Clean Beauty: these brands (really) guarantee sustainability, safety and transparency

What is Clean Beauty? These two terms are now ubiquitous in the beauty industry without referring to a specific concept. In the collective imagination, these are healthy or clean cosmetics, synonymous with naturalness, organic, or even eco-responsibility. but the concept is actually exploited in various ways by the brands that appropriate it to attract the favor of consumers. For example, Clean Beauty is not considered in the same way in France, in the United States, or in Asia due to different standards; European regulations are the strictest in the world. Some American cosmetics players believe that European brands, which automatically ban a host of prohibited ingredients and substances, are essentially Clean Beauty. To see it even more clearly, here are five brands that will ensure you are really dealing with clean beauty.

Skin care

Fruits, vegetables, and other cereals have become in just a few years essential for beauty, and even more so for DIY. It is therefore not surprising that the Cultiv brand draws directly from French fields to unearth its plant active ingredients, while respecting the seasons and the environment. On the menu, face and body care, and supplements, formulated from natural – and sometimes organic – ingredients, the (short) list of which is provided in complete transparency. All offered in partially recycled packaging. Beetroot, chicory, wheat, rye, flax, and spinach are among the ingredients that go into the composition of the products currently offered by the brand.

A pioneer in Clean Beauty since 2010, Tata Harper is necessarily a must-have brand in terms of clean beauty. From the formula of the cosmetics, without synthetic chemicals, to the glass bottles and the natural preservation system, everything is done to combine ethics, sustainability, safety and transparency. Again, a few clicks are enough to access the list of ingredients, and the manufacturing process, knowing that these are designed in the laboratories and factories nestled in the founder’s farm located in Vermont. To date, the brand concocts its formulas using more than 300 different ingredients from more than 68 countries, as many active ingredients with multiple virtues for the skin.

Makeup

While Clean Beauty is often associated with skincare, it is actually also about make-up. There too, brands are emerging to offer healthier and more natural products, designed with respect for the skin and the environment. This is the case of the Eclo brand, founded in 2021, which strives to offer make-up essentials without plastic or chemical residues. Lipsticks, blush, eye shadows, and corrective foundation make up the offer of this young label which relies on natural ingredients, such as hemp, rye, or seaweed, combined with vegetable waxes and vegetable or mineral pigments, participating as a bonus in regenerating the soil and the seabed. Everything is made in France. On the packaging side, there is no – as we have seen – plastic, the brand betting on a mixture of plants and wood.

It was also in the early 2020s that the French brand Pace was born, with the same objective of developing essential make-up with natural formulas. The young label also promises a rate of naturalness of 99.1% to 100%. All sourced in an eco-responsible way, and in complete transparency. Just go to the sheet of each product to find out its composition, with a list of active ingredients that makes each product a hybrid with two functions: skincare and make-up. Vegetable oils, cereals, and other marine ingredients make up the formulas of the products currently on sale, which are made in France. Here again, the packaging follows the same commitments, with recyclable cases printed with vegetable ink.

Beauty in all its forms

In the United States, the Credo marketplace brings together dozens of beauty brands committed to respecting strict specifications – the Credo Clean Standard – in terms of sustainability, ethics, transparency, sourcing and safety, among pillars of Clean Beauty. Again, these criteria apply to all stages of product manufacturing, from the formula to the packaging through the production process, with a ‘Dirty List’ (prohibited ingredients) of more than 2,700 chemicals. Face and body care, hair care, makeup, and perfumes are offered on the platform, with brands like Tata Harper – inevitably – Goop, Tower 28, True Botanicals, or even January Labs.