Sustainable Lipsticks & Balms
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Choosing green cosmetics is not only healthier for you but also the environment. You are supporting businesses that don’t create the demand for the production of toxic chemicals, and you are not leaving harmful residue behind during disposal.
There are many companies taking sustainability to the next level! Whether it be choosing eco-friendly packaging materials, giving back to those in need, or conserving energy and resources in production and office facilities. Each brand listed is going beyond choosing clean ingredients, see who is doing more for our communities and environment!
NEEK SKIN ORGANICS founder Angelique only had to think about parabens for her face to blow up, so she quickly learned which ingredients to avoid, and experimented with creating her own cleansers, moisturizers, and more. It soon became apparent that what your skin needs is simple, and can be found in nature. Neek carries a line of 100% vegan lipsticks but also SKINCARE PRODUCTS.
Neek limits the amount of plastic used. Although more expensive, they favor using highly renewable and recyclable materials such as bamboo and glass.
RMS BEAUTY was founded by creator Rose Marie Swift a renowned make up artist that has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, and many more. After experiencing health issues caused by heavy metals in her blood stream, she created her acclaimed line of organic color cosmetics. Rose-Marie created WWW.BEAUTYTRUTH.COM to expose the dangers of many personal care products. The RMS Beauty line uses a combination of organic and wild crafted ingredients to achieve the purest products. Fun fact – RMS not only stands for Rose Marie Swift but also Real Makeup Secrets and Right Mental State.
Packaging for RMS Beauty products is minimal, and all of it is biodegradable, recyclable or reusable. The cream color cosmetics are packaged in recyclable glass with an aluminum recyclable lid, not plastic. “Rose-Marie spends most of her time sourcing ingredients from sustainable and environmentally friendly sources.”
RMS lip products are also available on amazon.
ELATE BEAUTY‘s mission is to care for each other, communities, and the world through healthy ingredients, sustainable practices, and wellness minded goals. The Canadian cosmetic brand was founded by Melodie Reynolds, who’s calling is to build a better business model for beauty.
Elate’s products are 100% vegan and gluten-free. They use water soluble packing peanuts made from corn to pack an order. Any plastic found for added protection is always re-used by the company and never purchased. If you live a plastic free lifestyle let them know and they can accommodate you. All products come exactly as pictured on the site with no additional boxes or packaging. All pressed powder products come in seed paper, that can then be planted in a garden to sprout wildflowers or herbs. The bamboo comes from China, where Elate works closely with a green certified, fair trade manufacturer. All of the bamboo is water processed, not chemically treated.
AXIOLOGY is an organic luxury vegan lipstick line created by Ericka Rodriguez. The brand was born in Ericka’s kitchen, where she strictly used only vegan and natural ingredients. It took 200 formulations before she got it right, and the final formula comprises of only 10 all-natural ingredients that you can find in your own kitchen, like coconut oil, avocado oil, and orange essential oil.
Axiology offers a wide range of 100% vegan and palm oil-free LIPSTICKS and LIP CRAYONS.
SUSTAINABILITY
The lipstick boxes are sourced from Bali where the founder discovered a woman-owned recycled paper boutique. “The paper used in our boxes is collected from all over the island—from hotels, offices, and households—and is taken to a small factory. It’s then boiled down to a pulp, dried in the sun, and finally folded and decorated by hand.” This helps trash reduction on their island which is a growing concern.
WHERE TO BUY
Axiology’s lipsticks are available on AMAZON.
The ZAO philosophy is about an ethical and sustainable approach to living in harmony with nature. Their products are gluten-free, vegan, and made with Eco Cert and Cosmos certified ingredients.
Thanks to a simple and innovative system, most of ZAO’s products are refillable, including their lipsticks (not the lip glosses). Genuinely economical, the refills reduce costs and packaging, while also allowing to free creativity and play with their wide range of colors. All products are packaged in the highly renewable material – bamboo. All trees store carbon, but the exceptional speed of growth of bamboo makes it a carbon capture champion throughout its life cycle. As a carbon storage material, it allows ZAO to a very satisfying carbon footprint – in other words: ecological sophistication.
