If you’ve been wondering if Eminence Organics is a reliable company, read on. You will decide for yourself by the end of this post.
Their labels may look “all natural,” but many of the ingredients do not match up as “organic.” You won’t find full disclosure of ingredients on their site either. They claim USDA Organic Certification, Demeter Certification, Leaping Bunny, and other certifications and memberships, as you can see from the screenshots below, yet not one bottle or jar that I saw carries any of them.
As you can see in the screen shot below, they’re not listed on the USDA Certified Organics site at all, though I did find them on the Leaping Bunny website, which, perhaps erroneously says they have organic certification. Well, I couldn’t find it! Leaping Bunny guarantees a product to be free of new animal testing, but as they say in their FAQs: “The Leaping Bunny list does not provide information about the composition of ingredients.” That means that if an ingredient contains animal by-products, it can still receive Leaping Bunny certification.
Eminence is listed on the Organic Consumer Organization (OCA), but the page also says that the list has not been maintained by the OCA since 2010—and look what happens when you click their link anyway. It takes you to a page that can’t be found. When I searched Eminence on the OCA site, a lot of posts came up about preventing “organics fraud.” Check it out for yourself here and plug in the word “Eminence” in the search box. (Stephanie Greenwood, founder of Bubble & Bee, wrote an excellent post about how to tell if a product is really organic here.)
Adding to the confusion, they look a lot like another company marketed as Ilike Organic Skin Care. So what’s the full story? I got it straight from a marketing rep for Ilike, a.k.a. Ilcsi Beautifying Herbs Hungary, as well as from an insider.
“The biggest hurdle for Ilike organic skin care in the US and Canada has been the confusion regarding the two brands,” says Shelly Cellak, a rep for the Burgeon Agency. “Eminence does not distribute Ilcsi products. Here is the story…” Shelly shared the following (also available here.)
“Eminence Organic Skin Care Ltd. (Vancouver, Canada) was the distributor for the territory of USA and Canada of Ilcsi products under the brand name Eminence from 2002 until 31st March 2005 only. This distributional contract terminated from 31st March 2005 onwards, since than Ilcsi Beautifying Herbs Hungary has not supplied any Ilcsi products to them. The current Eminence products are no longer associated in any way with Aunt Ilcsi Molnár or her family-owned company. Ilcsi Beautifying Herbs Hungary is taken aback to see, that their former distributor still uses the date of the beginning of Aunt Ilcsi’s work, ‘1958’, as the year of their foundation.
Eminence Organic Skin Care trademarked the word ‘Ilcsi’, which is the international brand and the nickname of the creator of the products they used to distribute from Ilcsi Beautifying Herbs Hungary until spring of 2005. For this reason Aunt Ilcsi’s products can not be marketed under her name in the US or Canada and now called ilike, which is another nickname for her. The ilike organic skin care products are the same as Ilcsi products and not associated in any way with Eminence Organic Skin Care.”
In Summary:
- Eminence distributed Ilcsi products from 2002-2005.
- Eminence trademarked the word Ilcsi, so, in the US & Canada, the brand goes by ilike organic skin care.
- Szep Elet (szepelet.com) is now the exclusive North American distributor of ilike products.
Here is the logo that Eminence uses today:
In digging further for information, Shelly directed me to a comment left on a Green Beauty Team post about greenwashing that also spoke about the plagiarized content and the founder’s loose social habits. It could have been written by a disgruntled employee or former lover, so take what you will from it, but people are not saying these things about Ilike, so take that into consideration too. I’ve pasted it here to save you the time of looking it up.
