Deadly Cosmetic Myths and the Lies of "Clean Beauty" Marketing ☠️🧪 

you can enter my giveaway here: www.bboutique.co/vibe/minale-yt 💛

as a chemistry student, i find a lot of the information online infuriating. sometimes you even need to take doctors advice with a pinch of salt online, a lot of people just want to sell you a product

The phrase I hate is "dermatologist tested." All it means is that it was indeed tested, but what were the RESULTS of the test? The derms would have tested it and said , "This is crap."

I remember at one point hearing a RU-vidr talk about ingredients being the most important thing and I was like "makes sense" and then a biochemistry I follow pointed out that the ingredients all interact with one another and you can't just take each thing separately to understand it. It made more sense but man, what a bummer.

Im so irritated at products that lie about being for sensitive skin!

I totally agree with the idea that the glam look is a lot less dysphoric than the clean look. Let’s be fr here, you have to be naturally beautiful (societal expectations of beauty anyway) to pull off the clean look. As Mina said, it’s one thing knowing you are wearing a mask, it’s another to try to act like you’re not

The way the makeup industry went from being full glam, full coverage foundation, heavy contour, cut crease, etc. to clean/no makeup look is very interesting and it goes to show that no matter how much the beauty trends and products change, the intention is still the same. You have to hide your insecurities that make you “unattractive” in society, just using products in a different way.

I love how you’re careful with your words like saying ‘carcinogens’ instead of ‘chemicals’

New Mina Le just hit. Drop everything

Its a pity that the lives of peasant and working class women are not well recorded because most toxic make up info we know now are of Royal or bourgeois women. I kinda wanna know how lower class women dealt with Beauty standards and what their struggles were

So many rich celebs are getting mini facelifts now and I'm so sick of them denying it, except Grimes she has admitted it. But when they deny it and then try and sell beauty products to us poor folk, it is such a scam, makes me sick.

I used to work for an ingredient led skincare brand and I can’t tell you how many customers I had coming in with questions like: “Is this natural, organic, chemical free?” I’d be like What do you think a chemical is? Girl water is a chemical, chemicals are everywhere. Everytime I’d ask them what they meant by organic and natural they’d have no clue, “just on the label?” Kids asking for retinol “because it’s good for you”, women wanting harsh exfoliating products but “don’t believe in sunscreen”. Over consumption of skincare is at its highest and it’s absurd.

The way I was shown multiple “clean” or “simple” product ads while watching this, just proves so much 💀😭

As a biology major pursuing toxicology that's also a Sephora employee, I am so tired. So. Very. Very. Tired. Of. Chemophobia. EDIT: Lab Muffin Beauty Science is a channel that's a really cool introduction into cosmetic chemistry and production.

Wow, I think I've been experiencing the same thing about "natural makeup." I've never wanted to buy foundation and contour sets until I started doing makeup that wasn't glam and instead doing makeup that's supposed to "flatter what's already there" which I think has made me dislike my natural face more than glam makeup. Natural makeup almost makes me feel like this is what my face SHOULD look like, but it doesn't because of something I'm doing wrong. Whereas with glam makeup I know this is only a way I could look WITH makeup.

Can we also talk about how stupid the notion "if u can't pronounce it, it's bad for u" is, like people will be saying that 2-hydroxybenzoic acid is bad for you (cuz it has a complex name or whatever) when it's just salicylic acid, the "poster child for acne-free skin" Edit: Ah my most liked comment till date

As a chemistry student, I have to construct my own lab and I’ve really tried to hone in on cosmetic science. Specifically, I wanted to look for the concentration of hydroquinone (a common skin lightening ingredient), hidden in makeup and skincare. However, the methods of existing labs aren’t publicly available, so even a student chemist can’t even find if the concentration matches the label (which often does not, with a 2% max in over the counter cosmetics) in their own products. Chemically, cosmetics need to be a lot more transparent, especially with safety concerns. I learned a lot! Overall, very well organized, and I always love your essays!!

The new push of expensive skincare onto young people as they buy less make up makes me think of a variant of Dolly Patton’s self-satirical line, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap." In this day, it takes a lot of money to look this "clean" (what a loaded word, too).

