With the growing awareness of environmental and ethical issues in the beauty industry, more consumers are seeking skincare products that align with their values. Following up on Sustainable Beauty: What It Really Means for You and the Planet, this guide highlights the best sustainable beauty brands in the UK to help you make informed choices for a greener beauty routine – no matter your budget.
This article is based on independent research with references from brand websites, insights from industry experts, and consumer reviews. It is intended to provide an unbiased, fair, and accurate assessment of each brand.
Budget-Friendly Sustainable Beauty Brands
Weleda
Best known for their Skin Food range, Weleda has been dedicated to creating natural skincare for over a century. The brand takes a holistic approach and develops products to support a healthy balance between body, mind and spirit. They use high-quality plant oils, natural extracts and essential oils, all are 100% certified natural ingredients and over 80% from organic cultivation.
Weleda adopts many sustainable practices across their business, like ethical and responsible sourcing, using renewable energies, protecting biodiversity and nurturing healthy soils, and they recently became a certified B Corp company.
Price Range: Despite the high standard, Weleda keeps their products affordable, with typical items costing £8 – £15, making sustainable beauty accessible to everyone.
Best For: Dry skin
Made In: UK and Europe
Beauty Kitchen
Beauty Kitchen stands out as the first UK beauty company to earn B Corp certification and has achieved the highest score among European cosmetics brands. They offer effective, natural and sustainable skincare for different skin types. Their products are made from natural ingredients sustainably sourced, formulated with zero microplastics, designed following the Cradle to Cradle principle, and in reusable packaging.
Beauty Kitchen also donates 2% of its sales to charitable causes.
Price Range: Most products are priced between £15 – £25.
Best For: Mature skin
Made In: UK
PHB Ethical Beauty
Based in Brighton, PHB Ethical Beauty is a family-run ethical and sustainable cosmetics company. Their 100% natural, predominantly organic ingredients are certified vegan, ethically sourced, free from palm oil and toxins. Their makeup range is like skincare in disguise, with healing ingredients that allow skin to breathe. PHB offers a zero-waste makeup collection plus pregnancy-safe skincare. Their packaging is eco-friendly and fully recyclable.
A generous 20% of their profits are donated to charities and projects supporting people and animals.
Price Range: £10 – £25
Best For: Dry, sensitive and acne prone skin, and pregnancy.
Made In: UK
Mid-Range Sustainable Beauty Brands
UpCircle
Turning used coffee grounds into skincare products, that’s how sustainable beauty brand UpCircle started their circular and fun innovations in 2016. Since then, they have developed an incredible range by giving various food waste by-products a new lease of life! Like antioxidant-rich blueberry extract from juicing waste in their night cream; chamomile stem extract from tea production in their toner; and olive stones leftover from olive oil production in their facial mask. All products are natural, upcycled, vegan and cruelty-free.
As a certified B Corp and plastic-negative brand, UpCircle uses glass containers instead of plastic ones and their packaging is 99% plastic-free. In addition, through their refill scheme, customers can return their empty containers to be refilled and receive a 20% discount as an incentive. The brand also removes more ocean-bound plastic than their packaging uses.
Price Range: UpCircle believes ‘Price point shouldn’t be a barrier to planet-friendly purchasing.’ They’re committed to making sustainable choices accessible to all, with most products priced between £20 and £30.
Best For: Normal skin
Made In: UK
Green People
Founded in 1997, Green People was driven by a mother’s mission to create safe, effective products for her daughter’s skin allergies and eczema. As pioneers in organic beauty and one of the first certified organic skincare brands, Green People holds high standards for ingredients, emphasising truly organic, sustainably sourcing and manufacturing. Their products are particularly beneficial for sensitive skin.
The brand also donates 10% of its net profits to three UK charities, supporting ocean health, land conservation, and rare disease aid.
Green People offers a wide range of products, including skincare, hair and body, makeup, men’s and baby & child also teens. Their reef-safe sunscreens are very popular, receiving five-star reviews from many customers.
Price Range: £20 – £40
Best For: Sensitive skin
Made In: UK
REN
Born in East London, REN was created when the founder’s pregnant wife began to experience sensitivity from her everyday beauty products. As an expert in sensitive skin, their products deliver proven results using nature’s most powerful bioactives that are sustainably sourced. The brand made the Zero Waste Pledge, with achievements like creating the world and industry-first 100% recycled and re-closable aluminium eco-smart sample tube.
REN offers a wide range of products addressing a variety of skin concerns.
It would be great to see the brand expanding its sustainability initiatives in social and community support.
Price Range: £15 – £35
Best For: Sensitive skin, pregnancy-safe
Made In: UK
Evolve Organic Beauty
Another skincare brand in love with nature and organic ingredients! Evolve Organic Beauty’s products are handcrafted in small batches from their Hertfordshire eco studio, powered by 100% renewable energy. Their commitment to sustainability extends to eco-packaging and social performance, and now a certified B Corp.
Price Range: £20 – £40
Best For: Age defence
Made In: UK
Premium Sustainable Beauty Brands
Elemis
Elemis is a British skincare brand with a global presence. The brand pioneered the use of natural and bio-engineered ingredients in highly transformative formulations for over 30 years, focusing on safety and efficacy. Known for its iconic cleansing balm, the brand has developed a variety of collections to address specific skin concerns, especially for skin longevity and collagen health. Elemis also has a strict product ethos that they banned 2000+ potentially harmful ingredients.
Recognised for their sustainability efforts, Elemis has become a certified B Corp. On their journey to become the most sustainable premium British skincare brand, they focus on protecting and restoring biodiversity, reducing carbon footprint and packaging waste, and empowering people and communities through continuous education programmes.
Price Range: £50 – £100
Best For: Mature skin
Made In: UK mainly
Pai
With each product formulated and manufactured in their London HQ, Pai ensures the highest quality and best sustainable practices by taking ownership of every step of the process. B Corp, COSMOS, and vegan certified, Pai uses natural and organic ingredients in recyclable packaging and has launched a recycling scheme to minimise landfill waste.
Price Range: £30 – £60
Best For: Sensitive, mature skin
Made In: UK
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