The overwhelming benefits of clean beauty

by Ciara Shah

February 23, 2021

Key Takeaways

Regular beauty products are toxic
Clean beauty is better for your health
Clean beauty is better for the environment

What is clean beauty?

Phrases like ‘natural makeup’ and ‘clean beauty’ are thrown around a lot in today’s marketing world, but what do they actually mean? The answer should be simple, but in a society where the definition of ‘natural’ can be determined by each company, this can be tricky.

Regardless, true clean beauty means the product relies only on natural ingredients rather than synthetic ones. But since there are no strict regulations for companies advertising their products as “natural” or “clean”, a product can be advertised as such despite having some synthetic or toxic ingredients.

As we will shortly go into, these toxic ingredients can have devastating effects on both your health and the environment. At Verse, we are dedicated to finding only the truly natural products for which the benefits are endless.

Toxic ingredients in your makeup and beauty products

The creamy goodness that you carefully apply to your face everyday should be enriching you on both the inside and out. But if you’re using regular beauty products, you could be smearing some pretty harmful substances into your skin.

These could include:

Synthetic preservatives designed to increase shelf-life.
Artificial colorants for those bright, bold colours in makeup.
Artificial fragrances made from a cocktail of chemicals that brands don’t have to list on their packaging.
Heavy metals like lead and arsenic. While these do exist minimalistically in nature, larger doses can lead to health problems.

Synthetic fragrances in makeup and skincare have been linked to headaches and migraines, while the artificial preservatives and dyes can cause skin irritation.

But in extreme cases, artificial ingredients can have more serious impacts. A 2016 study in Environmental Research looked into the effects of a synthetic preservative called parabens on pregnant women. The study found that parabens can be linked to the disruption of reproductive hormones and may increase the risk of adverse birth effects.

While many of the synthetic ingredients in regular products pose little threat to you in small doses, some chemicals found in cosmetics have been linked to causing cancer.

The European Union has some of the strictest guidelines in the world for chemicals that may be used in cosmetics, but this does not prevent companies from using synthetic ingredients all-together.

At Verse, we care about using only natural ingredients that provide long term benefits for your health and the environment. That is why we sift through the thousands of products claiming to be clean and select only those which adhere to our standards.

Take, for instance, the Rice Powder Blush & Bronzer by Ere Perez. It’s our go-to pop of colour to bring out the best in your features without any worries of nasty hidden ingredients.

How your beauty products are damaging the environment

The toxic chemicals used in regular makeup and skincare products are not only harming your skin — they’re polluting the environment too. When synthetic ingredients wash down drains and spill into the oceans, they can upset eco systems and kill many aquatic species. Should the same toxins leak into farmlands, livestock can suffer reproductive complications and even develop cancer.

The plastic microbeads in facial cleansers often also end up in the sea, where turtles and other creatures ingest them. Over time, the beads build up and block their digestive systems causing them to die. The same thing happens with wet wipes, earbuds and many more beauty products we thoughtlessly throw in the trash or wash down the drain.

The impact that chemically-induced beauty products are having on the environment is colossal. Most of us have seen images of the dying coral reefs and washed up sea creatures with stomachs full of plastic. This must stop.

At Verse, we are actively working to reverse some of the horrifying things happening to our planet today, and it starts with a simple choice. That is, to choose products free from chemicals, plastics and toxins that damage ecosystems around the world. Products like the Raw Coffee Body Scrub by grums, for example, which uses crushed coffee rather than plastic microbeads to cleanse your skin.

Health benefits of using natural beauty products

Clean beauty products have a vast range of benefits for your skin and health, as they contain natural oils that moisturize your skin for that effortless healthy glow. Other ingredients like fruits, vegetables and honey nourish your skin with a boost of vitamins, giving you a natural radiance. Avoiding the side-effects of toxic ingredients is an added bonus that can be life changing for those with sensitive skin.

Natural beauty products often use oils like:

Avocado oil
Shea butter
Rosehip oil
Jojoba oil

Studies have shown these to contain anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and skin-repairing properties. Avocado oil helps protect skin against ultraviolet radiation and shea butter boosts collagen production — both of which reduce wrinkles. Rosehip oil is packed with vitamins that your skin loves and jojoba oil is anti-bacterial.

So, if you’re in the mood for a little eye drama and want to take care of your skin at the same time, use products like the Jojoba Eye Pencil by Ere Perez.

Other natural ingredients:

Honey — moisturizing and healing
Charcoal — cleanses skin
Aloe vera — anti-inflammatory, moisturizer, healing, fights aging
Green tea — protects against skin cancer, fights aging, treats acne
Cucumber — anti-inflammatory, moisturizing, fights aging.

We couldn’t possibly list the benefits of every natural ingredient out there, but these are some classics that we just love.

The benefits of clean beauty in a nutshell

The adverse effects of synthetic ingredients in makeup and beauty products are broad, from harming your health to damaging the environment. In contrast, the benefits of clean beauty products that use only natural ingredients are overwhelming.

In short, clean beauty has two simple yet immensely important benefits: they are better for your health and better for the environment. Why pour money into a product that might actually be damaging your skin when you can invest in one that you know is nourishing your body and leaving little impact on the environment too?

For us, the choice is clear. Clean beauty all the way.