Lisa3559 realself.com shared the quoted text in the comments:
“…I was directly involved with Eminence from the beginning, even being a part of coming up with name Eminence. Boldijarre was a scammer from the word go and had no intentions of ever dealing honestly with the trust he was given by the parent company, Ilike. BTW, Ilike is not a nickname or newly conjured name, it is their official Hungarian name and has been forever. Ilike dropped Boldijarre because he was copying the products, which they suspected he would do. Boldijarre was not some unfortunate character who lost his distribution rights and had to find another way. He is a born liar and will say and do anything to get what he wants; just ask one of the thousands of women he’s used to get what he wants. Eminence is NOT made in Hungary, this is stupid obvious; if it was, why don’t you find it being sold there? Duhh…Eminence is made by local manufacturers in Vancouver and always has been. Spas in Vancouver are truly being played the fool, thinking they are buying exotic Hungarian products with Hungarian ingredients, when it’s being made in their own backyard with standard ingredients found in any skincare product! All Eminence has going for them is the continued deception of the public and some ripped-off formulas, created over lifetimes of work by the Ilike family. Way to go Boldijarre, steal someone else’s life work and pretend you did it. Like I said, this guy has no ethics whatsoever and should be avoided like the plague along with his phony company.” By Beets /(transcribed verbatim except for some needed punctuation).
“Eminence products are wrongly aligned with the 50 yr. old ‘Ilcsi, Beautifying Herbs of Hungary.’ It’s not made in Hungary, it’s made in Richmond B.C. by a company called Vitelle Labs. They use numerous preservatives and non-organic ingredients. If their ingredients were ever tested to compare against the ingredient list, they would be sued.”
“And last but not least, Eminence Organic Skin Care, [Boldijarre], trademarked the word ‘Ilcsi,’ which is the international brand and the nickname of the creator of the products he/they used to distribute from Ilcsi Beautifying Herbs Hungary until the spring of 2005. For this reason Aunt Ilcsi’s products can not be marketed under her name in the U.S. or Canada and are now called ilike, which is another nickname for her. The ilike organic skin care products are the same Ilcsi products and are not associated in any way with Eminence Organic Skin Care.”
You’ll find more evidence against Eminence on this discussion about the brand’s tomato cream here too.
Where does that leave us? Well, if you ask me, Eminence is not at all eminent. Meanwhile, I’ve been using a few products from ilike that I’m enjoying thoroughly—the sour cherry mask has also been independently recommended to me by one of my favorite estheticians, Cecilia Wong.
FYI, ilike currently does not share their ingredients list either, even though every product I received displays the INCI on the box. When I asked them about that, they shared this in an email from the company:
“The answer to her question is very simple and sad. We don’t publish our full ingredient list all over the internet because there have been attempts to copy our products and while this doesn’t stop it, we would like to do everything to make it difficult. All of our partners receive the full ingredient list for reference, and it is also on all of our retail boxes as it is required by the FDA.”
Based on my urgent recommendation, they are in the process of updating their website. Until then, I’m holding off on recommending them because transparency is absolutely essential to a green brand today. There is a greater call for full disclosure and using accurate terminology than ever before. “Natural” simply does not hold up anymore for the conscious consumer.
Have you used Eminence products? What are your thoughts about this controversy?
This is really saddening as I have been a fan of Eminence for years! 🙁 I will now be looking into Ilike and ditching Eminence for good. Thanks for bringing this to light, Sarita! We honestly shouldn’t have to do “Nancy Drewing” to find out if a brand is trustworthy or not…so frustrating!
xoxo
It is upsetting, for sure, Sabrina. And I do feel like I’ve got to whip out my trusty magnifying glass a lot more lately, but that’s a byproduct of awareness and discernment, so I guess we take the good with the bad. Thanks for commenting. If you love Eminence, you will love the original company even more. 🙂 XOXO
Wow! I have never used Eminence but have used ilike and have really like them – their eye cream is amazing! I did always think it was odd how close they looked to each other but didn’t think any further of it. Thank you for doing all of this work and sharing what you found!
Oh nice! I’ll have to give the eye cream a try. (Can we ever have enough good ones? I do wonder!) I am glad you found the post helpful. XO
wow that is SO shady! I knew they had to be kind of a shady brand considering I never saw them mentioned among too many of my green beauty friends and when I saw them mentioned, it all seemed very murky where ingredient lists and disclosure were concerned. Thanks so much for letting us know about this! what a trip!