My favorite perfume company has a whole section on their website where they address this stuff and talk about “why our perfumes aren’t all-natural” and it’s basically all the usual reasons- ‘natural’ doesn’t mean ‘safe’, etc. but also when it comes to perfume, a lot of scents if derived naturally would be unbelievably expensive, damaging to the environment, or not animal-friendly; such as musk or ambergris. I’d much rather have a synthetic version of those!

My fiancé is sensitive for smells so I tried TIDE FREE AND CLEAR detergent and he broke out in the worst hives and was so itchy for days… it was marketed as safe for people with allergies!

crazyyyy how fitting this is amidst the black friday sales and how tempted i've been to buy skincare products i really don't need. this is really informative!

A big elephant in the beauty room is microplastics! There is so much concerning research about microplastics, and we don't even have the first conversations started about their role in beauty consumption. Plastic loofahs are a big concern for me personally, they're meant for exfoliation and that exfoliation goes both ways: skin and plastic particles both go down the drain, but only one of them will decay.

My favorite deadly cosmetic is the Lazer Lipstick from Totally Spies 💄💋

Tyyy! I hate the whole "clean makeup" trend. Its mostly just marketing. Also active ingredients used in a lot of makeup are used in such low concentrations that its just useless.

Yes, the "natural, no makeup makeup" look emphasises the point that we don't look good enough without makeup. If we looked "good enough" then we wouldn't need the makeup, compared to something colourful or sparkly or unnatural hues being OBVIOUSLY unreal and artistic. It's pretty much why I only ever do colourful looks, because if I want to be natural then I will wear nothing.

This ingredient obsession is the most annoying when it also tries to push anti aging bullshit. I tried to find sunscreen for my face in July and it was almost impossible to find one that didn't have "Vitamin C and all these ~natural~ ingredients that make you look fifteen years younger" on the cover

need this! to be transparent, ive been using skincare and makeup as a coping mechanism for a couple of months now, and have been over consuming a lot. ive been trying really hard to cut down and i have somewhat, but i haven’t really had access to makeup or skincare products and now that i do i really wanted to get into it and find products that work for me. there’s a lot of intersectionality of “perfect” femininity (meaning looking clean and done up), capitalism, and proximity to privilege that i’ve been unpacking to try and really rid myself of falling victim to the marketing. i think everyone really needs to ask themselves, “what do i feel like i’m lacking to want this product?”. most products sell us a story, not anything tangible. you may find you need a change of mindset rather than to change your skincare routine.

Been waiting for a video like this! The beauty industry is so messy.

28:35 I’m sure the citations from the EWG about how ingredient labels are inaccurate are totally correct but I would like to add that the EWG are one of the biggest offenders in terms of clean beauty fear mongering and straight up misinformation

I think everyone who enjoyed this video should check out Lab Muffin, she’s a cosmetic chemist who breaks down products and talks about ingredients. It’d be really interesting for Mina and her to collaborate on High Brow!

Fantastic vid 👏 as a chronically ill girly, I fully support folks using whatever method (health, beauty, etc) best works and/or is available to them. I will say, though, as someone who is allergic to basically every plant, I cannot wait until people stop recommending (pushing) essential oils to me and saying all the chemicals that I use will harm me. Like my multiple allergists and multiple allergic reactions would disagree but thanks for your unsolicited advice 🙃

Girl, you're girling in this girl economy.

UK cosmetic formultion chemist here and i am always flabagasted how little US regulations cover. EU is far more comprehensive. All cosmetic ingredients have safety data sheets and many other documents that have to be supplied when going through regs before a product can be manufactured.

The ad right before this struggling with eating “cleaner” is like when I get mormon ads before exmo content Like I already know it’s dangerous bby it’s too late-

As someone with allergies I've always joked that hygiene brands use the words "hypoallergenic" to kill off the weak lol. The worst reactions I've ever had have been to "hypoallergenic" products

Because I’m early want to gush on how honestly excellent you are…I love your conversational and hugely informative videos. The topics are always on point.

