BC: The New BEB Adventure
Hello Beautiful Ladies! đź’‹
I hope you’ve been having a great weekend!! I’ve been loving the sunny weather and humidity. I’ll take humid over cold any day! Plus, we’ve been seriously thinking about a trip to the beach soon - nothing gets me more excited than planning a vacation :):)
Speaking of the beach, vacations, and all the fun parts of life - I wanted to share my newest adventure with you! I’ve opened up my portfolio and added a new benefit for my clients: BeautyCounter. BEB has strict standards for health and wellness. I refuse to buy things just because they will “make do”. I don’t endorse things just because it makes me a few bucks. As a matter of fact, the majority of what I do for my audience and clients here at BEB is totally free for you ladies simply because I love what I do and I want to share it as much as possible.
When I first learned about BC, it was through a good friend of mine. Brooke (@bits.of.brooke on insta) is a micro-influencer for fashion and the mommy life. She’s also on the keto diet and is always sharing delicious recipes that are easy to make and healthy. Her love of fashion and her focus on healthy-living done easily was what drew me to follow everything she did. She sent out samples of the BC products that would work best for my skin and I was HOOKED. This shit works so well! So, when she offered me the opportunity to join forces with her and work together to spread awareness of clean beauty, it was an opportunity I couldn’t say no to.
What is clean beauty?
According to The Good Face Project:
“Clean beauty is associated with natural beauty, green beauty, and all other types of beauty that deviate from the norm...1. Non-toxic ingredients
At its core, clean beauty means that you can use a product without risking your own health. The ingredients label must contain only safe, non-toxic ingredients.
Transparent labels
When a beauty brand makes an effort to list all of their ingredients and label accordingly, they’re on the right path to clean beauty. However, not all brands are transparent.
A good example of lack of transparency in the beauty industry is including fragrance in beauty products. Fragrance is not an ingredient, but since the industry is highly unregulated, companies can hide ingredients under the umbrella term “fragrance.”
Another example of non-transparent labels is misleading the consumer based on packaging. Brands can falsely label their products with buzzwords like “natural” and “eco” in order to capture the conscious consumer’s attention. This is called “greenwashing” and we’ll elaborate in a moment.
Clean beauty simple doesn’t contain mystery ingredients, and clean beauty certainly doesn’t claim to be something that it’s not.
Clean Beauty is Simple
Were you expecting a longer list of criteria? Perhaps you were expecting words like “natural” and “organic.”
Clean beauty isn’t about being 100% perfect. This means that yes, man-made ingredients are clean as long as they’re safe and non-toxic. This also means that clean beauty doesn’t have to be all-natural, preservative-free, etc. Clean beauty is synonymous with non-toxic beauty.
Rather than focus on buzzwords like “natural” and “organic,” switching to clean beauty products focuses on eliminating as many toxins as possible from our daily products.
Clean beauty is also about making ourselves more aware. Since the beauty industry lacks regulation, it’s up to us to become familiar with the most common toxins in our skincare, beauty, body, and hygiene products.
Unfortunately, that means the consumer (talking about you!) has a lot of responsibility to pay attention to what’s in her cosmetics.”
Start with these 10 toxic ingredients to avoid at all costs:
Parabens like Propylparaben and Iosbutylparaben
Chemical UV filters Octinoxate and Oxybenzone
Diethanolamine (DEA)
Phthalates like Dibutyl phthalate
Sodium laureth sulfate (SLS)
Polyethylene (PEGs) like PEG-10 laurate
Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)
What qualifies as a toxic ingredient?
How toxic an ingredient is depends on where in the world you are. While the EU bans more than 1,300 ingredients from cosmetics, beauty is one of the least regulated industries in the US, where around 30 are banned. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic act is the only US government monitor of ingredients in cosmetics, and not much has changed since it was first passed in 1938 – meanwhile, the clean beauty industry has made its own rules.
Most clean beauty advocates are concerned with aggressive ingredients and synthetic chemicals. A survey in 2016 by US beauty brand Kari Gran, entitled the Green Beauty Barometer, found that 55 per cent of women and 62 per cent of millennials in the US read beauty product ingredient labels in order to avoid specific ingredients. Artificial colours are avoided as they make the skin more sensitive; while mineral oils (petroleum, petrolatum, paraffinum liquidum) can clog pores, and are a cheap by-product of the crude oil industry; and silicones (such as dimethicone) can also congest the skin. Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) strips moisture; while phthalates (DBP, DEHP, DEP, BPA) – emulsifiers found in synthetic fragrances, hairsprays and nail polish – can be absorbed through the skin. Parabens (methyl-, ethyl-, butyl-, propyl-) are a controversial preservative as they’ve been linked to breast cancer and reproductive problems.
Cult US skincare brand Drunk Elephant cut out the “suspicious six”: essential oils, drying alcohols, silicones, chemical screens, fragrance/dyes and SLS. Other brands, however – such as Balance Me, which offers products that are free from parabens, mineral oils, sulphates, pegs, petroleum, silicones, propylene glycol, microbeads, artificial fragrances and colours – opt in to the use of essential oils. “Many have been tried and tested over centuries such as benzoin, yarrow and spikenard, so we can trust in their efficacy,” says co-founder of Balance Me, Clare Hopkins.
According to Swift, “the bottom line is that you should educate yourself on what sorts of ingredients you want to avoid and make informed purchasing decisions.”
How can I know if my products are non-toxic and clean:
One way to put your products to the test is to run it through a database that’s already been created instead of researching every ingredient on every label. The environmental working group created the EWG database of products (with over 1600 approved to date) that have passed their strict standards for health. Check your products to see how they measure up: EWG database.
Why you can trust the EWG verified mark
BeautyCounter Products:
Why does BC live up to the clean beauty standards?
The BeautyCounter Never list: “At Beautycounter, we've committed to a health and safety standard that goes well beyond what is legally required in the United States. The Never List™ is made up of more than 1,800 questionable or harmful chemicals that we never use as ingredients in our products. This includes the over 1,400 chemicals banned or restricted in personal care products by the European Union, plus additional chemicals screened by Beautycounter and found to be of concern.”
A Note from me:
I am proud to represent a company that goes above and beyond. Not only do they actively research and formulate products that represent the best possible ingredients while ensuring the best possible quality, they also fight for better beauty standards in America by pushing for tighter regulations for the beauty industry.
Check out my Insta highlight “BC” for fun tutorials, inspiration, and clean beauty tips.
Watch A Reef Story to learn about what BC is doing in Hawaii to support the reefs and how you can participate in maintaining cleaner, safer oceans.
Take the BC beauty quiz to find the perfect products to suit your unique needs
The Clean Guide: Creating a lifestyle of clean beauty with brands and businesses that are committed to transparency, quality, and integrity. From clean fragrance to candles to vitamins to drinks to mattresses and everything in between.
Want to get involved and spread awareness of the clean beauty movement with us? Use the button below to tell me more about yourself and join my team.