I’ve never use Eminence before, but I’ve seen it included in Yuzen box, which is how I come to know about this brand. Funny thing is that I never thought of trying those samples myself. I am quite surprise by the lack of integrity of this company and how it market itself. It’s a good thing that I’ve familiar enough with green beauty, and I guess my gut is telling me not to use it the first time.
While it saddens me to read and hear about such situations it is so refreshing to read a blog post about another side of business that isn’t always so positively gushy but one of the truth of the lesser known sides of what it is to run a business in general, but espescially in the real beauty industry. Thank you for your bravery and enlightenment.
Thank you for passing this valuable information along!!
Oh my gosh, thanks SO much for this post. I had been interested in the sour cherry Eminence stuff on dermstore because sour cherries are my favorite, but I am so relieved to know the whole story before handing my money over to a con artist. I will also be sending your article to Dermstore in the hopes that they reconsider stocking them in their “natural” (lol) section!
Off to go peruse the REAL cherry products at ilike. *Edit, I don’t see how to actually purchase anything there? advice?*
I’m a professional solo esthetician using Eminence Organics for years. I’m sad to see you cast doubts on the company in this way. When you do so, it appears to cast doubts on my integrity as well. I have been using their products since 2009. Although I know that some of the earlier products look similar or have similar names to ilike’s, I had asked the ilike reps before committing to Eminence, and ilike claimed theirs was a different product even though products like Sour Cherry had the same name; that their production and extraction methods were different. I had heard there was some falling out at some point before I started using the product, but I’ve never found the company to be dishonest with me. They provide lots of education, great customer service and my clients love the product results. In addition, there are a great number of products that bear no resemblance to ilike’s at all, so how could the formulas be stolen if ilike doesn’t offer such products? Please look at the Age Corrective, Biodynamic, Youth Shield, Organic Beauty and Arctic Berry lines to name a few. I also am not sure how the alleged love life of the owner is of use. May I suggest you talk directly to management at ilike and to Eminence? I’d love to hear the outcome. Thanks.
Humbly yours,
joanna tringali
calm: massage & skincare for women
Brooklyn, NY
Thank you for your message, Joanna. I’m happy that you have had a good experience with this company. I, however, could never endorse a company that makes false claims. Even if nothing else is false, the fact that they say they are from Hungary and that the company started in 1958 is enough to cast doubts on their integrity. They may be very nice, but their roots are not honest and that calls into question how else they are deceiving people. I hope that the spa industry expands enough that you will have other, more credible companies to choose from going forward. Of course, I do not fault anyone for their use of this product line. It is ultimately a personal decision. I am clear that it does not align with my ethics. I wish you well. Thank you for your comment and for being kind.
This is so saddening!!! I used to use Eminence back when I lived in Nashville – around 2009/2012 or so! But then, before the wedding this past March I went to an Eminence Spa and got the whole skincare Blue Diamond Microdermabrasion done. It was wonderful…but I allllllways wondered about them. Goodness. I won’t be using their products anymore! I want to try Ilike!
Sammie, it’s really upsetting, I agree! It’s simply unfathomable that this brand has gotten away with stealing formulas and using the identity of the original company without any recourse, and spas unknowingly endorse them. I don’t say what anyone should do with the information, as that’s not up to me, but I do know where I stand on it. Company ethics and integrity totally matter. Thanks for sharing on FB, lovely! XO
it appears that madonna endorses them…or is that a lie too?
how can someone test their products to call them out???
Hi Kara, in the discussion at the bottom of the “tomato” post that I linked, there seems to be a general consensus that the celebrity endorsements of Eminence are not authentic. However, I’ve never paid too much attention to celebrity endorsements, since they do not mean much. Firstly, a celebrity may notnecessarily be an educated consumer, and secondly, they are likely paid to endorse the product which means it’s a job.
Great post. My only experince with Eminence is a sample from a subscription box so I can’t speak to their line or business practices. However, I can speak to the deception that goes on in the “clean, green, natural” product industry. I have made the mistake of buying products marketed under these terms and in the “right” section at Target without fully reading every ingredient (I blame the toddler) only to get home to find SLS in everything I bought!
