From Farm to Face: Beauty Brands That Are Good For You & the Earth

Founder Indie Lee was diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain tumor in November 2008, and her surgery was scheduled for April 22nd, 2009 exactly six years ago on Earth Day. “It’s my sixth tumor-vessary!” she says. The entrepreneur and self-proclaimed beauty junkie was told by her doctors that her tumor may have occurred due to the environment, or something she was putting on her skin, which is our body’s largest organ. After waking up from her successful surgery, Lee was inspired to create a luxury beauty line that both looks good in your bathroom cabinet and is non-toxic. The bottles are made from glass and the paper labels are made from recycled fiber. “Some of my products have one ingredient and some of them have four,” she says. “I source my products indigenously because I want to source them where they are grown most optimally.” Her favorite Squalane Facial Oil ($32) is made from only one ingredient, 100% olive-derived oil, and she claims that she doesn’t need to use foundation anymore. Simplifying your beauty routine doesn’t mean you need to give up on being fancy, after all.

Even anti-aging can go green—just ask Lexie Masterson, who created her beauty line inspired by her grandmother. The Hudson Valley-based beauty company uses outer cartons made of Forest Stewardship Council paper and are manufactured in a plant is 100% wind powered. The products are vegan, cruelty-free, biodegradable, and made of natural and organic ingredients. The Under Eye Brightening Boost ($20) is a concealer made with cucumbers and natural minerals that help depuff your eyes and conceal dark circles. Clairvoyant Beauty donates 1% of all proceeds to the Rainforest Alliance. For Earth Day, you can get 20% off products with green packaging with promo code EARTHDAY.

Founder Sarah Villafranco has an MD—and while she’s no longer treating patients in the ER, she’s put her passion for helping people make healthy choices into Colorado-based Osmia Organics. The company makes a full range of skincare products, perfumes, and soaps. It’s not just the ingredients that are natural and organic, though—the packaging is as sustainable as possible. The labels, for example, are made from Terraskin, a tree-free, water-free material made from rock and resin. “The only environmentally-friendly packaging is no packaging at all. Pull an apple from a tree and take a sweet, crunchy bite. That’s environmentally-friendly packaging,” says founder Villafranco on the website. Touché. We recommend the pint-sized Rose Clay Facial Soap ($24) which is a chocolate-toned bar made of a combination of oils, coconut milk, and pink and white kaolin clay. It lathers up like an animal fat-based bar soap would (the coconut milk makes it sudsy), but it’s only made of vegan and cruelty-free ingredients.

Long before everyone was talking about going cruelty- and paraben-free, Origins has been embracing eco-beauty. For 25 years in fact. The brand uses recycled paper packaging and is committed to wind power for their manufacturing facilities. Origins’ Plant-A-Tree initiative is in partnership with the nonprofit American Forests’ Global ReLeaf, and has helped plant over 500,000 trees around the world. They also has a groundbreaking “Return to Origins” Recycling Program that allows you to deposit your empty cosmetic containers—regardless of brand!—at any Origins retail store or beauty counter. The brand also uses recycled paper packaging and is committed to wind power for its manufacturing facilities. The High-Potency Night-A-Mins renewal cream ($41) is a bestseller with a citrus scent—and unlike other night creams, it’s light and fresh.

All the trendy packaging for haircare brand KEVIN.MURPHY is either biodegradable or recyclable, and the products are cruelty-free, as approved by PETA. They primarily used plant-based ingredients swapping them for traditional ones. For example, instead of using sulphates to make a soapy lather, KEVIN.MURPHY uses Soap Bark Tree Quillaja and other plant-derived sources. Apart from their production process, the brand also tries to set an eco-example for other companies. Their GREEN.SALON Project is a virtual salon that teaches beauty salons how to reduce their carbon footprint and impact on the environment while saving money. There’s a hair product to fix all your hair remedies, but for our short-haired gents and gals, the paraben-free NIGHT.RIDER matte texture paste ($38) is sturdier than your basic hair gel.

When Hamptons resident Anne Nelson Sanford first founded Lurk Natural Fragrances, the eco-friendly product market was mostly “crunchy granola” products that didn’t necessarily work as well as their luxury counterparts. The glass perfume bottles are made ethically and sustainably with wind power, and the perfumes are judgment-free and unisex. “Lurk perfume oils transcend gender, age, race, attitude and affliction,” says the website. Sanford’s store in the Hamptons stocks many natural beauty brands too.

Farmaesthetics was started on the principles of sustainable agriculture. The founder, Brenda Brock, came from a farming family, and began selling her wares at an organic farmstand in rural Rhode Island. The product line is packaged in natural glass, and is recyclable. Boxes are reused whenever possible and the packing materials are made of biodegradable cornstarch. The brand supports small family farms and organic growers. Even though the ingredients are made with whole organic herbs and other natural ingredients, they keep a remarkable shelf life of two years. The Midnight Honey Bath and Beauty Oil ($39) can be used for massage, bath, shower, or as a moisturizer for face and body—the only thing you can’t do is eat it, which is unfortunate considering how good it smells.

