are 5 charitable options for your sweet tooth:

sweetriot

All natural, antioxidant-rich, no dairy and gluten ingredients, kosher, pure cacao snacks made with fair trade ingredients. This celebrity favorite focuses its social responsibility in 3 key areas: their product, their people and their partnerships.

Angell

Their motto is “eat no evil” and that’s what they do with Fair Trade all organic products. They are members of 1% For the Planet, which means they donate 1% of gross sales (not profits) to local environmental organizations.

Endangered Species Chocolate

With playful names like “Bug Bites” these chocolates sweeten the deal by donating 10% of  their net profits to organizations that support species and habitat conservation efforts.

Fearless Chocolate

FEARLESS is a delicious good-for-you gourmet organic chocolate bar that uses certified organic,  100% Kosher, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free products. They donate 1% of their annual profits to change-making individuals and organizations suggested by their customers.

Surf Sweets

These organically-sweetened gummy candies and jelly beans are free of artificial colors and sweeteners. With a name like Surf Sweets, it makes sense that they’ve focused their efforts on protecting the ocean and are involved with The Ocean Project.

BOO! The next official holiday of October – you know, besides Spa Week – is quickly approaching. Do you know what you’re going to be for Halloween yet? Did you catch Michelle channeling Ke$ha last year? While we’re debating which costumes to wear this year, we thought we’d share our picks for the 10 most ridiculous celebrity costumes.

1. No one quite gets into the spirit of Halloween like Heidi Klum – her costumes are always over the top.

2. Pink instills my fear of clowns…once again.

3. Mariah Carey posing for the 2012 Staten Island Firefighter Calendar, no doubt…

4. Aaron Carter makes for a terrible pimp.

5. We think Jason Biggs should let the ladies stick to being Dorothy.

6. Matt Lauer‘s One Night As Paris

7. The new Pippi: Gwen Stefani looks ridiculously cute with her son as Jessie from Toy Story.

8. The fashion designer and former Project Runway winner, Christian Siriano and friend dressed as the feather duster (Babette) and the candle stick (Lumiere) from Beauty and the Beast.

9. Alyson Hannigan, from How I Met Your Mother and American Pie, and her family always do a theme – this year, Babes from Toyland. This one time, on Halloween…

10. Snooki declares her love for pickles. And cleavage.

One more! This one’s not a celebrity… but if SPA-lebrities count, so does Michelle’s 20,000 calorie costume from 2 years ago:

Images via WonderWall and New York Post.

Everyone loves Halloween, and why shouldn’t they?  Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than a holiday designated to vivid imaginations, fishnet tights (optional, but why not?) and lots of people looking for fun, all sans family drama. Gotta love it!

However there is one little snafu when it comes to fully enjoying the raucous nature of All Hallows’ Eve.  You guessed it…candy!  The sweet stuff flows as freely as the alcohol (also loaded with sugar) on this wild holiday, which at first tastes great then leaves you in a guilt-tinged, sugar coma.

So how can you enjoying your Halloween festivities without paying for it with a tummy ache the next day?  Here are my 3 tasty tips on how to avoid the Halloween candy conundrum!

1. Do not buy candy.  I know it seems easy enough but seriously, don’t buy it.  If you are wondering what to give the trick-or-treaters, let me quickly enlighten you.  There is no law stating you must give out tooth-corroding candy however you also don’t want to be that girl who hands out cans of tuna fish or toothbrushes.  Pick up some tasty Lara Bars, Clif Z bars, or Trader Joe’s almond packets as easy and tasty candy alternatives.
2. Truffles to the rescue.  Throwing a Halloween party and need a sweet treat to serve?  Make these chocolate blueberry truffles.  These truffles are completely sugar and guilt free and after one bite no one will miss the crap-tastic mini butterfingers.  If anything they will praise you for being such a food goddess!
3. Bring your own.  If you are heading out and just know you will get sucked into something sweet and unhealthy, bring your tasty treats with you!  That’s right.  Who says you can’t show up with your own delicious truffles or peanut butter filled dates (I swear they taste like a snickers bar)?  In fact, I promise your friends will want a nibble of your goodies over all the other junky candy.

So there you have it.  Stick to these three tricks and all your candy concerns will vanish!

In the comments below I’d love to hear how you avoid the Halloween candy conundrum.  Come on ladies, sharing is caring! (And it feels good too.)

Jamie G. Dougherty, founder of JamieLiving.com, gives women the secrets to feel amazing in their bodies and create the balance they crave between their busy schedules and eating well. Jamie believes that though kale and brown rice are good foods to put on your plate, until we truly learn HOW to eat rather than just WHAT to eat we will continue to be carb-craving, super-frazzled, stress-out ladies. If you ever feel hungry, stuck and unsatisfied with your food be sure to visit Jamie’s website to get her FREE 5-Step Guide to Fabulous.  Seriously ladies, get ready for Jamie to rock your world!

