BEAUTY
POWDER
BRUSH £10.99,
SPECTRUM
AMBIENT
LIGHTING
PALETTE £49,
HOURGLASS
NAIL POLISH
£14.50,
NAILBERRY
HIMALAYAN CHARCOAL MASK
£17, THE BODY SHOP
As beauty consumers, we just want the best
possible product for our skin, hair, body etc. We
love the idea of getting goodness or change from
something and it will make us look and feel great.
But now, people are stopping and thinking about
the beauty items they love and whether the cost is
too high. Eco beauty is about simplifying, not just
the ingredients, but how much we are consuming.
Th e beauty industry is latching on to this
concept in a hope to appeal to and retain the eco
conscious beauty customer. I’ve never seen more
companies start to change their ways than now;
stripping back their ingredients, looking for more
natural derivatives, ditching excess packaging,
developing recyclable products. Everything
from toothpaste to lipstick, foundation and face
masks. It’s not just about the cleansing, ‘green’
ingredients, it’s how the contents and bottle have
been manufactured.
Marketing these new products is also
important. I’ve seen a change into bloggers,
vloggers and infl uencers realising their enabling of
fast fashion and fast beauty. Some of my favourite
beauty reviewers online have scrapped deals and
endorsements with brands who don’t give out an
eco-conscious stance. And the word is spreading.
Now, I’m not going to pretend that I’m 100%
natural and waste free when it comes to beauty, as
I’m not. However, with a little research changes
can (and have) been made and hopefully they can
off er a little inspiration.
Homemade recipes
Th ere are so many recipes and tutorials online for
making your own homemade beauty products
from natural ingredients. Lip balms with coconut
78
oil, sugar scrubs, aloe vera plant hair treatments
etc. Th ere are so many to explore.
Know the gimmicks
‘Scientifi cally proven’, ‘clinically tested’, ‘natural’,
‘eco’ are all words thrown about a lot within the
beauty industry and maybe not be 100% true.
Just because something says natural on the packet,
doesn’t mean it is. Read the ingredients list, look
up reviews and fi nd brands and products you
trust.
Buy local
3. Buying local sounds like the same old chestnut,
but after delighting in some beautiful, homemade
Manomara products at the Christmas market, I
was sold. What carbon footprint?
Switch beauty tools
If changing up your beauty regime simply isn’t
going to work, then why not switch your beauty
related products? Makeup brushes, face and body
loofahs, toothbrushes/ toothpaste and hairbrushes
are all items that are easily changed from plastic
and synthetic versions to natural, recyclable
materials.
Finally, when it comes down to eco beauty, the
one main point to take away is, aren’t we doing
this for a benefi t? It may be that we want to avoid
future skin reactions, or we want to help the
environment or animals. It might be that we want
to simplify our bathroom cabinets and makeup
bags. Whatever it is, there’s a steady revolution
happening in beauty trends, and I, for one, am
happy to be on board.