At ITP Beauty, we believe clean beauty should be rooted in science, transparency, and integrity - not just convenience or simplified scoring systems.
Recently, we were approached by users and partners referencing the Yuka app and its clean product rating system. While we appreciate the growing consumer demand for ingredient awareness, we’ve made the intentional decision to remain off the Yuka platform for now. Our rating was high - but once we began digging into Yuka assessment parameters there was a lack of any regulation and lack of cosmetic ingredient scoring transparency.
This isn’t about rejecting consumer tools - it’s about standing firm in our commitment to accuracy, safety, and responsible cosmetic ingredient evaluation standards and clean beauty transparency.
Yuka is a mobile app that scans personal care products and assigns them a simplified cosmetic ingredient score based on ingredients and perceived health impact.
For many consumers, it’s an accessible way to quickly evaluate clean beauty products, at shelf level. However, like many cosmetic ingredient scoring systems, simplicity can sometimes come at the cost of nuance in skincare formulation science.
We support any effort that helps consumers make more informed decisions about clean beauty products and skincare ingredient safety, but we also believe how information is evaluated matters just as much as the information itself. At this time, we’ve chosen to stay off the Yuka app because there are no standardized regulatory validation processes that clearly define how cosmetic ingredient scores are independently verified across categories. For brands like ours - who prioritize cosmetic compliance, clean skincare formulation standards, ingredient integrity, and dermatological safety considerations - this lack of clarity raises concerns around consistency, reproducibility, and the absence of full cosmetic formulation context, where ingredient safety can depend on concentration, delivery system, and intended skincare product use. We also did not find clear evidence that cosmetic ingredient sourcing transparency (such as ingredient origins, GMP or ISO manufacturing standards, or supplier-level verification in skincare manufacturing) is consistently factored into scoring, nor a confirmed third-party cosmetic testing framework that would ensure independent, reproducible skincare product results.
We shared this perspective directly with the Yuka team, acknowledging their mission to increase ingredient transparency in clean beauty and skincare, while noting that we currently cannot align with a system that does not appear to be fully regulated or validated. That said, we remain open to revisiting this as the platform evolves toward more rigorous, transparent, and scientifically grounded cosmetic evaluation methodologies.
At ITP Beauty, we believe clean beauty should be transparent, scientifically grounded, contextual, and reflective of real-life skincare - not reduced to simplified cosmetic ingredient scores that can strip away nuance. Ultimately, we fully support tools that empower consumers to better understand skincare ingredients and cosmetic safety, but we also believe those tools must evolve alongside cosmetic science, skincare formulation research, and regulatory standards - because in clean beauty, trust isn’t a score, it’s something earned.
If you are a consumer and want to properly research your products and the ingredients that go into them here are some resources:
- EWG Skindeep database
- Dermatology sources (board-certified derm content)
- Regulatory bodies: EU Cosmetics Regulation
- Check brand transparency and sustainability pages
Cheers to products you can trust ~Oni