Hi everyone and especially our green beauty lovers.

Just a quick update to all our blog followers that the 2020 Global Green Beauty Awards close today for entries, 5pm GMT 15th July 2020.  You have just a couple of hours left to cast your brand's entry in to this years eco friendly beauty awards which looks to celebrate those green beauty products, vegan products and ethical beauty ranges.

We have been absolutely flabbergasted with the amount of entries. As editor for the awards, I'm truly humbled to see so many brands, big and small, looking towards a more green ethos within the beauty companies.  We have already had hundreds of brands enter into this years awards and we are hoping in the next few hours to see even more before the deadline rings in.

Beauty companies have already led the way with the LGBQ community, and now they are leading the green revolution too.  We have seen so many brands which use sustainable packaging and have removed virgin plastic from their packaging.  Other's use zero waste packaging and have everything completely disposable, from packaging to its carton.  

Other brands look towards having greener ingredients, and have natural or organic (and sometimes both) within their ingredients list.  We also have categories this year for those primal elements from nature which have huge benefits for the skin - shea, charcoal, aloe, honey to name just a few.  We also have ethical categories - for those brands with a more ethical stand-point on beauty and perhaps look at sustainable farming, or how to give back to the farmers or the land / plants where the products have been made from.

We also have categories for vegan and cruelty free, as many brands are now making sure this is a fundamental step within their product creation in order to maintain a more clean and animal friendly company.

Our team is looking forward to judging the best of the best of these eco friendly beauty products with our green beauty awards. We are of course looking at products efficacy, but also the green and clean ethos around the beauty product and the beauty brands themselves.

The gold, silver and bronze winners will be announced in our magazine Global Makeup Magazine which you can read on our website home page www.globalmakeupawards.com which is the umbrella company for the Global Green Beauty Awards 2020.  The awards will be announced online on 10th August and we cannot wait to show you who this year's winners have been.  There has been such a mix of brands, we know you will be delighted to see such a range and to discover the best of the new eco friendly products.

Speak soon, 

​Dominique xx

The 2020 Global Green Beauty awards is aimed at beauty brands who are trying to bring out more green beauty lines or clean beauty lines.  The idea is to educate and to move towards a more eco conscious direction for beauty brands and to celebrate those brands which are already greener and cleaner.

There are many ways to be green and clean, for example being plastic free, zero waste, natural, organic, vegan and cruelty free.  But being one doesn't necessary mean you are the other.  So in today's blog post we thought we would go through some environmental and ecological terminology as it isn't always that clear.  It is one thing when you're in the supermarket picking up organic eggs, but another thing when you are browsing for the latest beauty products.

What is Vegan beauty?

Vegan beauty products by definition contain no animal products or animal derivatives.  That means, no lanolin, no beeswax, no honey, no collagen, no gelatin for example. 

Vegan cosmetics does not necessarily therefore mean it is not tested on animals.  The term purely means it contains no animal products or derivatives.  Saying that, many many ethical brands try to tick all the boxes and they will often be both vegan and cruelty free beauty products.  However, saying it is Vegan is not enough to ensure it is cruelty free, it also needs to state that too in order to be certain it is.  Often this is written on the packaging, or on the website, otherwise you can check with the manufacturer directly.

What are cruelty free beauty products?

Ok, so for a brand to be cruelty free, it needs to not test the products on animals at any stage. 

That sounds easy, so where does the gray area begin?

Often companies say they are 'required by law' to test on animals.  This is more often than not for global brands where in some countries it is necessary to test on animals for the product to be able to be sold there.  That means, those companies are not cruelty free, as at some stage (to sell the products in some countries) they have to test on animals, even if it is through a third party.

So is my cruelty free product vegan?
As we said above, being cruelty free does not equate to the product being vegan.  This is as though no animals may have been tested on, the product may still contain a product like honey, and therefore not be considered as vegan as the ingredients include animal derivatives.

That's quite a lot of information when looking at vegan and cruelty free cosmetics brands, but we hope that cleared up some questions for you for when you are next browsing for your next beauty purchase.

We celebrate all brands that are making efforts to support the environment, whether in its ingredients, ethics, testing or more.  Slowly slowly, we are all becoming more aware about the environment and our impact on it, as well as its impact on us.  We look forward to sharing the winners showcase with you for the 2020 Global Green Beauty Awards on the 10th August when we announce the winners in the Global Makeup Magazine.  This awards is for all brands who have products which are in some way, ethical, green and of course clean.

Have a great day, 
​The Global Makeup Awards team xx