IS clean A dirty WORD?

Despite the connotations, the global clean beauty movement has never felt more ethically ambiguous. Kate Lancaster examines the current state of conscious cosmetics

If you open your beauty bag today, you’re likely to find at least one clean makeup or skincare product. Once a niche concept found primarily in health stores, natural cosmetics are now commonplace in supermarkets and luxury retailers alike. The granola packaging (commonly bearing some variation of a leaf or garden), often ineffective formulations and strongly scented oils are gone, replaced with shelfie-worthy cult products that claim to offer a natural, high-performance alternative to conventional cosmetics.

When you think about it, it’s not surprising we’ve reached peak green. Wellness is now a mainstream, multibillion-dollar business. More than that, it’s a lifestyle advocated by A-listers such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Watson and Miranda Kerr, who publicly encourage others to make the switch to all-natural, nontoxic living. Subsequently, it’s afforded green beauty an affluent new image. Our fear of chemicals is also at an all-time high, with consumers opting out in favour of what they believe to be more ‘natural’ formulations. A recent study found the majority of participants chose green beauty products over others because they perceived the category to be kind to the environment and safe to use. Coupled with our growing anxiety over the state of the planet, it could be argued that switching your skincare over to organic-only acts as a mental tranquiliser for some of the bigger issues at play.