Sustainability is one of the biggest trends in up-and-coming beauty start-ups, and hopefully it is here to stay! While Earth Day has come and gone, we should make mindful decisions as consumers each and every day. If we continue producing waste and polluting landfills at our current (and exponentially increasing) rate, our oceans will have more plastic than ocean life by 2050. Change is most crucial at the business and corporate level, but your role as a consumer is to support the businesses that are making environmentally sound choices and divest from the companies making harmful choices. As an individual, you can make small changes to reduce your own carbon footprint and hope that these personal choices begin to help shape industry-wide practices.
Start by tossing any plastic microbead exfoliators and one-use make-up wipes into the trash, and then never buy them again! Make-up wipes just end up in landfills (if you do use them, please don’t flush them down the toilet– they congeal into massive blockages in the sewage system), and plastic microbeads are not bio-degradable, so they have no where to go except into the ocean! The best way to remove your makeup is with an oil or milk cleanser (such as this one from Clarin’s) or micellar water (like this one from Garnier) and a reusable terry/micro-fiber cloth.
If you’re looking for a more conscious way to cleanse your hair, I recently learned about this great brand, Rahua, through my work at Beauty and Well-Being. Rahua works directly with the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Rainforest to source rainforest ingredients that are regenerative, such as rahua oil, palo santo oil, morete oil, and sacha inchi oil. Not only do they have luscious, guilt-free shampoos and conditioners, but they also recently introduced a plant-based fragrance that is the perfect treat for yourself. Apply to your pulse points and bask in the soothing scent throughout your day!
This chapstick might change your life: Kosasport Lipfuel. Sticky, chunky, quick-drying— I’ve tried a lot of different lip products that have disappointed me by doing all the things a chapstick should not do. This is the first chapstick I’ve ever used that instantly made my lips feel plump and smooth without feeling greasy and thick— and the moisture lasts. With a beautiful cloud of fresh mint, you can hydrate your lips with the clear baseline balm or even animate your lips with a rosy tint in shades of rush and pulse. And the best part, Kosa is a great brand that only uses active botanicals and safe synthetics carefully combined in clean formulas. They also have great cream blushes which are great for a desy summertime look instead of a heavy, powdery finish.
Credo Beauty is a gold-mine for clean beauty and skincare products from a curated collection of Credo-approved brands, and luckily, there are store locations in Williamsburg and SoHo! Since the USA has only banned 30 ingredients from personal care products— compared to a whopping 1,400 in the European Union— Credo takes it upon themselves to search for brands that only use natural and clean ingredients. Check out their best sellers page! I would recommend Jillian Dempsey’s Lid Tint and the Ilia Multi-Stick.
Sometimes, the best way to be a sustainable skincare guru is to just make it yourself! You can easily make your own lip scrub, for example, with some honey and sugar crystals. It is also great to use a single product for multiple purposes. For example, a lipstick can often be used to pigment your cheeks and eyelids— especially if you’ve checked the ingredients and they are natural! If it’s safe for one part of your face, it should be safe for your entire face.
If you are ever unsure about the safety of a product’s ingredients or the ethics of the brand’s production practices, download the Environmental Working Group’s Healthy Living App. Scan the barcode of the product and you will have able to see how high the product ranks on the sustainability scale and read full reports on various environmental credentials. Keep it safe, keep it sustainable, and keep it informed!