This straight up p*sses me off - after being diagnosed with endometriosis, one of the most repeated advice was to just shuck everything plastic aside and go natural. I sparsely use makeup so that wasnt that big of a problem, but I do use creams and serums and masks and all those things, and it just annoyed me to no end when i realised i just cant believe anyone. I had to just...switch to simple cold pressed oil and hope my spf really is what it says it is - minimally toxic. Cleaning up your life of plastic and microplastic is like trying to get off heavy drugs in a dealers den.

i remember when i first started working and got a measly wage. i was (and still am) VERY insecure about my acne, caused by pcos, and scarring, caused by dermatillomania, to the point of wearing heavy makeup everyday. skincare was all the rage, so i spent most of the money i got with various skincare products. whatever the effortless clean girls were using, i was too. no one told me that no matter how miraculous the product, how much scrubbing or clay or retinol or vit C or whatever, nothing topical would help my particular situation. i take most unspoken ads with a grain of salt nowadays, specially when it comes to "perfect" people. perfect people don't exist.

i've only been using 4 products max in my skincare routine for a long time now. it's mainly because i'm "lazy" and am less likely to do a 10-step routine every morning and night. good to know that using that many products is not a good idea really! it makes sense that ingredients would interact and make some of them ineffective, but it just never crossed my mind

So I live in France, and it's damning almost how many skin care products I see on the shelves at stores and pharmacies that say they are intended for sensitive skin, especially for eczema and/or psoriasis, and contain ingredients that could irritate those skin conditions, like perfume, essential oils, or certain salts (yes, I know, a bunch of skin "experts" are trying to debunk sulphates as not being bad, but for those of us with weak skin barriers and hyper reactive, those ingredients we have to stay away from), and it's France, in the EU, which supposedly prides itself on being "clean", lol. I honestly preferred all the gimmicky skincare I came into contact with when I was living in Korea, I'd say 7 out 10 times the products just randomly or naturally were ok for my skin condition without even trying, lol (by the way, all those products listed in the 'free-from" section of the video, here in France, they contain a lot of those things, lol, I usually have to spends about an hour looking at labels before I can buy anything here, lol)

Lab muffin beauty science is an excellent channel that talks about beauty chemistry, what ingredients actually are, and what they do in a product. Also tragic how much people trust shills I mean influences when they recommend products.

fully agree on the „natural makeup“ and face dysmorphia thing

I 100% second the no-make-up make up body dysmorphia thing. I only did no-make-up look maybe like 3 times in my life and Ive hated it each time. I've mostly done it to prove a point to people criticizing me for wearing purple eye liner or odd colored eyeshadow, because its "so much product" and its "hiding my natural beauty". And of course, each time, same people would praise me for "finally looking natural", when I have spend 90+ minutes covering myself with primer, foundation, concealer, several shades of eyeshadow, bronzer, highlighter, powder and so on and so forth, half of which I had to borrow, but hey, now I "finally" stopped "hiding" my natural beauty. Babe, my nose never had that shape in my life, Im not sure anyone has a nose like that, what's natural about that? And of course same people would say I look sick or sad when I would occasionally wear nothing, because my natural beauty means very dark under eye circles and visible veins. Each time I did the no-make-up look, when I was putting it on, whenever Ive seen my reflection throughout the day and when I was cleaning it off, it made me feel very surreal and amost dissociating, which never happened with crazy eyeshadows or elaborate graphic eyeliners I do normally, because this still looks and feels like my face, just with some nice "paintings" over, but with "clean girl" look it looks like uncanny valley, AI generated impostor that copied parts of my face but not very accurately.

I did my final essay on "The Scam of Clean Beauty" It was so interesting I loved learning about how scammy the cosmetics industry is.

As an MD/PhD candidate who owns a skincare company I think this video is great. Love your framing of the issue in historical context. Very thorough and accurate 👌🏻

I despise the "clean" "natural" movement in general. As a mom, this is even worse bc there's so much advice on how half the things you do for/to your kids isn't "natural" (not co-sleeping, not breastfed until they're over 5 years, only giving them BLW style food), hence you're RUINING THEM FOR LIFE....oh god. You top that with these same people telling you how you have to take care of yourself as a woman to be "clean" and you want to hit something, lol. It's just reeks of moral superiority and even a bit of a religious tone, frankly

This video brought back the time a girl in my class was talking about this shampoo she was using with collagen in it and how much thicker and stronger her hair was getting. I mentioned that actually collagen isn’t absorbed into hair like that (it’s technically already dead once it’s left the scalp) and that you also can’t really absorb collagen through your skin, and she like genuinely got mad at me for implying her shampoo wasn’t doing what she thought it was.

