August Clean Beauty Roundup: News + Trends

August brought us tons of beauty news and new product launches to get excited about. Here are some of the highlights of this month in clean beauty.

1. New BIPOC Platform Launches Online to Feature Ethical Brands

With the beauty industry working to shine a spotlight on the often overlooked Black-owned beauty brands, many new businesses are making their emergence, including those in the clean beauty sphere.

E-tailors such as Geenie, BLK+BRN, and Beautyocracy have recently launched with a focus on sustainable, ethical, and non-toxic products. These platforms are helping to create a broader market that increases the visibility of smaller indie brands and creates a diverse, inclusive range of ethical products for all, especially Black women.

2. Clearya is Making Shopping Online for Clean Products Easier than Ever

Shopping for clean beauty and household products is often way simpler online, but it can be easy to miss a potentially harmful ingredient. Thankfully, Clearya is here to help. This Chrome browser extension safeguards you from toxic ingredients and allergens by automatically analyzing ingredients lists while you shop at Amazon, Sephora, Walmart, iHerb, and Love Letter.

If Clearya identifies harmful ingredients, it will alert you and give a detailed list including the ingredient’s name, harmful effects, and which regulators have banned it or consider it toxic.

This extension works for personal care, baby care, cleaning, and beauty products.

3. This New Beauty Tool Makes Eyeshadow Application a Breeze

Since we’ve all become accustomed to having the lower half of our faces covered, many are deciding to get creative by expressing themselves through vibrant and creative eye makeup instead of a bold lip. Thankfully, Miné Stencils, a new beauty tool brand, has the answer for creating unique and beautiful eye looks.

These stencils were made using over 100 women of many different ethnicities and ages to create the perfect universal design. This brand’s patented stencil kits include templates, brushes, and instructions for livening up your makeup look, even while wearing your mask.

4. New Product Launch: Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum

Clean skincare brand Annmarie has recently launched their Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, as well as strengthen the area around the eyes. The formulation combines dozens of powerful botanical extracts and oils that have been what the brand refers to as “wildcrafted”.

This means that the plants and herbs have been handpicked from where they grow wildly and that no commercial farming practices were used in their cultivation. Ingredients like pineapple ceramides lock in moisture and improve skin elasticity while artemisia and lingonberry stem cells are packed with nourishing vitamin E to moisturize and heal the skin.

5. Pacifica Launches Affordable Vegan Collagen Collection

Clean beauty veteran Pacifica has recently launched a six-piece collection featuring collagen that is free of animal byproducts, all for under $30. This new line includes a gel cleanser, hydrating milk tonic, complex serum, SPF lotion, overnight recovery cream, and recovery eye cream.

Each of these products is designed to repair the skin and impart a youthful, glowing appearance. The products also feature recyclable glass packaging, making them even more Earth-friendly. Pick these up on Pacifica’s website or Ulta.com.

6. Sephora Collection Launches First-Ever Clean Beauty Makeup Line

Sephora Collection’s newest line, SClean, launched late last month, providing a range of affordable clean beauty products to Sephora customers. Including an extensive range of skincare and beauty items all under $20, this collection gives consumers low-priced and convenient product options that are free of parabens, fragrances, sulfates, and other synthetic chemicals.

This line is also a permanent collection, meaning we may see even more clean beauty product launches from Sephora in the future.

7. LATHER Launches Avocado and Coconut-Infused Shampoo Bar That Saves 99% of Plastic Waste

New body care brand LATHER has just launched a shampoo bar that’s the answer to sustainable haircare. Packaged in a plastic-free box, this bar is free from harmful parabens, sulfates, and synthetic fragrances.

Not only is this shampoo bar clean and eco-friendly, but it’s packed with effective natural ingredients like shea butter and avocado oil for detangling and increasing shine and coconut oil for removing residue and excess oil.

8. New Product Launch: Clean Slate Exfoliating Pads

Many makeup wipes and pads are harmful to the environment, as they can take many years to fully break down. Thankfully, Clean Slate provides a solution with their new exfoliating pads. These pads are made of a cotton blend that’s easily recyclable along with other textiles.

Natural ingredients like Cica flower, English chamomile, and green tea extracts work alongside salicylic acid to cleanse pores and exfoliate the skin without causing microtears or other damage.

The packaging is also made from a thermoplastic polymer that’s 100% recyclable.

9. Mineral Fusion Offers a Wide Shade Range of Vegan Foundations and Pressed Powders

Inadequate shade ranges are a problem that many beauty brands, even large ones, suffer from. Thankfully, Mineral Fusion’s line of foundations is bringing larger shade ranges to the clean beauty makeup world with their collection of 24 shades, including warm, olive, neutral, and deep tones.

Both the liquid and pressed powder foundations offer a buildable, silky finish without shine or harmful ingredients. These foundations are also filled with skin-nourishing ingredients such as green tea, aloe, and pomegranate.

You can pick these up on the Mineral Fusion website or at Target, Amazon, or Whole Foods.

10. New Product Launch: Kosas The Big Clean Mascara

Kosas has recently launched a mascara that offers big, bold lashes while also nourishing them from the inside out. The Big Clean mascara features a uniquely designed brush and rich black pigment that amplifies lashes and gives them a full and lifted appearance.

Ingredients like castor oil and provitamin B also nourish the lashes and ensure they will be healthy, hydrated, and beautiful long after you take your mascara off.

11. For Glowing, Flawless Skin, Peach & Lily’s Glass Skin Veil Mist is a Must-Have

Peach & Lily’s Glass Skin Serum arrived in 2018 to universal praise and has sold out over 12 times since then. Following the success of their serum, the brand has finally followed up by releasing a new product in their Glass Skin line, the Glass Skin Veil Mist.

Ultra-dewy and glass-like skin was a massive Korean beauty trend a few years ago and while the trend is not entirely realistic, this facial mist seeks to make the appearance of beautiful glowing skin a bit more attainable.

The formula includes several humectants such as reishi mushroom, which pulls water from the environment to your skin. This mist also protects the skin against environmental stressors like UV rays and pollution. Pick the Peach & Lily Glass Skin Veil Mist up at Ulta for a healthy, glowing, and well-protected complexion.