Bee Loved is currently vying for the Free From crown, a coveted award that recognises personal care brands for their commitment to skincare products that are free from chemicals, nanoparticles, preservatives and other specified ingredients.
The “Free From” approach is central to our ethos at Bee Loved and ensures that our natural skincare ranges steers clear of parabens such as artificial fragrances, petrochemicals, sodium laureth sulfate and phthalates.
The awards program provides a range of strict criteria for entrants and takes the following approach to ingredients:
Excluded ingredients:
Aluminium
Artificial fragrance
Ethanolamine compounds and salts (eg MEA, TEA, DEA and derivatives)
Formaldehyde and its releasers (eg imazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea, quaternium-15)
Methylisothiazolinone (MI) and methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI)
Microbeads / microspheres (plastic)
Palm oil from non-certified sources
Parabens (butyl-, ethyl- or methylparaben)
Para-phenylenediamine (PPD)
Peanut / peanut-derived ingredients
Petroleum (petrolatum) or mineral oil (paraffinum liquidum)
Petroleum-derived non-preservative ingredients, including solvents, humectants (e.g. butylene glycol*) and carbomers
Phthalates (eg diethyl phthalate)
Polyethylene glycol (PEG)*
Sodium lauryl / laureth sulphate (SLS/SLES)
Synthetic silicones and derivatives
Talc, unless pressed
Toluene / toluene-2,5-diamine (TD)
Triclosan
* botanically-derived glycol humectants and glycols used for the exclusive purpose of preservation (eg propylene glycol) are permitted.
Food allergens: Only products that exclude three or more of the following major food allergens are eligible – gluten-containing grains, dairy, sesame, tree nuts, soya and egg. Products containing peanut derivatives are not eligible.
Other Ingredients (permitted though credit given to products which avoid them):
Ethoxylated ingredients (eg PEGs, ammonium laureth sulphate)
Palm oil from certified sources
Synthetic colours
Preservatives
Synthetically derived preservatives (which may or may not be derived from petrochemicals, such as phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin and dehydroacetic acid) are allowed. Products will receive credit for using COSMOS-approved preservation systems (namely benzoic, dehydroacetic, sorbic, salicylic acids and their salts, and benzyl alcohol) and additional credit for using wholly natural preservation systems (eg plant enzymes/acids, essential oils).
Nanoparticles
Cosmetics containing nanoparticles must adhere to EU rules on usage and labeling.
Winners will be announced on 7 July 2017 in London. To learn more about the Free From Skincare Awards 2017 click here.