Beauty and business are passions of Kristen Null-Croner.

Now, the Monroeville mom has combined them in a new line of lip products.

But they aren't your usual pucker products. The 20 lipsticks and glosses in her Marina Cosmetics line harness the power of sea life to hydrate, nourish and color the kissers.

Conscious of the trend toward organic and natural skin care, Mrs. Null-Croner uses two plant-derived waxes: Brazilian carnauba and Mexican candelilla. Other ingredients are organic sea kelp, certified organic jojoba and sunflower oils, buriti oil from the Amazon rainforest, a Japanese honeysuckle extract, vitamins E and C, a plant-derived natural preservative and a water-resistant natural petroleum replacement.

The lipsticks and glosses, categorized by sea-inspired color, are hypo-allergenic, dermatologist-tested and without parabens and dyes. Collections are Caribbean Sea Pinks, Mediterranean Sea Berries, Philippine Sea Corals, Arabian Sea Browns and North Sea Neutrals.

Mrs. Null-Croner, 39, considered making skin care products for children. But then she observed that many higher-end cosmetics companies weren't making much use of natural and organic ingredients in their makeup.

"The need is definitely there," said the Greensburg native. "Green and natural are big now. The anti-aging benefits of the sea meet a need."

When she began researching natural ingredients three years ago, she quickly realized that sea-related ones made the most sense. The line's name is sea-related and also happens to be the middle name of her 9-year-old daughter, Kacey.

For now, Ms. Null-Croner is placing Marina in spas, salons and specialty stores rather than department stores and mass retailers.

"This was definitely a brand positioned for spas and salons and specialty retailing," she said. "But depending upon how this does, I would consider potentially other opportunities that become available."

Lipsticks are $20 and glosses are $22. They're sold at Schiller's Pharmacy in Shadyside, Ultimate Hair Force Studio in Ross, Hair Design Concepts in Monroeville, and Werner's Spa & Salon in Murrysville.

They also can be bought online at www. marinacosmetics.com, which launched June 16, and Mrs. Null-Croner is in discussions with spas in South Carolina and with the Westin and Hilton hotel chains.

She plans to eventually add more cosmetics categories and a skin care line, all with natural ingredients. The daughter of a businessman and herself a business graduate of West Virginia University, she's managing the company's growth carefully.

"You have to start out small to make sure you're hitting every aspect and detail and marketing it properly, everything from manufacturing to marketing -- and ensuring the quality," she said.

Marina products are manufactured in California. After meeting with multiple manufacturers and chemists, she chose a company that impressed her with its ability to match colors and to combine ingredients in the formulation of products.

Two Post-Gazette employees who tested Marina products for several days were impressed. Ruby Ashby gave the lipstick "four out of four stars" because it "lasted for hours without making my lips feel dry and chapped," and Susan Aschenbrenner bought a second lip gloss at Schiller's after finding that the first didn't run when she ate lunch and was "very moisturizing and not a sticky, awful-tasting gloss."

At Werner's Spa & Salon, where workers and customers were "test subjects" involved in Marina's creation, the line is overcoming a lack of brand-name recognition as more women give the products a try, said owner Geri Werner.

Ms. Werner was impressed when she was eating breakfast at a meeting and food didn't stick to her lip gloss, as it does with other brands. She said some customers have reported the diminished appearance of wrinkles on their lips, rich color pigment that requires no lip pencil, and no peeling of lip skin, which some lip products cause.

Jennifer Dencler, a pharmacy technician at Schiller's, said sales are increasing there largely by word of mouth. The pharmacy began carrying the line three months ago -- a month before its official launch -- because of its organic ingredients.

"That's a product people are looking for again," said Ms. Dencler. "They want all natural for their face and something that's good for the environment, as well."