Annmarie Skin Care Sustainability Report: 2021

Another year at Annmarie Skin Care means another year of progress towards creating a more sustainable future. We showcase this progress in our Sustainability Report not only for transparency so that you, our customers, can feel that much more connected to our mission but also because we are quite excited about the milestones we achieve every year, and we, of course, want to share them with the world. This year is no exception.

In 2021, we spent a lot of energy diving deep into our ingredient auditing—ensuring we are using the most activated and result-oriented ingredients that are also safe for your health and the planet. We’ll be highlighting some of these featured and specialty ingredients in the sourcing section of this report, along with the other staples you find year-over-year that are the core of who we are—products, packaging and our company practices.

With every Sustainability Report, we share stats about what we do here to help paint a picture of what clean, organic and wildcrafted skin care means to us and how we make our impact in this world. You’ll know how many toxic chemicals you avoided by choosing Annmarie Skin Care, the different sustainable collaborations/partnerships we’ve formed, which new initiatives we supported and acted on in 2021, along with a lot more!

Federal legislation we support for transparency and regulation in the skin care industry

Who is Annmarie Skin Care?

Since our inception, we’ve prided ourselves on providing our customers with unquestionably high quality, honest and effective products to support an organic and natural lifestyle.

We strive to live our values and practice sustainability throughout our business practices. Our Sustainability Report aims to share with our community the details of what exactly this looks like.

What practices make Annmarie Skin Care different?

Organic and wildcrafted ingredients:

We use organically grown ingredients in all our products, from farmers who use little to no pesticides and natural fertilizers to produce them. Growing organics and using them for our skin care is one of the most proactive ways for us to coexist with the environment, create a thriving ecosystem for all creatures and make your skin look beautiful—all at the same time.

There are times when we don’t use certified organic ingredients, but in these cases, this is either because we have found a source that is grown organically but not certified, or the ingredient has been wildcrafted.

Real, pure ingredients

If you can’t eat it, you shouldn’t be putting it on your skin. We don’t use any alcohols or toxic chemicals, harsh preservatives or synthetic fragrances in our products. Our skin deserves pure ingredients from clean and pristine sources.

All of our products are crafted in small batches and go through the most minimal amount of processing possible to ensure that the alive and activated ingredients are not jeopardized. We don’t just show you a list of ingredients of herbs from nature—we make sure that these ingredients are in their most true and activated form.

Transparency, truth in labeling

At Annmarie Skin Care, we believe in full transparency when it comes to the ingredients we put in our products. We feel everyone deserves the right to know exactly what they are putting on their skin so they can make an informed decision of whether or not they want to purchase a product. This shouldn’t be an anomaly, but as wild as it sounds, the more “clean” products make their debut on the market, the more we see brands laying out “key ingredients” or “top ingredients” and completely forgoing listing out their entire ingredient deck, which is another form of greenwashing you will not see from Annmarie Skin Care.

No GMO’s

Genetically engineered crops are slowly polluting our land and ecosystem here in the United States, as well as around the world. We feel it is essential to take part in the movement to protect the food supply and plant and insect biodiversity for us and future generations by not supporting the use of any GMO crops in our products. 

Sometimes ingredient suppliers may try to sell us on the idea that the end product does not contain GMOs, but the source itself is from a genetically engineered crop. This is absolutely unacceptable to us for the mere sake that allowing this would be supporting the very system we are not aligned with. We choose ingredients that are sourced from pure crops and have an end result of a pure ingredient.

2021 Sustainability Report: Product

These statistics represent our efforts toward sustainability and ethical business practices when it comes to our products.

This past year we decided to set a few long-term goals regarding actionable sustainability–to reduce our carbon emissions. We’ve started creating the structure for some and accomplishing others.

Things like reducing the plastic we use should not be too hard, considering the majority of our products are housed in glass. But we still dove in and took a look at every single piece of plastic we use to see where we can either switch to a recycled cardstock, use a bioplastic that actually does degrade or remove it altogether and create a reuse system where possible. To offset emissions, we are inspecting every aspect of our production and existence as an organization to see where we can first reduce, and then see how many emissions we are actually producing as a company and need to offset. More to come on this in next year’s report.

