The Beauty Librarian

 

The hunt for the perfect beauty product can be dizzying.  Sometimes there are so many choices that it’s hard to know where to begin.  There are so many brands—with new ones popping up all the time—that it’s hard to evaluate them; this becomes especially true when you consider that in addition to just wanting effective formulations, many of us also care deeply about the way brands conduct business.  Are the ingredients safe?  Sustainable?  Ethical?  Is the line cruelty-free?   Finally, does a given product really suit our needs?  Reviews may be limited or nonexistent, and even if they exist, satisfaction may differ by age group, skin type, and all sorts of other factors that often go unmentioned.  No wonder so many of us end up regretting a sizeable portion of beauty purchases!  This is why I’m so glad I discovered a new way to shop for clean beauty:  Béni.

 

Béni: Curated Clean & Indie Beauty, Personalized

 

Allow me to introduce you to someone who has set out to improve and personalize this whole process, Naomi Saito.  Ms. Saito noticed negative changes in her skin with each stressful change in her life, such as moving to the United States, becoming pregnant, having a baby, and traveling for work.  She soon learned that almost 1,000 toxic chemicals and harsh preservatives–banned in places like Canada, Japan, and the E.U.–remain on the U.S. market.  Ms. Saito realized the U.S. beauty industry needed a more transparent approach to its ingredients. She wanted a wealth of clean beauty products at her fingertips without having to browse hundreds of different sites, and she wanted to be able to get product recommendations without having to be annoyed by random salespeople (who typically knew less about the products than she did).  So last year, she left her comfortable career in accounting to start Béni, an Indie Beauty Matchmaker Platform and Community like nothing else we have seen to date.  Called “the future of clean beauty” by the San Francisco Chronicle, “Béni” takes its name from a traditional Geisha’s lipstick, a very precious and a luxurious shade of red derived from camellia flower; this lovingly-chosen name reflects Ms. Saito’s passion to create circles and connections with the beauty community.  As she has said, she created Béni because, “I want to celebrate individual beauty, foster community, and improve people’s lives.”

 

Béni is a one-stop shop community that connects consumers directly with 40 (and growing) incredible indie beauty brands that have been fully vetted for cruelty-free practices and clean formulations.  Béni’s clean beauty brands have targeted solutions for specialized skin concerns. Consumers fill out a questionnaire about skin type, concerns, and lifestyle factors; brands can see skin types and concerns to give targeted recommendations, but this information is private from other community users.  As soon as you sign up for a Béni account, which is totally free, you can get personalized recommendations and product education straight from the sources that know each product best—the makers themselves!  You can even ask for suggestions targeting very precise concerns. For instance, I asked the community for recommendations on a hydrating toner for aging, dehydrated skin, and quickly I received seven specific, personalized product recommendations directly from indie brands themselves with an explanation of how each product fit the bill.  I had the opportunity to follow up with any product questions, and ultimately, I settled on a toner from Lena & Lina San Francisco, an indie brand that has really impressed me. Lena & Lina San Francisco uses cutting-edge Asian technology and replaces lost ceramides with natural human-type ceramide for highly effective skin rejuvenation!  (I will have more to say on this line soon!)

 

One of the many things I love about Béni is its flexibility.  You can browse through all the products offered by each of 40 of the already-vetted clean beauty brands on the site, and if you know what you want, you can purchase it directly.  If you want some direction, you can ask for product recommendations specific to your unique concerns, starting dialogues with any number of the brands themselves.  Also, you can find other users’ requests and recommendations and shop for anything that piques your interest, as well as like, comment, and follow other users.  In coming months, Béni will be introducing a location feature that will bring people to local stores that carry the brands (wherever applicable) so that consumers can easily sample the products and talk in-person before making a purchase.

Béni is a wonderful way to discover curated clean beauty with the option of customized recommendations when you want them.  This is the best of indie beauty with a personal touch and a real sense of community.  If that isn’t already incentive enough to sign up for your free account, Béni is offering limited-time specials and free shipping on all purchases!  I am really enjoying my experience on the site and highly encourage you to sign up for an account on this lovely, one-of-a-kind community today!  This is not a sponsored post; I am genuinely excited about Béni and think it’s a great place to make discoveries and purchase new and old favorites.

 

 

 

For more on Béni, please see the Press below!

SFgate: https://blog.sfgate.com/storystudio/2017/02/01/hello-beni-the-future-of-clean-beauty-has-arrived/

GCI: http://www.gcimagazine.com/marketstrends/channels/onlinetv/Beni-Wants-to-Transform-the-Way-People-Find-Beauty-Products-474082123.html

Follow @hellobenibeauty & #hellobenibeauty and see the latest news!

Media Kit: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZODSPGZlKvLAh4p_6Hc__sigDb_T5X-o