Persephone beauty is a new online shopping site for natural and niche skincare lovers. It currently stocks a refined, but carefully curated 6 brands, that not only focuses on kindness to the skin, but also to the planet.
It was founded by Laura from Laurzrah who many of us blogging peeps will know and love so I just wanted to talk a bit about natural and organic beauty, home-grown brands and shopping a little more consciously and selectively.
‘Natural’ and ‘Clean’ beauty are broad terms that are thrown about and slapped on most products nowadays as it’s appealing and more ‘trendy’ for consumers when it comes to skincare. Any ol’ thing is natural it seems these days if it contains 0.0006% of aloe vera. The big powerhouse brands L’Oreal, Garnier and Neutrogena are all bringing out these types of skincare ranges with a leaf on the front and ‘0 parabens’ splayed across the front so we (not me) buy it thinking it’s fabulous and ‘natural’.
If we scratch beneath the surface a little, a lot of it is utter bullshit. Products are quite literally re-branding themselves as natural with absolutely no change to the formula, it’s just to keep in line with the trends and fashion, nothing to do with the brand’s ethos or concern for the environment. It’s all about the bottom line and clever marketing and it really does make it confusing for a lot of us.
With Persephone Beauty, all of the brands they stock are not only genuinely natural/clean brands in terms of their ingredients and inci, but they have MORE to them ; smaller, indie, homegrown and sustainable brands.
Brands they stock include Evolve Beauty, Balmkind, Neighbourhood Botanicals, Elsa’s Organic Skinfoods, MOA and Skin & Tonic.
When you shop with a company like this and support ‘smaller brands’ you aren’t supporting suits living in NYC, you are supporting people like me and you : people starting out, people who probably have another job to get them by, people with a tiny dream and who have a passion for beauty and ethics.
Evolve Beauty is probably the most well known beauty brand stocked on Persephone, and one that I have used for many years now. LOVE, absolutely love their Gentle Cleansing Melt and also the Radiant Glow Mask is so damn good. The mask contains cacao powder so it actually smells like a chocolate bar and the coconut shell particles ensure all the dead and grimy particles on your skin are sloughed off in a sweep.
Neighbourhood Botanicals is a brand I had spotted on Instagram a few times, mainly because the awesome illustrations and packaging really caught my eye. I ordered the oil to milk cleanser and I have been using this over the last few weeks as a step 1 to my 2-part PM cleanse and it’s an absolute beauty! Removes all makeup, including eye makeup, leaves skin feeling soft and nourished and most importantly, it’s super gentle and doesn’t leave skin feeling stripped or irritated.
I’ve got my sights on the Elsa’s organic deodorants next as I am nearly out of my favourite Aurelia botanical one which I have been using for a good few years now (but it’s quite ££) so am on the lookout for an alternative to this.
Have you tried any of these brands that are on the Persephone website? Definitely have a look online and pick up some bits if you are on the lookout for some new natural skincare. My order came swiftly, beautifully packaged (in all recyclable packaging!) and it had a lovely personal touch.
*This post contains items purchased with a complimentary gift voucher from Peresphone Beauty.