Plastic affects the environment, wildlife and human health (and more).
Chemicals leached by plastics are in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments.

Collaborations and Partnerships in 2021: Our Favorite Brands Marketplace & We Heart Collection

The Annmarie Skin Care mission doesn’t stop at organic and wildcrafted skin care, or with our products for that matter. It’s about using clean, sustainable, eco-minded products throughout our lives, and we’re proud to feature some of our best discoveries in the Favorite Brands Marketplace and in our We Heart Column, which we feature every month.

You can rest easy knowing these products are thoroughly enjoyed and vetted, created by companies who align with our values—from fair-trade sourcing and mindful packaging to inclusivity and a broad range of belief systems aligned around a common theme—doing good by the planet. By sharing other brands that meet our high ethical standards, we believe we are helping to get more sustainable products into the hands of more people and removing toxic products from the marketplace. It’s also a way of highlighting a diverse group of individuals—homemakers and crafters, men and women, minorities and non-minorities—who are all on the same journey to making the world a more sustainable and healthier place.

In 2021, we proudly welcomed five new products to the Favorite Brands Marketplace:

• AU Naturale Makeup
• NUELE Hair Mask
• Cymbiotika Adrenal Super Tonic
• Vibrant Blue Oils Circadian Rhythm Essential Oil
• Papa Rozier Farms’ Eyelash & Brow Serum

And we supported a number of new brands and products through our We Heart Collection. In 2021 we had an incredibly large number of brands and products we wanted to support, so we chose to do so in a few featured blog posts for different fun topics.

We highlighted North American Herb & Spice, Gaia Herbs, Garden of Life, Just Thrive, along with a few other cool health and wellness immunity products in our Wellness Round Up. With all of the lounging around and working from our home offices, we decided to dig into the most sustainable fashion brands offering sustainable loungewear—Mate The Label, Harvest & Mill, and Coyuchi, to name a few. Or maybe you recall that time in the summer sparkling beverages were popping up everywhere and you were unsure which to drink? Our La Croix Alternatives post featured some very funky, yummy and clean beverages—Drink Simple, Hoplark and Sparkling Botanicals captured some hearts.

All in all, we had some fun chatting with our team about what they love, tasting different drinks and hearing everyone’s recommendations for keeping your immune system pumped. And we pretty much heard you all (our community) thoroughly enjoyed following along with us.

10,169,431: that’s about how many mL of toxin-free goodness our customers purchased last year

We sold over 10,169,431 mL of products last year. That means our customers have put 10,169,431 mL worth of pure, wild, botanical and energized infused skin care on their face and bodies, avoiding the harmful chemicals and toxic ingredients.

168: that’s how many different chemicals a day you’ve kept off your body using our products

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the average US woman uses 12 personal care products and/or cosmetics a day, containing 168 different chemicals.

Furthermore, one of every five adults is potentially exposed every day to all of the top seven carcinogenic impurities common to personal care product ingredients—hydroquinone, ethylene dioxide, 1,4-dioxane, formaldehyde, nitrosamines, PAHs and acrylamide. The topmost common impurity ranked by the number of people exposed is hydroquinone, which is a potential contaminant in products used daily by 94 percent of all women and 69 percent of all men. (EWG)

If you stick to only our products (plus clean oral care and hair care products), you’re keeping an average of 168 chemicals a day off your body. Our clean, natural products have helped reduce thousands of individuals’ exposure to these chemicals, many of which can cause hormone disruption, skin irritation and a whole host of other issues.

17: that’s how many third-party standards we’re upholding

We are currently MADE SAFE® and Leaping Bunny certified. Each of these certifications has a strict set of standards that companies must meet to maintain their certification, and we uphold these with pride.

MADE SAFE® screens ingredients against their Ingredient Database of known harmful chemicals, which is made up of thousands of chemicals found on scientifically authoritative lists from organizations and agencies around the world. They additionally examine ingredients for bioaccumulation, persistence and general and aquatic toxicity.

The MADE SAFE® seal literally means that a product is made with safe ingredients. There are 11 different categories of ingredients that Made Safe products are screened for. Check out those 11 ingredients here and read more about Made Safe here.

