Hey, beauties! I was thrilled to return to Cityline recently to talk about a topic near and dear to my heart: “6 clean beauty brands good for your skin and the environment.” As a beauty expert, brand founder and especially as a mom of two young children, I feel a huge sense of responsibility to make positive, eco-conscious choices.
Consumers are doing their research, and they’re wanting to spend their hard-earned money on products and brands that are prioritizing quality ingredients and eco-friendly practices. We all want to look and feel our best, but we’re more conscious now than ever before about the effect of products we’re using on our health and also on the health of the planet.
It’s a topic that is ever-evolving and we—both consumers and brands—are learning as we go, but already so much progress has been made with brands embracing things like:
- Recyclable packaging + recycling initiatives
- Condensed or waterless products
- Biotech innovation or “Clean Chemistry” (aka creating safe lab-grown active ingredients that are endangered in the natural world).
- Transparency and clarity about their brand values
Here are six standout brands who are really striving to put sustainability first:
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Hymnologie
A skincare brand crafted from the practices of Ayurvedic (ancient Indian health and lifestyle) wisdom, Hymnologie nurtures holistic harmony from the outside-in. Their skincare uses high-performance pure plant ingredients like deeply hydrating Jojoba and saffron, which can improve the appearance of scars and reduce dark circles. Some of our fave products are their velvety-smooth Face Melt Creme (which comes in both Balancing and Moisture Repair) and their Replenishing After Shower Body Oil. It’ll leave your skin glowing head to toe!
Hymnologie’s packaging is at least 90% recyclable, and they also donate 5% of all profits to The Legacy of Hope Foundation, an Indigenous-led organization that promotes healing and reconciliation in Canada.
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Ilia
Ilia is committed to choosing ingredients that are good for the skin and good for the planet. One thing to remember is that not every natural ingredient is good for the environment, so Ilia is incredibly careful about the ingredients they’re selecting, ensuring they’re clean ingredients and not harming the earth.
Their sustainability practices include utilizing recycled glass and aluminum and responsibility sourced paper. They also work with ‘Pact Collective’ to recycle hard-to-recycle beauty products. U.S customers can mail in 10 empty beauty products per month (Ilia’s or other brands) using a pre-paid shipping label, and Pact Collective will break it down responsibly, so it doesn’t end up in a landfill.
And one of the coolest things about Ilia is their hybrid products. Their Multi-Stick comes in 12 swipe-and-go shades that you can use on both your cheeks and lips, saving you time and also excess products and packaging. Another one of Ilia’s amazing multi-use products is their newly formulated True Skin Serum Foundation. Silky and breathable, this foundation provides flawless coverage and also includes ingredients to improve your skin and minimize pores, lines and redness.
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Saie
If you know me, you know I love dewy skin, and Saie’s Glowy Super Gel is a lightweight luminizer that gives your skin the perfect glow. It’s cruelty-free, gluten-free and vegan—good for your skin and for the planet.
Like Ilia, Saie offers a recycling program with pre-paid shipping labels to ensure products that might otherwise end up in landfill are recycled, and they’re also a member of 1% for the Planet, a network of businesses, individuals and nonprofits who give 1% of their profits to environmental causes.
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Rose Inc.
Founded by model and editor Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Rose Inc. specializes in biotech-backed skincare. Biotech what?! you might be thinking, but what it means is that these companies are making their products more sustainable by extracting a natural product and then multiplying it in the lab so that there’s no need to continually harvest it from the natural world. Rose Inc. also shows their commitment to the planet by using post-consumer recycled material in their packaging and are making a long-term commitment to including how-to recycling instructions on their packaging.
They offer an amazing Skin Enhance Luminous Tinted Serum, which bridges the gap between powerful skincare and luminous coverage so you only need one product instead of two. Another product I recommend is their Skin Resolution Clarifying Toner. And here’s a tip to cut down on waste: toner can be applied without a cotton pad. Just put some of the product on your hands and then press it into the face. How easy and sustainable is that?
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Biossance
Made by the same cutting-edge biotech lab as Rose Inc., Biossance ethically and sustainably sources ingredients for their products. That includes the squalance in their Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Oil, which originally had to be harvested from sharks but is now safely reproduced in their lab. Their shipping is carbon-neutral and funds reforestation, and they have a Green Lab Certification, the gold standard for laboratory sustainability practices.
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Everist
Did you know that most shampoos, conditioners and body washes are made up of 70% water? Everist is a waterless beauty brand, helping you go eco with their 3X concentration so a whole bottle of shampoo (and conditioner!) fits in a 100ml travel-friendly aluminum tube. And that tube? It’s biodegradable and single-use plastic-free.
Everist’s products are also free of sulfates, silicones, phthalates, microplastics and parabens, so I feel good about using them on my kids’ skin. Their Compostable Konjac Body Sponge lathers really beautifully and can be popped in the compost after a couple months of use.
Some of our planet-positive initiatives
Here at Fancy Face we’re also doing our bit for Mother Earth by embracing planet-positive solutions in our packaging. Our corrugated shipping boxes are made from 100% recycled materials and are completely recyclable, and our gold bubble mailers are made with +80% recycled plastics, giving those plastics that otherwise would not have been recycled or would have been incinerated a new (fancy) life!
While we’ve not perfected our practices yet, we’re committed to continually seeking out the most eco-friendly options and are working hard to make our product packaging and sustainability practices better.
If you’re looking to find products that are more sustainable, check out my Cityline segment to learn more about all the brands mentioned above. I’d encourage you to visit brands’ websites to get a feel for who they are as a company and what kind of positive changes they’re making to ensure the future of our planet. Times have changed, and the industry is far from perfect, but the advances we’ve seen so far have been exponential, and the next 5-10 years in beauty are going to be extremely exciting times as we all look for ways to protect this beautiful planet we call home.
