Gwynnie’s organic Goop? It’s full of chemical gloop
Tests show Paltrow’s beauty range isn’t nearly as ‘green’ as she thinks
SHE has built a reputation as a lifestyle guru who extols the virtues of clean living on her popular website Goop. But Gwyneth Paltrow’s own organic beauty range may not be as green as it first appears.
A Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed that three of the actress’s own-brand products contain artificial ingredients which are most certainly not organic, including one linked to foetal deformation.
The worst offender is the £108 Replenishing Night Cream, which contains retinyl palmitate – a manufactured form of vitamin A listed by the Soil Association as one of its ten most hated ingredients.
Although often found in skin products and sun creams
‘Brands must be held accountable’
because of its anti-ageing properties, it can lead to an overdose of vitamin A, which in turn can cause developmental problems in unborn babies.
Products also contain diheptyl succinate and panthenyl triacetate, which are both derived from petro-chemicals. They can be found in Gwyneth’s £77 Revitalising Day Moisturiser and her Exfoliating Instant Facial cream, which costs £97.
Goop says the Instant Facial cream, which ‘brightens and softens skin to reveal a glowing, smoother-looking complexion’, is formulated with ‘organic ingredients and contains approximately 86 per cent total organic content’.
In recent years, Gwyneth, 44, has become as well-known for her website, which attracts four million visitors a month, as her Oscar-winning performances. But she might find our revelations embarrassing as last week she collected an award in recognition of her clean-living philosophy.
Although Goop has not bro- ken any British laws, beauty bloggers say it is disingenuous to mislead customers if ‘organic’ ingredients are not what they seem.
Jacqueline Staph Jones, who runs thebeautyproof.com, said: ‘Any brand which deliberately lies about ingredients should be held accountable.
‘That said, it is common practice in the green beauty industry for brands to use borderline questionable ingredients. Because there’s no consensus on what makes a beauty product natural or not, the term can be stretched and pulled, often misleading consumers.’ The Soil Association is set to campaign for greater accountability in the beauty sector after discovering other products containing hidden ‘nasties’.
A recent report by the organisation revealed that products from well-known industry names such as Boots, The Organic Pharmacy and Faith in Nature were similarly ‘misleading’ customers.
A spokesman for Cosmos, the only independent international standard for organic and natural cosmetics, said: ‘Goop products are not certified to our standard and we understand that some of the ingredients are not allowed by Cosmos.
‘We would be happy to help them deliver clarity and trust to consumers.’
Goop said: ‘Our philosophy is to ensure that ingredients linked to health harm are not found in our products. This is not an exact science, as there are many sources for information about ingredient toxicity, and the data changes every day.’ The firm added that diheptyl succinate and panthenyl triacetate both posed a ‘very low hazard’.