Green Beauty Brands and Products We Lost in 2017

 

It is not as rare as we might think for a brand owner to close the doors permanently and say goodbye.  Sometimes that means a brand we have grown to love experienced significant financial difficulties.  Other times that means a brand owner has moved on to bigger and better things.  But however it happens, the end of a brand can feel like a loss not only for the owner and employees, but for the customers too.  After all, loyal customers may have developed a relationship with the brand, the owners, the products or all three.  Just think about the go-to products in your daily beauty routine – I’m sure there are some that you would say you can’t live without.  But we have no choice when a brand decides to close up shop.  This year we’ve had to say goodbye to quite a few brands and products that were loved by many.  Some forever, and others possibly just for a while.  Below you will find a few of the clean brands and products that we are missing.  We’d love it if you used the comments section below to share the brands and products that you said goodbye to in 2017.

 

R.L. Linden & Co. 

This is a particularly sad loss because R.L. Linden & Co. crafted top notch products and the brand owners seemed to be genuinely nice people.  Founded by Robin King and Lynn Flanagan-Till, R.L. Linden & Co. produced some of the highest-quality and most loved floral beauty products that the green beauty community has known. When Robin and Lynn parted ways, Lynn chose to carry on the business by herself, without missing a beat.

La Balmba Rosa, R.L. Linden & Co.‘s famous lip balm, was my introduction to the brand.  It is no surprise that when they shuttered their virtual doors on July 31, 2017, La Balmba Rosa sold out in a matter of minutes.  While this baby pink gem is extremely easy to fall for, you know I am not lip balm loyal so it takes more than moisturized lips to keep me as a customer.  Fortunately, for me not my wallet, another standout product captured my attention – Thousand Petal Beautifying Mist.  R.L. Linden & Co.’s facial mist was the Rolls Royce of facial mists, and probably the product I will miss most from their line.  I have not come across another rose facial mist that is comparable is quality and scent, so I know this loss will be felt far and wide.  But this story does not end in tears.

Just after Thanksgiving, something curious popped into my inbox. An email from Lynn on behalf of Rosehouse Botanicals!  From what I can tell, Rosehouse specializes in teas and tinctures, with Winter 2017 marking the launch of their inaugural line.  While we have had to say our goodbyes to R.L. Linden & Co., it seems that this skincare love story is far from over.

 

SkinOwl’s Mangosteen Beauty Drops P.M. 

Saying good bye to SkinOwl’s Mangosteen Beauty Drops P.M. is the most noble loss on this list.  Why?  Because we lost SkinOwl’s Mangosteen Beauty Drops P.M. for a very good reason: brand integrity.  In most instances when a product or an entire brand disappears it is for economic reasons or due to lack of popularity, which is also pretty much an economic reason.  But in this case mangosteen oil had become so popular that SkinOwl faced an ethical dilemma: continue to produce a popular yet unsustainable product, or find a sustainable alternative.  SkinOwl courageously chose the latter option.  The result?  Today we have the equally delightful and effective, yet more sustainable Maqui Berri Drops P.M.  And the new formula smells just as amazing as the original.  Thank you SkinOwl for showing us that sometimes making a tough choice can be a good decision.

 

RGB Cosmetics 

This is the most mysterious disappearance on this list, and the mystery actually dates back to 2016.  An award-winning, five-free nail polish brand, RGB Cosmetics was adored in the green beauty community for its quality as much as its colours.  Then suddenly, in the midst of its rising popularity, the brand vanished.  Stockists could not reach the brand.  Nor could individual consumers.  RGB Cosmetics went silent on social media.  Then its social media accounts went private.  In September 2016, fellow green beauty blogger Sarita Coren even penned a blog post asking the question many were wondering – Where in the World is RGB Cosmetics?  No answer was forthcoming.  To further confuse things, the RGB Cosmetics website says “We’ll be back soon!”  But that message has been on display for several months now. The fate of RGB Cosmetics remains as much a mystery today as it ever has.

 

Jillian Wright Skincare 

To end on a positive note, we have the happiest loss of the year.  Towards the end of 2017, Jillian Wright announced that she was closing her eponymous brand, Jillian Wright Skincare, on December 26, 2017.  While this announcement is sad for obvious reasons, the cause of this closure is really quite joyous.  For those who don’t know, Jillian Wright and Nader Naeymi-Rad are the co-founders of the Indie Beauty Media Group, which is responsible for our current favourite beauty conference: Indie Beauty Expo!  They have also expanded their mini empire to include a daily publication: Beauty Independent.  If you are interested in indie beauty, but have not read Beauty Independent you are missing out.  It is one of the few pieces of daily mail that hits my inbox that I regularly read.  But I digress.  It seems that those ventures are just the beginning of Jillian and Nader’s plans for world domination, which hasn’t left Jillian much time to tend to her beloved skincare brand.  Because there are only so many hours in the day, Jillian choose to focus her energies on her partnership with Nader, which means shuttering her skincare brand.  I am certainly not alone in expressing my thankfulness to Jillian for choosing us, the indie beauty enthusiasts, especially when that choice means sacrificing her skincare brand – at least for now.  We appreciate what the Indie Beauty Media Group is doing to transform the beauty industry for the better, and look forward to more great things from them in the years to come.