Wenditha wonders: Hey Left! Thanks for telling me about The Beauty Brains site. It’s great! Very pretty too, what with all the pink. : ) So I’m wondering about a beauty company called Arbonne? Could you tell me what the Beauty Brains think? They’re supposed to be the end-all, be-all, but I remain cautious. However, I’ve used some samples of their anti-aging skin line and found it to be very nice.
Left Beauty Brain responds
Thanks for the question. We looked into the Arbonne products and have this to say.
The Arbonne Company
First, Arbonne is one of these multi-level marketing companies like Amway in which you are encouraged to become a salesperson, have parties and recruit other people to become salespeople. I’ve always been skeptical of these kinds of schemes but here’s a guy who has an interesting perspective on Arbonne on becoming an Arbonne salesperson. Personally, I wonder why the products aren’t sold in the normal way through department or grocery stores. This would certainly make it easy to ignore the truth in advertising rules that other companies who sell through stores need to follow.
The Arbonne Marketing Story
Based on the information on their website, Arbonne products are claimed to be premium skin care products are formulated in Switzerland at the Arbonne Institute of Research and Development (AIRD) and made in the U.S.A.
They follow the standard all-natural marketing story that you find from every other natural company, although they imply some kind of advanced science as if there was any. All the usual claims about how great their products are here. We’ve previously discussed cosmetic claims and what they really mean.
Here is a sampling of their claims.
- Botanically based: based on botanical and herbal principles. This doesn’t really mean anything. What are botanical & herbal principles?
- pH correct. Big deal. So is every other skin care product.
- Dermatologist tested. Just like everyone else`s product.
- Formulated without dyes, animal products, fragrances, mineral oil. Again, more stuff that everyone else says.
The thing that’s different about these products than a mass market brand like Aveeno is the price. Arbonne is a whopping $19.50 for 8 ounces! Aveeno is $9.99 for 18 ounces. Functionally, there will likely be no noticeable difference.
The Arbonne Products
The problem with these products is that they don’t live up to their natural claims. While we here at The Beauty Brains think stories about the trouble with chemicals like SLS and parabens are overblown, the natural crowd does not feel similarly. Arbonne formulas fail in this regard because they contain all kinds of chemicals that those people are afraid of. This review of Arbonne products spells it all out from their perspective. Of course, this fact has no bearing on whether the products are good or not, but it certainly suggests their marketing is suspect.
So, what about the products? Are they worth the extra money? Scientifically speaking, they’re probably not.
It was difficult to find the ingredient lists because they are not on their main website. However, here is one we found related to their skin lotion.
Arbonne Skin Moisturizing Lotion
Ingredients: Water, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteareth-20, Glycerin, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Fruit, Althaea Officinalis Root Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Extract, Taraxacum Officinale (Dandelion) Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract, Retinyl Palmitate, Ergocalciferol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Panthenol, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Zea Mays (Corn) Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Rosa Damascena Flower Oil, Stearic Acid, Cetyl Alcohol, Ethylhexyl Salicylate, Polysorbate 60, Carbomer, Disodium EDTA, Dimethicone, Quaternium-15, Triethanolamine
This is a standard lotion complete with water, fatty alcohols, oils, emulsifiers, thickeners and preservatives. All of the natural sounding ingredients are most likely in there at such low levels they don’t really do anything. And even if they were in there at higher levels there is no proof that they would have any special effect anyway.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Arbonne is not the end-all be all of skin care or any other personal care product. They are good formulas, but pretty standard and will not perform noticeably better than the products you can buy at your local grocery store. Buy them if you like (they’ll work fine) but don’t kid yourself into thinking they are anything special, they’re not. And if you’re looking to start your own business, forget multi-level marketing schemes. Check out the excellent website Start Up Nation instead.
See this Arbonne Review response post for more.
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Heather Says:
I’m very surprised that you didn’t dig deeper to find out what really makes Arbonne different. If women are indeed coming to you for advice, you should take the time to investigate better. Did you know that just about everything (I don’t know of anything that isn’t) you “but at the grocery store” is A) Tested on animals B) Made with animal products/by-products (Look up ‘rendering plants’) C) “Hypoallergenic”… which means that even if 6 people react during testing, you can still label it “Hypoallergenic”. Arbonne tests 10 and if 1 reacts, it’s back to research! That’s only 3 flaws in your argument, there are more. I’m very skeptical about skin-care and nutrition and having worked for Lancome, Mary-Kay and Arbonne, I know a little about the different companies. Trusting women deserve the truth from you.
thebeautybrains.com » Did the Beauty Brains Botch their Arbonne Review? Says:
[...] time ago one the lovely members of The Beauty Brains community asked our opinion of Arbonne skin care products. We happily investigated the company and products and concluded that they were not much different [...]
