Can companies just make up a new way to describe makeup?

The short answer: yes.

The biggest buzzwords in beauty right now are words like “clean”, “natural”, and “organic”- just to name a few. Certain brands have even begun using newer terms like “wild” to better distinguish themselves and their practices from the throngs of cosmetic and skin-care companies embracing the natural trend.

Of course, brands should never mislead their consumers with deceptive marketing practices, such as mislabeling their products. But many consumers aren’t aware that the cosmetic ingredients and the terminology used are minimally regulated.

There isn’t an industry standard for manufacturing and marketing truly natural beauty products – since there’s not an official definition to follow. That can be very surprising since the global market sector labeled the “Natural and Organic Beauty Market” is expected to reach $22 billion by 2024.

How did an undefined cosmetics and beauty products sector become not only an industry trend but continues to be a success?

Conscious Consumer

The conscious consumer is one who takes into thoughtful consideration the product or service they are purchasing. More and more, one’s health and wellness come to the forefront when assessing the products. Conscious consumers consider the potential impact the product will have on themselves and even their surroundings.

This emergent category of consumers continues to uphold the trend of opting for natural products and alternatives. If these are beauty products that they apply almost daily to their face and body, it makes sense that a conscious consumer would be concerned about the quality and ingredients of the product.

As a conscious consumer yourself, think about what “clean” and “natural” beauty or personal care products mean to you. This can be makeup, soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc. (Please let me know in the comments. Your answer may differ from others!)

Let’s say some of your interpretations include things like not containing artificial or harmful chemicals, ingredients deriving from nature, and so on.

Ideally, you would like your products labeled with these words to mean what you believe it to mean when brands deliver a “natural” product. However, there are differing interpretations by different beauty brands that market with these terms.

 

Marketing the Mission

The beauty brands already know what their conscious consumers prefer. Assuming the brands’ practices follow through with their definition of clean and natural products, all that’s left is to communicate to the masses that they have what the consumers want…

… while competing with countless other brands claiming the same thing.

Again, assuming their manufacturing practices comply with their company mission, using terms like “clean” and “natural” is perfectly acceptable and not just greenwashing.

Brands know that their consumer base is educating themselves on the practices and ingredients that go into making their products. As a result, many brands are becoming more transparent about the sourcing of their ingredients and the formulation of their cosmetics and skin-care items, making that type of information readily available to the public.

The companies want their clean and natural beauty initiatives to speak for themselves to drive customers to purchase their products.

The current market is oversaturated with the same words, emphasizing “clean”, “natural”, “organic”, “safe”, “non-toxic”, “eco-friendly”, etc. At the same time, brands using all these descriptors are not false-marketing. Without industry standards, as previously mentioned, brands are free to claim their products are “clean” and “natural” if the products fit the company’s own definition of those terms.

In the end, these brands aren’t trying to deceive their customers with their green buzzwords. But to make sure the products you use are meeting your standards, it’s best to do your own digging and read the ingredient list instead of relying on the marketing.