So I guess as disheartening as this info about Eminence is it does not surprise me. Isn’t that sad? Now I see a “clean, natural, green” label and I say, “Oh, no you don’t! Prove it to me that you are what you claim to be!”.
And on the positive, congrats on being a confirmed savvy green consumer! I’ve been there too, by the way. Picking up a product on the fly thinking it was all good (considering it was from Whole Foods or something) and getting home and being surprised by the ingredients. Le sigh! Oh, and I totally would blame it on a screaming toddler moment. LOL 😉
I think if we as people can look beyond the words “natural” and “organic” we will uncover the truth much, much sooner. Unfortunately, we have to understand that many companies say what sells, after all, they’re seeing the bottom line. The best step that we must do as consumers is read and understand the ingredient list. It matters. Further, when it comes to ilike not listing their ingredient decks on their website, that’s a problem and should be considered before purchasing. If a company wanted to copy the product, they could simply pay for reverse engineering or buy the product. There is no excuse. Keeping their ingredient decks hidden may be putting your
healthy, happy skin at risk.
I did intensive amount of research on several organic brands before committing to Eminence products. I did see the accusations of brand identity and ingredient theft but I decided to separate the product from the company and its practices and l have continued purchasing these products since 2013. I thought that despite the shady dealings of the owner, the products were improved on, with the product line being continually expanded and new products being added to work together synergistically forming a very comprehensive product line, so much so that the Eminence brand far exceeded the capacity of Ilike products in the aspects of quality, quantity and ease of accessibility. I do know they have some problematic ingredients such as octinoxate in their sunscreens, but I did trust that they were otherwise truly Organic, free from synthetic preservatives and their ingredient list on each product corresponded to what was actually in it. This article does seem like an opinion and ethics piece, so I am not sure whether to believe in its claims about the ingredients. I mean considering that its very very illegal to put anything in a product that is not mentioned on the label and the strict laws in Canada and the distribution of this brand through major spas. But I am worried that this might be true. Would there be a way for to verify the ingredients and check if this is truly the case?
Hi Utsav, I appreciate your dilemma and also your desire to learn more about the company you put your faith in. I think the only way to verify ingredients is to have the products third-party tested at your expense. That’s what individuals are doing with Young Living essential oils, another company marred by a shady background, and unfortunately, the oils are coming up adulterated. As for ingredients being as they say on the box, that I do not know. What I do question is the misleading list of certifications that may or may not exist. Certainly their organic claim does not, and that in itself is unethical. When a company is not upholding truth in marketing, how do we know it will uphold truth in other ways? That is what I would question. I hope you find your answers! All I can say is that I would not purchase this line. Something seems “off,” and too many people are confirming it.
I know people can be turned of by the dishonest actions of a company but I prefer to focus more on the product. Recently there has been news about Tricia Trimble of Suntegrity and her dealings with a former employee who posts regularly on youtube about his mistreatment. But it is undeniable that the products are great and there seems to be no brand focusing on spf lip colour products in the organic space. I feel that we must be critical of companies and people on social media just as much as we are of ingredients so as to contribute to improving the green beauty space and to demand justice for any infractions. But on the other hand we still do not have enough companies and products to choose from and I don’t know if we should be boycotting the ones we do have. That being said I will look into your suggestion of having the products third-party tested. Please let us all know if you learn anything new about this brand, its ingredients or its certifications.
There are more and more honest companies to choose from. I’d rather support the ones that I have looked into as being transparent, than one that’s not founded on honesty. That is just me. I know and have worked with many effective, truly organic or natural companies. It is not the same climate as it was even five years ago. There are better brands to support. That said, it is entirely a personal decision. And you are right that people will talk about other brands. However, what is being said about Eminence takes it to another level. One poor employee experience is hardly grounds to stop using a product line. Lack of full transparency and duping the consumer is, IMHO.
