As a consumer, I personally avoid so-called "clean" beauty brands. Preservatives (that extend the product's shelf life) are not evil.

I'd rather have a non "clean" product that I can use up than a "clean" one that I have to throw away because it grows mold (or something similar).

These so called "beauty products" are inherently unsustainable due to 80 % (if not more) of them doing next to nothing for anyone's actual beauty (or health) - I'd argue many can be even detrimental - so their (however small) footprint is largely unnecessary in the first place. The whole industry is about convincing people that if they use some BS cream they will look like the photoshopped pictures of Hollywood actors (while making you feel bad if you look like mere human being). And the influencers who are happy to advertise about anything as long as they get paid for it are not helping the situation (though their followers are ultimately to blame if they fall for it - but these are often kids)...

Here are the "beauty products" I use: soap, shower gel (both usually lasts me weeks to months in the typical package) 🙃 Really, it's more about using the bare necessities rather than buying 20 different products each month, thinking it's sustainable as long as there's "100 % organic" sticker on each of them.

I don't trust beauty brands for any claims they make, nevermind those outside its field of "expertise".

It depends... for example, two products from Beiersdorf AG, Labello and Nivea Sunscreen. The Labello says on the packaging 100% recycelbar (German for you can recycle it) On the Sunscreen it says bottle made from 96% recycled plastic. The first one is nice that you say it but that's true for most things made from plastic. The Problem often it will not. The second one is actually good, because it directly claims the hard but right thing was done. Too Beiersdorf credit only the 96% made from recycled stuff if claimed as sustainable, the 100% Recycelbar isn't. 

And that's shows well how to read these claims, most of them are true but are not really something special, the cheapest way of doing that is claiming things required by law, it's so cheap I read it as a warning sign. Above that is claiming things that your product brings with it anyways (vegan labels on apple juice for example) and ideally they claim things that are actually hard to do like very high amounts of recycled material like with the Sunscreen above. 

And about how believable there claims are, at least from companies that have something to lose I expect them to be roughly accurate, not straight up lieses but there a caveats to it somewhere in the fine print. 

Beauty products fall way out of the actual sustainable universe. I see so many ads for products that are sold in plastic containers of 30 g (approx 1 oz) packaging. It's mindblowing how much packaging is used for cosmetics. Even if they claim to be recyclable (eg you return the bottle ) we don't know if they really are.

There are youtube videos debunking the "clean" beauty myth as well. It's like the 2000 version of the 90s "green" movement. Some of it is well meaning, some of it is just false and misleading.

Sustainability should be at the heart of beauty industry . At least 120 billion tonnes of waste is generated by the industry and sustainable solutions for reducing plastic are only minimal compared to the sales made to consumers. Sourcing is another issue. With certifications becoming more and more complicated and having negligible consumer awareness to influence decision habits, the industry usually can get away easily. Recently the sunscreen scandal in Australia has raised concerns on transparency also.

I am so sick of collecting glass bottles for foundation. I have a favorite foundation that I buy on repeat. I do not need a new glass bottle each time. I really wish I could just get a refill. I feel so bad throwing them in the trash

The number one challenge is packaging. And most people are buying products because of the packaging, so that’s unlikely to change.

I mean, to some extent it's all greenwashing because ultimately they want you to buy and rebuy cosmetics, which are not necessities, and there is going to be an impact from production, packaging, and shipping no matter what. The whole concept of minimizing the impact of elective consumption so we can keep on doing it is greenwashing in the end, but to be clear it's also harm reduction and I don't actually expect everyone (myself included) to go fully ascetic and live in self-sufficient eco-yurts or whatever. I'm just saying it's good to keep some perspective about what "sustainable" even means in this context. The best thing we can all do is just minimize buying.

Beyond that, though, I think it's useful to consider whether a company has a program to recycle empties or if their packaging is biodegradable because it suggests some kind of thought about what happens to their products after they're used up.

A lot of it is just clever marketing so this is at least what I check. Is it leaping bunny certified for cruelty free. From my understanding, it’s the best metric to use and they get they require 3rd party audits not just self reporting. Some companies have started using a fake bunny though on their bottles to trick people so make sure you verify on their website.

For reef safe (since that term means nothing), there’s two levels I check. Hawaii banned two of the really bad chemicals (top damaging ones) from their beaches so you can check if it compiles with their standards. If you want to go past that cause there are other ones that damage the reefs you’ll need to switch to a mineral sunscreen that uses titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. You can also just wear sun shirts to reduce your sunscreen needs.

