r/cleanbeauty

i like the idea of being more thoughtful about products, but sometimes clean beauty branding feels more like fear marketing than useful information.

what actually makes you trust a product: natural ingredients, transparent formulas, reviews, certifications, dermatologist style branding, or just how your skin reacts after a few weeks?

Not stupid because I should have known. Stupid because nobody ever told me to look.

I've been dealing with low-grade discomfort for years. Not severe enough to go to the doctor again — I'd already done that twice and both times I was told everything was "normal." So I just accepted it. I bought whatever was on the shelf, used it, and kept living with something that never fully went away.

One night I randomly flipped over the bottle of the intimate gel I'd been using for two years and started reading the ingredients.

Phenoxyethanol. Carbomer. Disodium EDTA. Methylparaben.

I Googled the first one. Then the second. I spent an hour down that rabbit hole and by the end I felt genuinely sick. Not because I was poisoned — but because I had been so careful about what I put on my face, what I ate, what cleaning products I used at home. And somehow this one area I had completely ignored.

The products that are supposed to help you are formulated with things that disrupt the exact system your body uses to protect itself.

I switched everything. Took me a while to find something where I could actually recognize every ingredient. But the difference was noticeable within days.

Anyway — just sharing in case anyone else has been quietly living with this and blaming their body instead of what they were putting on it.

You're not broken. You just didn't know. Neither did I.

I am looking for an eyeshadow pallet with good or even decent ingredients that has bright colors. Does anyone have any brands or pallets I could take a look at? They don’t need to be the best quality eyeshadows on the market just something that will do the job.

Running thin on options. Im 32, dry combo skin, persistent breakouts that turned out to be ingredient driven not stress driven (long story)

Im looking for stuff without the usual culprits, isopropyl myristate, coconut alkanes, anything coconut derived (got burned by the rhode glazing milk situation)

Currently in rotation:

hada labo gokujyun, hydrating but not enough on its own

hydraglow by clearstem, bakuchiol base, holding up well my favorite for now

beauty of joseon dynasty cream, gentle, doesn't do much

fenty skin hydra'reset, jury's still out

Heard about but haven't tried: dime tbt cream, primally pure plumping, herbivore bakuchiol, true botanicals phyto retinol cream.

Anyone used the herbivore one? Bakuchiol options are what I'm most curious about because retinol isn't really an option for me. What's everyone else using right now?

Hi all! Fairly new to Reddit, I am launching a natural beauty brand in the Netherlands, in a few weeks we are starting to work on our formula; we will kick-off with deodorant first: tell me, which brands I absolute CANNOT miss??? Which ingredients you love? Which ingredients (baking soda etc.) you hate? Very curious to hear all insights from fellow natural beauty lovers!

Ogee seems to be running an ongoing undisclosed advertising campaign here, and if so, I find it deeply unethical. Multiple posts promoting various Ogee products have been created here recently that sound suspiciously similar to advertising copy. I’m now of the opinion that mentions of Ogee should be banned from this forum. See here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cleanbeauty/s/hNYNjms5cK

https://www.reddit.com/r/cleanbeauty/s/4GH1BtxNYk

https://www.reddit.com/r/cleanbeauty/s/A19WDaKDdi

https://www.reddit.com/r/cleanbeauty/s/5s8GwUrKW7

I flagged this crap for the mods to see.

Was skeptical about spending more on a cleanser because it always felt like the step where price mattered least. You rinse it off. How different could it be.

Two months on the ogee face cleanser and the difference is actually in everything that comes after it. Actives absorb better, moisturizer sits differently, skin isn't starting from a compromised place every morning. The formula is low-pH, rinses completely clean without any film, and doesn't leave that tight feeling I'd normalized from years of foaming cleansers.

The certified organic formulation is a real thing here, not a label. Jojoba-based, no synthetic fragrance, ingredient list that actually makes sense for the skin barrier.

Not going to oversell it. It's a cleanser. But it's the first one where I stopped thinking about whether I needed to switch to something else, which is honestly the best thing you can say about a basic routine step.

Can anyone recommend a clean face SPF? I’ve been using Caudalie 50+ but I find it pills very easily! Based in the UK so brands I can get here would be great! Thanks :)

I want to upgrade from drugstore body wash to something that feels premium. Do you guys know a brand that has a unique scent thats not the typical lavender or eucalyptus

Live in Los Angeles, my budget isnt unlimited but wish I knew who to go to for best cosmetic advice who'll get my nose there... there's just endless professionals and treatments :[

This is something I keep running into and can't find a good answer to. The brands with the cleanest formulas almost always have the worst packaging. Tiny amounts of product in complex plastic applicators, mixed materials that can't be separated for recycling, no take-back programs.

The brands that put actual effort into sustainable packaging sometimes compromise on the formula side. It's like they're solving one problem at a time and nobody has figured out how to do both properly yet.

Lip gloss specifically is one of the hardest categories. The applicator wand, the tube, the cap, basically all of it is plastic and none of it is refillable. At least with foundation or blush you're starting to see refillable options emerging. Lip products are still completely stuck.

What's actually making progress here? Looking for brands that have genuinely put effort into both sides, not just a recycled cardboard outer box with plastic everything else inside.

For me personally it’s meant looking for makeup and skincare that contains more environmentally friendly ingredients. I’m trying in particular to avoid polymers that don’t readily break down in the environment and petroleum-derived ingredients. This tends to overlap with “clean” brands, but not all clean beauty is environmentally friendly. Haus Labs and Ilia, for example, use many petroleum derived ingredients and polymers that persist in the environment.

One note re: petroleum-derived ingredients used in beauty, though: per Lab Muffin Beauty Science’s Michelle Wong, most of them are byproducts of the petroleum industry and aren’t created specifically to be used in cosmetics.

I want to add more clean makeup products to my routine and would love some recommendations.

The ❌ products are the ones I’m hoping to replace, while the ✅ ones are products I like and use daily and would recommend.

Base:

It Cosmetics CC Cream ✅ — good coverage and feels comfortable on my combination skin.
Kosas Revealer Concealer ✅ — creamy and natural-looking.
Kose Make Keep Mist ❌
Canmake Clear Veil Setting Powder ❌

Eyes:
Heroine Make Mascara ❌
Charlotte Tilbury Luxury Palette ❌

Blush:
Tower 28 GetSet Matte Blush ✅ — easy to blend and gives a healthy flush.
Haus Labs Blush Balm ✅ — glowy and pretty, perfect for no makeup days.

Lips:
YSL Loveshine ❌
Nooni Lip Oil ✅ — hydrating, non-sticky, and I love the tint it leaves.

Would love clean alternatives, especially for mascara and lips!