My thoughts on Arbonne and Xenca

Unfortunately, I feel the need to start this blog post with a little disclaimer. What you are about to read is MY personal opinion. I have two brands on my radar which make me raise my eyebrows.

Arbonne is an MLM business which means they have representatives selling their products. At the moment I'm approached on a regular basis. My first instincts about this brand is they fall under the umbrella of "green washing". It is very difficult to find ingredients on their website and I've never managed to get a representative to give me a full ingredients list. I did a little digging a few months back and came across a blog post by Meghan Telpner and I recommend you read it. It was published last year and is the closest I have come to finding out a little more insight into this brand without having to accept samples or buy products.

Despite sending one rep a list of ingredients I avoid (for ethical and allergy reasons), the response I received was intriguing "We have just been awarded the vegan logo on all of our products if this was a scam I don't think they would be doing that. The products are dermatologically tested, and free from parabens". There seems to be a distinct lack of understanding and I find it really sad. A Vegan approved product does not make it natural or organic and neither does leaving out parabens. From my dealings with this particular representative clearly they did not understand the products they were selling.

Now let me focus on Xenca who are getting a bit of attention from the Green Community. Xenca talk the talk on their website - "Our beauty products are free from parabens, petrochemicals, glycols and synthetic fragrances." but then in the next paragraph - "Our ingredients are as natural as possible – in most cases 100% natural. However, certain ingredients, due to quality, efficacy and processing requirements, can be enhanced by substances that are synthesised in the laboratory"
big bang sheldon
Xenca do not hide ingredients for their cosmetic products but I can't say the same for the skincare. It does raise an interesting question which I would like to put forward, at what point do you draw the line when it comes to your ingredient ethos? If a brand has, for argument sake, 9 out of 10 "clean" products but they have a rogue one among the mix, would you boycott them? Personally, I find it extremely frustrating for a company to ditch their natural ethos when it suits them and I am not willing to support them when they do this. Hopefully with advances in technology brands could have the opportunity to re-formulate. 

I welcome your opinions on these brands but please keep it civil :-)

Sarah x

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