The terms “organic” and “natural” are not as tightly regulated within cosmetics as one might expect. A product being natural or organic does not mean it does not contain synthetic ingredients. The UK’s The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association (The CTPA) explain on their website that legally cosmetic brands are not allowed to false advertise, if they make the claims of selling natural or organic products, for the most part, that has to be true.  However, brands products do not have to contain 100% natural or organic products in order for them to use that term. 

There are various certification bodies that created their own standards for what constitutes as a natural or organic product, they vary as each of them having slightly different criteria. However they all aim confirm that what you are buying is of the quality it claims to be. UK and European examples of these organisations are:

• ECO CERT
• SOIL ASSOCIATION
• NATRUE

It is important to remember that there are various brands who use organic or naturally derived ingredients but have have not achieved certification , this can be due to a range of reasons, including financial as some of the certification bodies charge fees.

For the sake of categorising, The Effortlist considers brands that have achieved organic certification as organic as well as brands that have no certification, but the majority of their products contain high percentages of organic ingredients. These brands will have clearly listed the percentage of organic ingredients contained within each product.