What Clean Beauty Means to Us.
As I have mentioned previously, we value transparency in our products and ingredients. We do not hide what we put into our products so that we can empower you to make the most educated and informed beauty purchases. We pride ourselves on being a luxury and high-quality brand that works with highly experienced chemists and manufacturers to source clean ingredients.
What does Clean Beauty mean to TOK Beauty?
This term is constantly being questioned and challenged as many companies are using it as a marketing tactic. To us it means that we are sourcing the best ingredients we can to formulate the best performing products. Not all ingredients are ‘organic’ per se as that would mean that they are taken directly from the source and placed into the tube. However, we do source ingredients from plants which have been grown organically, so some of the ingredients we use are certified organic. These natural, high quality ingredients are much more expensive for us to use and formulate with, and also have more benefits for your skin, lashes, lips, etc. than some of the synthetic alternatives we can select to use.
There are also some ingredients we use that are made in the lab which are completely safe, ie. preservatives, which are necessary to keep the product clean and free from mold and bacteria. Another ingredient we use are FD&C Dyes or Lake Dyes. They are the ONLY way to achieve vibrant, colour-rich, matte pigments in cosmetics in a variety of shades. Does your favourite clean beauty brand have a vibrant matte lipstick or gloss? They are using lake dyes. It’s possible to achieve vibrant hues with mica – but it won’t be matte. It’s possible to achieve matte with iron oxides – but it won’t be vibrant. It’s possible to achieve cool matte tones with carmine – but it won’t be vegan. More on this in a future blog.
Clean to us also means getting proper testing done on our products and doing proper research on the ingredients we use. Because we are using some natural ingredients from plants, the ingredients are more vulnerable to light, heat, mold, etc. We want to make sure that our products are tested for eye-safety, sanitation testing, and challenge testing. We also research what ingredients may cause a concern in the industry, and avoid them, ingredients like Phenoxyethanol - a common preservative that allegedly can cause fertility challenges and skin irritations. However, some natural essential oils can also cause skin irritations, so it is choosing what works best for you and building our brand accordingly.
Clean to us also means being cruelty-free. Proper testing without testing on animals. We are proud to be Leaping Bunny Certified.
Clean to us does not mean fear mongering, but educating. As we learn more, we educate you too. The beauty industry is constantly evolving and discoveries, studies and new ingredients are always arising. We have also made the decision to ship and package with the planet in mind. You will notice that our products are packaged using biodegradable materials, recyclable through TerraCycle, and shipping in compostable mailers.
Thank you for your continued support in TOK clean Beauty!
Tara