I’m sure you’ve heard the buzz about 13-year-old fashion blogger Tavi. Now, just in case you weren’t already feeling inadequate, there’s 15-year-old Ava Anderson, beauty entrepreneur. The American teen has just launched her very own skincare line, called Ava Anderson Non-Toxic, which consists of a cleanser, toner, moisturizer, exfoliator, eye makeup remover and lip scrub (cosmetics are planned next!).
I have to hand it to the girl—she’s taking a stand on something I was just chatting about with FASHION‘s beauty ed yesterday: “greenwashing.” The term refers to companies (and there are A LOT of them) trying to position themselves as “natural” and “organic,” when in reality they’re still full of toxic chemicals. (HUGE pet peeve of mine because it’s both misleading and confusing for customers… and I think in the long run, detrimental for these brands.) Anyway, the inspiration for Ava’s line came about when she learned that some so-called natural ranges were in the greenwashing biz.
So (as the name suggests), she decided to create a completely non-toxic line—all her products score a zero on the Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetic Safety Database.
My only hesitation with this company is that they seem to have some sort of Amway-style multi-level marketing thing going on. But it looks like you can order products from the site directly too (and they ship to Canada). UPDATE: No word yet on Canadian shipping.
What do you think of this 15-year-old beauty entrepreneur?
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Most brushes with Lesa Hannah leave me feeling more informed about the wonderful world of beauty, but most especially her latest research on this topic. It boggles the mind!!
Tremendous! Congrats to Ava! Interesting if she took the MLM type approach, because it is probably a faster (and perhaps less inexpensive) way to build her distribution and ‘sales force’ verses trying to get a deal to stock at retailers. Great way to get a buzz and some ‘exclusivity’ in what she is doing.
@teenbizcoach
Ava chose direct sales, not MLM, because the issue needs a consultant to educate and inform customers about the dangers of the chemicals in the prodcuts we all use. Shonika is spot on… Ava does not have to deal with retailers, and pay fer sales force well to share the inormation and product. She also provides Consultants the ability to build a great business they can feel good about getting behind, while earning an excellent income. Unfortunately Ava does not yet ship to Canada.
Ava chose direct sales, not MLM, because the issue needs a consultant to educate and inform customers about the dangers of the chemicals in the prodcuts we all use. Surprisingly most peopl ehave no idea what is actually in their products. Shonika is spot on…. Ava does not have to deal with retailers. She pays her sales force well to share the inormation and product. She also provides Consultants the ability to build a great business they can feel good about getting behind, while earning an excellent income. Unfortunately Ava does not yet ship to Canada.
Thanks for the comments guys! Re: MLM/direct sales – I can understand the appeal for a new company, but I still think there is a big segment of the population (maybe moreso in Canada?) who are distrustful of companies that use these sales tactics. Pinktruth.com is quite an interesting read.
I’m so glad Ava chose direct sales! I can enjoy the products AND earn money sharing this important message and opportunity with others.
There can be a negative connotation regarding purchasing from an in-home consultant vs. a store because early generation attempts may have been overzealous, pushy, and full of promises without a quality product to back them up. Just like we question products on infomercials!
Some MLM companies are basically buying clubs – you have to be a member to buy the product. Pyramid schemes (which are illegal) are also lumped into this group, unfortunately.
Luckily, there are lots of GREAT examples of direct sales companies (Tastefully Simple, Pampered Chef, just to name a few!) The best reasons for purchasing from a Consultant vs. a store are:
1. It allows you to understand your product more thoroughly because you have a live person WHO CARES explaining it to you.
2. You can try it before you buy it (in most cases)
3. Direct Sales companies understands the importance of good customer service. Word of mouth/referrals is how we grow our business.
4. Buying from a direct sales company supports more people in one purchase than a Big Store does. It helps the consultant (who may be a parent or a retiree making ends meet), the hostess gets free products, and guests usually get perks too for making a purchase. When you buy from a store, the person behind the counter doesn’t usually get anything but minimum wage – all the profit goes to the store – and just TRY to return something after 30 days without a hassle!
Kudos to her–I’m twice her age and 1/2 as accomplished. Please post when you actually give this stuff a whirl!
I went to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics talk last weekend, hosted by Ava Anderson. After the presentation by Mia Davis, of Clean Water Action, I asked a number of AA Salespeople how her products are preserved. The answers varied from “they’re safe for a year” to “she doesn’t use any preservatives”. Clearly she may be edcating about many things, but not how her products are actually manufacturered and how, or if, they are preserved. So I looked up the ingredients in her products. Her marketing says “no parabens” but the reality is, she uses Parabens. She just greenwashes the fact by listing them on the ingredients list as “Japanese Honeysuckle”, a natural source of Parabens which is chemically identical to the synthetic variety. It’s greenwashing! And it’s a shame because if she wasn’t making false claims for the scores for the ingredients in her products…they sound very nice. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17679.cfm
Very interesting Susan… this is an area I need to learn more about. I think most people assume that if something is from a plant, it’s safe. But not always the case…
Honeysuckle Flower Extract, when used as a preservative as with these products, is a highly processed and highly concentrated paraben extraction. From a biological standpoint, they are virtually identical to the synthetic parabens we already know are harmful. As of this writing, there is no available evidence to indicate a naturally derived version of a paraben is any less toxic for the body than a synthetic version.
For more information on this topic, search for Eliza Moriarty’s article as published on the Organic Comsumers Association webpage.
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