To celebrate the Soil Association’s Organic Beauty and Wellbeing Week and London Beauty Week, holistic make-up artist and nutritional therapist Sjaniël Turrell shares her favourite eyeshadows made with natural and organic ingredients.
Kjaer Weis
With its wonderfully chic and inventive reusable packaging, Kjaer Weis has one of the finest selections of eyeshadows. In a time where the ‘no makeup – makeup’ look is in, many of us are opting for just one eyeshadow colour over the entire lid and I love that you can choose just your favourite one and keep it well guarded in its case in your makeup bag. My favourite go-to colours for all over eye coverage and universal ease is ‘Charmed’ (a soft sheen nude) and ‘Wisdom’ (a purple tinted brown) – these are the one-hit-wonders for your makeup bag.
Available from kjaerweis.com
Zao
For years the compact eyeshadow offering in natural and organic was quite sparse and finding more than four or five colours in a range was rare. Zao, however, has been a go to for many makeup artists with its large selection of pressed powder shadows that range from matte nudes to deeper, brighter shimmery shades like gold and royal blue. You can choose from single shades that come in handy bamboo casings or choose a seasonal refillable palette like Clin D’oeil No 2 for a selection of more adventurous shades.
Available from zaoessenceofnature.co.uk
Ere Perez
Sometimes the buying or keeping of individual eyeshadow colours can be a pain, both financially and logistically. Australian brand Ere Perez has the perfectly packaged solution of four different palettes with six shades each. The Chamomile Eye Palettes named Beautiful, Gorgeous, Lovely and Pretty have different nude focused shade selections in both matte and shimmer to suit your mood or skin tone. The easiest to wear palette is Pretty, with taupe nudes and warmer shimmer tones. There is also the option to buy individual refills for your palette when that one favourite colour starts running out.
Available from ereperez.com
HIRO
With a beautiful selection of 15 shades of soft sheen pressed shadows, HIRO ticks all the boxes with their colour selection and quality. Buy your individual favourites and put them in a selection of handy palettes from small square to professional large magnetic boxes. They also offer a great selection of loose mineral eyeshadow pigments and these have an excellent colour variety for those who are seeking some bright standout colours like bright yellow, blue, orange and green – a must for professionals and enthusiasts alike.
Discover the range and find stockists: hiro-cosmetics.com
Manasi 7
Besides the fact that Manasi-7 has uber cool Scandi packaging, its “multi-use” motto makes for clever designs and minimal fuss. Its Custom Eye & Brow Quad does it all with four shades – ivory, taupe, brown and black. Use your angle brush to make this work as a brow filler or your favourite eyeshadow brush for using just one or all shades to enhance your eyes. All shades are matte and are great for a natural and defined finish.
Couleur Caramel
Makeup artists that were early adopters of the clean beauty movement will know this brand as just about the only option for compact eyeshadows that was around over 10 years ago. French brand Couleur Caramel has a selection of 50 eyeshadow colours plus some seasonal extras with a great range of both matte and pearlescent options. They arrive individually in recyclable cardboard cases and are great for creating your own bespoke colour palette with a magnetic palette box or opting for your few favourites that you know you will use.
Available from couleur-caramel.com
My Sappho
This American brand is designed with professionals in mind and has the staying power and pigment to back it up. With a selection of 19 shades, it has great quality matte options that are often difficult to find in natural ranges. The non-matte shades have more of a soft sheen which lends itself to a high-end finish and great for those who try to avoid anything too shimmery. You can buy these as individual shades that come in 100% recyclable packaging with the option of buying a 2-piece magnetic compact or a square compact that fits more colours.
Benecos
Many of us are on the lookout for the most affordable, everyday-wear nude palette; one that has a selection of easy nudes but won’t break the bank. Benecos has the perfect four-tone palette for under £7. The Natural Quattro Eyeshadow in Coffee & Cream gives you nudes and browns from light to dark and is all you need for a natural day or night look. The lightweight packaging makes it easy to carry around and it will basically become your much used and loved mainstay.
Available from ecco-verde.co.uk
Lily Lolo
A proudly British brand, Lily Lolo has a great selection of both pressed eyeshadows and loose mineral shadows, on top of that it has one of the best everyday palette selections out there. They come as six different palettes, each with eight shades; this is definitely the only buy you need to make to last you a very long time. For the most versatile option, go for the Aurora palette as it includes light and medium nudes, dark brown and a very classy navy blue – you simply can’t go wrong.
Available from contentbeautywellbeing.com
PHB Ethical Beauty
If you feel a bit disheartened by the lack of colour available in natural beauty ranges, then this brand has a great selection of individual and palette colours with a wider variety of hues. The reason it is difficult to have very bright pigments in natural eyeshadows, is that most of the very bright, commercial eyeshadows contain synthetic colour whereas natural minerals have limited tones, but PHB makes a wonderful effort in bringing you the best that nature has to offer in 20 shades that include green, purple and bright pink – looking for a bright orange? – its bright orange/coral blusher will do the trick.
Available from phbethicalbeauty.co.uk
Find natural and organic foundation for all skin types and Sjaniël’s best multi-use products.
Read Sjaniël’s guide to decoding beauty and discover what is really meant by ‘vegan’, ‘cruelty free’ and ‘clean’.
Discover our step-by-step guide on how to remove your make-up more sustainably.