A GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL BEAUTY

Sustainability or ethical goodness are no longer concepts that are far from us. We have heard these terms quite often in recent years. While the sustainable and eco-friendly influence in fashion is reflected in the pleasant branch, many brands have become more transparent about their production processes and more sensitive about the materials they choose. But labels like ‘vegan,’ ‘sustainable’, or ‘green’ in treats can sometimes be deceptive. It takes hours of research to find out whether a work is truly ‘eco-friendly’ as it is written on it. While some brands affix these ‘green’ labels to truly sustainable or unethical works with the so-called ‘greenwashin’ trend, fortunately there are also eco-friendly and ethically pleasant brands!

If you want to be a more sensitive consumer and contribute to the environment, you can turn to eco-friendly and zero-waste goodness brands. You may be wondering what ‘Sustainable’ and ‘Ethical’ brands stand for and how they produce. In order to be a more conscious consumer, you can examine the features of sustainable and ethical goodness brands and their differences from other brands below.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL PLEASURE?

There are many explanations for this, and therefore there may be confusion. The use of these concepts is often not included in legal regulations, so brands can use the concepts of ‘sustainable’ or ‘ethical’ as they wish. A brand may argue that it is ethical or sustainable, but it may just be a marketing or ‘greenwashing’ procedure! What is valuable is to identify what you are looking for. There are many factors that make a brand ethical and sustainable, so what is the most valuable for you?

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT A WORK IS SUSTAINABLE?

This may be the biggest and most valuable question! The list of things that will make a work or brand ethical and sustainable can take pages. First of all, we should know that no art and beauty brand is ‘perfect’. It should be noted that there is a very broad spectrum in this regard. The safest thing you can do is find goodies brands that are striving to make the world a better place. And believe us, there are many brands that are like this! First, for a work to be sustainable and ethical, its ingredients must be cruelty-free, non-toxic, vegan, and palm oil-free. In addition, the brand itself must operate ethical sourcing, intentional packaging, sourcing and waste management and donation systems.

ARE THERE RELIABLE, SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL LABELS?

We used to not read the labels of the works, but now we are all much more conscious! We pay much more attention to labels in terms of both content and techniques. It is possible to see labels such as ‘cruel free’, ‘organic’ or ‘vegan’ in the works of pleasantness brands that claim to be sustainable and ethical. Finding works that mark all of these categories is in the midst of positive steps you can take in terms of sustainability. But what makes a brand ethical? While you fill two boxes, the other two boxes may remain empty. Therefore, you can see the description of all of these categories below:

• Cruelty-free: Artifacts that have not been tested on animals in a random production step get this label. Even though a treat is labeled ‘cruel free’, it may contain animalistic aspects.
• Vegan: Works of delicacy that do not contain any animal matter have this label. Vegan products contain palm tree oil. However, wasteful content can sometimes have a vegan label. Vegan labels do not prove that a product is completely organic or natural. This information will surprise you, but it is possible that some treats that only have the ‘vegan’ label have been tested on animals!
• Non-Toxic: Works with this label do not contain GMOs, manufactured herbicides, artificial fertilizers, preservatives, parabens or other toxic ingredients. While works with these labels are organic more than once, if a work only has this label, in some cases it contains animal elements and may have been tested on animals. A lot of ‘greenwashing’ formulas are applied for ‘organic’ and ‘natural’. For this reason, you can note that the works with this tag are also in other categories.
• Without Palm Tree Oil: We can say that this label is the least label in the middle of sustainable and ethical pleasant works. Goodies with this label do not contain harmful palm oil and derivatives. However, if a work has only this label, then it may have been tested on animals and may contain animal aspects.

SEARCH FOR FULLY SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL WORKS

After reading the above information, you may be confused and feel that you will never reach a completely sustainable and ethical work. But don’t let perfectionism hold you back. We may not always be able to tick all the boxes, but it’s better than nothing! However, you can have peace of mind if a piece includes all of its labels: cruelty-free, vegan, non-toxic, and palm tree oil-free. If you can’t see some tags, but only see two or one of them, you may still think that this piece is less wasteful.

WHAT DOES SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL BRANDING PRACTICES MEAN?

Slightly different from content, brands’ systems and processes are of great value in terms of ethics and sustainability. Although many brands are not transparent in this bet, the beauty brands, which are completely sustainable, emphasize these bets. Below you can see the descriptions of these categories:

• Considerate Packaging: Intelligent packaging or packaging is very important in terms of waste! Pleasant brands, which recycle their packaging or prefer sustainable materials, reduce waste for the environment. You can pay attention to the fact that brands using plastic prefer recycled materials, or you can turn to beauty brands that use aluminum and glass packaging.
• Ethical Resources: Ethical resources are one of the most valuable factors that determine whether a company is sustainable or not. This is slightly different from the contents. The methods of accessing resources, the sensitivity of the production chain, the equal treatment of local employees and the faithful working environment in the production process are in the middle of this factor.
• Source and Waste Management: Pleasant brands that pay attention to their environmental impact operate quite extensive resource and waste management policies. In the middle of this are factors such as water and power management, use of renewable power, zero waste policy, carbon footprint and recycling programs.
• Social responsibility: The donation policies of the companies are in the middle of the issues that make the niceness brands ethical. Brands that donate income to surrounding foundations and institutions are not only sustainable, they are also thoughtful and ethical. You can follow the social responsibility projects of brands on social media accounts and websites.

Being a conscientious consumer may seem like quite a painstaking task. However, as it is always said, the smallest changes made by a single person in consumption can have a big impact on the environment. For this reason, you can support the restructuring of nature with the changes you make in your life and in your pleasant shopping. At the end of the day, the niceness brand you buy may not fill all the ‘boxes’, but even the smallest step you take in terms of sustainability and ethical niceness can make a big positive change! We hope you decide to go real for the change in your cuteness collection.

You can see works of ethical and sustainable kindness in the photo gallery…