Never in my life have I had so much fun at a hair salon as I did on Saturday at Senses New York. Not counting the other week when they threw a  Snooki-studded circus and I woke up with a fake tattoo, but that’s another story.

Me as Ke$ha! Read and watch the videos to see how it happened

I entered Senses NY Salon and Spa at 3 pm to get highlights and a much needed trim with the owner Bruce, and didn’t end up leaving til 8. First let me just say that in my 12 years of getting highlights, I’ve never loved them quite this much. I kid you not. If you are within a 100 mile radius of New York City and have a penchant for blonde moments, cheat on your hairdresser next time and try Bruce. Just once. You can blame me.

Anyway, it was Halloween. I had big plans to dress up as my Doppelgänger Ke$ha, the party girl pop singer who debuted with “Tik Tok”  in 2009 and whose current hit “We R Who We R” just happened to #1 on iTunes that day, so what’s a cast of costume-obsessed hairdressers, makeup artists, and otherwise talented perfectionists to do, other than make sure I leave there looking more like Ke$ha than Ke$ha herself?

I had fooled around on Polyvore.com earlier in the week and made the Ke$ha inspiration board you see above, which the Senses team studied on my iPod touch. I had uploaded it to Facebook on Tuesday, and my mother asked if any of them were me.

While the foils were setting, the makeup began. Lizette is their phenomenal makeup artist – she has her own makeup line called Face It Beauty Bar, and I give her full credit for my face in this video. After a few moments taking in the Ke$ha-isms of the collage, Lizette began airbrushing my face with various tones of caucasian. Suddenly I had a smooth tan, zero blemishes, semi-perm blush and awesomely defined cheekbones. Check out how it works in this video–

Then came the eye makeup. Lizette used a liquid black eyeliner to get the dripping effect, and while the liner was still wet, she told me blink really hard to give it the smudgy look.

When it was time to remove the foils, Annalisa gave me her usual head-gasmic wash and massage in the sink, then Armando did a gorgeous blowout. If only Bruce and Armando weren’t about to go totally eighties on it and turn it into a teased, curly, hot Ke$ha mess. I caught a minute of it for you to see–

After this, I swung back over to Lizette’s station to finish up with fake lashes and glitter galore. The lips are done with Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar and Mattese NYC Glitter. (I ended up removing the pink feathers because they distracted from the eye makeup)

The end results looked like this – everyone I saw knew immediately who I was!

Thank you Bruce and team! You know it’s good when you feel the urge to do a running jump hug at the end of your session. Which I did.

BUT WAIT! Not done yet. On Sunday I had a couple Halloween parties to go to, so what else would I do besides go as Ke$ha at the $pa? If anyone needed the spa, it sure was Ke$ha. I slathered on a Lia Schorr Peel Mask (one of my favorites), a pink TherapPearl eye mask (read our TheraPearl review), and Caswell-Massey Revitalizing Cool Cucumber Eye Pads… all covered in glitter of course.

I even added a “50″ to the $ signs from the night before – A Spa Week shoutout! (yes, I am creepily obsessed with my job)

What did YOU go as for Halloween? I would love to see! Upload to our Facebook page!

Senses New York Salon & Spa
138 Fifth Avenue, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10011
212.242.7979
http://www.sensesny.com

disclosure

The time has arrived where the goblins, ghouls, Lady Gagas, MacGrubers and an unprecedented number of Snookis wander the streets (half naked) and you’ll either be out hunting for treats or full of pumpkin pie nestled in your sheets. Whichever way you decide to bring in Halloween 2010, here are 10 links from around the (cob)web to make it a time you won’t forget.

<– We’re embarrassed to be so entertained by this but… A Snooki-o-Lantern! - The Luxury Spot via Blogher

Halloween Trumps Midterm Elections (Google searchers choose fake wigs over bigwigs, right on!) – CBS

A Ghoulish Guide to the Top 15 Halloween Nail Polishes of 2010 – Bella Sugar

Pumpkin Carving and Decorating Ideas (from good ol’ Martha) – Martha Stewart

16 Costume Ideas in 90 Seconds – Daily Candy

Pumpkin Recipes for Your Skin – Treats You Can Make At Home – The Beauty Bean

Etsy Finds: Black Cats in Your Casa – Casa Sugar

8 Beauty Products That Let You Be Scary, Sexy or Both – Betty Confidential

Halloween Costume Inspiration: What Are Celebs Planning? – OK Magazine

And don’t forget you can celebrate Spa-lloween with Pumpkin Peels, Scrubs, and Polishes Galore (Scary-good October deals!) – Halloween Spa Deals