Our Commitment
At The Green Kiss, we approach our role as curators and creators of healthy beauty products with great care and responsibility. We are committed to offering products that we believe are among the safest and most effective on the market today, not just what is trendy or new. For example, we never have "new for the sake of new" here, as we believe in ensuring that appropriate data is in place for "trending" new skincare ingredients.
Every item we bring in must meet our high standards for performance, ingredient integrity, longevity, and ethical production. If a product does not align with these values, it does not make it into our assortment.
We understand that navigating the world of clean beauty can be confusing. With constant product launches, reformulations, and shifting opinions, it can be hard to know what to trust. That is where we come in. Our team continually researches, tests, and evaluates each product in real-life situations to ensure it performs well and supports our goal of offering a diverse range of shades and options for all skin tones and types.
The ingredients we allow, and those we choose to avoid, are guided by current research. We recognize that scientific understanding is always evolving, and that there is often conflicting information and claims available. To make informed decisions, we examine a wide range of perspectives, including data from independent researchers, scientists and formulators within the conventional beauty industry, and those aligned with natural or alternative approaches. We do our best to account for varying levels of bias in these sources, and we take the time to thoughtfully analyze and cross-reference the information.
Our buying guidelines are therefore not static, they are reviewed and updated regularly to reflect new findings, emerging concerns, or even the absence of sufficient research in certain areas. We believe in making the best decisions we can, based on the information available at the time, and we remain open to change as more evidence becomes available.
Because of this, we have developed what we feel are some of the most thoughtful and thorough ingredient standards in the beauty industry. While the complete list of ingredients we avoid is extensive, you can trust that the products we carry are free from substances that current research has linked to potential health or environmental concerns, including known or suspected carcinogens, hormone disruptors, certain synthetic preservatives, harsh irritants, and ingredients tied to unethical animal testing practices.
We do not believe in perfection, but we do believe in progress. And with The Green Kiss, you can feel confident that every product has been carefully vetted, with your well-being and values in mind.
We take the ‘norm’ for the green beauty industry buying guidelines, and then we go further. What do we mean by that? We do not carry anything with synthetic fragrance, cyclic silicones, or any questionable synthetic preservatives (phenoxyethanol being one of them). This means that those grey area ingredients are never found in our products. We work to stay up on all current research and make amendments to these guidelines as new information becomes available.
You will find no scare tactics or high-and-mighty green beauty jargon or fads here. Just honest information that is delivered in a fun and relatable way, providing you with the best information in green beauty.
So whether you are new to cleaner cosmetics or you are a tried and true label reader, we are so glad you’re here!
The Green Kiss Six
1. Safe + Natural Ingredients. All ingredients must be deemed safe from our research at the current time. Please note that research is ongoing for most ingredients out there, and we are constantly keeping our buying guidelines up to date with new developments.
2. Results. All of the natural beauty products and organic cosmetics that we stock must be effective. To make sure of this, our professional makeup artists test each product before stocking them at The Green Kiss.
3. No Animal Testing. None of the products we carry are tested on animals. As well, with the exception of a handful of products that include beeswax, honey, silk, or DMAE, our selection of products currently sits at about 95% vegan.
4. Social Responsibility. All products must be manufactured following fair and just practices.
5. Environmentally Friendly Packaging. We always look for suppliers who support environmentally friendly packaging choices. These responsible choices include limiting their use of plastic, choosing packaging that is biodegradable and/or recyclable.
6. Formulas that are biodegradable or in the case of noncyclic silicones (which we allow in our SPF selection), degradable. Part of what goes onto your skin ends up getting washed down the drain during your next shower. So it is important to us that all of the products we stock are biodegradable or degradable to protect our local ecosystems and wildlife.
*Please note that as of September 2024, we now allow formulations that adhere to EU standards, which include certain synthetic dyes, into our selection of colour cosmetic products. This decision was made based on current research on all available pigments on the market. Because some dyes listed in INCI lists are done as “colour codes”, we have added a new section under each colour cosmetic ingredient listing that clearly states what the product is pigmented with. We have ensured that anyone who wants to know what is in their products can find the ingredients quickly, easily, and in plain language.