Finding the best beauty products is already a challenge for any individual, but along with the factor of clean and ethically sourced ingredients for the sake of the environment, animal testing and personal wellness, sophomore Franny Chaffee-McClure believes the second step is essential to achieve her perfect look.
Clean beauty is a term used for products that are made with safe, naturally-sourced ingredients.
This makes clean beauty stand out as it is developed with a focus on working toward developing healthy skin and hair from the inside out.
Clean beauty centers on the product’s formula rather than eco-friendly packaging or sustainability the majority of the time but establishes that the product is free of damaging ingredients and can be used on sensitive skin types.
With minimal and easy-to-understand manufacturing, complete transparency is built between the brand and consumers.
“I have a lot of allergies and sensitive skin,” Chaffee-McClure said. “I’m allergic to laundry detergent and everything, so when I started out with makeup I started off with the most natural stuff I could find.”
For senior Alicia Bouffard, animal testing and the skin benefits of clean beauty were the factors that led her to switch to clean beauty as she discovered cruelty-free makeup through years of experimentation with different brands.
“My favorite brand is Essence,” Bouffard said.“They have not only a very simple beauty line, but also they compare to higher end products, it’s like the dupe of it.”
The global market for vegan cosmetics is estimated at $15.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to track $21.4 billion by 2027, according to a report released by ReportLinker. Like Bouffard, junior Addy Burris uses clean beauty to put real and natural ingredients onto her skin to keep her skin healthy and clear as well as stop animal testing.
“I hope that in the future all beauty products go animal-testing free because you see the stories and photos of animals locked in small confined spaces just being absolutely tortured,” Burris said. “As an owner of two rescue beagles [not from animal testing], you can see how abuse affects them the rest of their lives, and I cannot imagine how they would live after spending their lives inside of a place like that.”
According to a comprehensive research report by Market Research Future, the cruelty-free cosmetics market is predicted to reach $14.23 billion by 2030.
“It is up to us as the consumers to choose if we use clean beauty products,” Burris said. “But it is up to the brand to be honest about what ingredients they use and how they make and test their products.”