Grrrrrr-eenwashing: Arbonne Exposed
When I tell people about my business, they often ask if I worry about competing with big all-natural beauty brands like Arbonne. They wonder how my natural products compare to the ones offered by this in-home party darling. I, of course, have had no idea how to answer their questions because I couldn’t find Arbonne’s ingredient lists for any of their products.
This past weekend I co-hosted a booth at the local Mind Body Life Expo, a big homeopathic love fest of salt rocks, acupuncturists, healing stones, beauty products, and even motivational speakers. In between the guy who was reading auras to diagnose allergies and the latest and greatest in anti-aging smoothies was the Arbonne booth. I took advantage of this rare opportunity to ask an Arbonne rep about the contents of their “pure and safe” skin care. She replied that they did not have the information about their natural products, but I was more than welcome to find complete ingredient information on the Arbonne website.
Rather than rant about the minutes of my life I wasted trying to find even one list of ingredients anywhere on the website, I will simply tell you that they do not exist. I knew I could not be the only one determined to know what was in the stuff, so I did a little web-sleuthing. Thanks to brave blogger Winking Brunette, I can now provide you with the dirty little secrets that apparently we’re supposed to be able to get via Arbonne consultants (let me repeat, I asked one and she quickly referred me to the website). Let’s take a look, shall we?
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Ingredients for Arbonne’s Line Defiance Liquid Foundation SPF15: Water, Octinoxate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Isododecane, Butylene Glycol, Peg/ppg-18/18 Dimethicone, Dimethicone, Polysilicone-11, Hexyl Laurate, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Dimethylacrylamide/acrylic Acid, Polystyrene Ethyl Methacrylate Copolymer Disteardimonium Hectorite, Cetyl Peg/ppg-10/1 Dimethicone, Caprylyl Glycol, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Lycium Barbarum Fruit Extract, Lecithin, Coco-caprylate/caprate, Dimethicone/divinyldimethicone, Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Stearoxymethicone/dimethicone Copolymer, Peg-10 Dimethicone, Propylene Carbonate, Propylene Glycol Stearate, Propylene Glycol Laurate, Ethoxydiglycol, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Polysorbate 20, Sorbitan Laurate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Oligopeptide-10, Aminobutyric Acid, Barium Sulfate, Glycerin, Steareth-20, Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate, Chrysin, N-hydroxysuccinimide, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-14, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Sodium Chloride, Stearic Acid, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Phenoxyethanol, Alumina, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Mica (77019), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499).
It’s practically like rubbing a garden all over your face!
Now I realize I’m likely to get more than one angry comment from someone linked to Arbonne, and to that I say, bring it on! Please, if this information is incorrect, enlighten us! I couldn’t help but notice, however, that the angry comments under the Winking Brunette post did not dispute the accuracy of the ingredients. So are they just upset to see the truth plastered on the web without a sales rep there to explain away our concerns?
The bottom line is that the vast majority of Arbonne customers are under the distinct impression that Arbonne products are natural. Yet, one quick look at the ingredient lists - should you exert the considerable effort necessary to find them - and it becomes quite clear that it takes some serious spin cycles to wash this line green.
This is a great post and one that needed to be written! I continue to hear from family, friends and acquaintances about this “natural” skin care line and its baffling that none of them know what’s really in the products (they just heard it was natural, so it must be so!). I too had to dig for the ingredients, which are shocking to say the least.
This is disturbing… “green” must be Arbonne’s latest marketing scheme. I ran into an Arbonne rep at a sustainable business gathering who was pushing her products as green and informed her the plastic containers actually were not recyclable in our county. She said she would research and get back to me… while she did send one email that she had contacted a higher up to confirm an in-house recycling program… I never heard back. And I just received an invite to a house party… I cautioned the host against promoting these products as green and got a long email back about how they don’t test on animals and that the inks were FSC certified… Not exactly my idea of sustainable and green.
I too have a friend who started raving about Arbonne a few years ago, and how “natural” it is. Not being the type to just assume that someone else’s version of natural matches mine, I attempted to find an ingredients list on the website — which is not to be found. I emailed the company and they immediately referred me to a rep. I dropped it at that point, knowing that the only reason to be so secretive is if you have something to hide. Bravo to you and to others who are outing this deceptive company, SHAME on them!
What really upset me was that I had my brands that realy are natural in the same location as this (and other faux natural) “natural” skin care companies - and I felt like their deception jeopardized the reputation of my own products. The truly natural and organic brands work so hard (and spend so much extra money) to keep their products safe and their packaging and practices eco-friendly, and to end up getting lumped alongside these brands….it’s totally unacceptable.
That reminds me…has anyone gotten their hands on a bottle of Victoria’s Secret’s new “natural” line? What’s the scoop on the actual ingredients in those products?
I am an independent consultant with Arbonne and I applaud your convictions. I’m embarrassed to say that like in any company there are a lot of uneducated ‘consultants’ out there! My apologies!!! Please know that Arbonne in fact does NOT IN ANY OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS say that they are “organic” or “green.” As for ingredients lists, you’re right you have to be a ‘consultant’ to pull them up. But any business builder with integrity would be educated enough to know that they have to be the ones to access the site to pull the lists for whom ever asks for them!
Have a great night!
Christy is right! “Maverick” consultants are a problem in any direct sales company. I’ve been in the skin and body care industry for several years and have never heard Arbonne corporately declare themselves as green or organic, but as a naturally-based skin care company. In Arbonne’s defense, you pulled the ingredients of a product that is difficult to make “natural”: liquid foundation with SPF. They are many natural ingredients and peptides in the product, but their are also lots of synthetic ingredients that are necessary to make the pigments and the sunscreen in the product spread properly across the skin to achieve smooth foundation coverage and consistent sunscreen application.
I also agree with you that it’s ridiculous that customers don’t have access to the ingredients!!
Great article, Terri! I too wonder about the green-ness of the new Pink line by Victoria’s Secret. I contacted someone at Vicky’s a couple of weeks ago who gave me a number to call where I could get more info on the products and their ingredients lists. I will keep you posted!
Interestingly, I attended an exhibitor meeting for the Earthday Expo the day after this post. Guess who showed up on the roster as having a booth?
“In Arbonne’s defense, you pulled the ingredients of a product that is difficult to make “natural”: liquid foundation with SPF.”
I’m of the mind that 1)it can be done, as I use a natural SPF, 2) stop saying it’s natural. The root of the word natural = nature. Arbonne is purposely misleading people, to their advantage.