Discover the clean vegan skincare products that get a perfect score on Yuka

Have you ever wondered what your cosmetic products are made of? Finding skincare products that are suitable and effective for your skin type, as well as formulated from ingredients you can trust, can be no easy task. However, there is now a reliable tool that evaluates cosmetics in a detailed and transparent manner.

Yuka – an app created in France in 2011 and marketed in Canada starting in 2020 – enables you to better understand the composition of a multitude of cosmetic and food products by simply scanning their barcode. We’ll explain how and why to use Yuka to find clean vegan skincare.

What’s the story behind Yuka?

Tired and frustrated with having to sift through endless lists of ingredients when it came time to choose nutritious food for his family, Benoît – a father of three and a Yuka cofounder – came up with an idea for a tool that would automatically analyze product ingredients.

With the support of brother François and friend Julie, he took the original concept – which was intended to be a carrot-shaped smart device – further to become a mobile app that now helps more than 37 million Europeans and North Americans make more informed cosmetic and food choices.

Is Yuka a reliable source for skincare?

One of the great things about Yuka is that it is entirely independent: The company is not subject to any pressure from lobby groups or the big players in the cosmetic and food industries. The Yuka app is completely ad-free; its ratings and recommendations are obtained without manufacturers’ influence; the user data it collects is neither processed nor sold; and its funding comes directly from users. To reference The Beatles, “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

Sporting total transparency, Yuka raises awareness of cosmetic and food quality and encourages informed decision-making. It is a practical app when shopping, letting you understand at a glance what you are consuming and using on a daily basis. However, it does not replace studies, research and scientific databases like the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep® database which evaluates over 96,000 body care products.

But Yuka's assessments can’t be the only factor to consider when choosing a skincare product. Even with a good rating on Yuka, that doesn't mean it's right for your skin type: It’s important to think of your own unique reality as well!

How does Yuka work?

Topping the list of reasons for Yuka’s success is its simplicity. Just download the app, scan the barcode of the product that you want to learn more about, and – presto! – you’ll see the product’s score on a scale of 1 to 100 and a “colour rating” as well.

You can then opt to stop there, or continue reading to learn more about the product’s composition.

You can consult your search history at any time, as well as Yuka's recommendations to assist you in eliminating products of concern from your skincare routine. The app also provides a summary of your products in the form of a super-easy-to-read pie chart.

What’s a good Yuka score?

A good Yuka score begins at 50 out of 100, which is the minimum score needed to get a pale green (“Good”) rating. A score is deemed to be “Excellent” (dark green) when it is 75 or higher. The scores are determined based upon the risks associated with the ingredients: endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, allergens, irritants and pollutants.

After scanning your cosmetic product’s barcode, in addition to the colour rating and its score, you’ll also see a description of the product’s composition: This includes all ingredients contained in the product with a colour and risk rating for each.

Additional details concerning health risks are obtainable by pressing the small “i” to the right of each yellow, orange or red colour-coded ingredient.

A cosmetic whose ingredient-of-most-concern has a Red rating will automatically score less than 25, and one whose ingredient-of-most-concern is rated Orange will automatically score less than 50. The combination of all other ingredients then makes it possible to give it a precise score.

When a product like this clean vegan skincare stick earns a score of 100, its qualities are itemized to provide context for its perfect rating. For instance, its listed attributes include: no harmful parabens, no harmful UV filter, no aluminum salts, no nanoparticles, no harmful silicone, no harmful sulphate, etc. Conversely, for all products classified as “bad” or “poor,” Yuka offers alternatives that are rated as either “good” or “excellent” and also includes a description of faults so to better understand the criteria for their evaluation. The process is unbiased and based solely on a product’s composition.

What is Yuka approved?

To earn a passing grade on Yuka, cosmetics must be completely free of ingredients that pose a moderate or high health risk, as well as a moderate or high risk to the environment. The best-rated products tend to have these common characteristics:

• Formulated with ingredients that pose little or no health risk
• Vegan and cruelty-free with minimal environmental impact
• Do not contain recognized allergens

Did this article encourage you to incorporate clean vegan skincare products into your routine, products that are just as gentle on you as they are for the planet? You can make additional informed choices by reading these articles from one of Yuka's top-rated brands.

• A Guide to the Best Ingredients in Skincare
• Why choose EWG skincare
• Why choosing sustainable vegan skincare matters

To learn more about the Yuka app or to download it, head right here.