I have a masters in chemistry and i think you did a good job pronouncing the chemical names, Mina. My biggest suggestion for people trying to pronounce chemical names is to try to break the word down to smaller words. An example from the video is methylisothiazolinone which breaks down to methyl-i-so-thia-zo-li-none this is obviously a very complicated example but all chemical names break down to smaller words and its usually the same handful of words

As a woman in STEM ( I have a BS in Bio and an MPH), I want you to know that you genuinely are doing exactly what you should-- which is to question and research! I also fall for these marketing schemes sometimes and I think it's most important to be skeptical. You're doing great, thanks for all the research you put into this!

We actually talked about PFAS in my toxicology class, and one of the reasons why they’re so dangerous is because they don’t degrade easily. In an industrial setting they’re very useful. They have incredibly high combustion temperatures, resistant to acids and bases, and they offer water resistance when used to coat materials because they highly hydrophobic. PFAS Chemicals are actually quite common to be used in flame retardants and fire extinguishing systems for buildings. All this means that when they get spilled into nature and washed down our drains, they effectively exist and accumulate in the environment basically forever.

I have actively avoided many organic or "natural" products since they became so popular because unlike non-organics you don't know what is in them. Some organic pesticides and herbicides are toxic or carcinogenic, but because they are organic and natural, they are not regulated like non-organic products. At least with the most problematic chemicals in non-organic or non-natural products there has been lots of research on what the safe amounts are for consumption or use on skin. Edit: I am in STEM

Love this! Mina you’re looking like a 70s goddess with your hair and blue eyeshadow! Thank you for all your in depth research and dive into all things that affect us ♥️

Its scary how you mentioned about having 2 different health care systems..... because Ive noticed as I've transitioned from public healthcare to private. Im treated signicantly different. Im always being offered better treatment options for issues Ive struggled with since I was a kid. even for my kid, i noticed when she sick or needs a treatment of some sort some of our treatment plan is a litter superfulous to her needs. its sad!

Odd to have left this out but maybe you missed that Bobbi Brown did not pivot away from cosmetics, she also launched "Jones Road" which focuses even harder on natural "no makeup makeup" and makeup as skincare, with an older demographic, the ladies aging along with her brands!

This look was giving The Love Witch and I'm here for it!

Natural makeup doesn't really make me feel dysphoric but I don't do contouring or try to change my facial proportions really, I mostly have always considered "natural look" being minimizing blemishes, adding a little highlight here and there, a little blush to make me not look dead, mascara because my eyelashes are only visible from certain angles (cause ginger), colored lip balm, and maaaaaaaaybe a neutral eyeshadow in very restrained quantities. I've always considered it being a way to just...refresh your face and embrace your own features.

Lab Muffin Beauty Science has (or should) enter the chat. They have a great channel all about skincare ingredients and products, with a special emphasis in sunscreens. They work as a cosmetic chemist and so are in a good position to talk about the subject

Reasearching all of this must have been so exhausting 🙃 thank you for going through that for us~~

Shoutout to Lab Muffin Beauty, haven’t seen the whole video yet so not sure if you mention her- but she’s a cosmetics chemist here on yt who debunks and explains clean beauty myths!

It’s actually so sad that sunscreen is super important for your skin, but it’s also very expensive and you’re supposed to put a lot of it on your face when the packagings are also usually very small (PS I live in Russia, I don’t know if sunscreen is also expensive in your country)

I definitely understand wanting to use makeup for a dramatic effect, but not being comfortable with a natural-but-slightly-different look. I’ve never used makeup due to a combination of not liking the feeling of extra stuff on my face, and not wanting to put my art time into something I’ll destroy the next time I wash up. However I appreciate the looks other people come up with for themselves and have thought of trying to get into it. Painting my face to look *almost* like usual, otoh, would absolutely freak me out.

