Hi! My name is Lauren Cutillo and I have been a Beautycounter customer for almost a year and a consultant for 6 months.

Discovering Beautycounter was such a blessing as I was desperate to find products that were safe and effective. I am a very conscious eater, as well as a fitness enthusiast, and it did not make sense to significantly invest in my health but then put harmful products all over my body. It only takes 27 seconds for your skin to absorb the products put on it and enter your bloodstream. Our skin is our largest organ and it’s our responsibility to take care of it.

So that brings me to my next point…what is Beautycounter?

Beautycounter is the first department store quality skincare, body care and makeup brand that refuses to use any ingredients linked to health harm. As a company, we have a mission to get safe, effective products into the hands of everyone and we are well on our way there. Decades of studies indicate that serious health issues (including but not limited to asthma, cancer, and infertility) are on the rise and are due in some part to our ongoing exposure to toxic chemicals—whether it’s in the shower, on our commute, while we eat lunch at a local restaurant, or when we clean our kitchens at home.

There are more than 80,000 chemicals on the market today. Many don’t have any safety data. This is particularly true of those used in the skin care and beauty industry. Moreover, The United States has not passed a major federal law to regulate the safety of ingredients used in personal care products since 1938. That is a shocking and simply scary statistic. What’s worse is that the Food and Drug Administration (the agency that regulates cosmetics in the United States) allows companies to use chemicals known to be extremely harmful in the products we put on our bodies and on our kids’ bodies every single day, day after day, and to make their own judgments about safety.

Even worse, over the past two decades, the European Union has banned more than 1,300 chemicals in the product formulas of personal care products and restricted the levels of over 250 more in such products. The United States has only partially banned 11 to date. This is not a typo – 11 ingredients total.

At Beautycounter, we’re committed to a health and safety standard that goes well beyond what’s required by U.S. law: We’ve banned the use of more than 1,500 questionable or harmful chemicals through our "Never List”—all while ensuring our products perform and that they’re as indulgent as any other luxe shampoo, lipstick, or oil in the market. None of this work is easy, but it is so worth it.

This is about progress—not perfection. Because every little bit counts.

So, now that you have heard all of the scary facts about what is really going on in the products we use every day, how could you not do better for yourself and for your family? In an effort to celebrate, support and honor Breast Cancer Awareness month I am partnering with Zest Juice Co. and offering a $5 Beautycounter product credit, on any purchase over $25 placed with me, when you buy a Zest “Smoothie for Hope” from October 18 – October 31, while supplies last. 

Beautycounter supports the Breast Cancer Fund – an organization that works to prevent breast cancer by eliminating our exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation linked to the disease. The Breast Cancer Fund is a founding member and national coordinator of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition working to eliminate dangerous chemicals from cosmetics and personal care products.