Call of nature

From plant-derived pigments to face creams made with foraged fruits, the beauty industry is looking to the land, not labs, for its latest innovations. WH gets back to nature to bring you the latest

From the microbead ban to plasticfree pledges, the past 12 months have seen a seismic switch to beauty routines with a conscience. Transparency is officially trending, and women like you are demanding to know everything about what they’re slathering on their body or applying to their face – from a product’s carbon footprint to whether it’s organic, vegan and sustainably sourced. Stats don’t lie, with 73% of millennials willing to pay more for sustainable beauty offerings, while trend forecaster WGSN predicts that utilising planet-friendly ingredients and manufacturing methods will revolutionise the beauty industry by 2020. Enter: nature hacking. ‘It takes inspiration from the grounding practice of foraging, which deepens our connection with nature,’ says Sarirah Hamid, founder of beauty trends agency Pretty Analytics. Whether you want to create your own beauty remedies from scratch – more on that later – or would rather nature’s bounty came ready-made and bottled, ‘wild crafted’ or ‘wild harvested’ beauty is the perfect sustainable solution.

PLANTING THE SEED

Indie brands Wildsmith Skin, Wild Beauty Apothecary and Wild Seed Botanicals (sounds just... wild) are leading the way in foraged formulations, alongside herbalists like Amanda Cook, who runs foraging beauty workshops. ‘The idea is that what’s growing around you is what your skin and body need most at that time of year, because the plants have adapted to the same climate,’ explains Cook. ‘In the UK, think skin-brightening elderflower in spring and summer and soothing rosehip in autumn and winter, when the skin’s moisture levels are depleted.’ Inspired by the summer and winter solstice, Icelandic brand URÐ makes its soaps from the ingredients in abundance at the time. But is small-batch beauty a viable massmarket option? ‘A brand could buy in foraged ingredients from around the world, but it would be difficult to forage on such a large scale, so you’d struggle to find the ingredients you would in boutique lines,’ says Cook. That’s not the only issue. Using what’s at your feet means you’re keeping it local – if brands rack up air miles on products and ingredients, foraged or not, if you’re an eco-conscious consumer, it’s going to grate. But beauty’s big guns are trying. As part of its ‘Enrich Not Exploit’ commitment, The Body Shop is looking to develop pioneering formulations from areas where natural biodiversity is at risk, while Weleda is one of the first brands awarded the new Union for Ethical Bio Trade (UEBT) certification. Appearing on packaging in 2019, the UEBT symbol will become a recognised sign that the brand sources raw materials with respect.

HARVEST FESTIVAL

Purple potatoes, baby beets – not tonight’s dinner, but naturally derived colourings that could well trigger a make-up shake-up. American brands Plant Makeup, Among The Flowers, Axiology and Juice Beauty have succeeded in producing plant-based pigments with colour pay-offs to rival their chemical counterparts. ‘Our phyto-pigments use plant-derived ingredients to achieve the same vibrancy you get from synthetic dyes,’ says Karen Behnke, founder of Juice Beauty. It chimes with the current consumer mindset, according to Jessica Smith, creative researcher at The Future Laboratory. ‘Growing concerns over synthetic chemicals are turning consumers away from massproduced, overly processed cosmetics towards a natural kind of beauty.’

‘Mascara was the most difficult,’ admits Behnke. ‘We used rose petal and argan shell powders and purple carrot extract to get an intense black.’ Plant-based nail polishes are tricky, too, but French brand Aroma Zone has a collection coloured with radish, sweet potato and elderberries. On the skincare front, it’s out with thick white creams and in with multi-coloured formulas. Klairs Midnight Blue Calming Cream (£22) uses camomile for a powder blue shade, while the tea in Herbivore Jasmine Green Tea Balancing Toner (£33) tints it an avocado hue. Good for your face and your feed.

IN IT TO WIN IT

Mirroring the backlash around eliminating food groups in the nutrition world, Hamid believes we’ve reached peak beauty ‘freefrom’ and now, instead of listing what’s not in products (parabens, fragrance, colourings, etc), the focus is shifting towards what is in them, such as potent botanicals and locally sourced plants. While its ingredients aren’t foraged, new brand Inkey prints ingredients in big bold type on the front of the bottle, which lets the consumer know exactly what they’re buying into. Even if you do prefer retinols to radishes, open communication can only be a good thing – it’s just a bonus if your moisturiser is so pure you can practically eat it, right?