Festive beauty with conscious skincare brands

Your festival glow should not come at a high cost to the planet. Don’t worry, our list has got you covered.

We all have been stressing a lot about this pandemic, and it is showing on our skin, literally. Now that we are spending more time at home, it’s essential to give ourselves all the attention it’s been craving for. Start with our guide to homemade face packs.

Clean beauty is kinder to your health and planet, and we should use it to our advantage. People now understand the importance of natural ingredients in their day to day life. One of the main switches found out to gain popularity was the urge of having a chemical-free skincare routine. Thus, we saw a rise in homegrown, conscious skincare brands using natural ingredients.

On average, women apply over 168 chemical ingredients daily. Some of the chemicals can cause toxic effects beyond imagination.

With the festival season upon us, it is time to take special care of ourselves and prepare to look our best. And what better occasion to start your journey on a more mindful skincare routine. So, here is our list of conscious skincare brands that have created their identity in the Indian beauty market.

Table of Contents

Enn’s Closet

Ghee lip glaze by Enns closest — Source: Enn’s Closest Instagram

Here is a brand that considers health as their priority. Their products are paraben-free, cruelty-free, 100% vegetarian and come in small fresh batches. Makeup should be fun and boundless without hurting the environment, and this beauty brand successfully does so. Their packaging is minimal and fun with vibrant colours.

We love their glaze lip balm range. It is made up of ghee (clarified butter) and shea butter and is hence extremely moisturising. It glides on smoothly without leaving the lips slimy and sticky. Locking in all that goodness, glaze lip balm that can be worn on bare lips or topped over any lipstick. Head to Enn’s Closet website to get your hands on these beauties.

Just Herbs

Nature has tons of answers for our skin concerns. This brand surely knows how to turn natural extracts into skincare elixirs. Just Herbs is an Ayurvedic brand, cruelty-free, and their products do not contain any harmful synthetic ingredients.

One of the things that impress us a lot is that they have trial kits for almost all the products. As a consumer, if a product does not work for you, an entire bottle of the product seems wasteful. A trial kit is essential to fix this problem. It makes a brand more sustainable because now, nothing is going waste.

Our favourite product from the trial kit range has to be the six steps organic skincare regime tailor-made for different skin types. Head to their website and get your hands on their latest products.

Kama Ayurveda

Source: Kama Ayurveda Instagram

By far the most popular wellness brand in India, Kama Ayurveda represent the top of the luxurious Ayurvedic care. This label offers beautifully packaged facial, body and hair care products. They are EU certified and are available internationally.

Kama Ayurveda products are 100% natural and made using plant-based ingredients, prepared from organically grown plants and herbs. The brand works with local forest communities, and small-scale farmers and artisans to source the natural ingredients that lend their purity to the products.

Kama comes up with the most impressive products. For us, it is their face mists. It instantly hydrates and rejuvenates your skin. In case you are not sure of what product to buy, Kama offers a beauty consultation program. The program allows you a one-on-one consultation with an Ayurveda beauty expert to address all your beauty needs.

Neemli Naturals

Source: Neemli Naturals Instagram

Neemli Naturals is a Mumbai based brand which believes that “beauty needs no filter when everything comes from a pure, happy place.” Their products are handmade, vegan, 100% natural and cruelty-free, eco-friendly, safe and most importantly, effective. They use plant-based, food-grade, cold-pressed oils in their products. They use recyclable and reusable packaging, which deserves some extra appreciation.

We love their rosemary jojoba oil which helps restore your scalp health. It also helps solve a dandruff problem (which as we all know is common in winters) along with any dry, itchy scalp issues. It cleanses clogged hair follicles and soothes the scalp, which reduces hair fall.

They have an ingredients glossary on their website which we highly recommend for you guys to check. We love and respect brands that are transparent about the things they use.

Ruby’s Organics

They are the first Indian organic makeup brand to eliminate chemical preservative and use only naturally and organically sourced ingredients. Their products are paraben-free, alcohol-free, vegan, and not tested on animals. They provide employment to women of rural areas, and all ingredients are sourced and manufactured locally. If this is not a step towards maintaining a sustainable economic flow, then what is.

All their products are all oil-based, thus removing the use of any chemical preservatives. They have all the items you need to stock your beauty closet- from blush, eye pencil, lipsticks and lip balms. Ruby’s products are multi-purpose as well. The foundation can be used as a concealer, & eyeshadow as a highlighter.

We particularly love their organic cream-based blushes. These are highly pigmented and can be used as lips, cheeks and eyelid tints. So head to Ruby’s website and start shopping.

Over the last decade, production in many industries has become more ethical and transparent due to the consumer’s awareness. The beauty industry is following the same trend by adopting more responsible ways of production like all-natural ingredients, sustainability, biodegradable packaging, and cruelty-free products.

The number of consumers who are environmentally-friendly keeps growing and, as expected, many brands are making changes toward reducing the carbon footprint and saving the resources. Of course, there is still a long way to go, and hopefully, we will see a rise of conscious skincare brands in the Indian beauty market.

Feature image created using day and night cream by Neemli Naturals, sun protection by Kama Ayurveda and lipstick by Ruby’s Organics.

Shiny is currently pursuing a master’s degree from Jadavpur University in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism. She is in her twenties and loves to travel through the pages of a book and IRL. She dreams of using film as a tool to spread awareness about carbon footprint. You could also check her journey as a sustainability enthusiast on her Instagram.