Leaping Bunny is the highest standard for cruelty-free products and ingredients. The Leaping Bunny logo is the only internationally recognized symbol guaranteeing consumers that no new animal tests were used in the development of any product displaying it.

The Leaping Bunny Standard consists of 6 criteria, known as The Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals. Read more about their standards here.

Some of the recognizable ingredients (substances) that you won’t recognize in our products are:

• Aluminum
• Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)
• Ethylene Glycol
• Fragrance
• Hydroquinone
• Mineral Oil (Paraffin Oil, Paraffin Wax, Petrolatum, Liquid Paraffinum)
• Nanoparticles
• Oxybenzone
• Parabens (Butylparaben, Benzylparaben, Ethylparaben, Methylparaben, Propylparaben)
• Polyethylene Glycol Compounds
• Phenoxyethanol
• Phthalates
• Siloxanes and Silanes (Silicon-Based Ingredients)
• Styrene
• Surfactants such as Alkyl benzene sulfonates (ABS), Ammonium Laureth Sulfate (ALES), Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate (ALS), Cocoyl Sarcosine, Lauryl Sarcosine, Linear alkyl benzene sulfonates, Linear alkyl sodium sulfonates, Potassium Coco Hydrolyzed Collagen, Sodium Coco Sulfate (SCS), Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES), Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), TEA (Triethanolamine) Laureth Sulfate, TEA (Triethanolamine) Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Cocoyl Sarcosinate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate
• Triclosan and Triclocarban

0: that’s how many pounds of pesticides we’ve used this year

That means our customers have avoided putting countless pounds of pesticides on their bodies by using our organic or wildcrafted skin care.

In 2012, the EPA reported that the US used 1,182 million pounds of pesticides in agriculture. This was the last time they put out a report of this nature. Because of a lack of information made available to consumers, it’s hard to tell exactly how many pounds of pesticides we’ve saved by only using organic and wildcrafted ingredients, but we can tell you it’s quite a bit.

2021 Sustainability Report: Sourcing

Featured Ingredients in 2021: Activated, clean, wild and beyond what the industry provides

Yes, herb-infused oils energized with crystals are our specialty. And yes, we are big on utilizing cold-pressed, concentrated seed oils, unique and potent CO2 extracts, aromatherapy with many varietals of pure essential oils and the power of nature in its simplest form. We wanted to take that a step further…

This past year we took a look to see what we were missing. What products and ingredients do our customers want (or use elsewhere) that we are not providing? And how can we provide it but in the cleanest and purest form possible, still living our ethos of Wild & Beautiful?

We’re talking about vitamin C, retinol (no, we don’t use retinol, but we’ll get into that), plant cells, peptides, ceramides, collagen and more. There are a plethora of beauty products on the market that contain one or some of these ingredients but are truly questionable in terms of sustainability, purity, clean derivatives and the overall effect they can have on your health. So what did we do? You guessed it–we took a deep look to determine what ingredients we can utilize and where exactly we can incorporate these ingredients into our line. In our Wild Alchemy Collection, you’ll start to find more of these wildly clean, activated ingredients (and safe alternatives to ones that are trending in beauty) that truly transform your skin while not damaging your health.

Collagen Prepeptides

In our Concentrated Boosting Elixirs, you’ll find our Hydrate Elixir, which specifically targets plumping and firming aging skin. This elixir combines vegan peptides with a non-GMO vegetable sourced hyaluronic acid for ultimate hydration. Peptides are some of the most challenging ingredients to find that are MADE SAFE® approved, ones aligned with our view on clean beauty—effective and not damaging to our health. These peptides are vegan and go through seamlessly clean processing, with no harmful substances to be concerned with. Some peptides in your common skin care products utilize a natural form (plants, fungi or animals—yes, including humans!), and these may or may not be manufactured in ways that utilize toxic substances. This is why we look at the entire manufacturing process as part of the screening for bringing a new ingredient into our line. Some peptides may look fine on the surface or at the INCI level, but when you dive into how they are made, their processing is extremely problematic.

Pineapple Ceramides

Beyond targeting severe signs of aging and environmental compromise, the Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum was designed to elevate your routine into something truly transformative. Most ceramides are either synthetically derived or may come from human or animal skin. We chose to use a ceramide from Japan derived from pineapples, and one that uses safe methods for processing. 

