5 Must-try Green Skincare Brands

Uplift and rejuvenate your beauty routine with organic ingredients that will leave your skin looking radiant and fresh

Fruits and veggies are good for you… not just for eating, but for your skin as well. Similar to the farm-to-table concept, these green beauty companies make it a priority to ensure that high-grade botanicals are sourced locally and organically whenever possible, and spend as little time in transit before reaching your shelves. The goal is to ensure that the nutrients found in source plants remain as fresh and potent as when you’re ready to apply them to your face. Who wouldn’t love that?

A step up from putting cucumber slices on your eyes and honey on your face—though that’s precisely the philosophy—these companies are taking this “green chemistry” to new lengths, combining nature and science to ensure the very best properties of each ingredient are made available to customers. They also differ from other producers of natural, organic items, in that there’s always an incredibly strong sense of place, a connection to the land that gives the brand not only its identity but its energy.

Here are five green brands you should definitely check out…

1. Tata Harper

Since its inception in 2010, Tata Harper has grown exponentially, attracting an impressive army of industry and celebrity fans along the way. Every product is 100 per cent natural and non-toxic, made in small batches on Tata Harper’s 1,200-acre farm in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. There, she converted the large red barn into a manufacturing facility and offices, where products are produced, packaged and shipped in their recycled green glass containers. While not all ingredients are grown on the farm, those that are (such as alfalfa, borage, calendula, meadowsweet, etc.) are organic and hand cultivated, from seed to harvest. Nothing sits on the shelves here for more than two weeks before heading to a customer.
Available at independent boutiques, BeautyMark and Sephora

2. Graydon

With a background that includes teaching classes on making raw food skincare and cosmetics, Graydon Moffat, a self-described “ingredient anthropologist,” has developed the all-natural skincare line Graydon. Produced in Mississauga, Ontario, she tries to source organic, plant-based ingredients from Canadian growers whenever possible, like broccoli and berry seed oils. Products are made in small batches, received the week they’re made and sold within three months. Her philosophy as a “real food advocate,” is to fuel the body through the skin (the body’s largest organ) using bio-available ingredients that aren’t that different from what you’d find in a smoothie—kale, chia seeds, avocado, berries, etc.
Available online at Graydon and Kiss and Makeup

3. Farmacy

From a single, mutant echinacea flower, which was green instead of the typical purple, Farmacy was born. Founder Mark Veeder had it tested and the results showed he had discovered a new strain of echinacea that contained higher concentrations of echinacea’s inherent restorative and immune system boosting properties. Veeder patented and trademarked this new discovery, calling it GreenEnvy™. He now cultivates 30,000 plants on his GreenEnvy Farm, located on an abandoned private airfield runway in upstate New York. Taking it to the next level, Veeder built a bright, multi-coloured bee barn (bees are attracted to bright colours) housing bees that pollinate the GreenEnvy plants, creating a potent GreenEnvy honey that is used exclusively and in all Farmacy products.
Available in-stores and online at Sephora

4. Jurlique

In 1985, Jurgen and Ulrike Klein, a chemist and horticulturalist respectively, left Germany in search of the purest place on earth. Apparently they found it in Australia’s Adelaide Hills, where they settled and started Jurlique, a portmanteau of their names. Their 153-acre farm is certified biodynamic and organic, meaning they don’t use pesticides and promote self-sustenance farming, companion planting (e.g. planting garlic in between the roses to repel insects) and planting to the lunar cycle. They grow over 40 varieties of plants that are all hand-picked to make proprietary biodynamic products. They also import bees from Kangaroo Island (a sanctuary with the last remaining pure stock of Ligurian bees, known for superior honey, pollen and propolis production) that produce several tonnes of honey every year.
Available in-stores and online at Sephora

5. Juice Beauty

After having two children, Karen Behnke tried to find healthy yet effective alternatives to big pharma brands. When she couldn’t, she launched Juice Beauty in 2005. This California brand is vegan, USDA-certified organic and free from animal testing, boasting natural formulations that perform just as well as conventional beauty products. Their Green Apple Peel (AHA peel) cemented their success early on, topping nearly every Editor’s Pick list and gaining celebrity cult status. Juice Beauty makes it a point to try and source all their ingredients from the western U.S., including the green apples in their Green Apple Peel, which come from the southeast corner of Washington State.
Available at Holt Renfrew and Sephora