If there is one lifestyle trend shining brighter than any other in 2020 it’s veganism.
The brand Amika from Brooklyn New York sell professional hair care products and tools that stand out in their playful marketing and packaging. Celebrating diversity, rebellion and swag they are the antithesis of a typical beauty brand, something that’s reflected in their choice of models and promotion. But, they have something else that lifts the brands higher up in the pantheon of red hot trendy brands – they embrace veganism.
Styletalkmagazine was introduced to the brand at Oslo Beauty Expo in February and were told that composing a 100 percent vegan product can be tricky. The people behind Amika claim their products to be cruelty free, vegetarian friendly but that yes, they also have several 100 percent vegan products in their line.
First it was pure fringe movement, then hipsters embraced it – mostly with food – and now it seems, everyone in the beauty biz wants to go as natural as they possibly can to ride, what The Guardian labelled the unstoppable wave of veganism already back in 2018. It was all too obvious at Oslo Beauty Expo: one word repeated and that is «vegan».
But what is it about a plant-based lifestyle that has such appeal? And how vegan can skincare really be?
It’s wise to be sceptical because when something becomes trendy it’s easy to slap on a label and hope for the best. First it’s important to remember the difference between cruelty free and vegan. The difference being that the first is not tested on animals, but they can include ingredients such as cows’ milk, honey, lanolin. According to Body Shop a product is vegetarian if it’s free of any animal-derived ingredients that are obtained as a result of animal slaughter. It can however include animal-derived ingredients that do not involve animal slaughter, such as honey, beeswax and lanolin. A vegan product on the other hand contains no animal ingredients at all, including honey, beeswax, milk, eggs and the likes.
The question of course being: is 100 percent vegan skincare products possible?
Yes, claims some, like the manufacturers of Four Reasons hair care and cosmetics. They produce more than one line of hair products and cosmetics, and Their Nature Range claims to be almost 100 percent vegan. The shampoos and conditioners are produced in Finland, 95 percent of the ingredients are of natural origin and their compositions and active ingredients claims to be genuinely vegan. Their cosmetics are the same, 95 percent natural ingredients and no animal testing.
Former Myspace star turned makeup maven is Jeffree Star – who’s developed a cult following of devotees because of his of highly pigmented eye shadows and mega matte lipsticks in bright neon palettes, also claims his products are 100% cruelty free as well as vegan – though there has been a debate on how correct the latter is.
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Star has yet to respond to the specific allegations but as far as his brand is concerned, Jeffree Star Cosmetics is definitely cruelty-free and vegan according to the website and Instagram where they proudly touts both its cruelty-free and vegan status in their bio and hashtags for most product shots.Marina Miracle is 100% natural skin care made in Norway and all the ingredients are chosen with care. The company uses EcoCert and Debio certified organic ingredients to compose their 100 percent vegan products. The brand was developed by entrepreneur Marina Elisabeth Engervik who have struggled with atopic eczema as well as acne, sensitive and irritated skin caused by traditional skin care products. On her website you can read how she found her solution in nature, perfected a formula and shared the product with friends and family with different types of skin.
«The good news spread quickly, and people started to ask for the «miracle oil», that’s why I named the brand «Marina Miracle» she says.«What distinguishes our products from many other natural brands are the complex formulas and the mixture of Nordic and exotic ingredients. When new products are to be developed, we start with a problem or skin type and then work with the ingredients to find the most effective and complete composition. This sometimes requires fermentation which is a time-consuming process for producing active and living probiotics.»
But, if we eat meat, how sustainable to be 100 percent plant based?
Many cosmetics do contain by-products from the slaughter industry. And – if you eat meat, it would be considered more sustainable to use as much as possible of the by-products, including fur, skin and for instance lanolin – just like it would be sustainable to use the skin and fur for clothing.
So, it’s a trend. And a big win for the planet. But is it a win for your skin?
The company who sell Four reasons claim modern consumers want more natural alternatives when shopping. The demand for eco-friendly, cruelty free and vegan alternatives is strengthened by a global trend that sees naturalness expanding beyond the activities of smaller marginal groups and turning into a considerably broader lifestyle thinking. They claim consumers worry about the chemicals being used in cosmetics and their purchase decisions are often guided by the desire to avoid certain ingredients. They want products with active ingredients originating in nature, instead of chemical compounds. According to a survey conducted by the Finnish association for natural cosmetics the sales grew by 22 percent in 2018 and a third of the companies who took the survey reported a growth of more than 50 – 75 percent and they foresee that the demand for natural cosmetics will only grow in the future.
NB: Styletalkmagazine does not guarantee any of the mentioned brands being 100 percent vegan.
