What to look Skincare Lightening Serum for when buying skincare products: Queenan Lightening Series
Is it organic? This is a fail-safe way to avoid most of the nasty, artificial chemicals that are in so many products. And thereby also help to protect the envirSkincare Day Cream ornaments.
Is it cruelty-free? 80% of the world still permits animal testing for cosmetics, although it is banned in the UK. The Cruelty-Free logo guarantees that the company is not animal testing anywhere in the world.
Is it vegan? Many skincare brands use animal products such as honey. Look for a vegan brand.
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What to avoid when buying skincare products:
Does it contain palm oil? At its most unsustainable, palm oil is linked to mass deforestation and serious violations of human rights. Look for brands that commit to sourcing certified palm oil, or are palm oil-free.
Does it contain toxins? The long and complex ingredients lists for skincare products often include toxic chemicals. These are bad for the environment as well as health.
Does the manufacturer use microbeads? Although these tiny pieces of plastics are banned in ‘wash off’ products in the UK, cosmetics companies may still use them in ‘leave-on’ products, as well as other non-biodegradable liquid polymers. Choose a company that is clear it doesn’t use any of these.
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A large proportion of the population uses some kind of skincare product to moisturize, cleanse or smooth over the bumpy bits.
Although the big names may dominate the market in terms of units sold, we’re seeing an increasing number of companies offering more ethical alternatives. From 1999 to 2018, the average annual household spending on ethical cosmetics went up from £7 to £31. What makes an ethical skincare brand?
In this guide, we explore which brands have independent organic or Vegan certification; which is cruelty-free or palm oil-free, and which are doing the best at avoiding toxic chemicals and microplastics. Organic skincare brands
As certification schemes offer an independent check on a company’s ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ claims, we have given certified organic products an extra Product Sustainability mark on our tables. (Look for the [O] next to the brand names).
Organic certification ensures that the agricultural ingredients used in skincare are grown using organic growing methods, without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and GMOs.Products from the following companies carried organic certifications: Avalon OrganicsBentley Organic LimitedConscious Skincare LtdDesford Holdings (Green People)Essential Care (Organics) Ltd (Odylique)LaveranaLucy BeeMidsona (Urtekram)Neal's Yard (Natural Remedies) LimitedPai Skincare LtdQueenie OrganicsWala-Stiftung (Dr. Hauschka)WS Badger Co Inc.Palm oil-free skincare
Palm oil and palm oil derivatives have become an important component in many personal care products. In particular, they are used for viscosity and as a skin conditioning agent.
For example, palmate is an ingredient in many skin care products and is mostly made from palm oil. It is often used to add vitamin A to food or skincare products.
Due to issues of deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty, and indigenous rights abuses associated with palm oil production, we ranked all the companies on their palm oil policy and practice.
The table below shows which companies in this guide received the best Facial Wash rating for their palm oil policies and practice and which avoid palm.
However, even ingredients that technically contain no palm may be made from a process that uses palm as a feeder material. In the table below, only Queenie Organics is certified to say that it is guaranteed to contain no palm ingredients at all. Toxic chemicals in skincare
We have rated all the skincare companies for their toxic chemicals policies. Those companies which received the best rating had a policy that has banned the use of parabens, phthalates, and triclosan (see our feature on toxic chemicals for why we have chosen these chemicals).
As you can see from the Middle and Worst ratings listed below, the use of these chemicals is still widespread. Best ratingMiddle rating worst rating
9055-7588 Québec Inc (Attitude)
(Givenchy, Guerlain, Dior, Benefit, Fresh, Make Up For Ever, Acqua di Parma, Loewe, Fendi, Christian Dior, Kenzo, Louis Vuitton, Pepe Jeans, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy Parfums, Perfumes Loewe, Kenzo Parfums, Fenty Beauty and KVD Vegan Beauty)
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLCPai Skincare LtdWalgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
Desford Holdings (Green People)Procter & Gamble
Essential Care (Organics) Ltd (Odylique)PZ Cussons
Hain CelestialWala-Stiftung (Dr. Hauschka)
Neal's Yard (Natural Remedies) Limited
Weleda WS Badger Co Inc Microplastics and liquid polymers
Under UK law, ‘rinse off’ products should not contain microbeads. However, skincare products are mainly designed to ’leave on’ and are not subject to the ban.
All companies’ policies regarding microplastics were therefore assessed by Ethical Consumer. See our feature on microbeads, 'The hidden plastics in your cosmetics' for more information about our rating and the ethical issues with microplastics.
Skincare companies that are considered to have positive microplastics policies (that exclude the use of microplastics and non-biodegradable liquid polymers in all products) include: Green PeopleHain CelestialHonesty CosmeticsLaveranaLittle Soap CompanyLucy BeeNeal’s YardPure Nuff StuffWala StiftungWeleda AG
All other companies lost a mark under the Pollution and Toxics category as they either had no publicly available policy or had a policy that prohibited microbeads only. Animal testing and cruelty-free skincare
Although the testing of cosmetics on animals has been banned in the EU, this is not the case everywhere else in the world. The EU’s REACH legislation has also complicated the issue. See our feature on ending animal testing.
Ethical Consumer rates all companies selling cosmetics on their animal testing policy. Companies will score the best rating if they have a policy not to test on animals, with a fixed cut-off date (a date after which none of their products or ingredients will have been tested on animals), and are not selling to markets, such as China, where animal testing of products is required by law.
The following brands were certified cruelty free by Leaping Bunny which requires a fixed cut-off date: Conscious Skincare LtdEdgewell Personal Care (Bulldog)Faith in Nature LtdHain Celestial (Alba Botanica, Avalon Organics, JASON Natural Cosmetics)Honesty CosmeticsLucy BeeMidsona (Urtekram)Natura ( Body Shop, Skincare Aesop) – no evidence was found that the certification included Avon, which had been acquired by Nature in January 2020.Neal's Yard (Natural Remedies)Pai Skincare LtdWS Badger Co Inc
Superdrug's own-brand products were also Leaping Bunny certified but its parent company was not.
Tropic Skincare was also Leaping Bunny approved. However, it lost half a mark in the Animal Testing category, because it was 50% owned by Lord Alan Sugar's company Amsvest Limited, which also owned 50% of a cosmetics procedures company, an industry in which animal testing is ubiquitous.