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Ten Years In: True Botanicals Is Proving Clean Beauty Outperforms
Ten years after launching, True Botanicals is still innovating and proving clean beauty is as, if not more, effective than traditional products.
When I first wrote about True Botanicals back in 2015, it was a fledging skincare brand with a powerful origin story: its founder, Hillary Peterson, was a cancer survivor on a mission to make safe skincare products that felt luxurious to use and improved skin health.
At the time, clean beauty was still somewhat niche, and consumers were just starting to examine the ingredients of their moisturizers and serums. Today, the so-called clean beauty space is crowded and often confusing, rife with greenwashing, cleanwashing, and questionable claims.
But True Botanicals stands out from the crowd with first-to-market, science-backed formulations—including one of the first face oils (remarkable since they are now so ubiquitous) and breakthrough ingredients including chebula and peptillium.
Peterson is now board chair, having hired CEO Sandy Saputo in 2020. They're both still hyper focused on the brand's original thesis: safe products are just as effective of those that contain potentially toxic ingredients—and in many cases they perform much better.
'We've been on a mission to prove the products that prioritize the health of people and the planet can be the most effective—and we've proven it,' Peterson told me recently. 'We've outperformed leading conventional brands, and opened people's minds to the fact that you don't have to sacrifice results for safety.'
Celebrities including Brooke Shields have signed on as spokesmodels for True Botanicals.
True Botanicals completed a series B funding round in March 2023, led by growth equity firm NextWorld Evergreen. That helped the brand grow from indie direct-to-consumer brand into one with a loyal following that's sold in major retailers including Nordstrom, The Detox Market, and Erewhon. The funding also helped put in place a new, all-female board, and strengthen its commitment to environmental, social, and governance values.
Celebrities including Olivia Wilde, Laura Dern, and Brooke Shields and Jessica Chastain have graced the brand's advertising campaigns
Actress Laura Dern has been a spokesmodel for True Botanicals.
The company continues to formulate its products in the United States, using independently verified non-toxic ingredients, and remains steadfast in its mission to push back against 'cleanwashing:' when brands use buzzwords like 'clean' without real standards to back them up.
For example, a class-action lawsuit launched in 2023 alleges that products with the Target Clean seal actually contained parabens, talc, and PFAS (forever chemicals linked to cancer and immune risks)—ingredients the Target Clean stamp claimed to exclude. The lawsuit is ongoing, and several other class-action lawsuits have proliferated in recent years.
True Botanicals relies on third-party testing to prove its claims, including MADE SAFE and Environmental Working Group verified.
'Don't take it from us,' Peterson says. 'Take it from these organizations whose only job is to have the consumer's back.'
Hillary Peterson founded True Botanicals in 2015 after surviving a cancer diagnosis.
Transparency along with the effectiveness of its products seem to be at the heart of what has allowed the brand to endure.
Bringing in Seputio as CEO has also had a big impact. When she signed on, she had decades of experience building purpose-driven beauty brands including Bareminerals and Kendo Brands, and she helped accelerate True Botanical's growth.
'We've quintupled the business in 5 years, and this amazing growth has come from serving our luxury, wellness-driven consumer with relevant innovations in the field of green science that have brought meaningful and intrinsic value to her,' Saputo says.
Sandy Saputo joined True Botanicals as CEO in 2020 and has spearheaded significant growth.
She credits the brand's innovation mindset, and hints that True Botanicals will soon be first-to-market with a product 'that incorporates a patented dermal delivery system which is a breakthrough for cellular health.'
From the beginning, True Botanicals was one of the few brands connecting skincare to wellness, treating the skin as part of the body's larger ecosystem rather than a surface to be treated or fixed.
'When we put products on our skin, we're consuming them,' Peterson says. 'There's no room for toxins in wellness. That should be a given.'
As more beauty brands and products have launched with fun packaging, viral TikTok videos, and vague or unproven claims, beauty consumers have gotten much younger. An Ulta Beauty study found that Gen Z Alpha is starting to experiment with beauty products as young as 13, and Gen Alpha at just 8 years old. That means many women and girls are using beauty products for a longer period of time over their lifespan.
Peterson credits True Botanicals' all-female board and executive team for bringing a generational mindset to the table.
'I think there is something to the fact that women are community builders,' Peterson says. 'Historically, through millennia, women have taken care of the community. So I think when you have women leading a business like ours, there will be more of a focus on the health of people and in future generations. I mean, I think about future generations all the time: my kids, their kids—what are we going to leave them?'
After a decade in business, Peterson has become a mentor where she once was the youngest sibling vying for a place at the table—she was recently awarded the Cosmetic Executive Women Visionary Award.
True Botanicals has shown that naturally occurring ingredients can be even more effective than ingredients used in conventional brands.
'Now there's a confidence, not just in the brand, but in our place in the industry.'
And what will the next 10 years look like? The brand will continue to research innovative ingredients sourced from nature and harness its regenerative power. 'For instance,' Peterson says, 'the intelligence that supports plants that thrive in the harshest conditions can be equally supportive of our skin's vitality.'
Peterson and Saputo are also focused on thoughtful growth, expanding retail partnerships within the United States, deepening customer relationships, and staying grounded in their mission. 'We're not here to chase trends,' Peterson says. 'We're here to create something that lasts.'