Vitamin C

This is one of the most sought-after powerhouse ingredients found in skin care. It’s not just trendy either. You’ll find season after season, year after year, this ingredient still takes the spotlight as that one ingredient you should always incorporate into your regimen. It’s a staple. Some of the larger concerns with a lot of vitamin C include—stability (and it easily going rancid, causing zero to little effectiveness for its true purpose), irritation to the skin (causing reactions and hypersensitivity), not being fully effective as a topical treatment or potentially being derived from petroleum (who wants that?). Tetrahexyldecyl-ascorbate (THDA) is our number one pick for vitamin C, and the reason it’s featured as a key ingredient in our Concentrated Boosting Elixir, Brighten. Paired with antioxidant-rich sea buckthorn berry CO2 extract, this elixir is known to brighten (as the name suggests), tone the appearance of aging skin, reduce the appearance of dark spots and truly revitalize dull skin. THDA is an oil-soluble vitamin C that is extremely stable, while it can penetrate the dermis and epidermis due to its lipid properties. Its optimal pH (7) allows it to be one of the most non-irritating forms of vitamin C on the market. To top it off, the tetrahexyldecyl-ascorbate that we use is a MADE SAFE® approved ingredient—bringing full circle alignment to providing effective skin care with clean ingredients. It is derived from glucose, a natural sugar obtained from non-genetically engineered vegetable starches.

Bioactive A-Complex

The search for a retinol alternative was a big one. We had heard the requests for a retinol product for some time now and just couldn’t bring ourselves to putting this ingredient in our products. Sure, the research shows how it can tighten your skin, decrease the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles or smooth away the look of dark spots and imperfections. But, consumers often get swindled by the false promises of today, without realizing the negative impact these types of beauty ingredients can have on health (and skin!) down the road. So, what if you could achieve all of those skin benefits that retinol touts and not be concerned that your reproductive health is at risk? Or what if you didn’t have to worry that your skin was slowly thinning over the years from using this harsh ingredient? Well, that’s where our Bioactive A-Complex comes in! This specialty ingredient is derived from algae and is completely safe for your health (and MADE SAFE® approved) while still giving you all the results you want for your skin. It’s paired with buriti fruit oil and astaxanthin for creating an antioxidant-rich, potent and highly effective skin elixir. You’ll see this one featured in our Concentrating Boosting Elixir, Revitalize. 

Stem Cells

You can use your imagination on where stem cells for skin care can commonly be derived from. We can also just tell you…humans (adult, fetus or embryo), animals (such as pigs or chickens), or genetically altered human cells. Not sure how many people would really want to use stem cells on their skin after knowing where and how it was derived. If you share our vision for safe, effective and sustainable solutions, you may be seeking an alternative to the norm. We use plant-derived stem cells. Stem cells from plants are undifferentiated cells that have the capacity to regenerate the whole plant, and the way they work on the skin is in a similar manner—allowing the skin to be rejuvenated and see results that are not just temporary. In our Citrus Stem Cell Serum, we use stem cells derived from oranges, and in our Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum, we use lingonberry-derived stem cells. Lingonberry stem cells specifically contain polyphenols components, including anthocyanidin, procyanidin, resveratrol, catechin, etc. Orange stem cells contain growth factors—molecules containing skin-loving components including proline and betaines, organic acids and sugars, proteins and peptides. Including stem cells in a formula are pivotal in brightening and moisturizing the skin, diminishing the appearance of dark spots and smoothing fine lines and wrinkles.

Looking ahead to 2022, we will certainly continue to share insight and information on some of the other clean activated ingredients you’ll find in our product line, along with the regular highlights on our sustainable sourcing.

2021 Sustainability Report: Packaging

Taking a closer look at our efforts towards sustainability when it comes to our packaging and supply chain. 

90,000 plastic-free shipping boxes were shipped in 2021

200,000 sustainably produced inserts were printed last year

All product boxes were produced by wind power

2021 Sustainability Report: Company Practices

Focusing on how we can encourage health and wellness, diversity amongst ideas, people, beliefs, and life approaches, constant growth, along with inclusion on every level is practiced in many ways through our day-to-day at Annmarie Skin Care.