Burt’s Bees is one of the original pioneers of eco-beauty, and even after being bought by Clorox for $925 million in 2007, it’s still committed to sustainable solutions on a mass scale. The beeswax beauty purveyors strive to make their packaging as recyclable as possible, with their bottles averaging 60% post-consumer recycled content. Container pumps, in general, are almost impossible to recycle, but Burt’s Bees partnered with the Gimme 5 take-back program to carefully deconstruct and recycle used #5 plastic pumps. In 2007, the company established the Burt's Bees Greater Good Foundation, which works on sustaining charitable, grassroots initiatives that support human and honeybee health. Don’t underestimate bestselling Lip Shimmer ($5), which packs a punch of color and shine while providing the same benefits as a nourishing lip balm.

Sold at Whole Foods at affordable price points, this inconspicuous brand makes a huge range of biodegradable and cruelty-free products. You can replace your common drugstore brands, from deodorants to soaps to sunscreens to toothpastes—so, really, you have no excuse not to outfit your entire bathroom with eco-friendly products. Sure, their packaging looks like something you’d find at the pharmacy—but that might just be the point. Eco-friendly should become the norm, according to Kiss My Face. 10% of the proceeds of their Pomegranate Acai Castile Peace Soap ($5) go to Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating teenagers in conflict areas on peacekeeping.

John Masters Organics is well known for being a luxury line that helped pioneer the aspirational green beauty category. All products are made with between 70%-100% organic ingredients and are endorsed by PETA for being vegan. “[John] believes in ethical treatment for all animals. Including humans,” the company website states. There are no artificial colors, fillers, or fragrances, and all ingredients are harvested in an eco-friendly manner. As summer approaches, consider the SPF 30 Natural Mineral Sunscreen ($32), which is biodegradable and reef-friendly to save our seas and your skin at once.

Other major environmental pollutants are detergents—and no, we’re not just talking about laundry. All shampoos, regardless of whether they’re paraben- or sulphate-free, contain detergent, which has the potential to strip your hair of natural oils. That’s why you need conditioner—to replenish your hair after its washing. Hairstory is a new hair brand founded by Michael Gordon, founder and ex-President of Bumble and bumble, and it’s aiming to cut your wash time—so that you save water. The detergent-free Cleansing Creme ($40) is the only thing you need to clean your hair, and the formula is biodegradable. You can throw away fewer bottles and save yourself some effort.

Kiehl’s started out as a small apothecary in New York—and even though it’s now a megabrand under L'Oréal, the company is still committed to supporting ethical initiatives. For Earth Day, the company is selling Limited Edition Creamy Eye Treatments with Avocado ($29) featuring art designed by Elizabeth Olsen and Maggie Q. 100% of the net profits, up to $50,000, will go to Recycle Across America, to create 65,000 standardized recycling labels for 650 K-12 schools in America. The eye cream has avocado oil and shea butter, which is both nourishing and calming to the delicate eye area, plus it’s colorant- and fragrance-free.

For Earth Month, plant-derived beauty company Aveda is donating 100% of their Light the Way soy wax candle with organic spices from Madagascar ($12) to help protect clean water. Each Light the Way candle is contained in reclaimed glass beverage bottles. This $12 candle rivals your designer bougies in scent, too—it’s made from 100% certified organic essential oils, including vanilla, cinnamon and ylang ylang. The Light the Way candle has already raised over $9 million in funds since its launch in 2006. Throughout the month of April, Aveda has been raising funds to support clean water initiatives around the world. Aveda also has an ongoing partnership with the Yawanawa Tribe of the Brazilian Amazon, to not only help them economically but also help them with raising awareness about their disappearing rainforest home.

“Beauty + Sustainability” is this Italian-based hair company’s motto, and this Earth Month, they’ve partnered up with The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation to plan fruit trees for low-income communities around the world. Participating Davines salons will dedicate a day or week to fundraise for the foundation by offering haircuts and blowouts for free, with encouraged minimum donations of $15. The founding Bollati family is outspoken about the transparency of their ingredients, and their simple packaging purposely doesn’t hide their unadulterated formulas. “By creating beauty sustainability, we encourage people to take care of themselves, of the environment in which they live & work, of the things they love,” reads their mission statement. Furthermore, 1% of purchases go towards For the Planet to support environmental charities. They are known for their cult favorite shampoos and conditioners for color-treated or damaged hair. Their Naturaltech Nourishing Vegetarian Miracle Conditioner ($31) is a versatile deep moisturizing treatment for all types—the thicker or more damaged your hair is, the longer you leave it in.

This Californian brand was founded by clinical herbalist duo Sarah Buscho and Marina Storm and their motto is to never put on your skin what you would not put in your mouth. The products are cruelty-free and 100% plant-based, from organic beeswax to non-GMO, plant-derived vitamin E. For those of us who aren’t trained herbalists, there’s a handy glossary of ingredients on their website. All of their packaging is recyclable, reusable (labels can be peeled off and used to hold), or compostable. San Francisco-based Earth tu Face will be offering free shipping on Earth Day, so if you haven’t tried their famous all-purpose skin stick ($34), now is your chance to try the body balm, which comes in a compostable tube.