THE DO-GOOD BEAUTY BRANDS

The beauty industry is fickle. One minute it's touting a 10-step K-beauty routine, while the next it's instructing you to eschew it all in favour of a planet-friendly regime. How to navigate? Who to trust? It's tricky, we know. See, brands want your cash, and in order to get it, they may dabble in misleading claims about ingredients, formulations and supply chains. Known as greenwashing and clean-washing, think of it as the catfishing of the beauty world. In 2021, brands want in on ethical ethics, or at least to be seen to be in on ethical ethics, but just the guy who volunteers at the vaccine centre by day and arranges lock-ins by night, the facade is exactly that. 

Morality aside, the temptation is clear. According to data insight company Neilsen, 66 per cent of people around the world are willing to pay more for sustainable goods, and this figure shoots up to 73 per cent where millennials – often considered the most powerful spenders – are concerned. A foaming cleanser is all well and good, but stick a nebulous adjective on it and... kerching! Natural Foaming Cleanser, anyone?

WHAT TO AVOID

Lofty, unsubstantiated and unregulated categorisations like ‘clean’, ‘natural’ and ‘chemical-free’. Chemical-free, really? Given that water is a chemical it's a) bizarre and b) unhelpful to brandish them as evil. Beware of brands who use their own logos to denote their credentials - if they were accredited, they’d be using the official ones. Try where possible to read between the lines. If a brand says it's vegan-friendly, it means that some – not all – of its products are kind to animals. Deceiving indeed. If you want to do an inventory on your bathroom cabinet, Ethical Elephant has a section on its site dedicated to ‘100 per cent Vegan Makeup & Skincare Brands’.

WHAT ARE BRANDS DOING?

“More than ever, brands know that sustainability is a non-negotiable and that consumers aren’t willing to pay more for it,” says Net-a-Porter’s Global Beauty Director, Newby Hands. But there's been an attitude change too. Where previously sustainable brands might be thought of as ineffective or a bit drab, they're now some of the most exciting and covetable around. For proof, look no further than Net Sustain, the luxury e-tailer's conscious arm, which has grown a staggering 80 per cent since launching in 2018.

The thing to remember is that no brand is perfect and every brand could be doing more, whether it's educating consumers, offsetting emissions, sourcing ingredients responsibly, drilling down on supply chains and packaging, or ensuring products are formulated in the most efficient possible way. 

Examples of progress include refills and recycling partnerships. The Isle of Paradise Self-Tanning Water Refill Pouch for example, uses 61 per cent less plastic than the original bottle, while Larry King’s refill shampoo and conditioner tubes, save for the lid, cut out plastic altogether. And thanks to TerraCycle, with whom Garnier, Maybelline, Unilever, The Body Shop, Ren, Westman Atelier and L’Occitane all have partnerships, brands can ensure their empties don't end up in landfill.  

WHAT CAN I DO?

According to TerraCycle the cosmetics industry produces 120bn units of packaging every year, yet worryingly, according to Garnier 56 per cent of Brits don’t recycle bathroom products at all. Having two bins in your bathroom, just like you would in your kitchen, will not only remind you to recycle in the first place, but obligate you to think about what is and isn't recyclable. Before you chuck, make sure bottles are clean and without their pumps, flip caps or trigger heads - the vast majority are a no go. Next, check the number known as the plastic resin code, that sits in the triangle of the chasing-arrows logo This indicates how recyclable the packaging is. Green light for anything with a number one or two, but red for numbers six and seven which are multi-layered and unrecyclable. This is where TerraCycle comes in - with more than 2,000 stations nationwide, the recycling scheme accepts any beauty packaging that would be rejected by your local council. Check where your nearest station is here. 

The below are by no means the only brands making strides, but to this end, we’ll keep the list rolling.