Megan Says:
I think one of the things that you said is very wrong. Arbonne products do not contain Mineral Oil. You state that most other brands say the same thing. This is untrue. Almost EVERY lotion you pick up at the grocery store contains Mineral Oil. For those that do not know, Mineral Oil is second only to the sun in causing skin cancer. Baby Oil is usually made up of 100% mineral oil. Arbonne has an entire baby line which contains absolutely no mineral oil.
Left Brain Says:
Thanks so much for the comments and taking time to visit our site Megan. We didn’t mean to suggest that Arbonne products contain mineral oil. We were suggesting that lots of companies say “mineral oil free”. Brands like L’Occitane, Burts Bees, Zhen, Aveda, Jason Natural all make “mineral oil free” claims. And that’s just a small segment of everyone who claims this. Shop at a Whole Foods or Trader Joes and nearly every lotion DOESN’T contain mineral oil. That claim is made so often you don’t need Arbonne to get it.
And the claim that mineral oil causes cancer is just not supported by any objective facts. It is a myth propagated by small companies trying to throw dirt at big ones. Please see our two-part series about the facts of mineral oil.
We here at the Beauty Brains are scientists and as such we are always willing to be persuaded by compelling data. Please provide some peer reviewed research that shows the mineral oil used in personal care products causes cancer. We’ve never been able to find any. There are lots of published studies that demonstrate that it DOES NOT cause cancer.
LaVona Jaquith Says:
Please contact me regarding the Arbonne Skin Care Products.
I used to be a consultant, but have lost contact with all Consultants after my move from Colorado to California.
Thanks
Lavalice@aol.com
or you can call me after 7:00 PM Pacific Time
650 610 0221
Sally Says:
Ever since I recently went to a Arbonne party and the consultant explained how bad petroleum-based products are I have been obsessed with finding products free of petroleum-based indredients. To my absolute surprise Arbonne products ARE NOT free of petroleum-based ingredients. I was shocked since it was the Arbonne consultant who originally made the claim. But, what I found out through my own research is that many of the Arbonne products contain Parabens (methylparaben, proplyparaben etc). Paraben is an estrogen mimicking substance derived from pertochemicals. Paraben is banned in the EU. Many (much cheaper) products are also now proudly claiming paraben as banned from their products. Incidently several of my products also contain urea (a nice way of saying fermaldahyde). I was extremely disappointed to find that I could go to Whole Foods and find cheaper products with fewer toxic chemicals. Teaches me to take someone else at their word.
Amy Says:
I have to say props to a few women who stuck up for Arbonne. About SLS ( sodium Lauryl sulphate) I think that it should be a huge concern, I do not think women would want to put a product on their face that has industrial uses like engine degreasers or garage floor cleaners. I also do not want to use a product that tests on animals as there are so many companies that do which if you do some investigating you will be suprised at the Brand Names.
Left Brain Says:
Amy, if animal testing is a concern than you shouldn’t use Arbonne or any other cosmetic product. The chemicals used to make these products have ALL been tested on animals.
And as far as using products that also have industrial uses, Arbonne uses plenty of chemicals in their products that have industrial uses.
In fact, the Arbonne Intelligence Daily, Self-Adjusting Shampoo uses ALS (Ammonium Lauryl Sulphate) which is used just like Sodium Lauryl Sulphate to clean garage floors and engines.
Don’t believe it? Check out their product sell sheet.
http://www.arbonnemarketing.com/PK/dl/pk/nsb_shampoo.pdf
Personally, I have no problem with SLS or ALS. They are excellent products for cleaning grease off of surfaces. What difference does it make that the surface is your hair or a garage floor? Water is used to clean garage floors too. Are you going to avoid products with water in them?
kiana Says:
hi,
was reading your reviews and had a question on one of your comments about arbonne, this was your statement in a seperate blog pertaining to skin care:
“What’s the truth - the truth is, unless they have a patent or a documented trade secret, they’re using the same technology as everyone else in the industry.”
you posted this statement in another blog about your opinion on another skin care product and how their was no special/different technology used in the product.
you have made statments saying that arbonne is not using any other different or special technology than any other product brand in their related industry.
