Defining ‘Conscious Beauty’ at Ulta

Ulta Beauty has announced details about Conscious Beauty at Ulta Beauty, which it describes as a holistic initiative to provide guests greater choices and transparency. With strategic partners in place, the program will debut this fall and will certify brands under five, key pillars — clean ingredients, cruelty free, vegan, sustainable packaging and positive impact – intended to meet guest needs and leave a positive legacy for our world, the Bolingbrook, IL-based retailer said.

Under its Sustainable Packaging pillar, Ulta Beauty has pledged to ensure 50% of all packaging sold, including the Ulta Beauty Collection, will be made from recycled or bio-sourced materials, or will be recyclable or refillable by 2025.

“As the beauty retail leader, we have the unique opportunity to inspire positive change in our industry,” said Dave Kimbell, president of Ulta Beauty. “With Conscious Beauty at Ulta Beauty, our focus is to educate, guide and simplify product choice and elevate those brands doing good for our world. This initiative helps our guests readily navigate our assortment through the lens of what matters most to them. We are thrilled to offer such transparency and set significant standards as a company.”

The platform will help guests navigate brand choices tailored to their personal values across the following areas:

Clean Ingredients: Indicates which brands comply with the Ulta Beauty Made Without List, an ingredient standard created for Conscious Beauty.

•The Made Without List is grounded in science and was developed in partnership with ingredient and health experts. As research, technology and regulations evolve, so too will the Made Without List. At launch, this designation indicates a brand is free of parabens, phthalates and ingredients from more than 25 chemical categories.

•Participating brands will be certified via ClearForMe, largely regarded as the leading independent ingredient authority, to ensure ingredient transparency.

•The recently announced Credo Collection at Ulta Beauty, featuring eight exciting clean beauty brands, will launch within the Conscious Beauty platform.

Cruelty Free: Elevates brands that certify as never engaging in animal testing. This pillar incorporates third-party certification from organizations such as PETA, Leaping Bunny, and Choose Cruelty-Free.

Vegan: Underscores beauty products made free of animal products, animal by-products, or animal derivatives.

Sustainable Packaging: Designates brands made with reduced, recyclable or refillable packaging to minimize the more than 120 billion packaging units produced globally annually within the cosmetics industry¹.
•Ulta Beauty will pilot a circular shopping experience as the exclusive beauty retailer for Loop, a reusable packaging pioneer. This relationship will fuel actionable improvements to packaging processes, begin to tackle the sizeable beauty-waste issue, and contribute to Ulta Beauty’s2025 sustainable packaging goals.
• The company will support the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s (SPC’s) mission to make actionable improvements in packaging systems and will apply How2Recycle instructions on owned brand packaging and print materials.

Positive Impact: Highlights brands with giving back at their core and those that champion meaningful causes.

Ulta Beauty has established the Conscious Beauty Advisory Council. To date, the council includes Annie Jackson, co-founder and COO, Credo Beauty, and Tom Szaky, CEO and co-founder, Loop, among others.

“We have always taken pride in offering guests a diverse assortment of products to meet their individual beauty needs, including many brands that align to the Conscious Beauty pillars,” said Kimbell. “Today’s announcement marks a definitive milestone on our ongoing journey in this space and we look forward to further meeting guests needs this fall in-store and online.”