The reason why I want to try and look into this matter is because I really love the Eminence products and would hope everything works out and I can continue using them. They have a very extensive and comprehensive product line with high end ingredients that work together synergistically. In my research I haven’t found a brand which covers all the products that Eminence provides. If there is an alternative high end brand other than Ilsci or Ilike that you could recommend which provides such a comprehensive product line, that would be great.
Hi Utsav. You could check out the packaging claims and ingredient list on Eminence’s Sun Defense Minerals SPF 30. You will see that there are marketing claims on the package that it’s fortified with vitamins A, C and E. However, there is no form of vitamin A, C or E listed within the ingredients. Additionally there is nothing on the label to indicate what ingredient is responsible for the strong perfume-like scent. I found Sarita’s website after doing a search to see if others had concerns about deception from this company. The only reason I bought the Sun Defense Minerals was because a local medi-spa uses the Eminence line and touts it as the “organic” and “natural” skincare line. I liked the ingredient listing and purchased it for those main reasons. But now I don’t know what’s truly in the product. The company has not responded to my email inquiring for the full disclosure of ingredients. Maybe it didn’t help that I quoted the FDA in my email query to them with regard to those that sell cosmetics must legally disclose the ingredients on the packaging. Thanks Sarita for the informative post.
One can use the EWG website to get the ratings on many skin care products. Eminence does come up. This site lists ingredients and what their affects are. I personally use Intelligent Nutrients.
Thanks. I’d rather support a company like Intelligent Nutrients. As far as ingredients disclosure, I’d be interested to see if the ones listed on EWG are the same as the ingredients the company is using now. I do not know, but I’m curious. That said, I’d appreciate full disclosure of ingredients on the website and I’ve recommended the same to Ilike as well. Consumers like us have a right to know what we are using. Thank you for your comment. XO
Wow – We had spoken with the USDA Organic Certifying body and they told us their label is falsely used A LOT! Always check with them first before assuming that label is correct. There is a directory of the certifying bodies under their umbrella- and that is a good way to double check. Here is a link: https://apps.ams.usda.gov/integrity/ Notice that one of our most treasured brands – HollyBeth Organics comes up in the database – but nothing for Eminence!
So what is the consensus on Ilike/Ilcsi? I see an ingredient list here:
https://www.amazon.com/Ilike-Stonecrop-Whipped-Moisturizer-1-7/dp/B00AWGXT6Y
And here:
http://www.dermstore.com/product_Stonecrop+Whipped+Moisturizer_39735.htm
I have been using Ilcsi Beautifying Herbs products since my teens. Started using them when I lived in Hungary 25 years ago. At that time they were and already established and popular brand of natural cosmetics over there. In fact, they advocated for natural products long before it became a popular thing to do. The company was founded by Aunt Ilcsi, in the 1950s.
The first time I encountered Eminence Cosmetics was in the early 2000s, as this was the name Ilcsi Beautifying Herbs used to market their products under in the US. I have used these products for a few years back then. It is all sadly true about how things went down. After the initial years establishing a successful distribution network, the owners of Eminence started making their own counterfeit products to increase their profits. They not only stole whatever recipes they could but also all the background information and have blatantly plagiarized Aunt Ilcsi and her compelling story.
A couple of years ago I was having a facial at a spa in Santa Fe (a mistake it turned out, as the Japanese bee honey or whatever based product line caused my face -used only to Ilike Organic products- to break out badly) and the very nice aesthetician told me how they used to use Eminence products at this high-end spa, but according to her ” had to discontinue their use because the quality of the product has declined dramatically.” I told her about the counterfeiting and she said it finally made sense to her how a previously excellent product could have changed so much for the worse.
I have never met anyone affiliated with Eminence but have visited the laboratory in Hungary where Ilcsi Beautifying Herbs products are made. I wrote a blog post about this visit a few years ago. It is an EU certified organic facility, and as far as I know the EU standards for organic are just as stringent as the USDA’s. If you are ever in Budapest, I am sure they would welcome you to tour their facility as they did to me.
