Essential Care (Organics) Ltd

Is Odylique (Essential Care) ethical?

Our research highlights very few ethical issues with Odylique. The brand’s owner scores highly in our rating system across our categories, including climate, palm oil, workers, animal testing, company ethos, and tax.

Below we outline some of these issues. To see the full detailed stories, and Essential Care's overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.

Is Odylique cruelty-free?

Odylique is accredited cruelty-free by PETA and the Naturewatch Foundation; it doesn’t buy ingredients that have been tested on animals since 1990. It says: “Odylique products have of course never been tested on animals, we use a panel of human volunteers to test [...] our products […]. If any research casts doubt over the ingredient's safety to humans or the environment, we will not use it.” 

Odylique also claims it ensures that its suppliers don’t test on animals.

The company is vegetarian; it labels all its products “cruelty free”, although a few contain organic honey and beeswax, meaning it is not a fully vegan company. It has a vegan page so you can find the vegan products.

Organic and Fairtrade supply chain 

Odylique states all of its products are sourced from organic suppliers, and many are also Fairtrade certified. 

It scores highly in our workers rating, with workers’ rights being core to its business. 

Odylique’s products are hand-made in the company’s workshop in Suffolk, and it says that it’s committed to sourcing locally where possible. 

Positive approach to climate

Odylique receives points in our climate rating for being wholly focused on low carbon alternatives for its sector. It’s also transparent about its main impacts and how it wants to address these. 

Odylique’s factory in Suffolk is powered by solar panels, and it says it uses “wholly clean energy”. To reduce its emissions from transport and packaging, it sources 90% of its packaging from Europe and around half of its bottles and jars are made in the UK. Its boxes are made from recycled cardboard.

It is mostly vegan; but uses some organic beeswax and honey. Its products do not use palm oil as an ingredient. Odylique states: “Every ingredient [...] is 100% naturally derived and where possible, certified organic. We use no artificial additives.”

Ethical company ethos

Odylique is committed to selling only organic and naturally-derived cosmetics, which are certified cruelty-free and palm oil-free. It is a small, independent, UK business with no subsidiaries based in jurisdictions on Ethical Consumer's tax havens list and with no ties to Israel. 

The text above was written in February 2026, and most research was conducted in January 2026.

Additional information

Odylique are a Best Buy brand in several of our shopping guides.

Buy products from Odylique through our affiliate link with them. (This has not influenced our rating of them.)

Subscribers to Ethical Consumer can use a special discount code when buying from Odylique: sign in to your Ethical Consumer account on our website and go to 'my account' area. 

Q&A: In conversation with Odylique

We sat down with Abi, founder of organic cosmetics and toiletries brand Odylique, to talk about the company and their vision for the future.

Ethical Consumer: Tell us about Odylique

Abi at Odylique: Odylique was born in the 1980s when my mother, Margaret, started exploring skin-friendly concoctions to help soothe friends’ and family's extremely sensitive/problematic skin. Armed with her qualifications in herbal medicine and aromatherapy, and a passion for the genius of nature, she set about creating truly effective formulations – from moisturisers to shampoo and makeup – based only on organic herbs, plant oils and natural active ingredients that were compatible with the most sensitive skin.

From day 1, all Odylique products have been certified as organic to provide customers with an independent guarantee that what is labelled as organic really is just that.

Our philosophy is simple: all ingredients should provide a positive therapeutic value, and the product should be a joy to use. Much of what we apply to skin is absorbed into the body, so it makes sense to cut down on your toxic load and ‘feed’ your skin with wholesome organic ingredients. Certified organic beauty is guaranteed free from the ingredients many people like to avoid so is generally more compatible with sensitive skin. And it doesn’t mean compromise - today’s organic makeup, hair and skincare products really can perform.

Do you see a growing demand for natural health and body products?

Since we started in 2003 as a company, the demand for organic and natural cosmetics hasn’t stopped growing. It’s been a privilege to have been part of it from the beginning. 

Why do you think you received our Best Buy Label? What separates you from other similar ethical toiletries and cosmetic brands?

We’ve always gone the extra mile to ensure Odylique products are as clean and thoughtful as possible. This goes from voluntarily certifying every single product as organic to careful choices about packaging and provenance of ingredients. 

Where would you like to see Odylique in the next 5 years?

I’d love to see Odylique and more natural beauty in general in UK pharmacies. I think it’s the one retail avenue that’s yet to properly embrace organic, but also the one where we can do most good. We’re behind the rest of Europe in this respect where many countries’ pharmacies offer alternative remedies.

Natural beauty can help a lot of the skin problems that prescription creams and remedies struggle to solve. This isn’t just the effect of avoiding synthetic chemicals, although that often helps. We continue to learn and discover new properties of botanical extracts, particularly in skin microbiome support that can help conditions from eczema to rosacea.

If you had to sum up the ethos of Odylique in two sentences, what would it be?

Health and beauty products that strive for better for people and planet. We believe that nature has all the answers where the skin is concerned.

What big change would you like to see in the health and beauty industry?

Proper regulation around the use of the word ‘organic’. Non-food products (like cosmetics and textiles) are not subject to the same laws as food products. So you can call a shampoo or moisturiser organic when it’s not certified as such. We think that’s confusing for consumers and invites greenwashing.

What is your advice to consumers?

Everyone has different ethical preferences and priorities, but if you’re keen to buy genuinely natural and organic skincare, always look for a genuine organic certification mark on the product you choose.

Where can consumers find Odylique products? 

Odylique is mainly an online brand in the UK, although you’ll find us in select independents like the wonderful Blomma Beauty and Blackheath Remedies stores in London, Pure Source in Cambridge and select pharmacies across East Anglia. We’re also available in many European countries online and in pharmacies.