Why We're a Benefit Corporation

Hello Beauties! 

Today we're chatting about our status as a Benefit Corp and what that means! Keep reading to learn more about:

• What a Benefit Corp is and how you become one.
• How ĀTHR Beauty lives out the Benefit Corp mission.

WHAT IS A BENEFIT CORP? 

Benefit Corporations are businesses who are committed to higher standards of purpose, accountability, and transparency. Where traditional corporations use profit as the primary factor in decision-making, Benefit Corps consider their impact on the environment, society, workers, and the community in addition to profit. 

They are built to balance profit and purpose. 

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While we're passionate about creating beautiful, non-toxic, supercharged cosmetics, we’re just as passionate about making this earth (and this industry) a better place. We won’t create a single product unless it’s fully recyclable, completely sustainable, and 100% vegan & cruelty-free.  

We're so proud to have ĀTHR Beauty registered as a Benefit Corporation. We're fully and completely aligned with their outlook to use business as a force for public good. 

Good for you + good for your skin + good for the planet #goodvibesbeauty

GOOD FOR YOU + YOUR SKIN

You trust us with your skin and we take that seriously. ĀTHR Beauty is not just a shimmery lid or an illuminated cheekbone, it’s lasting skin benefits with nourishing, good-for-you ingredients.

We source only the highest quality non-toxic, sustainable, vegan ingredients for #beautyinsideandout. That gorgeous smoky eye now, with zero toxic effects down the road.

Some of our favorite skin-healing ingredients:

• Organic Prickly Pear: for a bright, hydrated glow
• Organic Rose Hip Oil: gives skin a noticeable radiance
• Organic Moringa Oil: adds gorgeous luminosity   
• Coconut Oil & Shea Butter: smooths the skin with deep hydration
• Rose Quartz Powder: helps reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and redness

Our shadows are also infused with crystals to illuminate the skin + transform on a deeper level. Rose Quartz, Diamond, Amethyst, Tourmaline, Ruby, Amber, Topaz, and Sapphire help to awaken you to your power, your purpose, and bring light to your spirit.  

To read more about our ingredient standards, visit our blog.

GOOD FOR THE PLANET

We want you to feel good about buying ĀTHR Beauty products, knowing that your choice is a positive step for the planet. We consider how every element of our products impact the environment, the animals, and local communities.

THE ENVIRONMENT

The staggering and very real truth: the cosmetic industry produces over 120 billion units of packaging every year, making up 1/3 of all landfill waste! Doesn't that statistic just hurt your heart? 

This is why we launched the industry’s first zero-waste eyeshadow palette. We want to show that zero-waste is possible - to change the wasteful reality of the cosmetics industry once and for all.

Zero waste includes every area of our product. Everything from our packaging to our shipping material is 100% recyclable and all paper components are created with FSC-Certified paper. FSC-certified means: the paper is sourced from wood suppliers who “prevent pollution, protect habitat, plant more trees than are harvested, and avoid displacing native peoples, and harming wildlife.” 

We also moved away from conventional design by removing all magnets and mirrors from our palettes. Neither can be recycled and magnets are very unethical in their production – more on that below.

For details on how we do zero-waste, plus how to recycle your palette, visit this blog.

THE ANIMALS

To us, ‘good for the planet’ includes our impact on all living beings. Our commitment is to do no harm to humans, animals, or this planet. That’s why our products will always be certified cruelty-free and vegan. We will never test on animals and we ban all animal-derived ingredients from our products.

COMMUNITIES AND WORKERS

Third, and just as importantly, is our impact on the larger community. From our ingredients to our packaging & production, our choices make a big difference in communities across the globe.

Our Ingredients

All our ingredients are ethically & sustainably sourced, organic, and certified fair-trade wherever possible. Two ingredients that have an immensely negative effect on communities when not sourced sustainably:

• Palm Oil: Did you know that nearly every cosmetic product contains some sort of palm oil or palm oil derivative? To grow palm oil, growers burn down forests to clear the land. Animals lose their homes, communities lose their natural land, and air pollution levels rise from the smoke. Not to mention the worker exploitation and labor abuse that is rampant.

All our palm-oil derived ingredients are certified sustainably sourced. They include an RSPO certificate to validate that no deforestation, land burning, or exploitation of workers or local communities were involved. 

• Mica: used as the base of most cosmetic powder products, more than 25% of the world’s Mica is produced with child labor, with the majority coming from Jkarkhand and Bihar in Eastern India.

Because of this, we use a combination of synthetic mica and natural mica. We source our natural mica within the US and avoid all mica from India to ensure that child labor is not involved. In some cases, we use a safe synthetic version to ensure purity and origin. Though it’s more expensive, it’s 100% worth it to know our products are child-labor-free.

For more information on how we choose natural vs synthetic, read our blog.

Our Packaging

Why we removed magnets from our packaging: magnets are made from ‘Rare Earth’ elements, and their processing involves huge amounts of carcinogenic toxins. These toxins are pumped into bodies of water, often near city centers or local communities. In Baotou alone, 10 million tons of toxic waste are produced every year from rare earth processing. 

We won’t use any ingredient, component, or supplier that is involved in human rights violations or unsustainable practices.

Our Production

Our products are made in the US, Canada, and/or Europe. We only produce in regions and facilities where we can ensure the ethical treatment of workers, and the quality & consistency of our products. 

We visit our manufacturing facilities regularly. We know the people formulating and producing our products and we see their healthy, safe, and ethical workplace firsthand.

GIVING BACK – BALANCING PROFIT AND PURPOSE  

ĀTHR Beauty’s purpose is to leave the world better than we found it. We donate 1% of all product sales to non-profits that are making meaningful progress in causes we believe in. We support charities representing all of the elements: earth, air, fire, water, and aether.

The Charities We've Partnered With So Far

• Rose Quartz Palette: 1% of all aether beauty palette sales go to The Water Project. This charity works to “provide access to clean, safe, and reliable water across Sub-Saharan Africa – one community at a time. Rose Quartz is associated with the water element and the heart chakra. What’s more fitting than a water charity that we LOVE?
• Crystal Grid Gemstone Palette: 1% of proceeds go to The Rainforest Foundation, which works on-the-ground to secure land rights for indigenous people. They strengthen indigenous land security and train indigenous communities to use technology to protect their forests.

Our Charity Partner Going Forward

For our Summer Solstice palette + all aether products going forward, we’ll be partnering with 1% For The Planet. We donate 1% of all ĀTHR Beauty sales to their diverse environmental initiatives in climate, food, pollution, water, and wildlife.

1% For The Planet is a collective of businesses and individuals who give 1% of their gross revenue to charity, whether they’re profitable or not. The money is then given to high-impact non-profits who are making real change.

To date, 1% For The Planet has helped direct $200 million to environmental non-profits around the world. We are so happy to be a part of this collective that's making real impact globally. 

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Thanks for tuning into our blog and for supporting businesses that work as a force for good!

-ĀTHR Beauty xo