Green Beauty for brown beauties

Content Beauty

Lynda Daboh is a beauty blogger from Wonderlustingwhere she features organic and natural beauty brands extensively. Last week she co-hosted the first event at Content Beauty & Well Beingy  focussing on green beauty for brown beauties with Michelle Scott-Lynch from Boucleme. She shares with us her views on Green Beauty. Natural and organic beauty (green beauty) is booming with global sales now in the billions. As consumers become more informed about potentially toxic ingredients and their wellbeing, the beauty industry has smartened up.

I'm a great believer that everything is connected and beauty starts in the kitchen. It doesn't make sense for me to eat organic food then smear my biggest organ, my skin, with synthetic ingredients. I don't believe in scaremongering, just using the healthiest, most nourishing ingredients for me and the planet where possible. Green beauty is seen as something new and trendy when it is in fact what our ancestors have used for an eternity. "New" wonder ingredients such as argan, baobab and moringa were used in the time of Cleopatra and Nefertiti.

One area however that still needs work is green makeup. I've used organic and natural skincare for many many years but have found it trickier with makeup as complexion products in particular aren't often available in my skin colour. We are still in 50 Shades of Beige territory with a struggle to find shades suitable for darker skinned green beauties. It sometimes feels as if brands think that only Gwyneth Paltrow wants to buy natural beauty products.

If I walk in to the biggest healthy living store in the world, right here in London, the most diverse city on earth, there isn't a single complexion product in my skin colour or darker. I certainly don't expect every single brand to have a colour that matches me. However, in 2015, I do expect brands to offer a fully inclusive colour range with an option available whether you're a beauty that looks like Nicole Kidman or Lupita Nyong'o.

Things are improving all the time though with better pigmentation and formulations, sexier packaging and increasing recognition of the need for a more diverse selection. One of my favourite spots to find an inclusive range of green beauty products is the award-winning Content Beauty & Wellbeing in Marylebone. Content is the only shop in the UK you can walk in to and find natural and organic makeup options for all skin tones. They also offer a free detox your makeup bag service for those seeking assistance in finding new options.

I’m always on the hunt for the British brands offering an inclusive range of natural makeup. Do please get in touch if you know any.

You can follow Lynda on Twitter and Instagram where she uses the hashtag #greenbrownbeauty to share swatches of green beauty makeup products.