This is the first guest post on That Festival Life and the first of many ethical and sustainability themed posts that will be coming in the future. I feel strongly that this is such an important topic that goes hand in hand with festivals… but more about this in the future! For this post my friend, ethical beauty blogger, Ailsa from Frosted Feather has tackled the subject of ethical festival beauty and pulled together a round-up of handy ethical festival beauty essentials.  

We’ve all been there. It’s Monday morning. It is probably raining, despite the glorious haze of sunshine that has surrounded you for the last three days… You’re cold because you and your five other friends crammed yourself into a three-man tent and you seem to find yourself in that one patch that isn’t supported by an airbed, next to the unopened humus, some crushed crisps and the loo roll.  What you haven’t eaten, you have probably made up for with the booze you have consumed. What glitter you have left, seems to have migrated and dispersed to cover your whole face, hair, and some other innocent bystanders.
…And then you emerge from the tent, to see the devastation of thousands of other people who have had an extremely similar weekend to you and are having an almost identical morning.

When you leave a festival it is hard not to be disgusted at the state of your body let alone the state of the site you have left behind. At least you have the magical, sparkly memories of great music, loving pals and a genuinely awesome atmosphere. All the festival site has left is to deal with the aftermath of tens of thousands of people partying for four days.

“When you leave a festival it is hard not to be disgusted at the state of your body let alone the state of the site you have left behind.”

However, festivals have not left their roots in the environmentalism movement of the sixties behind. Festivals are stepping up their game. An amazing example is Shambala – the festival has reduced the onsite carbon footprint by 81% over 5 years, it is now 100% renewably powered and since 2016, the festival has been meat and fish free. The festival goers get involved too by purchasing handy little cups that they reuse throughout the festival for drinks. These recycled cups are an example of the powerful impact of everyone collectively making one small change resulting in a huge positive impact.

So, to encourage a more ethical festival going mentality, Dulcie and I thought we could help you to at least make ethical choices when you purchase your beauty essentials ahead of your next festival.

But what does ethical really mean…?

It can be hard to decipher what ethical means and what that means for the environmental impact of that product. Ethical is a broad term but it can be simplified into these categories and we have clearly labelled which category each product falls into:

• Natural: skincare and beauty products free from artificial ingredients
• Cruelty-free: skincare and beauty products that are not tested on animals
• Vegan: skincare and make-up products that do not contain animal products
• Biodegradable: products that are less harmful to the environment when they are disposed of
• Recycled: products that use recycled fabrics to minimise the environmentally harmful factory processes involved with producing fabrics

This is our ultimate eco-friendly, kind to animals, ethical festival beauty packing list…

Stuff to freshen you up!

• ‘No Drought’ Lush dry shampoo – Natural and cruelty-free
• Earth Conscious deodorant – Natural, cruelty-free and there is a vegan version of the deodorant
• Ethical Superstore Toothbrush – Biodegradable
• Lush toothpaste – Natural and cruelty free
• Holland & Barret Ecodenta Mouthwash* – Natural & vegan
• Ethical superstore make-up wipes – Biodegradable
• Natracare period stuff (sometimes mother nature is a bitch) – Biodegradable
  
• Bentley Organic Hand Sanitiser (bumbag essential) –

Stuff to make you look great
(despite 3 days…and counting… of partying!)

• Holland & Barret Incognito skin Suncream lotion and Insect repellent *(gotta be safe!) – Natural, organic and vegan
• Lush vegelene lip balm  – Natural and cruelty free
• Nyx Liquid Illuminator (for when you look like sh*t in the morning) – Cruelty-free
• Kiko eyeliner (this seriously does not budge!) – Cruelty-free
• Barry M nail varnish – Vegan and Cruelty-free
• B-HD Mascara – Cruelty-free

Stuff to make you sparkle!

• MGMA Glitter – Biodegradable, vegan. (Note from Dulcie: I’ve started to use this when I’m doing professional face-painting and its the BEST so much softer than traditional cosmetic glitter and slides on a treat, my favourite is the large gold!)
• Coconut oil – To stick it on.
• Barry M dazzle dust –Vegan and cruelty-free

& a bit more ethical festival beauty stuff!

Has Ailsa’s post on ethical festival beauty inspired you? What would you add to the list? Make sure you check out her blog! Here’s a bit more further reading I’ve picked out… 

• Check out Kaleidoscope Klub, super creative & conscious make-up… you might remember me mentioning them before in my round-up of the best glitter artists post.
• PETA have got a great guide to cruelty free make-up ahead of Halloween.
• ‘Sorry Burners but glitter is neither sustainable or concious‘ a blog dissecting the problems with non-biodegradable glitter and the eco-friendly alternatives by Leotie Lovely.

Words by Ailsa Burns, additional words and photos by Dulcie Horn.