Conscious Beauty Routine: The Best Natural Skin Care Products & Brands

For advocates of conscious beauty, natural skin care stands for high performing, carefully formulated, and sustainably sourced products. It’s about using naturally occurring and nature-identical ingredients that reduce your exposure to harsh chemicals that can harm the skin’s natural barrier and flora and leave a significant impact on the environment. 

“Natural and organic products are a great way of avoiding the content of toxic pesticides and preservatives and a variety of chemicals that we may or may not understand,” says board-certified dermatologist Alan M. Dattner, M.D., founder of HolisticDermatology.com and author of Radiant Skin from the Inside Out. “Plus, organic products are generally higher quality and produced by smaller houses with a little bit more personal care.” 

But how do you know if a product is as natural as it claims to be? As tricky as it is to define what qualifies as natural, there are brands that have emerged as true standouts in the conscious beauty sphere. Find out more about the best natural skin care products and the brands who have committed themselves to the highest standards of natural, sustainable, and efficacious skin care. 

Table of Contents:

• Key Ingredients to Look for in Natural Skin Care Products
• Top Natural Skin Care Brands
• How to Create Your Natural Skin Care Routine
• Transform Your Skin with the Best Natural Skin Care Products

Key Ingredients to Look for in Natural Skin Care Products

Natural skin care takes advantage of plant and marine extracts, nourishing oils, and minerals, which tend to be gentler, are less likely to cause irritation, and contain higher amounts of nutrients that are easier for your skin and body to absorb. Keep an eye out for these ingredients when stocking up on natural skin care products:

• Grape and berry extracts: Excellent sources of powerful antioxidants resveratrol and polyphenols (flavonoids and phenolic acid). 
• Green tea: Contains antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties.  Also packed with caffeine that improves circulation and reduces swelling, making it effective in treating dark circles and puffy eyes.  
• Vitamins C and E: These two ingredients work synergistically to enhance each other’s anti-aging, antioxidant, brightening, and collagen-boosting properties. They also ramp up your skin’s UV protection when used with your SPF. 
• Olives: Loaded with vitamins, fats, and antioxidants that help moisturize skin, reduce signs of aging, regulate oily skin, and promote wound healing with its anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. 
• Aloe vera: A natural moisturizer known for its extra-nourishing and soothing properties that alleviate dryness and heals sunburn, itching, minor cuts and abrasions, and irritation.
• Jojoba oil: With properties like the skin’s natural oils, it is easily absorbed by the skin’s layers. It helps prevent signs of aging, moisturizes, rebalances sebum production, calms inflammation, and helps boost collagen production. 
• Argan oil: Moroccan women traditionally use argan oil as sun protection, but it’s also widely used in skin and hair care for its moisturizing, anti-aging, and restorative properties.  
• Barley: Contains lysine, an amino acid essential for collagen production, as well as zinc, B vitamins, and a powerful antioxidant called selenium. 
• Coconut oil: Rich in fatty acids and antioxidants like vitamin E that work together to enhance the skin’s moisture, protect from sun damage, and delay signs of aging. 

Keep in mind, however, that allergens and potential irritants also exist in nature, so while the best natural skin care products steer clear of harsh synthetics, they can still cause unwanted reactions. It’s always a good idea to patch test and observe your skin before adding a new product or ingredient to your routine. 

Top Natural Skin Care Brands

Not many self-proclaimed natural skin care brands can make the cut when measured against the strict standards of conscious beauty. Those that do, however, make the switch to natural skin care that much easier and even more fulfilling. These brands raise the bar when it comes to what natural skin care is and can be, advocating for and spearheading ethical practices in every step of a product’s creation. Get to know them, below. 

