OnSkin introduces Safe Choice stamp to push industry toward cleaner cosmetics

Cosmetics ingredients scanner app OnSkin has launched Safe Choice, a science-backed in-app distinction stamp to help consumers identify products made exclusively with safe ingredients.

To determine the Safe Choice designation of products, OnSkin’s medical and scientific experts conduct an ingredient-by-ingredient analysis based on up-to-date and reliable scientific research and regulatory data.

The company outlines the safety criteria it uses to assess products, including endocrine disruption and reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity, allergy risk, and high-concentration alerts.

Personal Care Insights sits down with OnSkin product director, Julia Kuprina, to discuss the need for Safe Choice in a market with rapid product turnover, reformulations, regulatory pressures, and higher consumer demand for transparency.

According to Kuprina, the industry still includes certain cosmetic ingredients associated with long-term health consequences, while others can trigger immediate reactions or sensitivities.

She states that most consumers do not gain clarity from reading a product label, as the meaning and function of ingredients get lost in translation. This is where OnSkin comes in.

“Through OnSkin and Safe Choice, we help lift that veil, translating complex ingredient data into accessible language and clear insights for safer, healthier cosmetic choices,” says Kuprina.

Removing information barriers

The app translates complex ingredient lists into clear safety insights.

The Safe Choice mark aims to create an accessible, convenient entry point to ingredient literacy for consumers. It helps them make informed decisions without having to deep-dive into ingredient safety on their own.

“It highlights formulas that meet high ingredient safety standards for the general population, helping people quickly and confidently identify safer options and simplifying decision-making in an oversaturated cosmetics market,” says Kuprina.

The mark is completely independent and functions solely as an informative resource. Kuprina underscores that the company does not collaborate with any cosmetics brands or partake in promotional activities to maintain the integrity of the mark.

“We evaluate ingredient lists as if they were presented to us without any product name attached. Our expert team assesses each ingredient’s safety profile using authoritative scientific and clinical evidence and regulatory data, and determines whether it objectively meets the criteria for safety,” she explains.

“The overall product safety score you see in the app is derived from the combination of these ingredient-level assessments, without regard to any other external factors.”

Clearer chemicals

To develop Safe Choice, OnSkin conducted research on existing labels from various sources. The company concluded that while there are different criteria to categorize safe or unsafe products, a fundamental building block of Safe Choice is clarity and precision.

“Consumers need to understand what stands behind each specific label rather than trying to define what terms like ‘safe,’ ‘clean,’ or ‘chemical-free’ mean overall, which can cause confusion,” says Kuprina.

“For example, ‘clean’ is often referred to as ‘all-natural.’ Natural ingredients, however, aren’t always safe for everyone due to their higher allergenic potential, while synthetically engineered alternatives may pose no common risks,” she says.

Another example is referring to lab-made components only as chemicals, since in cosmetic chemistry, both synthetic and natural ingredients are considered chemicals. “The main question is whether the chemicals in the formula are non-toxic,” Kuprina explains.

“OnSkin’s science-based evaluations indicate how optimal a given formula’s safety score is, creating an incentive for reformulation, encouraging continuous improvement and innovation, and helping brands maintain trust over time in a fast-moving market.”

Future-forward formulations

The initiative places human health at the center of cosmetic safety.

Kuprina asserts that the cosmetics industry is innovating rapidly, and that Safe Choice aims to catalyze this innovation rather than hinder it.

“We ultimately view the Safe Choice mark as a driver of innovation, not a limitation,” she says.

Alongside new product launches, heritage products are also subject to reformulation. As new ingredients hit the market, more advanced formulations with higher efficacy become possible.

“The Safe Choice invites brands to continuously review the ingredients they rely on and keep exploring more modern, safer solutions. It encourages them to move beyond established, cost-efficient production cycles and explore more innovative (although sometimes more expensive) ways of achieving stable, effective, and commercially viable formulas,” says Kuprina.

Making safe, clean ingredient choices is also a way for companies to future-proof their formulations and is in the industry’s best interest.

“As consumers become more mindful of what they apply to their skin and more knowledgeable about possible health effects, ingredient transparency and a commitment to aligning performance and shelf life gains with equal focus on safety become the only sustainable business decision for the future — the one that can move brands forward and help them stand out organically,” adds Kuprina.

OnSkin’s Safe Choice aims to help reinforce this future-oriented mindset.

Accountability gets results

The Safe Choice mark centers human health and well-being as its core value while increasing brand accountability.

“We are building it for people,” says Kuprina. “Consumers no longer need to accept opacity or be intimidated by long, complicated ingredient names. Brands can no longer hide questionable ingredients behind technical language that no one understands.”

The pressure on brands to develop cleaner solutions without sacrificing efficacy is driving an overall positive shift toward safer products.

“It’s truly inspiring to see the industry responding. Over the past couple of years, the overall safety scores of many products in our 2-million-item database have improved noticeably, as formulas were updated and harmful ingredients removed. We expect the Safe Choice category to keep growing as industry standards continue to rise,” Kuprina concludes.