Pausing mid video to let you know that your take on ‘no make up’ make up really resonates with me. It made me feel like absolute shit about my existing features and I ended up in a vicious cycle of always wanting to ‘touch up’ because my lips werent pink enough, my skin wasnt dewy enough, my brows and lashes werent thick enough. I reached a point where I couldnt tolerate looking at myself in the mirror after having showered or washed my face because I felt really depressed with what I have. Thankfully, I’m out of that hole now, stopped using make up altogether!

I always learn so much from your videos and it encourages me to keep doing what I’ve been taught since I was little: “If you’re not sure about something or don’t know something, look it up ” ❤

Your outfit just hits! The necklace layering, the black, the eyeshadow!! Love 🖤🖤🖤

Thank you for tackling this subject. The beauty industry is really difficult to navigate. Every few years I feel like what used to work for me doesn't anymore. And sometimes I get really anxious of not taking enough care of my skin or being too late to influence it in a positive way ... For me, I follow a few chemists who specialized in beauty products. One of them is Lab Muffin, I think she lives in Australia. Her videos or blog posts are really helpful. The others are German so I won't mention them because of the language barrier.

Hi Mina! Sorry for my english( I’m Italian😂) I grew up with body dismorfia, when I was a teenager I couldn’t look at the mirror without putting on layers of makeup. Only when I got older I learned to look in the mirror and notice my face and sometime I wake up and I don’t hate it. So I think to myself: “well since today I like the way I look I’ll go for a natural look”. But then as soon as I start doing that I start hating my face again. Meanwhile if I go for a glam make up, like strong eyeliner and and shapes, I don’t feel like that at all… Now while listening to you speaking I realized why this paradox happens! 😮 I didn’t even think that much about it, but it turns out It’s an universal thing

As someone who had advanced chemistry I think people have little to no understanding of what a "chemical" is. They dont know everything is a chemical substance and for example things can be good or harmful based on their concentration

The book Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang explores the "clean beauty" concept in a really interesting and surrealist way (definitely recommend if you are a fan of horror)

We're learning about ingredients in my Chemistry class and it's so funny the way people will fear monger chemical compound names. "If you can't pronounce it then don't use it" Do you know the chemical name of vinegar? Acetic acid. So you saying that makes it seem like vinegar is poison when we use it for cooking 🙄 That's my two cents. Just google the ingredients you're consuming and they will tell you the common names for it

I didn’t know clean makeup also referred to the ingredients! Just thought it was an aesthetic. Although I was confused about natural makeup meaning contouring (to me, the popularity of contouring was a result of the 2016 glam makeup/drag influence). Though I think my definition of natural makeup is different from most beauty influencers. Thanks for the video!

As a 20-something yo woman in STEM, I don't really use any makeup or skin care products. That's a me thing however, because my colleagues definetly use them a lot. We know using too much makeup can actually increase the amount of pimples and rashes on our faces, but it's almost a vicious cycle, you use makeup to cover the "imperfections" and they just get worse and worse, so you have to cover them... I think if we were just allowed to exist in our "ugly" state without being judged for being "unkempt and unclean" we would be happier and healthier.

am I stopping everything to watch a new mina release? yes

I'm surprised that the "clean" beauty look started in the 60's. Your research skills are on point, I love how you go over the history of your subjects!

the editing on these videos is insane!!! theyre so entertaining to not just listen to but also watch. thanks mina!!

I've thought about the problem of purity and cleanliness since I was a youngster taking pictures of phosphates bubbling up in our rivers and streams to realize that by now, we have plastics in our food chain as a result of irresponsible solid waste management, so I'm glad you've referred to the organization and entities that are responsible for the problem we live with (and the authors that inspired them) as well as the honesty with which you treat the subject (just because it's not on the list of ingredients doesn' t mean that it isn't there). My work requires the licensing and registration of medications for redistribution and these regulatory agencies will help us to safely deliver them to our markets.

english is not my first language so finally seeing adjecent written out was nice. always thinking about why people put Jason in a sentence randomly

I am pretty sure the EWG is seen as a misinformation site for mamy in skincare

your last videos have been so great to watch, and I basically love what you have to say bc it's so yess girl say it you know? but the last few ones since your small break have been like omg? word? like yes Mother. they've always been great food for thought, I love the way you communicate!