If arbonne uses the same technology as other products in their industry than can you explain to me why arbonne internationl’s products are clearly U.S. patented???
Kiki Says:
good call kiana. arbonne products are clearly labelled as either patented or patent-pending.
thebeautybrains Says:
Thanks for your comments. The truth is that anyone can put “patent pending” on their labels. It doesn’t really mean anything. If there is no patent number their product isn’t patented.
If Arbonne had actually filed the paperwork necessary to get patents on their products, there would be a listing on the applications at the US Patent & Trade Office. I did a search on both the patents and patent applications. (http://uspto.gov). Strangely, there was nothing on file for Arbonne. Based on the best evidence, it seems someone is not exactly telling the truth or we’re misinformed.
Perhaps you have some evidence we don’t (like a patent number?)
Kiki Says:
VERY interesting. would it matter/show up on the us website if the patent was in switzerland only?
thebeautybrains Says:
Kiki, it appears there was a patent issued to Arbonne (for skin moisturizing products not for anything else). The patent was filed in Switzerland in 1993, was granted in 1996 and is patent number 687126.
Unfortunately, Arbonne did not keep up the yearly payments and the patent was canceled in 1998.
kiana Says:
is it true that once a patent number is assigned the ingredients and what is used to make the product patented can be viewed by others/the government and other businesses if they wanted to see it?
Maybe they pend the patent so that no one can ever be able to copy the formulas they use, which is what make the products so unique and special and successful?
thebeautybrains Says:
Kiana,
Once they file for a “patent pending” people can see their ingredients. If they wanted to hide their formulas they would make them a “trade secret”.
kiana Says:
So if filing for a trade secret hides their formulas, we the public wouldn’t be able to know if they applied for a trade secret or not right??
If they have applied for a trade secret how would we the public know???
kiana Says:
is this true that if a company such as arbonne, has a patent “pending” that they can keep their formulas or specific ingredients a secret from anyone, but in deed once something is patented and has a patent number, the formulas/ingredients are on file and can now be viewed by people?
so they may have applied for a trade secret and we wouldn’t even know right?? So if this was the case, and they do have a trade secret patent or whatever you would call it then would your statement still be valid that there is nothing special about arbonne’s products???
Have you performed interviews with the actual scientists that formulate the products in arbonne’s labs, to compare and see if they use the same methods, ingredients and technology in their products as other scientists in the same product feild?
Have you investigated arbonne’s lab facilities and actual formulas of every single product they offer to prove that they are not different from any other skin/hair/health product on todays market???
thebeautybrains Says:
If Arbonne puts the phrase “patent pending” then that means they’ve applied for a patent. It doesn’t mean they have a trade secret.
True, once a patent is filed (or even applied for) anyone can look at the specific formula. If you want to know Olay’s skin products you can look at their patents.
If they applied for a trade secret they can’t claim that there is a patent pending because there isn’t a patent pending.
Let me suggest the most obvious reason for claiming “patent pending”. A company would do this when they want a claim that seems unique even if they don’t have products that are. This is because you don’t have to actually have a unique product to be able to claim “patent pending”. As long as you file the paperwork or intend to file the paper work, you can claim “patent pending”. Patent pending is a meaningless claim.
Even if they had a patent, I would still stand by my statement that the products are nothing special. They use the same ingredients as everyone else. You can see this by their ingredient statements. The tiny differences you can have to get a patent make most cosmetic patents meaningless. We know enough about cosmetic formulas to know when products are noticeably different or not.
They do use the same ingredients as everyone else in the industry. We all follow the CTFA and the rules that govern the industry. Arbonne is no different.
It’s not up to us to prove that Arbonne products are noticeably different. You of course are savvy enough to know proving that “every single product” is not different is impossible. That’s why it’s up to Arbonne or their supporters to provide evidence that they are noticeably different.
thebeautybrains Says:
Thanks for your comments. You can continue the discussion by joining the Beauty Brains forum and posting your opinion there.
If you’d like to see what other people are saying about Arbonne see the Arbonne Forum link.
We look forward to hearing from you.
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