Sustainable Beauty: Brands I Love

Beauty products shouldn’t cost the earth; and these sustainable beauty brands are doing their bit for the planet, while delivering seriously good products. See which brands are worth stocking up on, in my round-up below…

Image Credit @ Camilla Akrans for Porter Magazine

As a Makeup Artist, I’m always conscious of the impact the products I work with have on the planet. Just as I’d rather eat fresh, organic and ethically-produced food, I’m always on the lookout for sustainable beauty brands creating great products that I can work with. More and more brands are starting to think about using more ethical and sustainable production methods.

Image Credit @ Camilla Akrans for Porter Magazine

What is Sustainable Beauty?

Whether it’s the use of recyclable packaging, using ethical production methods, or investing profits to support the growth of local businesses and merchants; sustainable beauty brands are helping to make the world of beauty more fun by doing something good for the people they work with or for the environment. I recently worked with La Bouche Rouge to create a line of signature red lipsticks, and was drawn to the French beauty brand because of their dedication to create sustainable, luxurious products. They don’t use microplastic anywhere in their formula or packaging, and encourage you to buy one beautiful leather lipstick case that you can keep forever, just changing the insert. Here are a few other beauty brands making the world beautiful…

Image Credit @ Camilla Akrans for Porter Magazine

Sustainable Beauty Brands to Know Now

Ethique

The gold standard of sustainable beauty products, Ethique produces a range of skincare and body products, from shampoos and conditioners to cleansers and deodorants. The world’s first zero-waste company, all the products are made in solid bar form and wrapped in recyclable paper and card wrapping. All this paper wrapping means there’s no need for plastic at any point in the process. The packaging is 100% compostable and the ingredients are 100% sustainably sourced and fair trade approved, to boot.

My pick: Ethique Coconut & Lime Butter Block

REN

Some people think that switching from plastic to glass packaging is the easiest way to go eco-friendly with your beauty routine, but it’s not as simple as that. Glass uses up the world’s resource of sand, plus it is heavier so shipping it uses more energy, too. So how can you use plastic more responsibly? REN has committed to being zero waste by 2021. Plus their latest sustainable beauty initiative is a bottle made from 100% recycled plastic with 20% coming directly from the ocean.

My pick: Atlantic Kelp and Magnesium Anti-Fatigue Body Cream

Bulldog

It’s not just the beauty industry that needs to up its sustainability credentials, the grooming sector needs to go green, too. In the US, over two billion plastic razors end up in landfill each year. Bulldog has a natural bamboo razor, which comes packaged in fully recycled stock using environmentally friendly inks, an obvious eco-upgrade to your plastic shave-and-throw.

My pick: Bulldog Original Bamboo Razor

Clean Beauty Co BYBI

Everything the Clean Beauty Co do is centred around 100% natural, high quality ingredients and they aim to give total transparency. Their skincare products are vegan, and the tubes are biodegradable.

My pick: Babe Balm

La Bouche Rouge

As I already mentioned, La Bouche Rouge is a Parisian beauty house dedicated to creating sustainable, luxurious products. They make one beautiful leather magnetic lipstick case that you can keep forever and refill with the brand’s lipstick and balm shades. Of course, you should pick mine!

My pick: Try the Nude Red as it looks great on all skin tones.

Sana Jardin

This perfume line is based in London but sources its ingredients in Morocco, building a more sustainable economic system for the women working with them. Jardin and team teach the women important skills such as upcycling floral waste to make candles for their own profit.

My Pick: Berber Blonde

Rahua

This haircare line sources its ingredients from the virgin rainforest, working with the indigenous people in the area and ensuring the natural environment isn’t negatively impacted in the process. Profits are reinvested into the region.

My pick: Rahua Classic Shampoo

Maria Nila

Fans of this vegan haircare brand include Emma Watson; Maria Nila are eco-friendly and free from animal testing. The products are great for every hair type, too.

My pick: Head & Hair Heal: Masque

Lush

A British high street favourite, you either love or hate that smell of their popular shops! The founders created Lush to be an ethical, sustainable alternative to the beauty giants, and it obviously worked.

My pick: Lush Gorgeous Moisturiser

Burt’s Bees

Well-known for making gorgeous lip balms and more, Burt’s Bees are also known for their responsible sourcing of natural ingredients, particularly honey and beeswax, vital ingredients in many of their products. They aim to be 100% sustainable by 2020, which is very impressive!

My pick: Beeswax Lip Balm Tin

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