Clean Standards At Sephora, Whole Foods, Credo, and Ulta
Clean Beauty
With all of this talk about clean beauty at Genie Supply may have you wondering what exactly clean beauty is or who regulates the term “clean” in the beauty industry. Most commonly, “clean” is defined by 4 major beauty brands, but does not have an clear definition.
These 4 brands include:
Sephora
Ulta
Whole Foods
Credo Beauty
All of these retailers have set out their own standards for clean beauty, and although the each retailer’s clean standards are similar, there are some key distinctions between them. These clean standards set out what beauty products can be sold at these retailers, so it is important to formulate beauty products with your ideal retailer in mind.
Generally…
Clean standards set out a list of ingredients that retailers prohibit products from containing in order to qualify as “clean” beauty. Each retailers’ list of ingredients is a little different and some retailers, such as Credo, also include regulations on the carbon footprint of the brand. These standards, although sometimes difficult to understand, allow the growing audience of conscience consumers to purchase beauty products with the confidence that they contain no ingredients that are harmful to themselves or the planet.
The market for clean beauty products, and clean consumable products in general, has been increasing for the past several years, so it can be beneficial for those looking to start a beauty brand to start clean so they are able to keep up with the beauty market in the future. At Genie Supply all we do is clean. Check out our catalog, and look for the clean symbols below to identify which of our private label products is clean at each retailer.
In this blog we will review each retailer’s standards and how they match up to the other retailer’s standards on the list. Let’s go!
Sephora:
As you most likely know, Sephora is a cosmetics and beauty retailer and the clean standards they have set out are called: "Clean at Sephora." This program signifies that a product is formulated without a list of over 50 ingredients that the company considers potentially harmful or questionable. These ingredients range from sulfates and parabens to animal fats and oils, among others.
Sephora, like many other brands continuously improves their clean standards. For the most up-to-date and complete list of prohibited ingredients check out this webpage.
Comparison
Sephora has the least stringent clean standards for beauty when compared to the other retailers on this list, but they continually update standards. With set dates that beauty brands must comply with new clean standards, brands have the opportunity to improve their formulations to meet standards before they become effective. For retailers that are already in stores, Sephora will alert the brands well in advance, generally over a year, of when new clean standards will be enforced.
When compared to other brands, such as Credo, Sephora is less stringent for 2 main reasons.
It allows for the use of ethoxylated ingredients, with a caveat. At Sephora, if your product contains ethoxylated ingredients, you must perform 1,2-Dioxane and Ethylene Oxide testing on each individual batch. At Genie Supply we offer both tests for about $1000 / batch.
Ethoxylated ingredients are most commonly used in lotions and other formulations that require emulsion and can difficult to formulate around (think creams and gels). Ethoxylated ingredients can also be difficult to identify. Most ethoxylated ingredient names include the following prefixes and suffixes:
trideceth-
ceteareth-
-polysorbate
PEG
It allows for the use of some animal derived ingredients including honey and beeswax whereas other retailers have begun prohibiting the use of bee-derived products in their clean beauty products.
Ulta:
Ulta, another beauty retailer, offers a wide range of cosmetics, skincare, and personal care products. Ulta defines clean beauty through its creation of 5 separate standards to differentiate types of clean beauty in their stores. These 5 standards include (Source):
Clean ingredients - Similar to Sephora’s ingredient standards, Utla has created a list of ingredients that are prohibited from being included in products marked as “clean” including formaldehydes, 1,4 dioxide, and more. For the complete list of prohibited ingredients check out this webpage.
Vegan - Vegan standards at Ulta meet the standard definition of vegan products meaning none of the ingredients or packaging contain materials derived from animals. This includes ingredients like honey, beeswax, and gelatin.
Cruelty-free - Similar to Ulta’s vegan standards, their cruelty-free standards meet the traditional definition of “cruelty-free” meaning none of the ingredients or packaging contain materials that are tested or experimented on animals. All products marked as “cruelty-free” at Ulta must be certified through Leaping Bunny, PETA, or Choose Cruelty-Free.
Sustainable packaging - To qualify as sustainable packaging at Ulta, the packaging of beauty products must composed of at least 50% by weight recycled or bio-sourced plastic, be recyclable, or refillable.
Positive Impact - To be considered a positive impact brand at Ulta, a brand contribute to positive causes and this can be done in a variety of ways including donating a percentage of profits to a charitable organization or have a negative carbon impact.
By breaking down how each brand fits into Ulta’s clean standards, consumers are better able to understand what type of “clean” the beauty products they purchase are. This allows brands to distinguish themselves by identifying exact which type (or types) of clean beauty they are dedicated to.
