What's the Deal with Beautycounter?

If you’re in LA or NY, you’ve seen huge Beautycounter ads throughout the cities. You might have caught their full-page New York Times ad a few weeks back (which wasn’t the first one they’ve published in the last few years). What’s the deal with Beautycounter and why can’t I get away from the brand and its founder, Gregg Renfrew?

Before you open the can of worms which is cosmetics reporting and regulation in the United States, get ready to be incredibly overwhelmed. I could (and almost did) write a thesis on just the issue of the FDA versus the cosmetics industry and spend 150 pages on the issues alone, not related to any solutions. Anyway, when you start looking into the lack of regulations and reporting for cosmetics sold and purchased in the US, you’ll quickly acquire the current day ailment of chemophobia, the fear of chemicals (which ones are ok, which ones will kill me, how do I even know the difference when there is no accountability for what I’m purchasing?). Why does the EU ban 1,400 chemicals in their cosmetics and the US bans 11? Where is my beacon of light to guide me through determining what is toxic for my body? It’s me! Just kidding, it’s probably brands like Beautycounter*.

*However, I do realize the inherent issue of learning facts about an industry from an entity trying to sell you more things. I think it’s a balance of independent research and fact checking which takes a lot of time. I’m here to help.

The Brand’s Background

Gregg Renfrew is Beautycounter’s founder and their first product launched in 2013. Their website is a wet dream for nerds like me who are aching for social impact reports available to the public, ingredient selection processes open for anyone to view (it feels very similar to LRP’s website in terms of available information). How much of it is smart marketing, and how much of it is Gregg and the brand really pushing for better? It’s a combination, as always. Beautycounter is a certified B corporation (since their start in 2013) which gives more credibility to the company over those who just claim to be “clean and natural.”

Beautycounter and its “consultants,” (salespeople, as you can purchase their products online, at stores, or through representatives) are incredibly active in supporting new legislation related to better regulation in the cosmetics industry (two notable bills that passed include the Safer Salon Bill in California and The Safe Sunscreen Bill in Hawaii). Upon reading more about the company, I’ve realized they are a machine in terms of partnerships and advocacy both in the cosmetics industry as well as sustainability more broadly. Each page of their social impact report names a new organization that Beautycounter pairs with to ensure certain regulations or processes are improved on their end. I had to take a break while reading because there was just too much to digest. How many people even work at this company? Glassdoor says 200-500 employees (but thousands of consultants).

Beautycounter sells skincare, bath and body products and makeup primarily targeted at women. They also have a men’s line of 8 products. Overall, their makeup branding seems dated. Their packaging and product offerings don’t speak to me as a fresh brand (more like, dare I say, Mary Kay potentially?) and don’t seem to be as expensive as pricing suggests (i.e., a $30 blush). Quality of the products themselves (eyeshadows, lipsticks) reminds me of a product you’d get in a makeup kit that’s a free gift or something. It falls a little flat, but that might be desired by certain customers.

The Products

Beautycounter claims over 80% of their ingredients are naturally sourced or plant derived. Not every product is organic, but they strive to include more organic ingredient to ensure limited amounts of pesticides etc. in products going forward. The brand has been the highest scoring company on the Chemical Footprint Project, which similar to carbon footprinting, is a way to score companies based on their impact and how they use safer chemicals. Many of their products are Environmental Working Group Verified, meaning they must achieve a “green” score in the EWG Skin Deep Database (if you don’t have the app, you should) and products can’t contain anything on the company’s restricted list.

I visited the Beautycounter store in Denver by happenstance and chatted with the woman about the brand and various products. When she asked what I was looking for, I said I was acne prone and always looking for products that could help me out and not cause further irritation. She asked what I currently use, to which I said LRP and the Ordinary. She said she wouldn’t be surprised if any irritation could be cause by those brands, and I’d be better off with Beautycounter because their ingredients are all natural.

Uh…

This is my number one pet peeve. Natural doesn’t mean better. Natural still contains allergens for some. An organic peach is natural, and if I touch my face after eating a raw one, I get a rash. So, some credibility lost. However, I still appreciated where she was coming from I guess? We chatted about the Skin Deep database and I got a few testers out of it.

One of the testers, the Countercontrol Matte Effect Gel Cream, had me going back for more. Out of all products I was trialing, it had a price point I was willing to engage with ($39, whereas a lot of their serums or oils are $70+) and the effect it had on my skin was revolutionary. I get a bit of redness after applying my typical moisturizers and products just from touching and rubbing my face, but I applied the gel cream and when I looked at my skin a few minutes later I was SHOCKED with how even my complexion was. My skin felt so smooth to the touch too and my makeup stayed looking great all day. If you look at the ingredient list, you’ll see a lot of different things (and potentially scary words). I searched the most alarming ones (cetearyl alcohol, SD Alcohol 40B (Alcohol denat.), Phenoxyethanol (that’s a preservative), malic acid (reduces production of melanin, which causes hyperpigmentation) and was OK with the results.

Sustainability

The brand has quite a bit about sustainability (in terms of packaging and recycling) and has created their own packaging scorecard to maintain high standards related to energy use, water use, recoverability, emissions potential, supplier quality, and more. Products are primarily glass without additional plastic components (spatulas, over-caps) and each component has directions on recycling. Their emphasis in terms of sustainability remains on the ingredients side and side effects on health, but they seem to have covered their bases in terms of the most questioned aspects of sustainability (which is packaging).

They don’t test on animals and abide by the California Transparency in Supply Chain Act, which is a piece of legislation that requires retailers to disclose to customers their efforts to eradicate human trafficking and slavery from their supply chain.

The Takeaway

Beautycounter, thus far, appears to be the most transparent and revolutionized cosmetics company I’ve come across when it comes to nontoxic beauty. While yeah, it seems that this company adheres to scorecards and evaluation systems they helped form themselves, it’s because they had to. No new federal beauty regulations or legislature has been passed since 1938.

As with everything in a capitalist consumer culture, you’re voting with your dollar. While the prices are high, you’re backing a company that really is changing the clean cosmetics game. No longer are clean cosmetics limited to small boutiques and Whole Foods, but the general public is seeing the brand at large through marketing campaigns. They got me to take a second look and write a whole post about the hype! Right now, you won’t see influencers posting much about the products (aside from some of their 40,000 “consultants” or reps). Will it get to the likes of a Tarte, Ilia or Kosas? Chances are no. But I’ll keep my eye on them and see who else adopts their level of dedication to the #betterbeauty movement.