Nowadays every time I see a spa advertising using Eminence products I feel like walking up to them and telling them ” you are being scammed”, but of course I have never actually done it. Guess I am missing that crusader gene. I was therefore very happy to have found your article and support you wholeheartedly in bringing the truth out to the open. Thank you for being a voice for organic products.
I did some more digging, don’t know if I can trust Ilike products either https://www.organicconsumers.org/old_articles/bodycare/documents/OCA_et_all_NOP_ComplaintFINAL-1.pdf
Thank you, Utsav. I can only say that Ilike was helpful in divulging all their ingredients and the company doesn’t boast a fake organic seal, which Eminence does on the website. More investigating is required but I’ve got many brands that I do love and support to devote my time to.
Thank you! I’ve had so many people recommend the brand but they always seemed sketchy or green washed so I never took the plunge but know I now for sure! Your the best!
I’m happy you found this helpful, Karlie! Thanks for letting me know. Xo
Sarita, I’m constantly on the hunt for good organic skin care products. I’m curious what other brands do you love and support?
Julie, you’ll find all my favorite brands on my blog and on my Instagram feed. 🙂
What I found to be interesting is that when you read the ingredients, none of them say organic?
First of all vitelle labs is a private label manufacturer and they can manufacture cosmetics for anyone.
Estée Lauder contracts out some of their products for Canada for vitelle to make whenever their USA factory is overwhelmed with work.
Coming back to Eminence, yes vitelle does make cosmetics for this brand but under strict manufacturing practice.
Vitelle labs has a very high standard perhaps higher than Hungary.
I would rather buy a fresh Eminence made in Vancouver then Eminence from Hungary that may have been made 6 months ago and by the way Made in Hungary on the Eminence box means the original formula was cooked up in Hungary.
Biotherm cosmetics label says Made in Monaco but most of their manufacturing and filling is contracted to private label manufacturers in China.
So why Made in Monaco simply because the original product was first developed in the Biotherm lab in Monaco.The rest of manufacturing is contracted out to factories around the world.
Sarita, thank you for writing this amazing article. This article definitely needs to be shared! In my opinion, nothing is more frustrating than seeing high end spas and well educated therapists fall into the trap of this brand. What really blows my mind are educational institutes using this brand. What has this world come to? I am happy for those who have received amazing results and I have no problem with those using it, but I really wished people understood this brand is not 100% organic, not manufactured in Hungary and really not what it says it is.
I am a therapist myself and have been in this industry for many years. I have also worked in manufacturing and know certifications are usually just bought, all you need is to pay your annual fee. I have so SO much more to say but will keep it at this for now.
Many years ago I met Ilsci Molnar and her friend Kati. While having tea with Ilsci at her home, The name of the products I purchased went by the name of Szepito Fuvek ( beautifying herbs)
There was another woman there who was buying product to be sold in Canada. I just assumed that she was using the name Eminence, for her “territory”….
I have met Boldijarre, while holding a Szepito Fuvek product catalog, and he did look a bit surprised.
This has been going on for many years.
Thank you so so much for posting this! I always do a second (or third) search into a new for me company on it’s animal testing policy and your research completely stopped me from purchasing. Also…I’m kind of devastated to discover that Leaping Bunny products can have animal by-products in them. Typically (not always though) that means some animal had to die for me to get to that product which is completely beyond my comprehension and never ever ok. Please keep up the good work~
Hi Elishea, I know! Isn’t that upsetting? I checked to make sure this was accurate because I heard it from a company that works with many of these certifying companies and Leaping Bunny is not vegan. I guess we can draw our own conclusions from that: http://ethicalelephant.com/cruelty-free-vegan-labels-logos/
LOL, I love and will always use Eminence. I wish that Ilike would realize that no body cares about their stupid story and move on, Stop trying to sell your products by slandering other companies. Eminence is not a part of this scandal its completely one sided. Grow up people and find other more mature ways to sell you products.
