Prima’s Green BEAUTY guide
Take a more sustainable approach to looking good with brands that are making a difference
There are lots of reasons for taking a more conscious approach to beauty shopping: you might be worried about the volume of plastic in your bathroom, concerned about animal testing or keen to spend your money with companies that give back. Few of the brands mentioned here would claim to be perfect, but they’re all taking steps towards a better future by minimising wasteful packaging, reducing their environmental impact and supporting socially responsible initiatives. Many are vegan (or have vegan offerings) and all are cruelty-free – though that’s a trickier topic than you might think, as you’ll see from our section on animal testing. Importantly, the products you see on these pages are all used and loved by the Prima beauty team. We hope you find something you’ll love, too…
LUSH
A champion of minimal packaging, Lush now sells everything from body lotion to face oil in solid form, needing nothing but the paper, cardboard and potato starch boxes it’s transported in. Storage can be challenging, but if you’re serious about a low-to-no-waste bathroom, Lush leads the way; the 47m shampoo bars sold in the past 13 years equate to a saving of 3,400 tonnes of plastic packaging, says the brand.
FAITH IN NATURE
Sustainability is easier to buy into when it comes with the weekly shop. This range looks and smells more expensive than it is and can be popped into your basket at Sainsbury’s. The plastic is 100% recycled and recyclable as well as ultra-light, to reduce carbon emissions by minimising freight weight. There are refill stations in independent health-food stores nationwide, and the most popular lines come in a whopping five-litre size.
TROPIC
While Tropic creates lovely skincare and haircare, it’s the refillable make-up palettes that stand out: they’re sleek and practical with colour options that you’ll really use, as you get to choose them yourself. Double-offsetting carbon emissions has helped Tropic fund conservation work in the Amazon rainforest, and the company also pays for one day’s worth of school education in Cambodia, Nepal and Myanmar for every £50 in sales.
PLASTIC FREEDOM
All the beauty and household brands stocked on this lovingly curated shopping website are plastic-free, but founder Beth Noy (who started the company in her spare room) was still concerned about the cardboard used to send out her orders. To date, she’s now planted over 67,000 trees globally through donating to the non-profit charity One Tree Planted as her way of giving back.
GARNIER
When it comes to environmentally friendly changes, Garnier isn’t afraid to make them. It was one of the first mass-market, global brands to launch a paper-based tube (to package its Multi-restore Hemp Gel Cream) and recently the entire range has been awarded a cruelty-free Leaping Bunny logo. Garnier has also introduced an online social impact labelling system, which rates all of its products with a sustainability score from A to E.
SKIN & TONIC
Founder Sarah Hancock started
Skin & Tonic with a sustainable ethos of using upcycled and British-grown ingredients, which ensured a lower carbon footprint and positive impact on food waste. Expect to find North Wessex Downs cornflower, lavender from Surrey and hemp seeds that have been rejected from food manufacturing in the natural, aromatherapy-based skincare and body collection. The brand is also certified organic.
BRAMLEY
The countryside is the inspiration for this beautiful brand, with wildflower photography on its bottles. Ingredients are natural, biodegradable and grown in the UK. Refills and glass bottles are offered, while any plastic is 100% recyclable. As products are fragranced with essential oil blends inspired by hedgerows, £1 from every sale of its Body Lotions and Room Sprays is given to Plantlife, which works to save endangered British flowers and plants.
AXIOLOGY
The compostable cardboard sleeves holding these punchy lipsticks and pretty crayons are made from recycled paper waste in Bali, in a factory that employs a mostly female workforce. The smart gold casings inside are recyclable too, and the colours (choose from 20 creamy-textured shades) are formulated entirely from plant-based butters, oils and pigments.
BYRE
As a dairy industry by-product, about 870,000 tonnes of whey goes to waste every year. Byre combines powdered whey with good-for-skin ingredients such as aloe vera and sustainable poppy seed oil to produce its delightful body washes. A donation from sales goes to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institute (RABI), helping to support farm workers facing adversity.
NEAL’S YARD REMEDIES
Known for its therapeutic body oils and bath salts, Neal’s Yard Remedies’ skincare stands out, too, ticking more boxes than simply the organic one (its ranges for sensitivity and anti-ageing are excellent). Having previously petitioned and lobbied against the use of bee-harming insecticides and microbeads, from this year, the brand is donating 50p from every sale of its Reusable Pumps, £1.50, to Fauna & Flora International, a charity dedicated to protecting threatened wildlife.
THE BODY SHOP
When founder Anita Roddick opened her first store in 1976, she offered money- and waste-saving refills. This year sees the reintroduction of refill stations in more than 155 stores in the UK. Buy an aluminium bottle, £2, choose a shower gel, hand wash, shampoo or conditioner, from £5, then bring the bottle back for a top-up when it’s empty. Ingredient provenance is a focus, too: its Avocado range uses avocado oil grown in South Africa using sustainable farming practices.
WE ARE PARADOXX
This Irish brand favours aluminium packaging, which has the benefit of being endlessly recyclable and, unlike most widely used plastics, doesn’t release toxins when it breaks down. Ingredients are often locally sourced and formulas are potent and often multi-purpose, getting us to buy and use less. The company donates 1% of its profits to 1% For The Planet, which helps businesses to fund environmental charities around the world.
FLORAL STREET
Packed full of responsibly harvested ingredients, Floral Street’s gorgeous flower-powered perfumes do more than just smell good. Not only is the wood pulp packaging recyclable, reusable and biodegradable, but all of the fragrances are also vegan and cruelty-free. At the heart of each scent is a specific flower paired with unexpected notes (such as peony with pink berries, or rose with red peppercorn and saffron) to give it a fun, modern twist.
REN
This beauty brand excels in skincare that brightens and/or soothes, as well as gloriously scented bath and body care. It’s on course to be zero-waste by the end of 2021 through making every component of every tube, pot and bottle recyclable or reusable. The brand has recently turned its attention to creating eco-friendly alternatives to plastic sample sachets, many of which end up in landfill. REN’S offerings will be housed in 100% recycled, and recyclable, aluminium or glass tubes that feature clever re-closable nozzles.
WEDO/
Through its partnership with the Plastic Bank, which removes eight pieces of ocean plastic for every wedo/ product sold, this new vegan haircare brand from Wella is setting out its sustainable intentions from the start. Packaging is 100% recycled and recyclable, and all the products in the concise, high-performance line-up are made with naturally derived ingredients.