I don’t believe anything is microplastic free anymore lol. But you can just avoid plastic packaging and switch to bar versions or buy in bulk to reduce the plastic. For refillable packaging, I always judge it based on how much I’d need to throw away to “refill it”. If I need to toss a large plastic piece or multiple layers of packaging then I think of it more as like a cover and insert type of thing where you’re not saving as much as you think.

To sum up my thoughts though I think most of it is greenwashing. I recommend looking up if the marketing term is actually regulated in the country you live in and that gives you a good idea if it has meaning. Cause if there’s no one monitoring the companies usage of these terms then they’ll just slap it on there and hope no one looks further

you caught that actually right, most are just green washing. i don't see actually any eco friendly blindly trustable brands out their, may that is just marketing or using consumer psycology that's it. May be their can be but their either not established their market yet, or unable to provide quality

You have to investigate each brand, claim, ingredient, etc 

I work as an e-commerce manager. 99% of times it’s just marketing and greenwashing

Facetheory is made in the UK

All the Aldi skincare (dupes of the big brands) is made in the UK and has the leaping bunny on

Geek & Gorgeous fits the bill, read about their ethos here https://geekandgorgeous.com/pages/why-gg/

Products are bloody good too!

Evolve and Pai!

In terms of plastic free there’s skin & me which is a metal tube and includes tret, niacinamjde and azelaic acid (plus more if you need it) I like ethique’s cleansing bar a lot.

Axiology has zero waste lipsticks. Lots of brands will say they are “sustainable” because they have refillable packaging, but most of these companies use extra packaging for the refills anyway. It really about being discerning in what the package is made out of, and if it actually is cutting down on waste or creating more waste.

Axiology Beauty’s zero waste lipstick/blush/beauty balm!

My favorites are Salt New York, Alima Pure, and Lethal Cosmetics.

I focus on loose mineral makeup because it has the longest shelf life, typically has fewer ingredients, and I never have to worry about it shattering or developing hard pan. I love single pans too though because they're very easy to recycle and reuse. Hope this helps!

elate cosmetics have an awesome system where you can buy singular pans of concealer, powder foundation, blush, etc that can go in their magnetic capsule palettes and that way you only buy what you need and without all the bulky packaging that comes with individual products. they’re based in canada so hopefully that’s close to where you are but afaik they ship everywhere

if you’re anywhere near australia, dirty hippie cosmetics is based in the ACT and package everything in either metal tins or glass bottles and they even offer refills for everything! they even do more than just makeup so soap, lotion, deodorant, perfume, etc

i think lush makeup is only available in select stores but if they do sell makeup in your country, they have solid foundation, concealer, and highlighters wrapped in wax only packaged in a cardboard box and their mascara (im pretty sure) and setting powder are packaged in recycled plastic that you can even take back 5 of to your local store for either a discount or a free face mask. they also have package free lipstick that you can use a clean empty plastic lipstick tube you already own to house!

sorry if this is just a wall of text sustainable makeup is kinda my thing haha

I have a hard time finding fully sustainable makeup that I'm not allergic to (I have many allergies), so I focus my energy on supporting small businesses

My favorites include:.

Powder products like Eyeshadow and highlighter- Dandy Lions Cosmetics The pans he uses are magnetic as well as the palettes he sells (but if you already have a magnetic palette, you can use that), he also sells lipstick and nail polish

Eyeliner - Holograve cosmetics She does use some plastic packaging for her some items, but it's super small-scale. She also sells lashes, Eyeshadow, cosmetic gel, highlighters, lipstick, and crystals

Nail polish - Dimension Nails She has collections inspired by dying ecosystems and endangered animals to raise awareness about the ecosystems that are being destroyed

• Athr
• Elate
• Axiology
• Tata Harper
• Kjaer Weiss
• Salt NY
• Izzy
• Antonym
• Rms
• besame
• Clean Face Cosmetics
• Lush UK
• Ilia
• River Organics
• Bee you organics
• Fat and the Moon

Makeup is a broad category. Hard to give recommendations without addition information as to what you’re looking for.

I really enjoy The Ordinary, almost everything they make is packaged in glass. Also can't forget about LUSH!

