Meet the Under-the-Radar Vegan Skin-Care Brand You Should Know About in 2022

Our expectation that most, if not all, beauty products should be cruelty-free isn't new; it's kind of shocking that animal testing is even still a thing at all. What is new is our hope that more products hitting shelves are cruelty-free and vegan. To be clear, the two aren't synonymous — cruelty-free means a product isn't tested on animals, while vegan refers to the animal-derived ingredients and byproducts, or lack thereof, in a single formula. On the surface, going vegan may just seem like a good ethical decision to make, but it can also have an impact on the environment, the biggest benefits being the conservation of water and reduction of energy consumption. After all, carbon footprints won't shrink themselves.

Here's the thing: a vegan ingredient list isn't necessarily "better" for you. When shopping, it's important to keep in mind that harmful ingredients can still linger in the formula, including fillers and fragrances that don't make the product better or worse, but certainly don't pass most clean beauty standards. Fleur & Bee prioritizes products that are 100 percent vegan and free of the other potentially harmful ingredients, including parabens, sulfates, phthalates, silicones, GMOs, artificial fragrances, gluten, dyes, and more. And, yes, they're cruelty-free.

The value of a product used to only be on what was inside the packaging; now, we're flipping the script. While formulas still need to be effective, we also care about the materials used to produce them — from the formulas themselves to the bottles they live in. Fleur & Bee is conscious about its choices, opting to use sustainably sourced ingredients, which are made using 100 percent renewable wind energy (an emissions-free source of energy). The ecoresponsibility further extends to its FSC-certified, 100-percent recycled post-consumer waste paperboard packaging that houses Fleur & Bee products. In an ideal world, a lot of these sustainable decisions could be made with overnight changes, but the reality is that it can take months, if not years, to restructure production practices. With that in mind, Fleur & Bee aims to be a completely carbon-neutral company by the end of 2022.

Five years ago, vegan and cruelty-free skin-care brands — that worked! — were hard to find. Now, they're here, but usually expensive. Long-time beauty-lovers know that the price of a product isn't always indicative of its quality, and Fleur & Bee helps to prove the point (not one product costs more than $40).

The brand also offers affordable skin-care kits (both under $100) that work for all skin types. The Starter Set, for example, includes three products — a cleanser, eye cream, and moisturizer — that essentially serve as the building blocks to any beginner routine. The other kit, the Deluxe Set, takes your routine to the next level including the basics, plus a rose water toner and vitamin C serum. Even if you still have trouble remembering which products to use when, Fleur & Bee makes it simple — no nasties included.