Read on to see what Laurie Saunders of Orglamic has to say about her personal experience of the ethical skincare and cosmetic dilemma for eco conscious brides:

"Every bride wants to look her very best on her wedding day, it is likely to be the most photographed day of her life and these photographs will provide beautiful memories for years and years. It is often said that a wedding is ‘the brides day’, although this seems slightly old-fashioned, it is a lovely sentiment and in truth a wedding often centers around the bride - the dress, the old, the blue and the new, the tradition of waiting for her to appear. Most brides hope that they will take their grooms breath away as they walk down the aisle, it is an unforgettable moment in every woman’s life and should be just perfect.

These days it’s a rite of passage for every bride to have a pre-wedding beauty regime. Many will book a course of facials, manicures, pedicures, and hair cuts to make sure they look their most polished on the Big Day. This is a lovely tradition, and can also help the bride to relax, but at a time when women’s awareness of ingredients in cosmetics is at an all time high, can you stay true to your green habits and achieve that effortless bridal glow? The more beauty treatments one has, the more chance there is of a toxic overload. People (women in particular) are becoming more and more aware of the impact cosmetics have on their bodies and on the environment, and the run-up to your wedding should be no different.

My journey into the world of green cosmetics began as I prepared for my own wedding. After years of working for big brand beauty companies my cupboards were groaning under the weight of a hundred ‘magic potions’. Strangely, I was living an ethical, organic life in every other way but I couldn’t seem to shake my cosmetic habit! I knew something had to change radically, but I didn’t relish the prospect of throwing out everything I’d accumulated over the years.

However, in the eighteen months before my wedding, my skin (which had always been slightly temperamental) went completely off the rails. It was dry one minute, and spotty the next, and I was beginning to wonder whether anything would solve it, but it turned out to be a blessing in (a very good) disguise. I decided to throw everything out, and start again. My mainstream brand staples didn’t seem to be doing anything at all, so I saw no harm in trying a new tack. From there the obvious choice was switching to ethical, organic, natural products and I quickly realised how much choice there is, and how fabulous the majority of these greener products are. In honesty even if my other cosmetics had continued to serve me well, I still would have changed. The realisation had begun to dawn that I was blindly trusting these manufacturers to look after my skin. Truly, no-one cares as much about my skin as I do, so I began to think “what are their motives for selling me this cream/wash/serum? Do they have my health at heart, or their wallet?” The answer was clear. Of course, every green cosmetic brand out there makes money for someone, but I know who I’d rather support.

Nowadays I am completely reformed. Using organic products hasn’t just been good for my conscience, it’s worked wonders on my skin. As with everything if you look hard enough you find the gems in the rough! I would never claim that every organic product is amazing, but neither is every mainstream product. There are some fantastic organic products on the market, many ranges use ancient sciences such as aromatherapy, homeopathy, and ayurvedic methods in their products so you look good and feel good. Natural ingredients work in harmony with your skin and body to enhance your body's natural healing and regenerative capabilities, and the ingredients are grown in nutrient rich soil so that you get the very best out of them.

I have tried heaps of lovely natural, ethical products, and I have as much fun adding to my collection as I ever did with their chemical counterparts. Most of my favourites are made by small businesses, who still make their products in batches, or, if they are a larger company, they have great ethical practices in place. For me, great ethics will mean they source ingredients locally, support local industry and cut down on transport or, if they source from overseas, that their supplier gets a good deal.

Another big part of the deal for me is whether they use chemicals. There have been endless stories in the press of late, about the safety of certain chemicals in cosmetics. I do not claim to be a scientist, but in my mind, if something can be made without man-made chemicals that I can’t pronounce, I’d rather opt for that.

Funnily enough it seems that the large corporations are starting to tune in to this new consumer trend and are producing ‘green’ alternatives of their own. I’m dubious (to say the least) about this new crop of products. Buying an organic product from a chemical brand seems slightly contradictory to me! Another interesting point here is that because of the relaxed laws on organic cosmetics, a product can contain as little as 1% organic ingredients, and call itself ‘organic’. An even more worrying fact is that the manufacturers themselves have the final say on whether they use a certain ingredient (or concentration of an ingredient). So long as they can prove they have run sufficient tests, they can include it in their product, as long as it is not on the list of banned ingredients. Supposedly, this method of giving them the control makes them act more morally, because they’d never want to risk customer safety, right? Well, I’m not so sure I trust their morals.

Some 9,000 chemicals make their way into our cosmetics, and although those with known harmful effects are employed in small enough quantities to comply with health and safety regulations, the long-term and cumulative effects of using such substances is still unknown.

There is a very grey area where chemicals in cosmetics are concerned, if we lived by what we read in the press, we would probably have gone in to melt-down by now, with their ever changing opinions. The fact is, the tests on these chemicals just aren’t stringent enough, the problems with these ingredients have only come to light in recent years, so how can we be assured there are no long-term health implications?

For anyone who is accustomed to using ethical skin care products and cosmetics, it can seem like you have very few options when looking for beauty treatments that sit comfortably with your core values. But there are lots of alternative therapies and treatments on the market and the best advice I can give you in your quest for great green beauty treatments and products is to do lots of research, find therapies that make you feel great and that will have you looking your best in no time. If you're stuck then please contact me and I can advise you in this area.

Some smaller establishments may be happy for you to supply your own products for facials and massages if you ask in advance and if you don’t fancy the idea of using non-organic hair products, have a chat with your hair salon and ask if they would be willing to allow you to take your own products in for them to use.

I hope that this will inspire you to embark upon your Green Pre-Wedding Beauty Regime with renewed vigour!"

Laurie Saunders - Orglamic