Causemetics is a really great vegan, cruelty free brand :) and they give back proceeds!

Seaweed Bath co has cardboard and glass options, Derma E uses wind power or something to make their own plastic and has some glass options as well. Buying local to you area is also helpful, if there are any cool options near you.

Derma E is pretty great in my opinion

I've been wanting to make a similar change, I'm into the zero waste movement and am slowly transforming my beauty stash (which is currently completely cruelty free and vegan but has a lot of products packaged in plastic). It's surprisingly hard to find products that are cruelty free, vegan and sustainably packaged. I'm using up plastic packaged products before purchasing more but these are the brands that have been on my radar:

Antonym cosmetics- ecocert cerified, bamboo packaging, cruelty free. Almost entirely vegan (lipsticks contain beeswax, everything else is vegan)

Zao organic makeup- also ecocert cerified, bamboo packaging, cruelty free, refillable products. Mostly vegan (except for lipgloss, liquid lipbalm, lipbalm stick and concealers)

100 percent pure-mostly vegan, completely cruelty free, some metal and paper/cardboard packaging, but some things still packaged in plastic

Kjaer Weis- refillable products, metal packaging however MOST of their products are not vegan. Most products contain beeswax with a couple of exceptions (the eyeshadow is vegan I believe, but I think only some shades).

​

So some stuff I started doing to cut back on beauty waste:

Excessive packaging means I'm not buying. If I'm doing an online purchase, I'll wait till I have a sizable order so I dont just have one or 2 things shipped.

I like to buy a very full coverage foundation even tho I don't wear full coverage because 1) I can sheer it out as much as I want with a moisturizer and 2) I can double it up as a concealer since I don't do the lighter shade of concealer. The effect had been foundation that takes longer to work through (I can do like 1-2 bottles per year this way) and I don't buy concealer anymore.

I also don't buy eyebrow stuff anymore. Just use deep, brown shadows to fill them in. This also works for eyeliner! I use a lotta colorful shadows, so those have replaced colored liquid liners. I do occasionally still pick up white and black liner, but know it's like, one pen every year or so.

Actually look at what I truly use. I'm not big on blush. One or two is really enough for me personally, but I have 6 so I'm not buying anymore. If my skin weren't oily, I'd just sub in some lipstick patted on the cheeks for color and skip buying blush altogether. And contour, bronzers, and liquid lipsticks? Well I like looking at em but not actually using em so no shopping those either.

Cutting out non biodegradable glitters. I'll use up what I have, but any replacements going forward will be biodegradable.

For makeup removal, I use a plain microfiber cloth or jojoba oil, which also doubles as a fantastic moisturizer which means I don't buy a separate moisturizer now either.

Sheet masks are right out. If I wanna do one now, I'll just mix up some moisturizing concoction, soak some thin, reusable fabic in it and use that on myvface instead. Works the same but no trash.

Oh also! I save my mascara wands and send em to: https://www.appalachianwild.org/wands-for-wildlife.html

Eliminate steps and products you use in general, for example, I don't use mascara (less waste), use dark eyeshadows I already have to fill in brows (so I don't buy brow products), don't use makeup sponges because they don't last as long as brushes, don't use nail polish, and always try to work with products I already have, even though they are just ok.

A makeup eraser rather than a makeup remover will reduce both spending and packaging. Also a refillable palette and only buying eye and face products that you will use for it, rather than a bunch of premade palettes. Also for recyclability, buying things in glass and try to avoid dark plastic.

i got some bamboo makeup removers from amazon instead of buying cotton rounds to use w my micellar water. i love them so far. other than that ive been just trying to do a project pan or giving away products i dont use to friends/family so i know theyll be used up.

I would also like to know people's thoughts on this! But I also need to remind myself that the MOST important first step is to use what I already have, rather than tossing it out to buy the sustainable version in the name of "being less wasteful."

​

So, yeah. That's what I'm struggling with right now.

I have a hard time not tossing my older products. I need to remind myself to use what I have. I need to do more shop my stash to make my own makeup more exciting.

As a natural girlie. I love Lea Black Beauty over all natural brands I have tried so far. I am obsessed with their moisturizer, has been great for my dry skin

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krave has a cleanser that i really love, it's the matcha hemp cleanser!

there's this website that might be able to help you find products, check this out. i believe it's based on the info given on each website's information page, so it should be at minimum pretty close to accurate.