Comparison:
Similar to Sephora, Ulta’s clean ingredients standards allow for the use of ethoxylated ingredients with the stipulation that each batch passes 1,2-Dioxane and Ethylene Oxide testing. While the clean ingredient standards are similar to Sephora’s, Ulta offers more guidance and stricter standards to meet multiple definitions of clean beauty. Ulta’s use of 5 different categories to define clean beauty allows producers to meet and qualify for some, none, or all of the standards.
Contrary to Sephora, Ulta does require 3rd party verification of products that claim to be cruelty-free, but does not take into consideration the organic aspect of beauty or require any certification for a brand to identify as organic.
In addition to Ulta’s own clean standards, it offers a line-up of beauty products that meet “Credo Clean” standards, the most stringent clean beauty standard. (More on this later)
Whole Foods
While many may not think of beauty products when they first think of Whole Foods as a retailer, the company has a "Beyond Clean Beauty" standard that signifies that a product is formulated without over 250 potentially harmful or synthetic ingredients, including parabens, phthalates, and synthetic fragrances. Whole Foods upholds these standards on a strict agenda. Only beauty products that meet the “Beyond Clean Beauty” standard are allowed to be sold at Whole Foods.
In addition, Whole Foods requires any product that claims to be organic to have a 3rd party certification through either the USDA National Organic Standards or the NSF/ANSI 305 Organic Personal Care Products.
You can view the up-to-date list of prohibited ingredients for the “Beyond Clean Beauty” standard here, but Whole Foods warns its producers that this is not a completely exhaustive list. When formulating for Whole Foods, it is a good idea to work with a chemist that has a wealth of experience formulating with Credo or one that is direct contact with the Credo team. As a general rule of thumb, Whole Foods does not allow any ingredients in beauty products that are difficult to pronounce or identify, however this is also not an iron-clad stipulation.
Comparison:
When compared to Ulta and Sephora’s clean beauty standards, Whole Foods differentiates itself by only allowing products that meet its clean standards to be sold at the retailer. While retailers like Ulta and Sephora are moving towards selling only clean beauty products in the future, Whole Foods has already made this distinction very clear.
Whole foods also prohibits the use of any ethoxylated ingredients mentioned above which are commonly used in formulations that require emulsion. For this reason, when looking to formulate beauty products for Whole Foods, it may be best to stick with serums and oils or work with an experienced clean beauty lab, like Genie Supply, to produce any type of lotion or gel.
Finally, Whole Foods does not allow for the use of any synthetic fragrances meaning any scented product must use essential oil or plant extracts. Check out our full array of clean essential oils and plant extracts here. If you are looking to formulate a product to meet Whole Food Standards, be sure to communicate this goal to your chemist up-front so they are able to best assist in reaching this goal.
Credo:
Credo clean beauty standards are the strictest clean beauty standards of all clean beauty standards on this list. Similar to Whole Foods, Credo only allows brands that meet all of its criteria to sell products in its stores. The brand has a list of over 2700 ingredients that are not allowed in its products.
Credo categorizes its clean beauty standards into 4 different areas inlcuding:
Safety
Ethics
Sustainability
Sourcing
All of these areas of focus come together to create the Clean at Credo standard. Apart from the the “free from” list created by Credo (view here), brands must also demonstrate a commitment to ethical practices and sustainability through their products.
Comparison…
As mentioned before, Credo holds the strictest clean standards of any brand on this list. When compared to whole foods, the requirements for clean ingredients are similar with over 2700 ingredients being prohibited from its products including ethoxylated ingredients and ingredients derived from bees. Credo also requires its brands to gain certification through accredited agencies to be considered clean and/or organic, and only sells products that meet the brands’ clean standards to be sold on its shelves.
Apart from the ingredients themselves, Credo also requires its brands to ethically and safely source all ingredients and packaging used for products sold through the retailer. This is what sets Credo apart from the other retailers on this list. Gaining access to selling product in Credo’s stores can be difficult, but not impossible.
Work with Genie Supply to Create a Clean Beauty Brand:
At Genie Supply we have already taken the guess work out of understanding what private label formulations qualify at the different retailers. Just look for the icons shown above when looking at our catalog and samples to identify which retailers’ clean standards our private label formulas quality for.
Check out our full clean private label catalog here.
If you are looking for formulate a clean product, we have your back. Our experienced chemists have several years of experience formulating clean beauty and our sales representatives always stay up to date on the latest updates in clean beauty.
Check out our custom formulation webpage and even schedule a consultation with a sales representative for more information.
When it comes to clean beauty, we can help!