1. Eminence Organic Skin Care: Since 1958, Eminence Organic Skin Care has been upholding sustainable farming and green practices in the farmlands of Hungary to create natural, organic, and Biodynamic® products out of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. A pioneer of the “farm to face” movement, the brand harnesses the power of superfood ingredients—like strawberry rhubarb, kale, pumpkin, berries, red currant, and wild plum, to name a few—in formulating high-potency, good-for-you-and-the-planet skin care products that have earned the brand consistent praise and an undeniable spot as a leader in beauty and natural skin care. This commitment is clearly demonstrated in its award-winning, all-star skin care line, which includes the Clear Skin Probiotic Cleanser, Facial Recovery Oil, and Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Acid Serum.   
2. Furtuna Skin: Furtuna Skin may be a new name, but it’s firm in its stance to go beyond the beauty industry’s notions of what clean and sustainable skin care should be by embracing regenerative farming. At the brand’s heart is the family-owned 800-plus-acre La Furtuna Farm in Sicily, where the brand’s skin care ingredients are grown. Furtuna Skin believes in driving performance with potency, taking great steps in preserving its ingredients' supercharged level of nutrients from planting to extraction. Among the brand’s EWG™-verified skin care products—powered by olive fruit oil and organic and wild-foraged ingredients, including shea butter, sunflower oil, jojoba oil, and flower extracts—are Rinascita Delle Olive Replenishing Balm, Giorno E Notte Day and Night Cream Set, and Triple Active Exfoliator.
3. Bioeffect: BIOFFECT was started as a result of a breakthrough by its founders: three Icelandic scientists developing ways to bioengineer plant-based growth factors, which led to the creation of the brand’s unique barley EGF or epidermal growth factor. A type of signaling protein, EGF stimulates the body to produce collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid. BIOEFFECT produces plant-based EGF in barley, grown in inactive volcanic pumice, using geothermal energy and pure, nutrient-enriched Icelandic water. You can find this star ingredient in BIOEFFECT’s advanced natural skin care line, which includes EGF Eye Serum, EGF Power Cream, and Total Transformation 30 Day Treatment.
4. Caudalie: French natural skin care authority Caudalie is the first brand to truly harness the potent skin-renewing and anti-aging properties of grapes. From its founders’ vineyard in Bordeaux, the brand officially launched its first skin care offerings in 1995, headlined by its star ingredient, polyphenols, which are some of the world’s most powerful antioxidants. This led to the creation of the cult favorite Beauty Elixir, a face toner inspired by the Queen of Hungary’s elixir of youth. Caudalie followed this up with the development, use, and patenting of resveratrol. In 2005, the Vinoperfect range was launched, featuring skin-brightening viniferine. A member of 1% for the Planet, Caudalie’s grape-powered skin care culminates in its Premier Cru line, which combines the brand’s proprietary ingredients, including its latest Vinergy® patent, to create Caudalie’s most luxurious and powerful routine yet.  

How to Create Your Natural Skin Care Routine

Starting your own natural skin care routine begins with understanding your skin type and its own unique needs. If you have oily skin, it’s best to stick to lightweight, oil-free, and noncomedogenic formulas that are gentle on the grease and shine but heavy on barrier-repairing ingredients. Remember: having oily skin doesn’t mean you’re good to go when it comes to hydration. Excessive oil production can, in fact, be a sign of dehydration and poor barrier function, and the extra oil is your skin’s way of compensating for what it lacks: moisture. Niacinamide and peptides are two ingredients that work hand in hand in repairing your skin’s natural moisture barrier and rebalancing oil production. Other must-have ingredients for oily skin are aloe vera, hyaluronic acid, BHAs, and vitamin C.

Meanwhile, dry skin types can benefit from richer formulations and oil-based creams that ramp up and seal in moisture. Look for formulas that combine nourishing oils like coconut, sunflower, and evening primrose oils with powerful humectants like hyaluronic acid.

As for sensitive skin, always opt for hypoallergenic, fragrance-free, and soothing formulas, and choose sensitive-skin-friendly ingredients like hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, and rose water. If you can’t tolerate powerhouse anti-aging ingredients like retinol, choose products with gentler collagen-boosting ingredients, such as peptides, growth factors, cica, and vitamin E.

If you have combination skin, multitasking ingredients that target both oily and dry areas of your skin are your best bet. Hydrating and rebalancing ingredients, such as cucumber, aloe vera, and non-greasy essential oils, help restore your skin’s moisture barrier while adding hydration.

As a rule, you can start your AM and PM routines by following these core steps:

Morning

• Cleanse: Start your day by cleansing your skin of any debris that may have built up overnight and prepping your skin for the rest of your morning routine.
• Exfoliate: Exfoliation is an essential part of skin care to help remove dead skin cells, unclog pores, and maintain a smooth and glowing complexion. However, over-exfoliation is a real thing and can lead to the opposite of your desired results. Make sure to exfoliate only one to three times every week, depending on what your skin can tolerate.
• Tone: While this step is often overlooked, toning can help restore and rebalance your skin’s pH levels. Toners can also do double duty as a light exfoliant or astringent.
• Daytime serum: Some prefer to save serums for their PM routines, but if you want to take your morning routine to the next level, you will want to keep this step. Choose a hydrating and antioxidant-rich serum that protects your skin from moisture-zapping and oxidative stress-inducing external aggressors. Opt for actives like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, green tea, and vitamins C and E.
• Moisturize: Make sure your skin stays nourished throughout the day by locking in moisture and amping up hydration.
• SPF: Sunscreen is non-negotiable. Yes, even on cloudy days. Make sure to choose a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher. Apply. Reapply. Repeat.

Nighttime

Your nighttime routine should mirror your AM regimen (except for SPF), with some little adjustments.

• Eye treatment: Add eye cream or treatment before moisturizing to make sure you don’t wake up with unwanted baggage, dark circles, and puffiness.
• Serum: Your evening routine is the best time to load up on heavy-hitting active ingredients and let them do their magic while you sleep.
• Night moisturizer: Switch out your AM cream for a richer night moisturizer with ingredients that support skin repair and hasten cell regeneration.

Transform Your Skin with the Best Natural Skin Care Products

Whether you’re just looking to swap out one or two of your skin care staples or preparing for a complete routine overhaul, it’s important to make sure you’re choosing the best natural skin care products from brands that truly understand and embody the guiding principles of conscious beauty in their ingredients and formulations.

Want to know more about the best natural skin care products? We’ve got you covered. Curate the best natural skin care routine with Dermstore’s top picks.