I disagree, Sandy. I believe there are many people who want authentic products and will not support brands that have ripped off other brands in order to build their platform. That’s completely unethical. I want to buy products that I can trust. A brand that’d built on a lie is not trustworthy at all.
Sarita, thank you so much for sharing this information. I was actually looking into buying Eminence products since that’s what was used on me last time I went to a spa 🙁 but I am glad it took me a while to actually look into buying and then came across your article. I will not support a dishonest company who is only looking after their own interest/money. Could you please recommend other brands that are worth investing? I would greatly appreciate it since I have actually never bought any skin care products. Thank you! 🙂
Hi Ruth, thanks for your feedback! I’m glad you found the post helpful and I’d love to help you discover new products. I’d also love to invite you to a Facebook group that I co-lead with Cindy Smith Bokma called the Green Beauty Insiders where bloggers, experts, and brand founders connect to learn from each other and recommend products. If you’re not on Fb, no worries! I won’t leave you stranded. Feel free to write to me at [email protected] and tell me a little bit about your skin and what you are looking for in a skincare regimen. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Thanks for speaking truth. The organic craze is all deceitful marketing and branding ploys to make the almighty buck. Sadly Ilike is guilty to For example, the ingredients of Ilike Organic “Organic Skin
Care Nettle Exfoliating Wash” are:
Linum Usitataissimu; Water; Glycerine; Oleic Acid; Potassium Carbonate; Urtica
Dioica; Stearic Acid; Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate; Cetyl Alcohol; Citrus Limon;
Cymbopogon Citratus; Ascorbyl Palmitate; Tocopherol; Chlorophyll; Citral; D-limonene
These aren’t organic ingredients either but to me the companies getaway with all this BS if one or two products meet compliance standards.
I do believe there will be a crackdown on the word “organic” being used in brand names across tbe board, when they don’t back it up with a mostly organic ingredients deck. (Note Osmia’s removal of the word Organics in its name and One Love Organics receiving EcoCert Certification in order to back up its brand name.) That said, the difference with Ilike is that they don’t claim to have certifications the way that Eminence does. That is where Eminence breaks trust and tries to mislead their customers.
I agree with your statement about Ilike not using certifications under false pretenses but they do brand themselves as an organic skincare line. So this can be confusing to the consumer if there not product ingredient savvy. Bottom line the cosmetic industry needs to be regulated to stop the craziness!
I hear you, Eadie. I’d say a resounding yes, but I’m not certain we’d be thrilled with full-fledged government regulation either. If the US would adapt the EU model, then yes. But putting the FDA in charge would open up a whole can of worms and would likely shut down many small businesses because they wouldn’t be able to afford the fees. I don’t fully trust the government to get it right. Though the prospect of no more contaminated products is a lovely one! We talk about safer products but some are not even hygienic. 🙁
As someone who worked for Eminence Organics in their head office on Broadway,Vancouver long enough to know most of the staff going on there,sadly I have to agree with this article. Their story is pretty shaddy from the roots!!The products’ quality on the other hand is pretty aligned with competition’s!They basically build a tiny empire on a rotten foundation there.Ethics don’t matter in their world ..it’s just the bottom line. Also what’s sad is that they are using PR like various charitable acts, building trees and even Boldijare’s desease from childhood as a diversion from the fact that they have started this whole operation by deceiving their old Hungarian partner.Yes, they won in court and payed their dues to this lady but that does not make you a better man. However, I have to hand them this..when it comes to quality I know their products are awarded continuosly by magazines and spa organizations..so they must be doing something right in that direction. I confess that I had used their producs while working there mostly because of the generous discount but now.. a few years later I have long forgotten about them.Organic sells very well right now, I don’t know how many companies are producing really and purely organic staff out there, even though they advertise as being an organic cosmetics brand.
Sarita, do you have any general pointers for those of us who are new to clean beauty about how to get a basic sense of a brand’s ethics and practices? What are key certifications that you respect?
