Akari Okada 
Have you ever heard of “clean beauty?”
Do you know what it is?
Nowadays, many cosmetic brands say that they only use natural, organic, and green ingredients. When you come across the term “clean beauty”, you would probably imagine organic, vegan, cruelty-free, sustainable packaging, and so on. Yes, you are right. These all mean “clean beauty”, and there is not a single definition or clear rule for using the word “Clean Beauty”. It all depends on each cosmetic brands’ choice of ingredients and materials.
The basic features that apply are the use of ingredients that are safe and harmless to our health and body, elimination or minimal use of undisclosed artificial ingredients, and are considerate of the environment and animals such as by using biodegradable packaging. But how really should we select which product to trust and use?
We will introduce you to two up-and-coming clean beauty brands. Both of these brands were established by a strong woman supporting all men and women in need of their beauty products.
LYS Beauty is the first Black-owned Sephora Clean Colour Cosmetic brand. Their policy is “Committed to a skin-first, multicultural approach to formulating, LYS unlocks skin’s maximum potential with ingredients that are not only suitable but deeply enriching, for all complexions.” (quote from the website) They also use environmentally-friendly cartons in packaging to practice sustainability commitment.
The brand was started by the Hollywood actress, Gwyneth Paltrow. It produces many different kinds of original beauty products such as make-up, skincare, haircare, fragrance, and body products. They explain that clean beauty must not only be harmless, but also be luxurious, high-performance, and all-out enchanting at Goop.
“Don’t trust the terms of fragrance or flavour on the labels”.
Gwyneth says. She explains that the labels on the products are often very ambiguous in description and it might be hiding some of the ingredients used in the products. Businesses are not required to disclose every single ingredient and especially, “fragrance” can be dangerous. The policy at Goop is to reveal everything it does and it tells us how important clean beauty is, as well as how we should practically be caring about what goes on our skin.
Increasing demands of wellness and detox are one of the biggest reasons why clean beauty has become a huge trend. Younger generations tend to make healthier choices for their lives as “natural” or “green” have been the norm for them. However, the definition of “natural” and “organic” still have many unsolid concepts behind them. In other words, Clean beauty has much potential for growing its popularity and for conceptualizing our standard of expectations. More and more products will certainly be born. It is your decision to make a wise selection and we would love your story-sharing.
If you have your favourite, share with us your must-have! If you do not yet have one, why don’t you try finding your favourite clean beauty product?
We await your story submission!
