In the world of ethical makeup products, Elate Cosmetics has quickly become a household name. We fell in love with the company a few years ago, and we’re pretty sure they’ll tug at your heart strings, too. So, let’s get to know the brand by answering some questions people like you might have about the clean beauty company.
Elate Beauty: An Overview
Elate Beauty, also commonly referred to as Elate Cosmetics, is a Canadian Certified B Corporation that has been changing the way we think about clean beauty since 2014. Founder Melodie Reynolds recognized that 30% of the waste in our beauty bags comes from the cosmetics that make us feel our best.
So, the brand set out to do something about it.
Is Elate a Clean Makeup Brand?
Selling clean makeup means that Elate promotes smaller, capsule-sized collections of makeup. They serve as a reminder that we don’t need cosmetics cases filled with lipsticks we’ll never wear, nor do we need to respond to advertising that encourages us to buy, buy, buy.
From the mouth of the company itself, “Low-waste beauty starts with consumption.”
Unlike the vast majority of companies, Elate encourages us to only replace the old with the new when it’s necessary—not an impulsive decision. To support consumers in their hunt for minimal, mindful, and sustainable products, the clean beauty brand prioritizes three key business strategies:
- Responsible Marketing
- Sustainable Packaging
- Ethical Ingredients
Is Elate Vegan? Is Elate Cosmetics Cruelty Free?
As a key component of their commitment to ethical ingredients, you can rest assured that every Elate cosmetics purchase is 100% ethical from an animal welfare perspective. As a makeup brand vegans love, Elate doesn’t create cosmetics that compromise the health of people, animals, or our planet.
This means that 0% of their ingredients are animal derived (not even sneaky animal-based ingredients like glycerine and lanolin). They also don’t test their products on animals, and require the same from all of their suppliers. As a testament to their animal-friendly practices, they’re backed up by relevant certifications and affiliations:
- Leaping Bunny certification (a cruelty-free guarantee)
- Beauty Without Bunnies (PETA’s database for vegan and cruelty-free companies)
Elate Cosmetics for Clean, Organic Makeup
In addition to offering vegan, cruelty free makeup, Elate’s products are made with around 75% organic ingredients.
Even better, they’re willing to forgo organic ingredients for fair trade ones, recognizing that sometimes the effort required to achieve organic certification may compromise the integrity of a farmer’s operations—a very important consideration when clean beauty products are becoming increasingly trendy!
Is Elate Plastic-Free?
Thanks to their commitment to sustainable packaging, Elate Cosmetics has become a world leader in zero waste beauty products. While they may not be totally plastic-free, they have a better response to cosmetic waste than nearly any other brand.
With hopes to eventually reach 100%, currently more than 75% of their packaging is reusable, recyclable, or plantable.
A lot of their packaging is made with eco-friendly materials, like sustainable, FSC-certified bamboo. As an example, their bamboo eyecolor compact can be filled with their vegan pressed eyeshadow. Once the former can be refilled no more (after a very long life, we might add) it can be crushed and commercially composted.
Some plastic is just impossible to avoid (a mascara brush, for example) and most of it is too small to be tossed into the curbside recycling bin. So, Elate has partnered with PACT to responsibly recycle any plastic packaging they produce. You can either drop off your empties at a participating store, or mail it in. They’ll even reimburse you for shipping!
This is about as close as you can get to totally plastic-free cosmetics!
Elate Cosmetics: Going Above and Beyond to Support Our Planet
In addition to all of the impressive details mentioned above, Elate Cosmetics gives back to people and our planet through their Amplify Initiative. Through this collection, they donate 1% of their annual profits to social initiatives and another 1% to environmental initiatives. The charities change on a seasonal basis.
In addition to having donated more than $27,000 to social and environmental causes in 2020 alone, Elate Beauty and their customers have also been successful in:
- Recycling more than 697,000 plastic packages to keep them out of landfills
- Growing 157,500 gardens with their plantable seed paper packaging
- Planting more than 15,000 trees—one for every order
It’s no wonder Elate Beauty is one of Green Eco Dream’s favorite cruelty free makeup brands. We love them, and we’re sure you will, too.
To help you with the transition to a more sustainable and clean beauty we are giving you 10% OFF on your first order. Simply use code BLOG10 at checkout.
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