ECO LIPS is the original organic lip balm! It all started in the early 90’s when the creator, Andrea, started making small batches of lip balms out of her kitchen for family and friends. Steve, her partner and a lifetime entrepreneur took the lip balms to another level. With the help from their top sales rep Jim, Eco Lips arrived. In 2003 they were the first USDA certified organic lip balm on the market.
Eco Lips uses recyclable lip balm containers made with 40% recycled content and recycled aluminum carabiner clips for their Eco Clips accessories. All of Eco Lip’s ingredients are sourced from all over the world. They use Fair Trade certified cocoa butter and coconut oil to help support farmers. The balm is made in the historic Cherry Building located in the New Bohemia district of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 2004, they initiated Iowa’s largest solar project that offsets their neighborhood’s energy usage. Lastly, 1% of purchases go towards Pencil’s of Promise, a non-profit organization that builds schools and provides quality educational programming to increase literacy rates in Ghana, Guatemala, Laos, and Nicaragua.
Eco Lips products are available on AMAZON.
VAPOUR BEAUTY Art and alchemy merge in the enchanted mountains of Taos, New Mexico, where Founders Krysia Boinis and Kristine Keheley create Vapour. Vapour’s bold approach to crafting high-performance cosmetics includes only the purest, active ingredients from the earth—and nothing else.
Also available on amazon.
100% PURE was founded by Susie Wang, who’s mission is to create the healthiest, purest, most nourishing formulas. Their cosmetics are colored from vibrant fruit, vegetable, tea and other plant pigments which contain an exorbitant amount of skin beneficial vitamins, antioxidants and other healthy phyto nutrients that make skin healthier. They are also committed to minimizing their carbon footprint in all areas of the business.
100% Pure uses non-toxic or soy inks for printing. Their drought resistant plants at their headquarters are watered from the condensation collected from the roof. They are also 100% solar for power and use LED lighting. 100% Pure was recognized by the city of San Jose as having lowest amount of landfill garbage and majority recycled. 100% Pure uses post consumer recycled/recyclable packaging, and all plastic materials used are BPA and Phthalate free.
LIP LINERS
LIQUID LIPSTICKS
LIP GLOSSES
LIP TINTS & BALMS.
HURRAW! BALM is made from premium raw and organic ingredients. To ensure the quality and integrity of the product, they individually pour each tube of Hurraw! balm in their own facility. They are certified vegan and 100% gluten-free, palm oil-free, and shea butter-free.
Hurraw! Balm ship’s in recycled and recyclable corrugated packaging. Their wholesale packs are made from 100% post-consumer paperboard using 100% wind power. They have swapped over to power shares, where they offset our power use with wind power through Arcadia Power. Hurraw! uses recycled PCR (post-consumer recycled material) pellet to make our tubes. and they are still recyclable #5. They hope to reduce their plastic use by 90% in the next five years. They have also swapped to EarthFirst labels. These are Bio degradable and compostable (in the right conditions). EarthFirst PLA film utilizes NatureWorks® PLA resin made from corn dextrose (sugar). Hurraw! Balm prefers to work directly with farmers or via distributors with NGO’s. While they do choose to purchase Fair Trade Certified products in some cases, Hurraw! Balm is not a Fair Trade Certified company. They believe that their purchasing ethics truly benefit the farmer, the distributor, the product and you.
Hurraw! Balm is available on AMAZON.
AU NATURALE was created by Ashley Prange, a nuclear analyst in D.C. Her mission was to use exclusively healthy, natural & ethically sourced ingredients in order to develop a replacement for each and every product in her former beauty routine. Each ingredient has been scrutinized before being included into a formulation, only those who are ethically sound, factually healthy & naturally sourced making the final cut.
Au Naturale is working towards social sustainability by calling on legislation to monitor the cosmetics industry and protect the health of consumers and the integrity of products. “Too many products are labelled as organic, green or all-natural with little to no evidence to back up the claim.We are calling for an end to ambiguous labelling. We want the word ‘natural’ to carry legal weight so that green washing is no longer normative in the cosmetics industry.” Au Naturale is asking law makers to make cosmetics safe by creating a Clean Beauty Standard that will protect consumers. You can join the #CleanBeautyRevolution by signing their petition and spreading the word!
Au Naturale is available on amazon.
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