I’m honoured and excited to have been selected as an official judge in the 2018 CertClean Clean Beauty Awards. It is the first time the judges outside of North America have been chosen.
Some entries have already landed on my desk and I’m about to start putting them to the test, looking at ingredients, of course, and if they actually do the job they’re marketed to do.
Clean Beauty Awards founder Jenise Lee and I caught up recently to talk natural beauty and what to expect with this years’ awards.
How did the Clean Beauty Awards begin?
CertClean, a certification for safer skincare, grew pretty quickly in the early days as it was one of the first certification of its kind. Women were excited to learn that there was a seal of approval to help them short list products to look into. However, women would always ask, “So Jenise, what do you use? What would you recommend?” I realised that women needed more guidance. They needed to know which of the products would work for them, so I created the Clean Beauty Awards to highlight the best performing products in the clean beauty sector as a way to help women buy better, faster.
What is the key criteria?
While our CertClean Standards consists of over 1400 ingredients, the Clean Beauty Awards’ criteria is a tiny bit more laxed – products free from the following ingredients are eligible to enter:
BHA & BHT
Triclosan
DEA, MEA & TEA
Parabens
Petroleum based PEG Compounds
Parfum/Fragrances
Siloxanes
Sodium Lauryl Sulphate / Sodium Laureth Sulfate
Petrolatum, Petro-based glycerin, mineral oil
DMDM Hydantoin
Diazolidinyl Urea
Imidazolidinyl Urea
Methanamine
Quaternium-15
Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate
microbeads
What might people not know about many natural beauty and skincare products on the market today?
A little goes a long way. People have a tendency to think that natural skincare products is much more costly than conventional products – this is true when you compare the price tag at face value. But most natural skincare products are concentrated and potent and so you use a lot less product per use. Moreover, sometimes the big brands use bigger pumps so more products come out, sometimes the big brands use a lot more water (with a lot more preservatives and other fillers) so that the volume of the product is bigger but you are not getting any more added value, and sometimes the product actually dries out your skin/hair so you continue to use the moisturizer or shampoo more often than you need to!
Case in point: Ever since I’ve started using clean shampoo (which isn’t stripping my hair of my natural oils), I haven’t had to buy or use any hair conditioner or treatment – and my hair is really long and healthy!
What brands have been winners in the past awards and why?
Some consistent winners have been MarieNatie within the makeup category, Penny Lane Organics for its deodorant, Carina for its shampoo and Chorus Supernatural and Moor Spa for their haircare and skincare. All these companies have been around for awhile now so they’ve perfected their formulations. Also, year over year, they continue to enter the Awards — as Gretzky says, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!
What are the plans for the competition moving forward?
We’re growing year over year – this year is our biggest year yet with over 300 product entries from all over the world. Moving forward, we will include a public voting system and profile the voters based on skin type and preferences. I’m set out to figure out how to determine the best beauty and skincare products for varying skin types!
I’d like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to Always Bearded. Every year, they hope that we will open the Awards up for beard/men products! Unfortunately, we don’t get enough entrants for men products to open up a category yet. I’d like to see this change in the next year!
What are your favourite beauty brands and why?
Oh. That’s like asking me to name my favourite child (even though I have no children..heh).
MarieNatie is my go-to make up brand. Years ago, I tried their eyeliner which ended up smudging on my eyelids. She has since reformulated the product… and it is ah-mazing. I have three eyeliner stubbies that are about an inch in height – that’s love and dedication!
Currently, I’m loving oil-based cleansers and serums. Helena Lane is also a winner of the Awards – her products are beautiful. Her brand encapsulates the wonders of clean beauty. The ingredients are simple yet potent.
To help tame my eczema, I often turn to Bee23 and or Bee Real.
Who are the other judges this year?
Each year, we grow our guest panel of judges. This is our first year where we branched out of North America so I’m proud to say that we have eco influencers/bloggers/authors from all over the world as part of the judging panel.
Find out more about the 2018 Clean Beauty Awards here.