Dermstore has the ingredient list for the Caramel Latte Tinted Moisturizer SPF 25; are they harmful or not ?
http://www.dermstore.com/product_Tinted+Moisturizer+SPF+25_32587.htm
Zinc Oxide 5%, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate 6%. Tilia Cordata Flower Water (linden Tea), Butyrospermum Parkii (shea Butter), Aloe Barbadensis (aloe) Juice, Zea Mays (corn) Germ Oil, Simmondisa Chinesis (jojoba) Seed Oil, Caprylic/capric Triglyceride, Zinc Oxide, Ethylhexyl Methoxiycinnamate, Iron Oxides, Cetearyl Alcohol * Sodium Ceterayl Sulfate, Vegetable Glyceirn, Vegetable Squalane, Ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10), Ascorbyl Palmitate (vitamin E Ester), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Naturally-derived Glyceryl Stearate, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Sorbitol , Vegetable Lysine, Plant-based Diglycerin, Lactic Acid, Sodium PCA, Glycine Soya (soybean) Oil, Corn-derived Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate, Xanthan Gum, Capylyl Glycol, Theobroma Cacao (cocoa) Lecithin, May Contain Ultra Marines (minerals).
Thank you for sharing with us about this brand. I’m vegan and it’s hard to find a cruelty free brand. Wich brands do you recommend?
Have you ever heard about PCA skin? Thanks again and await your reply.
Hi Katia, My blog is full of brands that I recommend, so it’s hard to narrow down. What are you looking for? I’ve heard of PCA skin but haven’t looked at it in years.
Is Ilike any different? I recall going to a presentation years ago and they had a beautiful film showing how they harvest all the herbs and flowers along with the processing, but the labels didn’t match up. The product label ingredients contained many artificial preservatives and other ingredients I would not choose for my practice as a holistic esthetician, and therefore, were not organic at all.
I am so amazed at the comments saying “separate the product from the company”. If you buy a product, you are supporting the company with your dollars. So you’re saying that it’s ok to support those who lie and deceive and god knows…if the product makes your skin feel nice? How can you trust the product, if you can’t trust the company?
Maybe it’s just me, but this “logic” makes absolutely no sense.
I love Intelligent Nutrients – I believe that not only are the products pure, and beautiful for my skin, the company is trustworthy and ethical (giving more credibility to their certified organic, cruelty free products).
Always wondered about the move to a new address in the US. I loved the products, but stopped using them about 6 years ago or so.
Now even uncertain what to try next.
Like Katia, I am interested in only vegan, cruelty-free products. So many brands claim to be “cruelty free” but then you find out they’re sold in China (which requires animal testing), and/or contain animal-derived ingredients in their products. I’ve never heard of cruelty-free sausage . . . how can a product claim to be free of cruelty if an animal had to die to produce it? In any event, I ran across this article while looking for more information on their animal testing policy and vegan products. There is conflicting information all over the internet. Eminence is PeTA-approved (last I checked), but it appears that they sell in China. What’s the deal? And what are some reliable vegan brands?
After purchasing Eminence Sun Defense Minerals SPF 30, I contacted Eminence via email asking for an ingredient list of their Sun Defense Minerals and have received no reply. In my email I quoted information from the FDA’s website indicating that they are legally required to disclose their ingredient list on the product’s packaging. The package claimed that the product is enriched with vitamin C, E and A. None of these items are listed in the ingredients. In addition, it claimed to be fragrance free. The product has a “perfume” scent, but there is nothing in the ingredient list to indicate anything with fragrance. For reference, the ingredients listed on the package: micronized zinc oxide, micronized titanium dioxide, bismuth, iron oxides, sericite and mica. There’s certainly no vitamin A, C or E from those ingredients, nor is there any item listed that has a perfume-like scent. How can they get away with this? I made my decision to purchase this item based on the ingredients listed. I’m very mindful of what I put in and on my body and don’t like the fact that I have no idea what is really in this product. I will be doing further digging in effort to stop their deceptive practices.
Hi Sarita,
I will be totally honest here, I work for a skincare company that produces an organic line. Its frustrating and confusing for consumers to know all about “greenwashing” but you have provided an excellent article.