I never really cared too much about my beauty products. My skin isn’t terrible (thanks mom!), and I’m not crazy about having the newest, latest make-up. My skincare routine has been fairly set since high school: regular cleansing, moisturizer, and sunscreen. When I bought products I stuck to the $$ price range skipping between brands that promise “natural” and “clean.” As for brand loyalty, I didn’t really have any— more so a handful of lotions and creams I circled through. Then I learned.

THE LIPSTICK MOGUL

I had written beauty industry articles before taking on a business plan for a woman selling lipstick, and I suppose I always knew a good marketer can make any product sound phenomenal while hiding its flaws, but it didn’t hit me until the lipstick project.

The woman had an impressive resume of working in luxury goods. She created a lipstick line, correction, two shades of lipstick in pretty packaging, that she touted as “all-natural” and “carefully curated ingredients.” During our initial interview, noting the steep price I thought, Where do you get the balls to charge the same, if not more than well-known brands for a tube of color, not-well-known brand lady?

I asked, “So why does your lipstick stand-out against competitors?”

Once again she praised the ingredient list, the pretty packaging (a nod to the early twentieth century when women kept make-up in pretty gold and mother-of-pearl compacts), and the smooth, long-lasting application.

Fabulous, this was a break-through! I positioned the lipstick the best of both worlds: beautiful long-lasting color made with safe ingredients. The reason we have so many potentially harmful ingredients in our cosmetics is because it’s difficult to achieve effectiveness, consistency, and preservation using only 100% healthy, safe ingredients.

I worked off this concept, thinking everything was going well until the third and final round of edits. Lipstick mogul hesitantly said, “I think you misunderstood me. We use ingredients like avocado oil and shea butter, but we also use some of those ingredients you listed” referencing a few banned ingredients in the EU which I listed her lipsticks as not containing. 

She continued, “It’s too difficult to make a good lipstick without using those ingredients.” Well then. Back to square one, “Where do you get the balls to charge so much for a tube of color?”

GREEN SALON

Not long after the business plan project my editor at Bellingham Alive tasked me with interviewing a green salon, Alchemika. They are part of Green Circle Salon Alliance, an organization of eco-conscious salons that recycle all their waste (Seriously, it’s incredible how little garbage they produce!) and take small steps to use more natural products. For an industry that’s synonymous with harmful chemicals, this is huge. Speaking with Alchemika’s passionate owner inspired me, what if the entire beauty industry made an eco-friendly shift?

CURIOUS TO BAND OF BEAUTY MEMBER TO CONSULTANT IN TEN MONTHS

I had seen Beautycounter on my social media feeds, but it took a while before I actually clicked on a link. That led to me a page describing their Never List, the ingredients they promise they’ll never use. Then there was the buzz about the Cleansing Balm. An $80 cleanser? I checked the reviews (phenomenal), checked the 60-day guarantee, and pulled out my credit card.

Have you every used a cleansing balm? It’s different at first, almost counterintuitive to smear balm on your face as a cleanser. But it works. My skin felt soft not just after, but the next morning. What else does this Beautycounter have? I slowly shifted my skin care products to Beautycounter, now I even use their shampoo, conditioner, and baby wash for my son. The more I used the products, felt and saw the difference, and learned about Beautycounter’s advocacy programs (Did you know they don’t use octinoxate or oxybenzone in their sunscreen because they’re bad for coral reefs? #SavingNemo), the more I fell in love with the company. I suppose it was only a matter of time before I signed up as a consultant.

That’s where I am now: supporting cleaner beauty products by spreading information that I think has been kept in the dark for too long. That’s why I joined the Beautycounter movement, and I think you should too.

UPDATE: I’m no longer a Beautycounter consultant (I think by doing away with their MLM sales set-up they’ll be able to offer products at a lower price point, thus better aligning with their mission to put cleaner products in the hands of everyone, however I imagine from a business perspective this is a difficult change to make). I’m still very aware of the ingredients in my beauty care products, cleaners, and everything I purchase. I also still use and recommend Beautycounter products.