NEW YORK – The most fashionable color in makeup this spring may just be green.

Cosmetics companies are increasingly jumping on the eco-chic bandwagon, not only finding botanical ingredients to replace chemical-based ones, but also focusing on improving their packaging practices and the doings of their business partners.

But can an industry that has long relied on synthetic ingredients to create some of its biggest hits really go all natural, all the time? Probably not. Instead, consumers are more likely to see cosmetic companies continue to pick their spots, doing what they can where they can, and letting the world know about each move.

The best advice for environmentally conscious consumers is to scrutinize those marketing messages, deciding for themselves whether a product is “lite green” – those with a small eco-friendly detail – or “bright green,” those that come from a company with strong commitment to protecting the Earth, said Alex Steffen, executive editor of Worldchanging.com, a Web site devoted to discussing solutions to environmental problems.

“People are really interested in guilt-free affluence,” Steffen said. “People want to be rich but they don’t want to feel like they’re drowning polar bears. Once you decide to be guilt-free, you need to know the backstory about the products in your life,” he said.

Does using recycled paper for packaging make a difference? Do carbon offset programs work?

“The short answer is yes but not enough,” explained Steffen, who said the companies that are rethinking the process of how they make things will be the ones that catapult environmental change.

“It’s a question of gesture vs. impact,” added Steffen, who wrote the book “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century” (Abrams).

Linda Wells, editor in chief of Allure magazine, says it makes both moral and business sense for cosmetic companies to pay more attention to the Earth, especially when courting younger customers who are particularly keen to find eco-friendly beauty products.

But she points out that consumers who want certain kinds of results may have no other choice at the moment than to rely on those made with primarily manufactured ingredients.

“Many anti-aging ingredients are synthetic or chemicals,” Wells said. “So you end up eliminating a lot of the benefits of the products for something that might give you peace of mind and do something for the environment, but you might not give the customer what they’ve been become used to.”

Here’s a look at some of the latest products and beauty companies claiming envioronmental friendliness:

Aveda’s Light The Way Earth Month Candle is packaged in leftovers, called make-readies, from the company’s other printing runs that used to be discarded, the outer carton is printed with soy ink on 55 percent post-consumer recycled paper. All proceeds of the candle goes to Global Greengrants for water-related projects.

The candle is made of soy wax, which burns cleanly and completely, sits in a glass container made of 95 percent post-consumer recycled glass and is scented with organic Bulgarian lavender oil. Aveda says it traces the oil from “soil to bottle” to ensure the distillery follows eco-responsible practices.

Aveda says it offsets about 7 million pounds of carbon emissions a year by purchasing wind energy for its manufacturing and distribution hub in Minnesota, said Mary T’Kach, Aveda’s director of environmental sustainability.

T’Kach notes that Aveda, which offered its first bottle product using a container of 25 percent post-consumer recycled waste in 1992, also looks for eco-conscious business partners – and they’ve been fairly easy to come by: Johnson Printing and Publishing, which makes the boxes, also buys wind energy, and many of the magazines in which Aveda places ads use a certain percentage of post-consumer recycled paper.

Shape magazine, for example, uses approximately 925,000 pounds of post-consumer waste per issue – about one-third of the total paper used – roughly enough to fill 250 semi-trucks.

“It’s not enough to encourage readers to toss old magazines in the recycling bin,” said Shape editor in chief Valerie Latona. “As editors, we have to do our part, too.”

Ted Gibson, who counts Angelina Jolie among his clients, last year enrolled his Fifth Avenue salon in Con Edison Solutions Green Power, a provider of wind and hydropower, as a way to reduce the energy footprint that all those blow-dryers contribute to.

Also, he raised $5,000 at a cut-a-thon last year that went to Carbonfund.org. (Another cut-a-thon is planned for September.) Later this spring, Carbonfund will plant 650 trees in northern Manhattan thanks to Gibson’s donation.

“If it’s that simple then everyone should do it,” Gibson said.

Lancome’s Primordiale Cell Defense Double Performance Cell Defense and Skin Perfecting Serum. The product, which targets the symptoms of environmental stresses on the skin, is a combination of natural ingredients and those perfected in a lab.

After the serum hits the market in June, Lancome will plant a tree for each of the first 10,000 bottles sold. The company also has done a paperless press launch – creating a Web site for public relations purposes instead of preparing hundreds of mailers that would contain a dozen pieces of paper.

Cargo’s PlantLove lipstick is contained in a tube made not of plastic but of a corn-based polymer called PLA. One ear of corn will make 12 lipstick cases, according to the company, and each case biodegrades in as little as 47 days if composted.

The lipsticks themselves also use an environmentally friendly recipe: meadowfoam seed oil, jojoba and shea butter and no mineral oils or petroleums.

The outer packaging of the lipstick box is embedded with seeds, so if you plant the paper you can grow wildflowers.

Additionally, $2 from the sale of every lipstick goes to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The company says its mission is not only to give back to the earth, but also the future of children.

Origins’ new stores will feature low-emission paints, low-energy lighting, more live plants in the store for purification, poured concrete sinks and wood veneer from managed forests.

Between department stores and retail stores about three dozen more of the new concept shops are planned this year, adding to the 65 already open. Older stores are in the process of updating paints and lighting.