Affordable Eco-Friendly Beauty Brands To Love In The UK
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Cleaning up your beauty routine doesn’t have to be expensive. Try these more affordable sustainable and eco-friendly beauty brands to treat your hair and body without breaking the bank.
The eco-friendly beauty world has come a long way. From limited choice just a few years ago to a myriad of options, now with over £220 million in sales each year in the UK alone, the eco-beauty scene is booming.
While some sustainable beauty brands do come with eye-watering price tags, contrary to popular belief, great eco-friendly beauty doesn’t have to be expensive. There are heaps of brands out there that deliver great affordable green beauty products – from hemp beauty products to vegan beauty products – that often outperform their high-end counterparts.
The Best Affordable Eco-Friendly Beauty Brands To Know
If you’re looking to have plenty of change left over from a £20 note, then here are my top budget-friendly eco-beauty brands – from makeup to nail care and skin care right through to haircare. I believe these brands deliver the most for your money without compromising on effectiveness or impact on the planet:
The Beauty Kitchen
I’m a big fan of The Beauty Kitchen – available from Ethical Superstore. There’s a lot to love about this brand. From reusable packaging to sustainably sourced ingredients, free from microplastics and free from animal testing.
What’s more, this female-led brand manufactures its products in the UK and is a living wage employer. It donates 2% of sales to charity and it’s a certified B-Corp – a business that puts people and the planet before profit. As you can see, there’s a lot of good going on here!
For a brand doing business the right way, you would expect The Beauty Kitchen’s products to come with a premium price tag. Yet you would be hard-pressed to find a single product above £20.
My top affordable eco-friendly beauty pick from Beauty Kitchen is its Spearmint and Orange deep cleanse shampoo bar (£7.99). I bought this bar a few months ago, and it’s still going strong. This highly concentrated bar can replace 2 plastic bottles of shampoo, lasting for up to 70 washes – which I can happily confirm. Its rich lather cleans hair effectively, without leaving any residue. It smells fantastic too.
For an extra sustainable touch, once you are finished, any empty Beauty Kitchen bottle can be returned to the Beauty Kitchen for them to wash and reuse. These can be returned via over 1,000 Holland & Barrett stores across the UK.
If you don’t have a Holland & Barrett store near you, or if it’s not accessible to you, then you can also send back the metal bottles free of charge, via their Collect+ service. Again, this is only available in the UK.
Bloomtown
As the UK’s first certified palm oil-free company, Bloomtown is one beauty brand to put on your radar. Bloomtown does not use palm oil in any of its products, or any ingredient derived from palm oil.
As well as its anti-palm oil stance, Bloomtown is fully vegan-friendly and cruelty-free and reduces its use of plastic as much as possible. To reduce plastic waste, Bloomtown uses glass bottles and jars to package its products in, and paper tape, cardboard boxes and biodegradable starch packaging fillers when posting out its products to you.
Offering products for bath, body and face in a variety of gorgeous scents, Bloomtown’s full-size eco-friendly beauty products range in price from £6 to £14, making them a great more affordable option.
My favourite Bloomtown product is the sugar scrub. Bloomtown says that it “Honestly believes that this is the best sugar scrub in the world”. I’m inclined to agree. It smells absolutely amazing and leaves your skin feeling perfectly soft – not greasy or sticky.
Honeypie Minerals
Looking for zero-waste makeup that doesn’t break the bank? Some brands can be pricey, but Honeypie Minerals hits the sweet spot.
Its affordable yet effective and award-winning mineral formulations come in home compostable refill bags, allowing you to refill your own pots. It’s for this reason that you’ll find Honeypie Minerals in my guide to plastic-free makeup.
Using only natural ingredients, this vegan-friendly and cruelty-free range offers a range of zero-waste cosmetics. This includes foundation (in 15 different shades), as well as blusher, bronzer and eyeshadow in a variety of colours.
Refills range in price from £5 for eyeshadow, up to £14 for foundation. These come in kraft paper pouches which are 100% certified compostable. The clear window is made from compostable PLA film. Meanwhile, the Honeypie label is also compostable – made from FSC-certified paper.
Benecos
Looking for natural nail polish? Benecos (available at Ethical Superstore) is the place to go. With eco-friendly nail polishes under £6, it’s my top choice for affordable beauty products for your hands and feet.
