Organic skin care 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 fertilisers and pesticides and GMOs.
Products from the following companies carried organic certifications:
Palm oil free skin care
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 skincare 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 a best rating for their palm oil policies and practice and which avoid palm.
However, even ingredients which 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 a best rating had a policy which 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 rating |
Middle rating |
Worst rating |
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9055-7588 Québec Inc (Attitude)
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Baylis and Harding PLC
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CK Hutchison Holdings Limited
|
A. Vogel
|
Edgewell Personal Care
|
Clarins |
Amsvest Ltd (Tropic Skincare)
|
Origins by ELC
|
ELC
|
Bentley Organic Limited
|
Johnson & Johnson
|
Fung Group
|
Caurnie Soap Co
|
Lush Cosmetics Ltd
|
KKR & Co. L.P.
|
CIME S.C.A. (L'Occitane)
|
Maxingvest ag
|
LVMH
(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)
|
Colgate Palmolive
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Midsona (Urtekram)
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Pacifica Beauty LLC
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Conscious Skincare Ltd
|
Natura
|
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC
|
Pai Skincare Ltd |
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. |
Desford Holdings (Green People)
|
Procter & Gamble |
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Essential Care (Organics) Ltd (Odylique)
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PZ Cussons |
|
Faith in Nature Ltd
|
Unilever |
|
Hain Celestial
|
Wala-Stiftung (Dr. Hauschka) |
|
Honesty Cosmetics
|
Yaoh |
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L’Oreal
|
|
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Laverana
|
|
|
Lucy Bee
|
|
|
Neal's Yard (Natural Remedies) Limited
|
|
|
Pure Nuff Stuff Ltd
|
|
|
Queenie Organics
|
|
|
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:
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.