Earth Day Beauty Products that Help the Planet & Your Skin


For almost 50 years, we’ve been celebrating Earth Day to bring attention to our planet and everything it provides to us. The Earth is a great place to live, right? It’s got a great climate, liquid water, and a livable atmosphere. So let’s keep it that way.

 

It’s not breaking news that the Earth has seen better days, and it doesn’t take planting trees or going on a recycling crusade to work to better the planet (though you can do those things if they fit your fancy). Start on a smaller scale, and let’s start on Earth Day. Revamp your beauty routine with products from ethical companies that prioritize sustainable methods and natural, earthy ingredients. Australian brand Crop Natural uses only FSC-certified paper items throughout it production process to ensure the environment isn’t harmed as they create organic beauty products.

“Organic beauty products are important not just in terms of skin health, but also in terms of environmental impact. And, I can’t stress enough just how crucial the COSMOS Standard certification is,” says Crop Natural co-founder Charlie Denton. “It has taken us about 18 months to get, and it is a game changer for not only us as a brand, but the beauty industry as a whole.”

The COSMOS Standard regulates practices throughout the beauty and skincare field, certifying those brands who follow a strict set of criteria of maintaining ethical procedures and using organic ingredients. These criteria even include how workers are treated and how waste is disposed of.

“Production processes are the most impactful on the environment,” Denton explains. “With a large percentage of manufacturing facilities having little environmental responsibility when it comes to and water wastage, chemical by-products.”

We can all agree that it’s easy to support a company that values sustainable production, but when it comes to skin care, consumers should be wary about the actual products—you want to be sure that a skincare product will give you the results you need. The earth might need help, but skin is a very sensitive organ. 

And Crop Natural agrees. “The one message I don’t want to get lost [amidst our environmental works] is that our formulations performance is the number on callout throughout our product range,” Denton tells COOLS. “We don’t just measure our performance against our natural beauty counterparts, we measure it against the entire beauty category. I want to create something authentic that people really want to be a part of.”

So the COOLS team wanted to know, which organic products are as beneficial to our skin as they are to the environment? And we went on a beauty-journey to figure it out.

Crop Natural

I embarked on my organic beauty journey with Crop Natural’s Hydrating Aloe Vera Mask. I’ve been a fan of Aloe Vera since I burnt my finger cooking and saw how the gel direct from roommate’s aloe plant instantly and magically healed the burn. As a skincare product, Aloe Vera is great because its cohesive effect to brings flaking or separated skin cells together, in turn smoothening and hydrating. I used the mask in the evening, and after I washed it off, I was a bit dismayed to see some flakes of dry skin that hadn’t been there before. But the aloe’s true magic showed itself in the morning: I woke up to perfectly smooth skin, void of the redness on my cheeks and nose that had been there before.

Earth Day

Juice Beauty

COOLS Marketing Director Lauren tried Juice Beauty, an organic, vegan, and high quality skincare company set out to show that plant-based formulas are just as powerful as those made from chemicals. Lauren loves the brand’s Stem Cellular line, made to naturally enhance the skin’s elasticity using fruit stem cells. Her favorite item is the Stem Cellular Exfoliating Peel Spray, a spray that looks like a toner but works as an exfoliator. You spray it over your skin and the peel works to lift away old cells and revitalize, renew, and just freshen up entirely. Plus, this exfoliation wasn’t too harsh on Lauren’s sensitive skin. “It basically reset my face,” Lauren says. “It peeled everything away, and my skin was like a baby’s bottom after.”


JUICE BEAUTY

STEM CELLULAR Exfoliating Peel Spray

$52


PLANT Apothecary

PLANT Apothecary is founded on the ideals healthy ingredients, environmental friendliness and social responsibility, carried out through innovative package design. The COOLS Marketing Associate, Kelly, tried out PLANT for her foray into organic beauty, opting for the brand’s Rice & Clean Gentle Cleanser. “I love the packaging,” Kelly shares, noting that it fits nicely into her bathroom cupboard. Rice & Clean takes a cue from the ancient Japanese beauty secret of washing the face with leftover rice water. So if you guessed rice as the cleanser’s main ingredient, you guessed right. “My skin was 100% softer,” Kelly says. “The dryness was all gone, I looked more even toned, and my makeup sat more smoothly on my skin afterwards.”

Earth Day

Ren Beauty

Marie-Laure, Head of Merchandising for COOLS, swears by REN Beauty. The East London company offers clean beauty, avoiding any unfriendly, toxic ingredients, and using naturally derived hi tech bio-actives. The brand is committed to the environment as well, producing recyclable packaging so as to improve their impact on the world. Marie-Laure uses the Evercalm™ Gentle Cleansing Milk, a Fennel Seed Extract that de-stresses and protects from pollutants and oxidative damage and the Rose O¹² Moisture Defense Oil, meant to moisturize and strengthen. “The rose oil serum smells so goodI like applying it before going to bed. My skin feels like a baby’s bum in the morning,” Marie-Laure says. (The COOLS team really likes that analogy). She continues, “And I love the texture. It’s clean and not too strong. REN is perfect for sensitivity and redness.”


REN SKINCARE

Rose O¹² Moisture Defence Oil

$80


 

Ready to help the planet through beauty? Earth Day is the perfect time to make an environmental effort, plus, REN and Juice Beauty are offering deals for Earth Day.

 

And take a look at some planet-friendly shoes & accessories.

 

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