Beautycounter: Eco Friendly Mama Tested And Approved

I recently had the chance to review a wide variety of products from Beautycounter for the Orange County Moms Blog (where I’m the Managing Editor and also a Contributor). After learning about the sustainability practices and health-conscious ethos of the company, I decided to write about Beautycounter for Eco Friendly Mama as well.

If you’d like to read my in-depth product reviews, and I really think you should, click here to read that post! It’s okay, I’ll wait : )

I received the tester products in generic sample-size containers which, while adorably small, were not super exciting to look at. Therefore, all the images contained in this post are courtesy of Elizabeth Birenbaum and Beautycounter.

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with what Beautycounter has to offer in terms of its products (I’m assuming), here’s why the company impressed me as an Eco Friendly Mama.

The Mission:

Beautycounter was born from a realization that most of the ingredients in commercial skin and body care products are chemicals and in fact quite terrible for both our health and our planet. It is a certified B Corp, which I’ve mentioned before on this blog in a post about Seventh Generation Stain Remover Spray. The B stands for Benefit. So basically what it means is that this company has decided to put ethical responsibility to its consumers and the earth ahead of corporate gains.

There are more than 1,700 Certified B Corporations across 50 countries at the moment. I hope that number continues to steadily grow. Earning this certification means Beautycounter has voluntarily agreed to meet higher standards of transparency, accountability, and performance.

It also has made a commitment to environmental sustainability and creating safer, healthier products. To that end, Beautycounter employs advocates in Washington D.C. to lobby Congress to pass stricter laws overseeing the beauty industry. You can learn more about why and how Beautycounter was created by watching this video here:

The Ingredients:

Elizabeth Birenbaum, my Beautycounter consultant, shared with me the following statistics:

• The United States currently bans only 30 harmful ingredients from skin and body care products (including baby shampoo!). By contrast, the European Union bans 1,400.
• It’s currently legal for US beauty companies to use known carcinogens in their products.
• The term “fragrance” can apply towards up to 3,000 ingredients. So whenever you see that name appear on the back of a product, it could very well mean one of those non-banned harmful ingredients.
• 1938 was the last time a major federal law was passed in the US to regular the cosmetics industry. 80 years ago and so much has changed since then!

Beautycounter’s commitment to using natural and non-toxic ingredients helped to win me over. I especially liked that the active ingredient in their Countersun Mineral Sunscreen Lotion is zinc oxide.

Many of the most popular brands of commercial sunscreen (including the ones specifically for children) contain hormone-disrupting ingredients. These toxic chemicals, with names like Oxybenzone and Octinoxate, help those sunscreens stay on longer and absorb quicker. They also have been proven to lower testosterone levels, cause reproduction issues, affect thyroid hormones, and more. The Environmental Working Group puts out a list every year with the best and the worst sunscreens on the market, and is a good resource if you’d like to learn more about this issue.

I think I summed it up best in my Orange County Moms Blog post:

“Mineral sunscreens on the other hand do not contain these chemicals and are thus MUCH safer to use, especially on children. I’d personally rather have to rub in lotion a bit longer and more frequently if it means not permanently altering my children’s hormone levels, wouldn’t you?”

Another way ingredients can be harmful is to our environment.

You may recall there was a big controversy a few years back about the use of plastic microbeads in commercial exfoliants? According to a report in the journal Science, around 8 million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year. And microbeads are a real part of that problem (in addition to plastic straws). In 2016, the UK pledged to ban all microbead products, though that ban just went into affect this year.

Beautycounter’s Gentle Exfoliator Polishing Cream does the job without the use of microbeads. Instead, it uses jojoba esters which are plant-derived, biodegradable, and non-toxic especially when flushed out into the ocean.

Did you know that PEGs are a dangerous ingredient in commercial facial masks?

It’s okay, I didn’t before either. Here’s a helpful graphic Elizabeth shared with me that explains this issue more in depth:

By the way, I really liked their Charcoal Mask and would absolutely recommend it to anyone in the market for a facial mask. Like the girls on my favorite new podcast They See Me Mommin’ said in Episode 4, putting on a face mask for 15 minutes is a quick and easy way to give yourself some self-care. It left my skin feeling soft and smooth. And best of all it can be done while you do something else.

