Meet Distillery: The New Vegan Beauty Range We’re Obsessed With

Often in beauty it feels like you have to pick one or the other: you can either have high-potency skincare or all-natural; a pigment-rich lipstick or a vegan one; a long-wearing product or an environmentally conscious one. It’s a balancing act, a series of trade-offs between your satisfaction and a product's impact on the planet. But with Distillery, a brand-new range from Avon, that’s all changing: it’s clean beauty without the compromise.

The whole collection is free from alcohol and essential oils, uses low-water formulas, and each of the nine high-potency skincare and makeup products are vegan. Plus, the packaging is FSC certified, recyclable wherever possible and designed with full transparency in mind.

In response to the launch this month, we set ourselves the challenge of having our most eco-friendly and sustainable shoot yet. That meant fully vegan catering on set, delivered by pushbike; zero plastic; tablets instead of paper call sheets; and electric cars to get everyone there. Even hair and makeup got the brief, refreshing their kit with biodegradable cotton pads, eco-conscious styling products and no aerosols.  

Scroll on to see the collection on three women committed to the pursuit of planet-friendly beauty: Signe Hansen, Melody Kane and Rachel Ama.

Signe has been running her conscious fashion consumption blog for five years, and alongside posts about sustainable shopping also shares her tips for shaping a beauty routine that's kinder to the planet.

"I have terribly sensitive skin, so choosing green, simple and eco-friendly products is a must for me today. Plus, I love my time in front of the mirror – it’s a mindful way to start the day with a little self-love and also a great way to wind down after a busy day," she explains. "Knowing that the products I use are good for me and the planet makes it feel even more like I’m really doing something good. I think the biggest pain points for me are the amount of fragrance and plastic (both packaging and microplastics) you’ll find in many conventional beauty products today, which makes Distillery such a breath of fresh air."

For Rachel, a chef and vegan cookbook author, beauty has proven problematic in the past when trying to find products that aligned with her lifestyle. "Finding a beauty company with clearly labelled vegan products, rather than me needing to google every ingredient used to try is pretty rare! And that can be really time-consuming," she explained. "It's amazing to see such a well known, established brand completely embrace the vegan and sustainable world and taking such huge steps to create this line."

Melody Kane wears Clean Break Cleanser, Shade The Day SPF25 Day Cream, C-Shot Vitamin C Powder, Lip Rush* and Pressed To Impress Foundation Powder*.

Likewise, DJ Melody, who’s been vegan for six years, said planet-conscious beauty is of the utmost importance to her. "Going vegan already made me more mindful of my routine and put a real focus on being eco-friendly and plant-based. I struggled a bit with beauty because it used to just be a handful of small brands doing it, and I couldn’t always find the things I liked, especially with makeup. Going vegan just made me feel part of a bigger movement where I noticed the impact of my choices so much more." 

From the botanical actives packed into the skincare through to the pigment-rich, skin-loving textures of the makeup and that genius packaging, Avon Distillery is taking all the guesswork out of clean, vegan beauty once and for all. Having your cake and eating it too never looked so good.

*Avon Distillery makeup range, launching soon.