If your New Years’ resolution is to find ways to be more sustainable – then taking a look at your skincare routine might be a good place to start making swaps.
And Planet Revolution – Revolution Beauty’s latest sub-brand – is offering beauty buffs simple, sustainable solutions with clean skincare and makeup, without the heavy price tag that often comes with these kind of consciously created and packaged products.
But what Planet Revolution also know is that it’s a marathon and not a sprint, so champion the tagline #progressionnotperfection, which makes taking these small swaps on board feel so much more attainable and accessible.
The brand said: “With Planet Revolution we are offering an affordable choice to our customers who want clean formulas and conscious packaging.”As a result, the positive changes implemented at Planet Revolution act as a testbed for Revolution’s other brands, with significant sustainability swaps being made across the board. Including reducing plastic consumption by over 50 tonnes in the 2020 Gift collection (the equivalent of 3 million plastic water bottles), and switching all their fixing spray bottles to 100% recycled plastic.
While still technically a fast beauty brand, bringing products to the market first, fast and affordably, Planet Revolution have reviewed their buying strategy to control purchasing quantities to meet demand with as little waste as possible.Planet Revolution offers consumers a ‘clean promise’, assuring all the products from their considered edit are vegan, with simplified formulas, free from unnecessary ingredients, using sustainable and upcycled ingredients wherever possible, packaged in responsible, recyclable packaging.
I’ve recently been trying out a few of the Planet Revolution skincare products, and have been really impressed by the brand’s transparency on their products and policies, from inclusivity and diversity, to their zero retouch policy.
Freshwater Brightening Cleansing Water and Wash Away Makeup Remover Pads
This lightweight cleanser is fragrance free and is made using leftover upcycled grapefruit pieces from fruit juice production in Corsica. Coming in at £8, the product uses hydrating vegan glycerin for simple and effective makeup and pollution removal.
I added a few drops to one of the Planet Revolution Wash Away makeup remover pads (also £8) and swept it across my already make-up free face, and was so shocked at how much dirt and pollution it still drew out of my skin.
There are seven pads in one pack, giving a weeks worth of removers, which can be placed in the washable bag and added to any cool washing cycle. They are made out of natural bamboo, cotton and polyester for the perfect soft-to-the-touch feel that’s ultra gentle on skin. It’s well worth having two or three sets of these so that you can use them on rotation, too.
The cleansers’ bottle is made from 100% recycled materials – that’s why it looks a bit grey and every single one will look slightly different. The cap is also made from 50% recycled materials. The product label uses a glue that won’t contaminate the recycling process, meaning you can simply rinse and recycle the whole thing once you’re finished.
The brightening cleansing water is a micellar water consistency, but when applied to the face, there is a very light and gently soapiness to it, which feels really deep-cleansing, and the results speak for themselves on the pad.
Planet Revolution Re-useable Beauty Buds
Much like cotton pads, cotton buds were something I would get through a lot of, but these re-usable ones are an amazing alternative and will save so much money in the long run.
Costing £5 for two, these come in a stylish 100% PCR container which can be used as needed and washed after use with the freshwater brightening cleanser.
Just leave them to air dry in a glass and store them back in their container once dry, and they can be re-used over and over again.
Planet Revolution Reusable Facial Sheet Masks and Sheet Mask Waters
But Planet Revolution have come up with a brilliant solution – Reusable Facial Sheet Masks. This is the first time I’ve seen a product like this so accessibly on the market and they’re a real game changer. Made with organic cotton, they’re super soft on the skin and really comfortable to wear – more so than regular facemasks, I’d say.
You get two in a pack for £4, then can buy the sheet mask waters separately for £8 each, soaking or spraying the masks and applying to the face to help revive tired and dehydrated skin types.
I’ve tried the skin soothing bergamot water, and the balancing sweet orange, which come in 300ml bottles that are made from biosource recycled, recyclable materials. They also use ‘upcycled’ active ingredients with vegan glycerin to create the product, which can also be used directly on the skin as an essence spray. The facemasks are recommended to be used for 10-15 minutes, and it’s a quarter hour of pure bliss and relaxation – and when you work from home, it’s a great way to take a quick screen break.
Planet Revolution Rose Kiss Lip Care Set
With winter comes dry chapped lips, but this rose lip care set is the perfect antidote with a two-step routine for banishing dry skin and hydrating better than any lip balm I’ve used.
The set costs £10 and offers your pout some serious TLC with nourishing rosehip oil and hydrating hyaluronic acid to help restore and plump dry lips.
Start with the scrub to gently exfoliate dry lips and remove any dead skin, followed by the sweet rose lip mask to add moisture. I love that the little jars come in a reusable drawstring 100% cotton bag that you can carry everywhere with you without losing them.
Planet Revolution Skincare Serum Drops
There are currently two serum drops to pick up from the Planet Revolution beauty counter – nourishing hemp, and hydrating raspberry, both costing £10 each.
The hemp serum is recommended for dry and irritated skin types, with the raspberry suggested for dehydrated complexions. They both have a clean formula with with upcycled hemp seed oil and upcycled raspberry seed oil respectively, combined with shea butter to instantly soothe and nourish the skin.
The bottle is made from 90% recycled glass and the cap is made from 98% recycled plastic, both of which can be full recycled. The only thing that can’t be recycled is the pump, which the brand are looking to improve to move to a more easily recycled option.
These are best used after the Planet Revolution Freshwater Cleanser and before your favourite Planet Revolution moisturiser, of which there are a few to choose from, with a couple featured below.
Planet Revolution The Clean Hydration Makeup Serum
The perfect hybrid between skincare and makeup, this clean hydration serum is formulated with hyaluronic acid and grapefruit to leave your skin feeling refreshed and hydrated whilst creating a perfect base for makeup. And it’s not the first time Revolution have blurred the line between skincare and makeup, with beauty brand XX Revolution doing the very same
For the best results, use this £10 serum after your skincare routine but before foundation or concealer. It offers a really healthy glow so looks really natural under makeup, or can be worn alone for a glass skin look.
The bottle is made of glass meaning once empty they can be recycled, but the rubber stopper and gold collar unfortunately have to be thrown away with Planet Revolution promising to look at ‘new innovations to improve this product further’.
Planet Revolution The Everything Balm
Containing aloe vera and olive oil, the Everything Balm does, well – what it says on the tin. This multi-use hydrating balm will set you back £10, and can be used on the face, body, hair, and cuticles so you don’t need a million lotions and potions on your bedside table.
It is an all-over hydrator that will nourish and heal dry areas all while smelling amazing, and it’s definitely worth having a couple of these to keep at home and in a handbag.
In terms of packaging, the PCR cap and aluminium tube means that you can put this in the recycling bin when you have finished, but be sure to cut it open to get out every last bit of balm.
Planet Revolution True Moisture Mattifying Olive Moisturiser
The last product I’ve tried from the Planet Revolution skincare range is the true moisture mattifying olive moisturiser – costing £10.
This has been made with upcycled olive stone powder salvaged from olive oil production in Spain, upcycled rice powder and moisturising squalane from olives to bring a mild moisture gel to the market that both hydrates and mattifies skin.
The tube is made from sustainable sugarcane rather than fossil fuels, which makes it much more sustainable. The cap is made from 50% recycled material which can be put in the household recycling after use.
Planet Revolution have created a really gorgeous, affordable, clean beauty brand that promises to do better – and will continue their strive for sustainability while bringing some of the best beauty products to an accessible market. I’m really excited to give some of their makeup products a go as their collection grows.
