There are entire aisles filled with makeup in the mall, which is a dream come true for me. But, if you are looking for natural makeup brands, there isn’t always a lot of choice. Most makeup on those shelves contain toxic ingredients. Thankfully, there are some non-toxic makeup brands out there you can choose from. Crunchi and Beautycounter both offer amazing but pricey options when considering clean toxin-free makeup.
Interestingly both brands use advocate schemes and a clever marketing and sales model to promote their makeup. If i’m honest, I don’t really like this kind of sales approach as it can feel like reviews aren’t always as honest and advocates will do anything for a sale. I’ll try to share facts and insights that should give you a more balanced look at both brands toxin-free makeup.
Contents
Crunchi & beauty counter quick comparison
Let’s take a look at some of the key differences and similarities between these 2 non toxic makeup brands so we can see how they look side by side.
Crunchi
Price Range: Crunchi makeup is similarly priced to beauty counter. You can buy their foundation for $50.
Key Ingredients: Mushroom extract, rose hip, glycerin, jojoba oil, sunflower seed, aloe.
Beauty Counter
Price Range: Beauty Counter makeup starts at around $20- $25 with their beauty blender, brow pencil and eye shadow. For $45 you can buy their foundation.
At the higher end of the beauty counter makeup range is their flawless in five set at a not so cheap $150. On the other hand the price seems more reasonable when you look at the 5 products in the collection.
Key ingredients: algae extract, Aloe Vera, Chamomile, Davana plant.
Crunchi Facts
Crunchi prides itself in its blend of safe, certified-organic, and EcoCert ingredients. They recognize that not all of their ingredients are 100% natural, but they strategically select the synthetic ingredients that are going in to help with the efficacy and shelf-life of the product.
While toxin-free is a vague term, Crunchi defines it as ingredients that are not known to cause harm or health hazards based on available research. Their products are packaged primarily in glass or paperboard, and when they have to use plastic, they use plastic that is phthalate and BPA-free.
Crunchi does not claim that all of their ingredients are organic and natural because it is impossible to claim that and still be truthful when creating skincare products. They are not trying to greenwash anyone with their claims. Nevertheless, all of their products are vegan, gluten-free, cruelty-free, and non-gmo.
Beautycounter Basics
Beautycounter strives for safe, clean products for anyone to be able to use. They avoid nearly two-thousand ingredients, more than is banned in the US and the UK combined. They also aim for sourcing their materials responsibly and sustainably. They are also moving towards all of their packaging to be recycled, recyclable, refillable, reused, or compostable.
Beautycounter has some of the strictest standards when it comes to which ingredients they use, where the ingredients come from, how they are put together, and what packaging they use. They go beyond the regulatory standards of the US, the UK, and Canada and they were awarded for their product performance.
Beautycounter states clearly on their website the steps they are taking to become even cleaner in the future.
The Skinny on Ingredients
Crunchi and Beautycounter both have their lists of what they never use in their products. Crunchi calls this the Banished Ingredients list and Beautycounter has their Never List. On the flip side, both of them have comprehensive lists of the ingredients they do use in their products.
To get an idea of what ingredients neither company uses, parabens, coal tar, and formaldehyde are among them. Instead, Crunchi and Beautycounter use ingredients like aloe barbadensis leaf juice, caprylyl glycol, and stearyl alcohol.
Both of their websites list what product any given ingredient is used in. Beautycounter’s website even states where they got the ingredient, and what it is used for.
Crunchi and Beautycounter are both pioneers in advocating for more regulations and legislations about beauty products and hope to hold others to their higher standards. However, completely clean, non toxic makeup is difficult to find and proving a product is completely clean isn’t easy.
Comparing beauty product range
Crunchi focuses primarily on makeup and facial care, but they do also have some soaps that are just as clean and toxin-free as any of the rest of their products.
Crunchi have created the beautifully flawless foundation, a thick and medium to fuller coverage foundation. It feels creamy but application is smooth and it isn’t cakey. It’s also vegan and doesn’t contain genetically modified ingredients.
In comparison, Beauty counter sell a much thinner lightweight foundation called the skin twin featherweight foundation. The formula is build-able up to medium coverage and contain hyaluronic acid which the brand claim will make your skin look more plump. I’m not sure it’s effect is that obvious but it’s a nice foundation that you can easily apply evenly.
Beautycounter has over 150 items that range from makeup and skincare products, to shampoos and deodorants. They are incredibly honest about why each product has any ingredient. The beauty counter + All bright serum is one of my favourite non toxic products from the brand. This vitamin C blend is expensive, with a price tag usually over $80.
If you have skin that doesn’t have too many blemishes then this serum will have effect at evening out any small blemishes and smoothing your skin with a shiny glowing layer of serum.
On the other hand, Crunchi don’t sell a similar serum but if you are looking for a thicker more protective day cream, their daylight facial cream is a good choice. This is a highly moisturising cream to keep your skin hydrated, but it is thick and I think it’s more difficult to blend or build on with makeup.
A look at what customers think
When i’m thinking of buying some new makeup, especially from more expensive brands who claim to sell non toxic makeup, I like to look at customer reviews. This gives me the chance to see other users experiences, how the makeup reacted on their skin and whether they felt the price and quality of ingredients was reasonable or not.
Crunchi Customer thoughts – Pros and Cons
Crunchi don’t have a large number of customer reviews online because of the way they sell their non-toxic makeup through advocates. Instead they have several bloggers who have written about their products. It seems like a number of these bloggers could be advocates or may be trying to promote the range of products.
Beauty Counter and Crunchi Advocate Scheme comparison
Both advocate schemes are very popular with thousands of advocates involved in promoting their brands. Crunci offer advocated 20% off their products and a commission structure which pays out up to 40% of the price they sell a product for. You can also earn cash incentives and lots of different bonuses depending on you own and your teams sales.
I think Non-toxic makeup is one of the better products to try and sell in this way because you are also pushing a vision for a cleaner world, which a lot of people believe in. Beauty counter founder, Gregg Renfrew sees their advocates as educators rather than sales people. Clearly they are trying to sell both the companies products and vision for clean beauty. Renfrew does some genuine in her push for for FDA regulations on beauty products and has clearly built a very successful sales structure.
Beauty counter have an income disclosure statement available to view online and it says the average consultant earns $444 dollars in their first 6 months. This clearly isn’t a lot of money, but for some it’s a nice little bit of extra side income and the potential to earn more is there. However, 30% of beauty counter advocates earn nothing because they didn’t sell any of the brands natural makeup.
Final thoughts – Crunchi vs Beauty counter
If you are choosing between buying products from these 2 brands then it really comes down to which ingredients you like the sound of. Both Crunchi and Beauty counter use different non-toxic blends of ingredients across their range of skincare and makeup products. I feel like I slightly prefer beauty counter, i like their larger rang of products and the ingredients they use seem to suit me well.
Both brands have their negative and positive reviews but I wouldn’t say either brand is worse than the other. In my opinion I wouldn’t suggest you stick to one brand or the other, unless you are going to take part in their advocate scheme and get a significant discount. In fact, it may be worth joining the scheme and trying to get to the level where you receive a discount, just so you can buy their expensive products at a much more reasonable price.
Don’t be drawn into the argument about which brands is cleaner beauty. Both brands are clearly trying to sell cleaner makeup and aren’t only doing so as a sales gimmick. Their attention to details when it comes to ingredients and work outside of their business, pushing for cleaner beauty show that they are both trying to help put less toxic ingredients onto your skin and help recycle with more environmentally friendly packaging and bottles.