What's going on with Beautycounter?

Is Beautycounter Shutting Down?!

If you’ve seen Beautycounter in the news lately and wondered if it’s shutting down, going bust, or just the centre of a social media swirl… you’re not alone! Beautycounter is female founded B Corp brand that’s been a pioneering brand in the clean beauty space and a force in changing multiple pieces of US legislature protecting consumers. But after it’s start in 2013, a $1B valuation in 2021 and a sale to private equity firm Carlisle they’ve seen a few CEO changes over the last few years and they’re now offline after another sale with words like “foreclosure”, “winding down”, and “terminations” hitting headlines.

The Struggle of Conscious Shopping and Brand Drama

When we’re trying to shop in a way that’s more mindful of ethics and impact, it can be really hard to figure out what’s truly going on and make our own shopping decisions in the middle of a social news media swirl. Beautycounter has been a pioneering brand in the clean beauty, B Corporation, and ethics business space so I wanted to dive in and take and important look at this story and how we respond.

Key principles I use in responding to brands going through change and searching them out:

As Maya Angelou said: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” We approach conscious shopping the best we can, and make it a journey as we know better. It’s a constant journey. We don’t want to get hung up, and it stop us from going forward on a journey!
The goal is to shop the best brand possible for each thing that needs to come into our homes and lives. Sometimes the best option for something isn’t perfect. Sometimes we learn along the way but in each situation my goal is to shop the best option for the moment.
We also all have slightly different values and that’s ok! What one person needs and wants can be different from someone else. So as we listen to other people give opinions on situations we need to try and find the facts as best we can and make our own choices. e.g. A vegan’s use of the word “unethical” might be something containing an animal product, but to me it’s something with a transparent supply chain where everyone is treated fairly and animals are treated right, but I’m ok with animal products.
On the journey I also try not to label companies as “good” and “bad’ but to expand a little more. The company that’s the best choice for one person might not be far enough along the journey for another – but we each choose the best option for ourselves and our values for each step of our conscious consuming journey!

Other ethical, sustainable and safer skincare brands

My personal favourites for skincare are Evolve Beauty (who ship worldwide) and Cocokind (just in the US). I think they have the best balance of the same values from ethics and sustainability to safety for our bodies. If you’re in the US, Credo is another great resource for skincare and makeup with different values. If you’re in the UK, hit the link for Ilia and RMS via Content Beauty below – those are two of my top options.