When it comes to responsible agriculture, you’ve heard of field-to-fork, but what about farm-to-face? The beauty industry is awakening to the responsibility it has to source its ingredients with integrity, minimising the impact extraction has on land and biodiversity.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), agriculture accounts for just under 25% of all human-created GHG emissions. Therefore, any moves to remedy the environmental footprint that farming practices have, whether that is carbon emissions or water conservation, can be invaluable for beauty players.
The hunt for clean, natural and organic skincare and cosmetic products has grown exponentially in recent years. The annual Soil Association Certification Organic Beauty & Wellbeing Market Report revealed a 23%year on year growth of certified organic beauty & wellbeing in 2019. Alongside this, Future Markets Insights found that natural cosmetics for skincare and hair care captured 50% of total sales in 2019. Through their research, the organisation determined the global natural cosmetics market could reach up to $54.4 billion by 2027.
This data serves as evidence that super charged skincare, crafted with natural botanicals and non-toxic ingredients is more than a momentary trend. As citizens become increasingly curious about the efficacy and provenance of their purchases – a handful of cosmetic connoisseurs are harnessing the power of regenerative farming and organic principles to construct sustainable formulas.
In addition to their focus on soil health, crop rotation and energy conservation, this group of beauty brands are purposefully keeping their supply chains tightly integrated to safeguard transparency.
(Read more on how Provenance and Cult Beauty have partnered to make this a reality for beauty brands here.)
From Austria to England, Greece and the United States, here are nine farm-to-face beauty brands paving the way for responsible sourcing.
With a seed to skin ethos, Korres harvest pure ingredients from ancient Greek landscapes. They work with local farms and agriculturalists to source natural botanicals for their skincare and body care. Korres have worked to keep the laboratories close to the land where the ingredients are picked and their manufacturing facilities operate on renewable energy. In a bid to minimise waste, any remnants of ingredients from production are given back to the farmers to help cultivate strong soil for the next harvest. Personal favourite; the newly launched Santorini grape body cleanser and lotion.
Set in the Adelaide Hills of Southern Australia, the Jurlique Farm uses organic and biodynamic farming principles to grow the pure botanicals used in their formulas. The air quality in the farm’s surrounding areas has been rated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as some of the best on earth due to low levels of pollution! Many of the plants grown at the Jurlique farm undergo a unique fermentation process before they are hand-picked.
The brand has recently reformulated it’s luxe Nutri-Define range, the new rich and hydrating Eye Contour Balm is an essential. Read more here.
I first fell in love with Votary when it launched at Space NK 2016. Specialising in cold pressed oils and plant powered skincare, founders Arabella and Charlotte make the concerted effort to ensure the brand is as sustainable as possible. They only source the highest quality of oils from responsible suppliers and produce in small batches within the UK. For their packaging, Votary use Eco Flo chips, which are made from 100% genetically modified-free starch! Be sure to try their latest launch the new Brightening Hyaluronic Serum made with 100% plant oils and hyaluronic acid.
The brand behind the cult award winning Active Botanical Serum. Vintner’s Daughter uses twenty one plant extracts from organic and wildcrafted farms for their power house product. Founder April Gargiulo applied her knowledge of fine wine-making in the Napa Valley and translated this into creating nutritional skincare that does no harm to the environment in the growing process.
From product conception to shipping, the Tata Harper organic farmland in Vermont, US grows many of the ingredients grown in the best-selling beauty range. From arnica to elderberry and alfalfa, the company work over 1200 acres of land to bring you this farm to face offering.
Personal favourites – the resurfacing mask and nourishing oil cleanser.
Annee and the team at De Mamiel integrate science with nature with their hand blended products. All processes are undertaken at the de Mamiel lab in Hertfordshire, England. Raw ingredients are cleansed at the farm site where crystals are built into the floor for a spiritual purification process.
Must try’s are the blended seasonal facial oils and the iconic Altitude oil which is the perfect travel companion (for whenever we can do that again)!
Vanderhoe use plant oils to create skincare that is multi-correctional and intended to be universal for all skin types. Ingredients are sourced from farms across the globe including Ghana and Morocco. All of these farms are organic and wildcrafted, devoted to nurture soil fertility, minimise pollution and respect biodiversity. Wildcrafting – is another term for foraging and a process that grows ingredients without human intervention so plants are subject to environmental stressors like availability of water or variations of sunlight.
Cultivated in upstate New York, Farmacy has patented a new form of echinacea, coined Echinacea ‘Green Envy’ which the brand claims is 300% more natural than its original form.
Farmacy showcases best practice when it comes to farm to face beauty. Their land in New York is dedicated to bee keeping, where the onsite keepers look after over 20,000 healthy bees that create the buckwheat honey blend used in their honey collection.
The company also work with a second generation, family owned moringa farm in Southern California and an acerola cherry farm in Northeast Brazil, purposefully keeping their operations small and sustainable.
Coveted for her unique bath and body products, Susanne Kaufmann is the epitome of natural and organic beauty. Made in Austria, near the Bergen Forest, the team source active ingredients from across the biodiverse Bregenzerwald Alpine region. The team use cold press extraction to obtain plant extracts without losing any of their original potency. Within their onsite gardens, they grow unusual ingredients such as St Johns Worts, which is then transformed into the sensory St John’s Wort Bath Crystals.
Susanne Kaufmann use regional suppliers to minimise their carbon footprint as well as using solar power for energy self-sufficiency across the farm and estate.
If you have the opportunity, visit the Susanne Kaufmann spa.
*Cover art copyrighted and designed by Em Phu. Head to @capsuletacreates on Instagram here to see more of her beautiful illustrations and contact details.
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to take a look at the refillable beauty brands to invest in this year!
Interested in biodynamic farming? Read about biodynamic wines via Pebble Mag here.
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