When it comes to clean beauty, it often feels like in order to get products at all — much less high-quality ones — we have to be movie star rich. Going to a major beauty and skin care retailer brings with some pretty intense sticker shock: The products can be as expensive as $180 for one single ounce. (We're not kidding about that price — the SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic serum is effective, but it definitely retails for around that much.) So if we want to make the switch to clean beauty — made without ingredients that can be potentially harmful such as parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, and formaldehyde-releasing gasses, just to name a few — it sometimes feels like we'd need a totally different pay grade first. But the truth is, there are some extremely good-quality, inexpensive clean products out there — primarily, the ones on this list.
We love having made the switch to clean beauty because we know that the ingredients in the products we use now have no connection to being endocrine disruptors or cancer-causing. Although a lot of products on the market are considered safe by the FDA, many of the ingredients in those same products are illegal in Europe, Canada, and Australia because they've been shown in studies to have some problems. The US just less regulated. But clean beauty isn't the only area we can choose to move in a healthier, greener, more earth friendly direction. We love these simple changes you can make to live a healthier, more organic life, which are a good starting-out guide to going greener and cleaner. Natural and organic baby products and what to look for helped us understand what we want in our green baby products, and we learned about reusable products to make life a little greener, which incorporates beauty products.
Rael Bamboo Face Sheet Mask
We love this series of Rael Bamboo sheet masks. Bamboo is much more ecologically friendly and sustainable than cotton, and these masks come dripping with clean serum that hydrates our skin. Our favorite is the hydration blue pack, but the collagen, tea tree, and vitamin C are all wonderful.
Rael Bamboo Face Sheet Mask (Four masks for $15, Amazon)
Acure Radically Rejuvenating Rose Argan Oil
This stuff has about a million uses, and we use it for everything. It's effective on hair, as an ultra-hydrating facial serum, as a cuticle oil, for dry patches like knees and elbows. It goes on heavy but gets absorbed very quickly.
Acure Radically Rejuvenating Rose Argan Oil ($8, Amazon)
Alba Botanica Real Repair Cocoa Butter Hawaiian Deep Conditioning Minute Mask
For anyone whose hair has gotten kind of dry and brittle — which happens a lot in the extreme heat as well as the extreme cold, or if it's processed with color or relaxer — this mask is incredible. It's made with argan oil, cocoa butter, and plant-sourced keratin, and without any of the nasty stuff.
Alba Botanica Real Repair Cocoa Butter Hawaiian Deep Conditioning Minute Mask ($8, Amazon)
Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream, Moisturizing Night Lotion
Formulated without phthalates, parabens, or petrolatum, this night cream is ultra hydrating, which we may think we don't need in the summer, but is actually a really good idea year-round. Plus, it's been clinically shown to reduce the appearance of fine lines.
Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream, Moisturizing Night Lotion ($10, Amazon)
Acne Pimple Patches - Master Hydrocolloid Patch
These hydrocolloid patches are made completely without medication, which means they're completely clean. They work by protecting blemishes, which can help prevent scarring, and attracting the impurities to the surface.
Acne Pimple Patches – Master Hydrocolloid Patch (96 patches for $11, Amazon)
Andalou Naturals 1000 Roses CC Color + Correct
This clean beauty hero is one of our favorite products of all time, and at $14, it's a bargain. It earns a squeaky-clean 1 from EWG, which means it's only filled with ingredients that won't harm our skin at all — plus, it's SPF 30. We wish it came in more tones so it was more accessible to a wider range of people, and anyone who buys it should consider reaching out to the company and ask them to stock it in darker tones.
Andalou Naturals 1000 Roses CC Color + Correct ($14, Amazon)
Acure Radically Rejuvenating SPF 30 Day Cream
This vegan day cream takes a couple extra seconds to blend into our skin because it's made with mineral, not chemical, SPF — which is better for us and for our coral reefs — but that's not the only reason we love it. It feels silky-smooth on our skin, and is packed with great skin-loving ingredients, including turmeric, ferulic acid, and vitamin C, which is basically skin food.
Acure Radically Rejuvenating SPF 30 Day Cream ($13, Amazon)
The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5%
There's really nothing better than pure caffeine solution for relieving the under-eye area of puffiness. We've tested this $12 solution against much more expensive formulations, and this is the clear winner.
