Sephora Just Made Its "Clean At Sephora" Standards Even Stricter — & Here's What Made The Cut

It was just last year that Sephora rolled out Clean at Sephora, a new labelling initiative that aims to help shoppers select products that aren't formulated with a number of potentially-harmful ingredients and have less than 1% synthetic fragrance. Although the term "clean" still remains ambiguous across industries — and has received its fair share of criticism within the beauty world — Sephora is forgoing its own path by being transparent about what exactly "clean" means to the beauty powerhouse. The brand started with a focus on 13 ingredients and the list now has over 50 that cannot be included within a formulation for it to comply with the Clean at Sephora seal, which will go into affect this month.

Among these 50 ingredients — which apply to skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair — are BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), carbon black, mercury and mercury compounds, aluminum salts, lead and lead acetate, and more. The retailer is also requiring brands to test for contaminants like 1, 4 dioxane, an organic compound that has been labelled a health hazard, and comply with ingredient thresholds to limit exposure levels of other ingredients.

Sephora has 68 brands with products that fall under the Clean at Sephora umbrella as of now, but with a growing interest in more-natural beauty from consumers, it will surely continue to rise. Shop some of our favourite picks with the seal, ahead.