Well, you know the world has shifted on its axis when Avon move into cleaner, greener skincare. Frankly, we’ve been waiting for the beauty landscape to shift on its axis and move towards sustainability since we wrote our book The Green Beauty Bible back in 2008 but the current pace is taking even us by (delighted) surprise.

Distillery is a capsule collection of skincare (we anticipate more to follow) and make-up. In truth, we haven’t managed to have a look at the ingredients of the make-up yet, so we can’t really comment on its eco credentials. As for the skincare, we’d say ‘green-er’, rather than ‘green’ – but still, it avoids all the real no-nos (phthalates, parabens, etc.) and is vegan-certified and fragrance-free. Impressively, glass is said to be recycled, while the outer packaging is FSC-certified cardboard.

It’s also very nice to use – albeit in some cases perhaps more suited to younger skins, especially in the case of the jelly-like Sleep Potion Night Cream, which is very lightly moisturising. (We ended up layering it over the Purify Facial Oil, with its lovely light blend of sunflower, corn and jojoba oils.)

We very much like the Clean Break Cleanser – and the Vitamin C-Shot Powder is interesting: you shake it into another product as a skin-brightening booster. To be honest, the one skincare product we’re less taken with is the SPF25 Day Cream, which does give skin a slightly ghostly cast if you apply enough to get what we deem adequate protection.

But we’re quibbling, here. Mostly, we’re hugely encouraged that a beauty behemoth like Avon is taking issues of sustainability and ‘clean beauty’ on board. And once we’ve got our hands on the make-up packaging, rather than just the samples themselves, we’ll likely be sharing our thoughts on those with you, too. (We like the fact that the compacts are also made of paper/card, with no mirrors – to assist with recyclability.)

BTW, you don’t need an Avon Lady to get your hands on their products nowadays – and haven’t for some time. Simply buy them online, like almost any other beauty brand. Clean, green or otherwise.

£15-22 – buy here

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