The below represents our internal efforts toward a more human-centered, diverse and sustainable workplace.

Sustainability at home

We encourage our team to practice sustainability in their everyday lives and send out monthly surveys asking them to let us know how they are participating in creating a more beautiful and sustainable world. A few of our favorites:

“Using sustainable, organic ingredients in cooking and baking—looking beyond just organic ingredients and instead into the company and their mission; thinking more intentionally about the entire food cycle to cultivate a mindful process/practice in baking/eating. Focusing on REAL ingredients crafted by good companies doing honest work.” –Chandra

“Reducing/omitting the use of plastic is my lifelong goal. I’d love to eventually be at a place where I’m 98% free of plastic use and essentially boycotting the purchase of anything made from plastic.” –Rose

“Ship at least one wellness product to a member of my family this year.” –Esther

We allowed our team the opportunity to use a collective total of over 500 paid volunteer hours in 2021:

Giving back to our community is of the utmost importance to us, so each of our team members is allotted 24 hours of paid volunteer time a year.

We volunteered across several organizations, including Friends of Children of Brevard, Powell Gardens, Moss Creek Farm, South Yuba River Citizens League and local communities doing things like pollution clean-up, building garden beds for preschools and speaking out on issues important in their community.

Quarterly Wellness Focus

Every quarter, we launch a new wellness focus for the team to dedicate time and energy to, and it’s broad enough for each individual to join in with their personalized version of that theme but designed to connect the team through collective participation. This program is always inclusive of what each person wants to focus on and offers resources to help guide them throughout the quarter—oftentimes, there is a speaker on the topic or we incorporate small groups and buddy systems for motivation, accountability and engaged participation. In 2021, our focuses included: 

Q1 – Movement

The start of the year is a great time to harness the active energy that comes with new beginnings. This quarter was all about movement, and our team partook in dancing, stretching, yoga and HIIT both individually and through scheduled group workouts!

Q2 – Forest Bathing

Our team members spent time this quarter getting outside, connecting deeper with nature (like hiking or visiting their local botanical gardens), tending to their indoor plants and sharing gardening tips!

Q3 – Summer Breath Connect

Some activities for this quarter included group calls following Wim Hof breathing technique videos, yoga nidra and a short educational presentation around the nervous system and the positive role breathwork and meditation can play by speaker, Alexis Gross. 

Q4 – Fall back to Your Roots

The last quarter of the year was focused on reconnecting with self, defining purpose and setting intentions. We scheduled a monthly reminder in our team calendar, which encouraged the team to journal with the following prompts: “Who am I? What are my values?” for October, “List out 10-15 items that spark creative joy and why?” for November, and “How do my values and my creativity align with my role at ASC? Can I connect deeper to my values and creativity? If so, how?” for December.

It’s wild how breathing—something we often do every day mindlessly—can be done more consciously and with the intention of a transformative experience. From this quarterly focus, we have been able to learn so much about the power of breath by truly focusing on it. Or, if we think about how frequently we are caught up in the day-to-day movement in a busy city that we forget to take the time to connect with nature. It’s incredible how at ease and relaxed you can become by taking 10 minutes out of every day to “forest bathe”—spending time in nature. These little things we do as a team each quarter allow us to connect deeper to the planet, to ourselves and each other.

Redefining our Culture Manual in 2021

This was an incredible way to reinvigorate the team, encourage a growth mindset, galvanize an energy revolving around leadership and ownership and have everyone on the same page overall. Creating this guide on how we operate allows for a more cohesive team and a more sustainable working atmosphere. 

Quarterly Book Club

Every year we offer the team the opportunity to participate in our company-wide book club. In 2021, we featured:

• Atomic Habits 
• Radical Alignment
• Breath 
• The Wild Woman’s Way

What’s next?

It’s never a dull moment at Annmarie Skin Care—we are constantly evolving with the planet in mind and striving to increase our sustainable business practices. In 2022, we intend to make even more tangible changes to our supply chain and our day-to-day decisions to make an even stronger impact on our sustainability efforts. Keep an eye out next year for all of the updates on how we’ve tackled both big and more easy-to-reach challenges!