The Sustainable Beauty Brands That Are Also Doing Good For Your Skin

When it comes to beauty products, sustainability should be more than just a trendy buzzword, and these days, that’s just what’s happening. More and more brands, both old and new are committed to creating powerful, effective skincare and body products for their customers, while minimising any negative impacts they might have had on the environment.

From sustainable and recyclable packaging, to minimise the use of water and other resources in their formulations, these brands are making commitments to bring you beauty products that are guilt-free and actually allow you to contribute a little to improving (or at least maintaining) our environment.  

Local brands

Shopping local is one of the best ways to be more sustainable, reducing travel and in some cases, packaging costs. Many local brands produce in small batches, with a commitment to recyclable packaging, and many now focus on reducing the use of water in their production, helping to conserve a valuable natural resource. Many of them also give back to the community so you know buying local goes a long way within.

Rough Beauty

A local bath and body brand that creates soaps, face, body, hair and home products, Rough Beauty keeps things simple and sustainable through their small batch production based on demand to reduce waste, and using only sustainable palm oil in their bar soaps. In their packaging, they use recycled paper and cardboard, as well as bubble wrap from donations, you can also pick a low-waste packaging option at checkout. Customers are also welcome to visit the studio on certain days in the month so they can purchase products package-free or bring their own containers to fill.

While their founder, Jia Tian recently tragically passed away in a kayaking accident off Sentosa, the company plans to continue to honour her commitment to the environment and support the initiatives she held close to her heart.

Find out more about them here.

The Powder Shampoo

The Powder Shampoo is everything you want in a sustainable, planet-first brand. It is vegan, cruelty-free, featuring shampoos and body washes with a powder-to-foam formulation. They also plan a tree for every product sold in a bid to offset global carbon emissions (letting you shop a little more guilt-free!). Production on their products is 100% water-free which allo ws them to conserve important fresh water resources, while their aluminium bottles are 100% plastic-free so as not contributing to more plastic pollution. All shampoos and body foam washes contain no sulphates, sillicons, parabens or synthetic fragrances, instead using 28 botanicals and eight essential oils for the best results. Their latest launches, travel-friendly sizes of their products, means you can now continue your eco-friendly routine wherever you go.

Find out more here.

Sigi Skin

Featuring formulations tested and perfected in South Korea, local brand Sigi Skin is all about creating effective and powerful products that protect and repair the skin against damage.Two of their products, the Dew Potion essence mist and Idyllic Fields daytime moisturiser are proudly waterless formulas which reduce water waste. Their boxes, bottles and tubes can all be recycled and they’ve helpfully included how-tos on their website. They also use recycled paper in their product boxes which also feature soy-based inks that are easier to recycle. They also encourage customers to help them reduce wasted materials by allowing them to opt-out of the brochure, sticker and card that automatically comes with all ordered products. 

Find out more here.

Handmade Heroes 

Founded in 2015, Handmade Heroes has always been committed to creating products that are all-natural, vegan-friendly and free of all the bad stuff (like parabens, alcohol and cruelty). It’s also Halal-certified by JAKIM making it accessible to all. Internationally-known for their powerful formulations that are still gentle to the earth, Handmade Heroes produces clean formulas, free of micro-plastics and synthetic chemicals and uses plastic neutral packaging whereby the plastics, glass and aluminum used is all recyclable

Find out more here.

Fawn Labs

Relatively new to the beauty scene having just launched in 2019, Fawn Labs was started by Singaporean Hann Chia after a personal health scare in 2014. From then onwards, she taught herself about skincare formulations using natural botanicals. The brand’s focus is on slow beauty, using sustainable methods for crafting their small batch products and reducing unnecessary waste. The products are all housed in high-quality glass bottles which can be sterilised and reused in their local lab multiple times, significantly reducing the brand’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions in the process.

Find out more here.

Nail Deck

Founded in 2011 by Daryl Chew who worked in the nail lacquer import business, Nail Deck’s focus has always been on creating non-toxic, vegan and cruelty-free formulations. Today, the company is known for its in-house brands, Light Lacquer (their gel lacquer that can be easily peeled off for healthier nails), Aquajellie (a formulation with just four chemicals) and Dani + Kiara (their Halal, breathable nail lacquer range) and for being able to customise colours to prevent buyers’ remorse – just one way they are contributing to less waste and increased sustainability. Now a father of two, Daryl also started Two Nude, after his son was made fun of for wearing nail polish. This community, which has already launched one basic collection, is aimed at promoting acceptance of anyone who wants to wear nail polish.

Find out more about the brand here.

International brands

These brands from around the world have made a name for themselves thanks to their commitment to the environment. Check them out next time you're looking to make an impact on your skin and the environment.

Aromatica

With essential oils as the foundation of their products, the Korean beauty label Aromatica has made it a policy to source their raw ingredients directly from sustainable producers. The brand also sought external certifications such as COSMOS, Ecocert, EWG and Vegan Society to ensure that their products can be certified natural, organic, vegan and safe for both the consumers and the environment.

In addition, glass containers are used as packaging instead of plastic so that they can be recycled at the end of their life. Aromatica’s retail spaces in Korea also claim to lead the charge in zero-waste practice by allowing customers to purchase and refill the products with any clean empty containers and purchase as much as they want. Consumers can also drop off PET plastic, which the brand will recycle.

For more info, click here.

Biossance

Founded in 2015, this American beauty brand has been committed ensuring their products hit all the high notes in terms of sustainability, recycling and research and development. Their bioengineered, vegan squalane sits at the heart of all their product and is purported to be purer and more effective. Derived from sugarcane, it saves over two million sharks a year (who are killed for the ingredient). The sugarcane itself is grown in sustainable conditions, using only rainfall for production with its pulp transformed into fuel and packaging.

The brand’s commitment to a better world is extended to their workplace which employs 50 percent female scientists and which has donated over USD$500,000 to ocean research and conservation, The brand aims to be 100 percent reusable, recyclable and compostable by 2030.

Buy their products here.

The Body Shop

An early adopter of sustainability practice and a firm believer in beauty for the whole planet, The Body Shop was the first brand to take a stand against animal testing in 1989 and this year, are on track to have all their products certified vegan by the end of this year. Ingredients for their products are sourced around the world through their Community Fair Trade program, liaising with farmers, artisans and producers, providing them with income and a livelihood. 

In 2019, The Body Shop also became B Corp certified, meaning that the business meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. There are only 3000 B Corps in 150 industries and 60 countries across the globe and The Body Shop is proudly the biggest one ever founded by a woman.

Learn more here.