Transparent is the new clean for beauty brands

‘Clean’ beauty typically avoids controversial materials, while prioritizing natural and organic ingredients, as well as sustainable and ethical practices.

On top of this, the ‘clean girl’ trend has popularised hybrid skin/makeup products, such as complexion serums and skin tints, while promoting lifestyle elements including a diet rich in unprocessed food and good sleep hygiene, reports market intelligence firm Mintel.

Brands like Refy, whose motto is “simplifying beauty,”and model Hailey Bieber’s Rhode, dubbed “mindful skincare,” have thrived in this environment.

Yet there has been backlash. Not least because the term ‘clean’ in the context of cosmetics is unregulated. This means that interpretations differ from brand to brand, resulting in consumer confusion.

Moreover, the ‘clean’ beauty movement has been accused of inciting chemophobia – an excessive or irrational fear of synthetic chemicals.

As a result, brands are increasingly turning to recognised certification, such as COSMOS – a consumer guarantee for organic and natural cosmetics – and/or B Corp, which assesses social and environmental performance.

This new ‘ultra open’ era for communicating about cosmetics is especially welcomed by the younger generation. According to a recent report by Revive, an AI-powered beauty and wellness platform, 81% of Gen Z beauty consumers value ingredient transparency.

With the term ‘clean’ being formally un-defined and grappling with allegations of being anti-science, brands that may once have described themselves as such are now messaging on simplicity, transparency, and efficacy instead.

Accurate and clear communication when it comes to the provenance and environmental impact of ingredients, processes, packaging, and more is high on many brands’ agenda.

We’ve seen L’Oréal, for example, partner with tech company IBM to implement an AI model to monitor ingredients from source to shelf. There has also been an uptick in collaboration between beauty’s big players. Introduced last year, the TRaceability Alliance for Sustainable CosmEtics (TRASCE) is the Chanel-initiated platform developed to improve supply chain visibility for the fragrance and cosmetics industries, which also includes Clarins, Dior, The Estée Lauder Companies and L’Oréal among others.

The Aura Blockchain Consortium, meanwhile, is a non-profit association of luxury brands including LVMH and Richemont that is dedicated to making blockchain solutions and related technologies for traceability available to all luxury brands.

While the ability to rigorously back-up green claims has long been helpful in instilling trust among consumers and stakeholders, it might soon be a legal requirement, as authorities turn their attention to greenwashing.

The European Parliament has, at present, put its update of consumer protection rules to include green claims on ice over concerns about the burden on micro-enterprises. But, when the EU’s Green Claims Directive does come into force – and it has not yet formally been withdrawn – it will ban brands from:

• Making generic environmental claims on products without proof;
• Claiming that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment because the producer is offsetting emissions; and
• Using sustainability labels that are not based on approved certification schemes or established by public authorities.

Perhaps Europe’s pressing pause on implementing its greenwashing laws will come as a relief to some, as the industry still has quite a lot of progress to make when it comes to sharing its environmental and social progress, according to a 2024 report from Good On You – a platform providing sustainability ratings for fashion and beauty.

Data from its Beauty Sustainability Scorecard found that 84% of beauty brands take no publicly disclosed action to ensure payment of living wages throughout their supply chains, while 80% do not disclose their progress in meeting greenhouse gas emissions targets.

In a beauty ecosystem where consumers value a high level of transparency, Coptis Lab can help, offering its clients full traceability of all development stages. Each decision, modification, or validation is recorded, and can be consulted at any time, and companies can quickly provide relevant certificates and/or test results when required.

Coptis’ PLM software further ensures that each product complies with local and international standards, enabling companies to anticipate and quickly adapt to regulatory changes.

Beyond staying on the right side of the law, it is important for beauty names to reduce consumer overwhelm with simple, honest and educational marketing.

British skincare label Inkey (formerly The Inkey List) was founded with an emphasis on clarity in 2018, and recently leant into this via its ongoing 2025 “No BS. Just better skin” campaign. The campaign aims to cut through all the information – and misinformation – out there, and instead promote simple routines, ingredient knowledge, and science-backed skincare.

New men’s e-commerce destination Kleonne is likewise seeking to demystify shopping, but specifically for men and does this by testing, reviewing, and curating the most effective male grooming products to minimize overwhelm.

Both Inkey and Kleonne have an emphasis on education and building consumers’ confidence in their own skincare knowledge.

This year also saw Sephora introduce Skin Obsessed, a campaign that positions itself as a destination for shoppers seeking clarity and support in an increasingly crowded market.

If your marketing brief is mandating a product that is simple, effective and transparent, this will serve as the blueprint for all your teams’ objectives, guiding the entire project and determining the product’s expected effects, key ingredients, positioning, price and launch strategy.

Coptis’ PLM tool centralizes and archives all information, making it accessible to all the teams involved, so that objectives and data are aligned from the beginning of the project.

If your company is aiming for transparency throughout the supply chain and manufacturing process, and working on projects requiring simple, effective communication, discover how Coptis can help by contacting our teams or requesting a demo.