Home » Sustainable Beauty: A Brand to Add to Your Radar

Sustainable Beauty: A Brand to Add to Your Radar

I don’t know about you but for me, packing to go away is always a chore that I resign myself to with a big sigh. You see, I love my heavy lotions and potions – the kind that come in glass jars and sparkle in the sunlight. Unfortunately, even the finest of elixirs can’t make it with me on most of my flights, especially if it’s a weekend trip and I’m resigned to a backpack and a 10KG limit on an EasyJet flight to a European destination for a long weekend. And to be honest with you, I don’t really need all that additional baggage. I want to talk about products that are lighter and easier to pack but also about sustainable beauty because that’s what we should be looking for.

best sustainable beauty brands

In fact, we don’t need a lot of what we think we need at all and sometimes little things can pack a punch too. Recently with what feels like an apocalyptic year for both humans and the environment (2020 would have a low Yelp rating by my standards), I’ve been focusing on supporting sustainable beauty brands who are doing good in the world and trying to make it easier for us as consumers to make the right choices.

best sustainable beauty brands

One such sustainable beauty brand that has just launched and should be on your radar is Bolt Beauty. This is a travel-friendly sustainable beauty brand that has done its due diligence all the way from being PETA-certified to being carbon-neutral as a business to having no-waste packaging. In this world of plenty, it’s sometimes hard to make good choices. We see so much everyday and we want it all but in the end, we need to be conscious of what we are buying and not only putting on our skin but the effects of our actions on the planet.

bolt beauty bolt beauty

So how do the Bolt Beauty skincare capsules work? First of all, all the capsules are biodegradable and made from seaweed so after you squeeze out the goodness inside and apply to skin, you can actually just dissolve the capsule in water or put them in your compost bin. I’ve actually been putting mine in my kitchen or bathroom sink. I do the dishes a couple of times a day and I find the hot water pretty much dissolves them with no mess to clean up after.

best sustainable beauty brands

Once you buy your Bolt Beauty jar or your stackable (each little jar can fit 10 capsules), you have these for life. The whole point is to keep them and reuse them. When you are ready for a top-up of your Bolt Beauty capsules you simply do an online order and your replacement bag will arrive to you in a fully compostable refill bag. How good is that for sustainable beauty?

bolt beauty stackable

Also, I must say that probably 90% of my orders come from online. I know it’s sad to say but I rarely have time to browse the skincare aisles anymore and I depend on online reviews to determine what skincare product I’m going to buy next (online, of course). Knowing I can do an eco-friendly, sustainable beauty online shopping order with Bolt Beauty makes me feel better about what I am buying as a consumer.

If you are into clean and sustainable beauty brands as well, Bolt Beauty are carbon neutral and offset through Gold Standard carbon credits any emissions associated with the operations, manufacture and distribution of their products.

There are four key products in the range that will see you through a full daytime and nighttime routine. The first product I want to talk about are the Filthy Clean cleansing capsules (love the name). With these you get 100 in a jar and again when you run out of capsules, you just order more that arrive to you in a compostable refill bag.

Filthy Clean cleansing capsules

Now when you see a capsule you might not think a lot of product is inside but actually a generous amount comes out and it’s more than enough to wash your face. What I like about the Filthy Clean face wash is that it emulsifies when you add water to it so it turns into a milky solution and rinses away easily. To use it I just massage it into my skin and really loosen any dirt, pollution or make-up and then add a bit of water to my fingertips to emulsify it and break down the oils. And then I simply rinse it all away and leave the capsule in the sink to disappear within a day.

Filthy Clean cleansing capsules Filthy Clean cleansing capsules

The next product in order of appearance is for your daytime skincare routine and that’s the Glow Don’t Shine mattifying serum. I know by my own skin there’s a fine line between glowing and oily so these are great for oily skin types and they help to fight shine and blemishes. I tend to have a bit of a hormonal flare up in my skin right before my period so this is a great daytime serum for me to use, especially around that time of the month. This product has also been dermalogically tested as well to help reduce shine and imperfections and I think we can all get on board with that. Remember – a fine line exists between glowing and oily!

Glow Don’t Shine mattifying serum Glow Don’t Shine mattifying serum Glow Don’t Shine mattifying serum

For your nighttime skincare routine, you need to switch it up. What our skin needs during the day and night vastly differ. For the daytime, think fighting free radicals and pollution and for the nighttime, think rest and repair. Hence for the night there’s a different serum in your Bolt Beauty routine that you should use called the Vitamin A Game.

retinol capsules retinol capsules

Now Vitamin A is commonly referred to as retinol and I could harp on for days about the benefits that using a retinol at night will do for the skin. The great thing about the Vitamin A Game capsules is that the retinol levels are at a very doable (for all skin types) 0.15%. This means that there’s just enough retinol in the capsules so that even if you are a beginner to retinols or have sensitive skin this shouldn’t affect you. Everyone’s got different skin but for the majority of skin types this is an easy level of retinol that will just give a little kick to the skin without the redness that retinols may induce in some skin types. Just to note, I’ve never had any issues with retinols and I sometimes use up to 2%. While I’m not saying that is suitable for everyone, a little also goes a long way.

So, retinol – what does it do? Well it kick-starts the skin into action, promotes collagen synthesis and overall makes skin brighter, evens out skin tone, reduces imperfections, smooths fine lines and helps with pigmentation. Basically the be-all, end-all in my opinion.

retinol capsules

And finally, we get to the moisturiser. We all know that moisturiser is so important for your skin’s barrier function. Skin protects our vital organs and itself is the largest organ in the body so it makes sense to keep it strong and healthy. And with the Bolt Beauty Mad About Moisture capsules, you can use these both day and night. There are two molecular weights of hyaluronic acid in these capsules to make sure your skin is getting what it needs at the right depths and levels.

Bolt Beauty Mad About Moisture capsules Bolt Beauty Mad About Moisture capsules Bolt Beauty Mad About Moisture capsules

Hyaluronic acid is a water molecule. If you don’t know about it ignore the ‘acid’ part of it because it’s an ingredient that is suitable for all skin types and is a hydration miracle maker. What it does is attract water from the environment and pull it into the skin. And if you are travelling somewhere humid? Well definitely layer it on! Your skin will thank you for it.

As the final step in my skincare routine, when I apply moisturiser I like to give my skin a little lifting massage and do a bit of face yoga which makes such a difference to the skin and helps with circulation and improving the skin tone.

And I promise you, if you are using these products, you will never look at packing the same way ever again.

*I have an ongoing organic and commercial relationship with Bolt Beauty but all words and opinions are my own as always.

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