There is so much buzz in the beauty space these days around ‘clean’ & ‘non-toxic’ beauty, with lots of big brands like L’Oreal and Dove investing in more eco-friendly packaging solutions and reducing water consumption. This is all great and I sincerely hope more big brands start to take sustainability seriously. However while packaging is certainly a huge issue in the beauty industry, you also have to consider the sustainability of the ingredients themselves. This is especially important with natural beauty and is something that I think a lot of other natural beauty brands are overlooking. It’s easy to find natural ingredients these days but do you know where it comes from? How is it farmed and harvested? How is the surrounding environment affected by the growing & production of that ingredient? Who is growing it and are they being paid fair wages? These are important questions that we ask about every single ingredient that we source for Glotanicals products.
This is also why you’ll never see ingredients like irresponsibly sourced palm oil or sandalwood in our products. I’m sure you’ve heard all the controversy surrounding palm oil, which when sourced responsibly can actually be quite sustainable (more on that here), but what about sandalwood? While sandalwood is a 100% natural ingredient it often comes with a hefty environmental price tag. Sandalwood trees are an incredible plant with skin-healing properties and an amazing scent, but sometimes good things take time which is why it takes a sandalwood tree 50 years to grow to maturity to be harvested. So that means to get a few drops of sandalwood we have to chop down a tree that takes 50 years to grow back? That’s something that I’m certainly not willing to do, especially when nature gives us so many other incredible ingredients that can be renewed in a single season.
So, what is considered a sustainable skincare ingredient? For us, we measure each ingredient against our own sustainability criteria below. We hope that more brands like Glotanicals will support and partner with sustainable producers of these natural ingredients so that this will become the norm in the beauty industry.
Sustainable Ingredients Criteria
Sustainable + organic farming practices
Small footprint plant (doesn’t need a lot of land to produce)
Ethical wages
Sourced locally in Australia when possible
Carbon-neutral processing & shipping
No animal testing
What’s even better is that more often than not ingredients that are grown & harvested with care in an organic environment are often a much better product than traditionally farmed ones. Better plant = better ingredient = better results from your skincare product. It’s such a win-win in our book! We’ve really loved the process of sourcing & testing these ingredients and keep finding better results than we expected. Here are a few of our favorites that you will find in all of our skincare products.
Australian Rosehip Oil: A very luxurious feeling oil that deeply hydrates skin but doesn’t leave it oily. Contains natural retinoic acid and Vitamin C to reduce the appearance of fine lines and brighten the complexion.
Australian Sunflower Oil: Contains natural vitamin E & essential fatty acids Omega 6 & 9 to nourish your skin from the inside out and ease the formation of fine lines & wrinkles.
Australian Jojoba Oil: Contains Vitamins E, B complex, and zinc. Very similar in structure to our skin’s natural oils, thus absorbs quickly and deeply, locking in moisture without clogging pores.
Australian Squalane: Super hydrating natural oil derived from olives that locks in moisture without clogging pores.
Sea Buckthorn Berry: contains antioxidants, Vitamin C & E, Omega 7 fatty acids, and carotenoids. Soothes irritation and helps improve & repair the appearance of damaged skin.
Australian Carrot Seed OIl: Rich in vitamins A, D & E, as well as essential fatty acids, sunflower seed oil has natural moisturizing and soothing properties & proven antioxidant effects.
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