The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% ($12, Amazon)
Andalou Naturals Hyaluronic DMAE Lift & Firm Cream
This hydrating cream works well as a night cream, and it's perfect for skin that's starting to show some fine lines — although it can be a bit irritating to very sensitive skin, so it might be worth testing. (Whole Foods has samples.)
Andalou Naturals Hyaluronic DMAE Lift & Firm Cream ($14, Amazon)
Alba Botanica Revitalizing Sea Salt Hawaiian Body Scrub
For anyone who gets dry elbows and backs of the arms — and upper back-of-the-thighs, sometimes — this stuff is absolutely fantastic. A mix of great, hydrating oils and sea salt combine to create a really perfect body scrub.
Alba Botanica Revitalizing Sea Salt Hawaiian Body Scrub ($9, Amazon)
The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% 30ml
Anyone who regularly experiences breakouts should check this product out. It earns a 1 from EWG, and it's perfect for helping to regulate sebum production and minimize the appearance of enlarged pores.
The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% 30ml ($11, Amazon)
Schmidt's Natural Deodorant for Sensitive Skin, Tea Tree
This clean-smelling deodorant is so fantastic, earns a 1 from EWG, and keeps underarms nice-smelling all day long (including after a workout — yes, we've tested this). It comes in a variety of other scents, including Jasmine Green Tea, which is lovely.
Schmidt's Natural Deodorant for Sensitive Skin, Tea Tree ($10, Amazon)
Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser for All Skin Types
Looking for a hypoallergenic skin cleanser that doesn't break the bank? Cetaphil is the brand we most frequently hear dermatologists recommend, and it's extremely affordable and available at any drugstore.
Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser for All Skin Types ($12, Amazon)
ACURE Vivacious Volume Peppermint Shampoo
We love this brand so much. The company clearly cares a lot about the formulations of all its products. This one is free of parabens, sulfates, mineral oil, petrolatum, and silicone, while still being volumizing (and it really works).
ACURE Vivacious Volume Peppermint Shampoo ($6, Amazon)
ACURE Brightening Facial Scrub
Great for all skin types, this vegan facial scrub is great for exfoliating and sloughing off dead skin and removing impurities while brightening skin tone. It's also paraben free, sulfate free, petroleum free, mineral oil free, and silicone free, so it's good for us and the environment.
ACURE Brightening Facial Scrub ($8, Amazon)
Avalon Organics Wrinkle Therapy Cleansing Oil
When the weather is very drying for our skin (and as we age generally) a good oil cleanser can be invaluable. This one earns a perfect 1 from EWG, and it's specifically formulated to help repair aging skin.
Avalon Organics Wrinkle Therapy Cleansing Oil ($13, Amazon)
InstaNatural Vitamin C Facial Toner
This facial toner is a great little skin pick-me-up in the middle of the day (or used between cleansing and serums). We love that it uses skin-brightening ingredients like licorice extract as well as hydrating carrot seed oil.
InstaNatural Vitamin C Facial Toner ($14, Amazon)
20% Vitamin C Hyaluronic Acid Serum + CE Ferulic
This lesser-known Korean brand has a pretty effective vitamin C formulation. We love that it's the same basic ingredients as what's in SkinCeuticals version, which costs $160 — and has been extensively tested for efficacy.
20% Vitamin C Hyaluronic Acid Serum + CE Ferulic ($15, Amazon)
INIKA Trial Pack, All Natural Make-up Discovery Kit
We love Inika, which is a wonderful all-natural makeup brand. The company's stuff can be a bit expensive, but check out this starter kit, which is a good deal: organic primer, loose mineral foundation, and a liquid foundation.
INIKA Trial Pack, All Natural Make-up Discovery Kit ($10, Amazon)
Korres Greek Yoghurt Cleansing and Makeup Removing Wipes
Let's be real: Sometimes we just don't have the wherewithal to make it all the way to the bathroom to wash our face before bed, so we keep a pack of these cleansing wipes in our bedside table for just those nights.
Korres Greek Yoghurt Cleansing and Makeup Removing Wipes (25 for $15, Amazon)
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