Organic Cosmetic Brands Fall Short Of Claims

  • August 15, 2011
A study finds few natural & organic cosmetic brands are living up to their marketing claims. U.K.-based Organic Monitor assessed over 50 international brands of natural cosmetic products and ranked them in terms of their naturalness.

The Brand Assessment study involved a chemist examining the ingredient composition of cosmetic products and classifying formulations according to their "level of naturalness." Certified organic cosmetics received the highest rating (9-10), pure natural cosmetics got 5-7 ratings, naturally inspired cosmetics got 2 rating, whilst conventional cosmetics got 1 rating.

A major finding is that the formulations of most natural brands are not meeting their marketing claims. Many companies claiming to have "chemically-clean" cosmetics actually are falling foul of having contentious synthetic ingredients. Many such brands are classified as semi-natural or naturally inspired, even though they claim to be "100% natural." Surprisingly, some organic cosmetic brands are given low "naturalness" ratings; although their products contain certified organic ingredients, the formulations still have synthetic ingredients not common to natural and organic products.

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Brands that received high naturalness scores include Intelligent Nutrients (9), Green People (8), and Living Nature (7). Intelligent Nutrients products got high naturalness ratings as they contain high levels of organic (food) ingredients, with almost all products certified organic.

New brands launched by large multinationals also scored high in terms of their natural & organic formulations: Garnier Bio Active (L'Oreal), Diadermine Bio Expertise (Henkel) and Johnson's Natural (Johnson & Johnson). The high naturalness ratings of these brands shows how the natural and organic arena has evolved from just having small niche brands.--Tanya Irwin

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