I just have to say i'm OBSESSED with the longer hair xx

The worst is when medical doctors fall for this or spread misinformation because they don't understand the field and aren't experts in cosmetic chemistry or toxicology. And people believe them easily because they're authority figures and well, they ARE educated and experts, but not in everything.

As a skincare nerd I feel the need to challenge the two ingredient examples, nobody is using alkaline soap based cleansers on their face (unless you actually use a bar of soap you use on your body for the face too, nobody encourages that), the vast majority of facial cleansers are pH balanced and don't go higher than ~7. Also nobody actually claims that topical collagen increses collagen in the skin, not even the shady brands (they will at best promise that your skin will be plumper which is kinda fair as collagen is a great humectant).

really appreciate this video! As someone who has tried to be more eco-conscious (including going cruelty-free) in the last few years, this influx of products and green marketing has been so much!

Ive been watching for like a year and a half i think,ive always was impressed with the flow of you videos the set up and of course you always look so Avant-garde and pretty, i don't plan to stop watching. It's so exciting for someone else to get amazing opportunities as well! You're amazing.

I always check out ingredient lists even if I don’t understand them, and at least try to sift through the ingredients, do some research, and see if there’s potentially anything harmful. I still think there are hidden dangers though, and I think we should always remain skeptical. Good thing I stopped believing in those buzzwords you mentioned. This is such an important conversation to be had, thank you for bringing it to light Mina ❤❤

minas posts save my entire day

this is a whole ass research paper + presentation that would get lauded in my undergraduate.......... great work! this is the first video ive watched of u and im stoked to see more! thanks mami

this is possibly one of my fav videos by you ever! so interesting and well researched. thanks so much mina

Love how you ask why we started using synthetic ingriedients in the first place instead of stickig to the natural ones like Lead and Mercury 😂❤ ive been looking for Nailpolish with less harmfull substances lately and got so mad at all these "natural ingriedients" claims. I don't care if it is a natural poison or a synthetic one 😅 your Video hit a nerv 😊

HI MINA!!!! always great when you post >:)

I just came across your page and I’m so happy I did. I love this video. Your delivery and editing is amazing thank you!!!

Love you so much girl❤ love to see your audience grow, along with you!

Usually don't comment on anything but I love the editing in this video!

great video as usual, love the history and research you always add to the relevant topics you cover. wondering if as a follow up from this you could link us to people who are making skincare recommendations who actually are the women in stem we need help from? lol

I really enjoyed the laid back fashion with your makeup on this video Mina!

you are so not alone in feeling dysmorphic because of "natural" makeup!! I feel the exact same way. I can't use any face makeup because it will make me hyperfocus on my acne and cause me to spiral. But I love a dramatic eye and a bold lip. It's somehow much more detrimental when the makeup becomes what you "should" look like without makeup, instead of just being obvious makeup.

i have been asked at work what i do for skincare and i always reply “sunscreen” bc thats literally all i use and theyre always flabbergasted that i have minimal breakouts when i dont really put anything on my skin. like. girl the call is coming from inside the house.

What I remember about the 90s is how we didn't really have any way of easily checking anything. The internet wasn't something most of us had so we just looked at a label, had no idea what the ingredients were and just bought the thing. Actually, I don't remember even reading labels! I just saw a product in a teen magazine and believed whatever it said. It was actually kind of relaxing being so uninformed 😂 like now you would look something up, then question its accuracy, then get distracted by some other thing and suddenly you've been online for 3 hours with loads of new information. In the 90s if we didn't know something we just got over it and carried on with your life 😂😂 can't imagine living like that now!

Your videos are so helpful as I’m getting ready to present a researched paper on film genre for my full grade at college 😭

brilliant essay mina!! super super interesting and awesome editing. love your stuff!

This reminds me of when I was taking B12 vitamins for my diet and skin, but I had an accidental overdose. Turns out that even the doctors didn't know that this could happen (My B12 levels were extremely high)