Source: Vogue
The Gwyneth Paltrow-approved brand launches in India with Boddess.com and House of Beauty. We spoke to the founder about alternative ingredients, the danger with DIY beauty and what clean beauty means to her
BY AVANTI DALAL
Today the natural beauty category really has reached peak mainstream popularity, but in 2005, when Juice Beauty launched, it was a different time for beauty. It was the time of harsh scrubs, acid astringents, purple eyeshadow and lots of lip gloss. But Karen Behnke knew that when she wanted to create a beauty brand, she wanted to take an entirely different route. “Experiencing hormonal changes and the beginning of lines in my skin, I set out to find healthy skincare solutions that delivered visible results. My goal was to create luxurious organic formulations that performed better than conventional beauty products. I was astounded to learn that, although the skin can absorb what is placed on it, there were very few available healthy personal care products that worked well,” she says. So she worked extensively with PhD chemists, physicians, and microbiologists to perfect Juice Beauty’s chemistry. The formulations started with a basic premise: she believed that by formulating with an antioxidant and vitamin-rich organic botanical juice base, rather than PEGS/petroleum derivatives or water, and combining it with powerful skincare ingredients, it would yield better results than conventional or natural products.
Infact, Juice Beauty was created before the clean beauty revolution even started. For Behnke, being clean at the time meant using safe ingredients that would really work, and finding solutions that are well-tested. “Product development, with our professional chemists, is my passion. I love working with all of our ingredients, which we pioneered for the clean beauty industry that provide an alternative to leading conventional chemical ingredients. For instance, organic grapeseed instead of silicones, coconut alkanes instead of dimethicones, plant pigments instead of synthetic dyes, refined non-nano zinc instead of chemical sunscreens, argan plant + deep purple carrot instead of carbon black and more,” she says.
On the other hand, this doesn’t mean that wanting to use natural ingredients should necessarily push you down the DIY route. “I do not think DIY skincare is a good idea because we get many consumers asking for our help after they have burned their face somehow trying to do DIY in their kitchen. Why would someone try to be a chemist if they are not?” says Behnke. Instead, look for brands and products that have validated their ingredients and tested (and re-tested them) to ensure efficacy. Although we use very different chemistry labs than conventional chemical companies do, we use the same clinical validation studies labs. We do this because we want the same PhD scientists that are looking at wrinkle depth, hyperpigmentation reduction, skin tone and texture changes for the big brands to be looking at Juice Beauty product results,” she confirms.
But engineering products that are organic, safe and really work—that’s the challenge. Behkne worked with Gwyneth Paltrow (an investor in Juice Beauty) to create a mascara that would fit all the boxes—be clean, but really last. “We turned down so many of our initial formula drafts as we both wanted to have a mascara that would stay on, yet would have clean, natural and organic ingredients without synthetic dyes. Also no harsh glues, so we used plant resin instead.” The end goal is a product that the consumer doesn’t have to compromise with–making it a win-win solution for everybody.