It’s also great if you’d like to surprise your young children by putting it on and acting like nothing has changed. Which I did in fact do. To the delight of my toddler.

The Packaging:

Another feature of Beautycounter’s ethos that I liked is their eco-friendly packaging. They’re not 100% plastic-free, or even close to it. But, they’ve made significant strides towards reducing the amount of plastic waste in their products.

Here are some examples:

Beautycounter uses paper compacts for their pressed powder products like blush, eye shadow, and bronzer! Every compact is made from recycled paper. Can you even tell in the photo below that it isn’t plastic? If you cut off the mirror and remove the tray, the rest of the packaging is recyclable. 

Do you recall the photo of that big stack of boxes at the top of this post? Well, the shipping boxes that all orders come in are designed to be used at least once more. Just unfold and put it back together (inside out) to make a blank box! After having a second life with another package, the cardboard box can (and should) be recycled.

The charcoal bar (which I love and have been using every evening for the past week) comes in a paper box. No plastic wrap. Just the soap in a paper box. That’s pretty close to a zero waste face cleanser for a product you aren’t making yourself.

One last packaging factoid: The makeup remover wipes are biodegradable and compostable.

The Sales Structure:

I had heard Beautycounter referred to as an MLM in the past. MLM (or Multi-Level Marketing) has a bit of a fishy reputation, and with good cause. But after learning more about the principles behind Beautycounter, I don’t find this particular company as suspect. Beautycounter prefers to use the term “direct retail sales.” In their case, that seems like an appropriate description.

Beautycounter doesn’t require consultants to purchase all their entire inventory up front. Their concept actually seems like a pretty savvy way to use word-of-mouth advertising to keep marketing costs down. So I’m happy to support the small business of a local mom while also getting the benefit of buying an eco-friendly product.

You are also able to buy its products online without signing up with a consultant if you don’t know one. They had a partnership with Target a year or so ago to sell their products in select stores. And there’s a pop up shop in Nantucket every summer.

Unlike some MLMs that are popular right now, Beautycounter produces consistently high quality products. I liked every single item I tested (and I tested a dozen!). They felt luxurious in quality and did what they promised they would.

Another benefit of having a Beautycounter consultant is that they’re basically like your own personal customer service rep. They can help you answer any product questions or deal with any ordering issues you may have. It’s like a concierge for your beauty product purchases.

The Pricing:

I did a price comparison between Beautycounter eyeliners and those that are sold at make-up counters in department stores. This is mostly because I am in the market for a new eyeliner brand. So I happened to have an idea of what a good quality one should cost. I was relieved to see that Beautycounter’s version was in the same price range as the nicer make-up brands, and was not the most expensive.

The way I see it, you could sink your money into a skin/bodycare item that seems like quality because it’s featured in glossy beauty magazines but has pretty terrible ingredients and tests on animals. OR, you could treat yourself to a Beautycounter item that takes good care of both yourself and the world around us.

I don’t mind spending a little more if it’s worthwhile to my body or the earth in the long run.

To purchase Beautycounter products, you can order directly from the Beautycounter website and have the items shipped directly. Elizabeth Birenbaum was so helpful in providing info and sample products for this post. Please be sure to select her as your consultant when you check out.

You may now want to convert all your skin and body care products to Beautycounter ASAP but don’t want to go broke in the process. I do, anyway! If you plan on ever ordering more than once, they offer a membership program called Band of Beauty. That provides its members with 15% back in product credit with each purchase and free shipping on orders over $100 for a $29 annual fee. Kind of like Amazon Prime. Plus there’s no monthly minimums, no auto-ship, and no auto renewal. And you get a free sign up gift with qualifying purchases of $50.

Now if you have any questions about any of the above, you can email Elizabeth directly at beautycounterwithliz@gmail.com or join her Facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beautycounterwithelizabethbirenbaum.

You may be able to buy cheaper products at the grocery store. But why not treat yourself to high quality beauty products that are also kind to the environment?