Benecos nail polish gives intense coverage with a short drying time and a beautiful shine.
Its vegan and cruelty-free nail polish contains natural ingredients, which include wood pulp, corn, beetroot, rice and sugar cane.
Enriched with French apple seed oil – a by-product of cider production – and biotin (vitamin H), the polishes nourish your nails. Meanwhile, the breathable and water-permeable formulation also contributes to the health of your nails.
The 20-Free formulation means that the following ingredients are NOT included:
- Toluene
- Halogen-organic compounds
- Phthalates
- Colophony (rosin)
- Camphor
- Parabens
- Silicones
- Synthetic fragrances
- Mineral oils
- Triphenyl phosphate (TPHP)
- Ethyl tosylamides
- Polyurethane
- Xylene
- Acetone
- Styrene/acrylates copolymer
- Animal-derived ingredients
- Benzophenones (and other UV filters such as octocrylene and etocrylene)
- PEG- derivatives
- Nanomaterial as defined by the EU Cosmetics Regulation,
- Acetyl tributyl citrate
- Solid microplastic particles
In short, your hands are in good hands with Benecos!
Dr Bronner’s
Whilst I use liquid castile soap in many of my homemade cleaning products, Dr Bronner’s is a multi-tasking top choice when it comes to your beauty routine too.
A bottle of liquid castile soap can be picked up for under £15. This ultra-concentrated soap can be used in myriad ways – from washing your hair and body to your clothes and even your dishes. You can even use it as a shaving soap. Only a little drop of soap is required at a time – making a bottle go a long way.
Dr Bronner’s also offers organic hand sanitisers, solid bar soaps, and a range of eco-friendly toothpaste.
All oils and essential oils are certified organic. Meanwhile, the products are packaged in 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. All Dr Bronner classic liquid and bar soaps are not only certified under the USDA National Organic Programme but certified as Fairtrade and cruelty-free too.
Lily Lolo
Lily Lolo – available at Content – is a British beauty brand that creates natural makeup at a more pocket-friendly price point.
With mineral eyeshadows at £10, vegan lipsticks for £12, and vegan mascaras for £14.50, it’s an affordable way to restock your makeup bag.
Lily Lolo manufactures 90% of its products within the UK – with the remaining 10% made in Europe. Naturally free from parabens, phthalates, synthetic perfumes, dyes and much more, Lily Lolo’s natural makeup formulations are also certified cruelty-free.
And for those looking to reduce their plastic waste, Lily Lolo’s loose mineral powder foundation – available in 13 different shades – is refillable. This comes in a recycled and recyclable paper refill, allowing you to refill your old foundation pot without any waste.
Weleda
As one of the original eco-friendly beauty product companies – if not the original – Weleda (available at Naturisimo) is well known for its affordable yet quality natural products.
Weleda has been making sustainable beauty products for over 100 years, making the brand a true expert in 100% certified natural beauty products that work.
The standout product for me is Weleda’s iconic Skin Food (£14.95). This rich moisturiser is highly praised by beauty and healthcare professionals, as well as supermodels and actors for its dry skin-busting properties.
Weleda’s vegetarian-friendly product range contains biodynamic and organic ingredients, that are free from parabens.
Get 15% off your first order at Naturisimo when you sign up for its mailing list.
Sukin
Finally, the Australian brand Sukin (available at Big Green Smile) is another budget-friendly and more affordable eco-friendly beauty brand to know about.
Sukin is committed to delivering natural and affordable hair and skincare. They say no to harming animals so are a completely cruelty-free and vegan brand. This means Sukin chooses to not use any animal derivatives or by-products, such as lanolin, honey or beeswax, in any of its products.
Instead, Sukin uses natural plant-based ingredients – with its products made from 98.8% naturally derived materials. As such all Sukin products are grey water safe. You can feel confident that what you are using is not going to damage rivers, animals and plant life once it heads down the drain.
You’ll find natural shampoos and conditioners, as well as moisturisers under £7. Meanwhile, other facial and body care products can be found for under £15. It’s a little slice of eco-luxury without the hefty price tag.
I’ll be sure to update this page as I find more affordable eco-friendly beauty products I love, so do check back again later for more recommendations!
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