Have you ever wondered what makes your favorite eyeshadow sparkle? Why does your lip gloss make your wrinkles sparkle? Or what makes your highlighter show golden light? The answer is mica. It is usually used for anything with shimmer or gloss, as well as the foundation of many products from powder to eyeliner, to create a matte effect. In other words, it is everywhere in your beauty products. And because it is tricky to get sources ethically, this is not always good news. "This is indeed one of the most difficult supply chains to trace," said Gregg Renfrew, founder and CEO of Beautycounter. "This is not just for our industry. Companies in the electronics, automotive and beauty industries are not really focused on implementing traceability of mica, so for us, this is an opportunity to open up new paths. I don't know why people don't Do this because you have seen it happen in fields such as chocolate, cocoa, and coffee. In a way, it’s really very, very complicated."

But Beautycounter's goal is to change this situation. Although the brand has been criticized in the past for using multi-level marketing, they are working hard to improve their reputation, partly because of their sustainability efforts. As a leader in cleansing and beauty, the company has been committed to a high degree of transparency, which is why they banned the use of 1,800 ingredients. Mica is notorious for purchasing in a variety of unethical ways, including wage theft, forced labor, and child labor in mines. This month, Beautycounter will release a documentary about its mica supply chain. In order to trace the origin, Beautycounter has been reviewing their mica supply chain to ensure that they source raw materials responsibly. By the end of 2020, they will be the first beauty brand to physically audit each of their mica mines to ensure a fully traceable supply chain.

"Some certification is something people rely on. As long as someone signs it and says that its source is ethical or has paid a fair wage to the worker, they just treat it as surface value and accept it as a fact, instead of reaching the top in the hood. Down," Renfrew said. "We must know from our documents that just because someone says it is an ethical source does not mean that this is the truth. One of the things we are most proud of is that we are indeed in the beauty industry for 30 or 40 years The first company to audit our suppliers. When we were on the ground, local sources told us that we were the first company to actually appear and visit these mines in 40 years."

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One way they ensure that the mica supply chain is ethical is to source raw materials from Hartwell, Georgia. "It's much easier to look at labor records, fair wages, and all these details, because obviously they are in the country and need to comply with our federal laws," explains Lindsay Dahl, Senior Vice President of Social Mission at Beautycounter. "In the limited reports surrounding mica, no one really tells the story of how to source from the United States. We know that as a brand that is committed not only to clean ingredients, but also to high-performance products, we cannot fully source all of us domestically. Mica, because its performance is limited to us, but the largest part of our mica is purchased from the United States. When it is purchased in our backyard, you do not need to send auditors from all over the world to confirm traceability. "Another benefit of purchasing mica domestically is economic growth. "We are focused on creating economic opportunities for the United States," Renfrew said. "We work with them not only to create jobs in the U.S., but also to focus on traceability. We regard our resources in Georgia as the standard for doing work, because we know these factories and the triggers upstream and downstream of their supply chain are getting Respect."

Beautycounter Transparent Poppy Lipstick

To ensure that their global resources—including those from India, Brazil, and Japan—are equally responsible, they work with third-party auditors and also cooperate with Sourcemap, a supply chain founded at MIT Mapping software enables companies to map the entire supply chain and trace the origin of the product, including every step of its social, financial, and environmental path. The coffee and chocolate industries also use Sourcemap. By the end of this year, Beautycounter will use the technology on their website to showcase their mica journey. "This is Sourcemap's first foray into the beauty field, but they have been doing this for a long time, and they have provided credibility for this process," Renfrew said. "We want to [work with them] to ensure that we do not use illegal sources in our supply chain. Many times, because the supply chain is not tracked, suppliers and sources rely on child labor, and through their technology, they can track it as accurately as possible. , Which allows us to see the information gap and where things are happening.”

Beautycounter also collaborated with Kailash Satyarthi of the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Fund, who was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication to ending child labor. "He is India's leader in eliminating child labor. For us, you must have a partner on the ground," Renfrew said. "We hope that he will help us understand some of the complexities of the industry and help us work side by side to develop a plan around mica in India that can be replicated in other countries. This is really important for us."

To help other beauty companies audit their supply chains, Beautycounter has launched a toolkit for everyone. "As a pioneer and leader in the field of cleansing and beauty, we have a responsibility to let the entire industry walk with us," Renfrew said. "As a company, it is not enough to just promote an industry. We also hope that we can use this toolkit to promote the development of the automotive and electronics industries. We sincerely believe that problems can be solved through the participation of all employees."

So, what can you do to help? "After all, people often forget the power they have as consumers," Renfrew said. “Consumers can ask sharp questions. They can ask the company to discuss whether any ingredients are sourced responsibly. I always encourage someone to email the company or call the customer support team to ask these questions to better understand them What are you doing. I don’t know if anyone will get the truth from the company, but I think asking is a very good first step. The more we ask, the brand will have to listen and respond to these requests. I think this is what You see part of the reason for the changes in the beauty industry-consumers are demanding more and more of the company, and their methods are transparent and truthful.” Another way to participate is to participate in Beautycounter’s SMS activities. Simply text “MICA” to 52886 to ask elected officials to stop importing mica mined by children.

Although progress is being made, progress has been slow because it is a deep-rooted challenge. "This is the beginning of the long journey of mica," Renfrew said. "Beautycounter is a company that focuses on progress rather than perfection. This is a major global problem that will not be solved overnight. We are trying to find the root cause of this problem instead of doing what other companies might do. , That is, to find synthetic mica and get rid of the problem. We are trying to solve this problem.” Using synthetic mica seems to be an obvious solution, but it is not the case. "Those people still need food; they need financial opportunities," Renfrew said. "They have natural resources that can be exploited or used. You have taken away a group of people who are already poor and underrepresented. They are in a very compromised situation. You make their lives worse. How do we study this issue in depth, And figure out how to keep kids going to school and have food on the table, and you can create products that consumers will like?"

Mica is not the only area that needs attention in the beauty industry. Beautycounter is also considering sourcing palm oil in a responsible manner because it is a hazard to people and the environment, as well as their vanilla supply chain. “Everything we do is to make the world a better place, and our business is built for people and built by people,” Renfrew said. "In the final analysis, as the leader of a company, I can't sleep at night because I know there are children in the mines who provide us with materials that cause harm to them."