Airbonne started its journey more than thirty years ago, with its founder, Peter Morck. He had so much passion for beauty and wanted to develop the best skincare and beauty products. His motive was to base these prosucts around three words, i.e. pure, safe and beneficial.
Pure- referring to the purity of ingredients and a long list of unsafe/impure things Arbonne products doesn’t contain
Safe- claiming to not cause any kind of irritation to the skin when used
Beneficial- claiming that the product will actually bring a positive change to your skin’s appearance
The name of the brand, i.e. ‘Arbonne’ comes from a serene village in the country of Switzerland, which means, ‘beautiful tree’. Mr. Morck wanted to apply the meaning to Arbonne products, by making them enduring, natural, abundant, green, and beautiful for all skin types.
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Who are Arbonne Consultants?
Arbonne products can only be purchased through their consultants. They are kind of similar in the way to Nutriemetics and Avon etc. They sell these products online, through network marketing or from their own website. However, if you want to buy the product yourself, you can, but you’ll be still be directed to an independent Arbonne consultant, once you’ve made the decision.
Arbonne FC5 Range
Arbonne has launched their FC5 range of products sometime back. Everyone was impressed with these products, as they were specifically targeted for individuals with oily skin. The products of this range contained a special formula, which Arbonne refers to as, ‘Matte Fresh Complex’, to combat unnecessary oil on the skin.
What Actually is FC5?
FC5 refers to, ‘fresh cell technology incorporating 5 fruits and vegetables’. This range of products aim to help and maintain your healthy and radiant skin through moisturisation, hydration, exfoliation, cleansing, and sun protection. The main products of this range include,
- Oil-Absorbing Day Lotion with SPF 20 (in Australia it comes in SP15 only)
- Purifying Cleanser + Toner
- Exfoliating New Cell Scrub
- Hydrating Eye Crème
- Oil-Absorbing Day Lotion with SPF 20 – £33 (UK) | $62 (AU) | $43 (US)
One product that caught the attention of the masses was the Oil-Absorbing Day Lotion with SPF 20. This lightweight lotion helps to absorb oil and stops its excess production throughout the day. It also provides your skin with sun protection, by leaving a matte, fresh appearance. It comes with a lovely and fresh fruit fragrance. That’s because of its two main ingredients, which are grapseed oil and fresh kiwi cells. When you’re applying the moisturizer on your skin, only a pea sized proportion is needed and you’re done for the day. The only downside that emerged was its high price.
Important Features of Arbonne FC5 Lotion
- Best suited for normal/oily skin
- This daily moisturizer nourishes your skin and makes it look more youthful
- If used as directed with other sun protection measures, this lotion will decrease the risk of skin cancer and early skin aging caused by the sun and help prevent sunburn
Is Arbonne FC5 Lotion Safe?
Now coming to the point, Arbonne has been in the market for decades and there are thousands of customers and consultants that trust the brand and have been loyal towards it. They believe that the products are safe, high end and beneficial, as the company promotes. Arbonne claims that its products are gluten-free, plant-based, cruelty-free and kosher. However, since the past few years, there have been speculations about the quality of Arbonne products, especially FC5 lotion. People are questioning the quality of ingredients and their pros/cons.
The problem was raised when people started paying attention to the ingredients and they had no idea about them, i.e. whether they are as beneficial as they claim or is it the other way round? Another thing that budged most of the customers was not being able to select their own products, and even if they do so, they’d still have to go through the process of listening to the recommendations of Arbonne consultants. The fact that an Arbonne consultant majorly guides you on ‘what to buy’ sarted stirring some consiparicies.
Arbonne FC5 lotion made a huge hit in the market as one of the best moisturizers for oily skin, but unfortunately, everyone didn’t benefit from it the same way. In contrast to the company’s claim, after applying the FC5 lotion, several consumers with oily skin experienced redness or itchiness after applying and there had been some severe problems. While most people had tremendous experience, but some of them didn’t really benefit from the ‘safe and beneficial’ part of their products.
The public believes that it happened mostly because of their unawareness about the ingredients and that they can’t do a proper research beforehand, and select a suitable product type for their skin. The whole process of getting it ‘approved’ through the Arbonne consultants created a hassle for the consumers and ended up costing them their money and skin!
Arbonne’s Reaction to This Problem
After Meghan Telpner wrote an article on Arbonne’s products in August 2021, their flase claims of ‘safe and beneficial products’, things started taking a U turn. Her article made it to the first page of Google and Arbonne didn’t want its brand name to get destroyed like that. Shortly after that, Arbonne revamped their entire website and branding, to make all of their ingredients readily available to the customers. Every product that is listed on their website now comes with a full-fledged list of ingredients.
Now, customers can have a detailed look at the list of ingredients and decide for themselves, i.e. whether a certain product is something they’d want to consume. The problem that got solved is that now consumers can look for different Arbonne products and buy them according to their preferences, without needing any help from the consultants or contacting with the company. It’s no longer a consultant’s job to describe their pure, beneficial, and safe products. You get to decide for yourself.
Additionally, Arbonne desgined their new website around three keywords, i.e. ‘transparency’, ‘honesty’ and integrity’. All of their products, including the ones of the famous FC5 range, are now listed with their ingredients and people are open to experimenting with them once again.
Do Your Research When Buying Skincare Products
Arbonne faced a huge blow in last couple of years, and to be honest, it was their mistake. However, the brand has improved alot, redesigned their policies from the scratch, looked into the matter of consultants, and abled the consumers to have a detailed look at the list of ingredients, by themselves. In a nutshell, whether its Arbonne or any other skincare/beauty brand, you must never give in to the marketing tactics.
No one will protect you until you don’t look out for yourself. Get yourself checked by a dermatologist, take a good look at your skin and do the research about your skin type, i.e. which kind of skincare products will suffice and the ingredients that might be harmful for your skin and cause problems later. Additionally, to not fall victim to the badly marketed skincare products, have a look at some tips for moisturizing your skin naturally