Credo & Follain

Many of you ask where I learn about green beauty - I read magazines, blogs, do educational trainings and I go into retail stores. I think it is so important to actually touch, smell and try things on - especially when it comes to lotions, potions and makeup. A smell, texture or reaction could take a product that you have been reading about for months off of your ‘to buy’ list.

Two of my favorite stores are Credo and Follain. Credo Beauty has stores across the US with a flagship store in SF and Follain has stores primarily on the East Coast, as well as Dallas, and Washington state. I primarily use their store in Boston. And of course both businesses have a strong internet presence. 

From my experience the two have a very different feel and offer very different things to the buyer. I think this is primarily because the founders behind both stores came at developing their green beauty philosophy in unique ways. 

CREDO: Founded in 2014 by Shashi Batra, and Annie Jackson.

Batra and Jackson co-founded Credo, as a beauty retail concept and spa store with  both an online and brick and mortar presence. Credo features skincare, makeup, bath, and body products that are eco-friendly, cruelty-free, natural and organic. During his time in the beauty industry, Batra was most notably on the original management team that started and built Sephora North America. Batra died in 2015 and now Credo is run by co-founder Jackson who worked with Batra at Sehora. Jackson also has a background in beauty: starting at Este Lauder, and later transitioning to Sephora.

From a recent online interview with Annie Jackson: 

I come from a conventional beauty background and am a merchant at heart – I’m not a green chemist. So I needed to really educate myself. What I learned was really life-changing around my understanding of ingredients and the impact on human & environmental health. Our customers go on a similar journey: looking for information, educating themselves and making informed decisions on their purchases. - Indielee.com

Credo has a very informed and knowledgeable staff that is always ready to help you find something new and fun. They also host new product launches and meetings with well known organic labels, where you can meet the entrepreneurs behind many of the brands that you know and love. It’s fun to go in and play with all the amazing new things that are always on the shelves. Like many companies they offer a point system when buying products that can eventually earn you free merchandise. Credo offers most products in many green beauty brand lines. If you are a purist when it comes to green beauty you may need to read the labels of most of the brands that they carry. While many of their brands are completely organic some are not - just a caveat for the buyer. 

FOLLAIN: was founded in 2013 by Tara Foley

I started my clean beauty journey over 10 years ago after realizing that my “healthy” lifestyle had a huge blind spot: I was exercising and eating clean, but I had no idea what I was putting on my body. That’s when I discovered all the toxins hiding inside my beauty products. I started a blog to share information, and received an inspiring response from so many women with the same concerns. We deserved answers—and products that worked without putting our health (or the planet) at risk. - From Follain’s Site.

Foley started on her road to green beauty first as a blogger  (inner smile) on her site called the Natural Alchemist, wanting to learn first hand about green beauty. She later left a law firm to move overseas and to work at a French lavender farm shadowing their skin-care formulator. Later she we went on to get her MBA and won a prize using her business idea/plan for Follain. With the prize money, she and her husband opened their first store in Boston’s South End.

One of the differences between Follain and Credo is Follain’s advisory board – that helps advise  Ms. Foley and her staff on where products come from, what they are made with, and this in turn helps the company lead consumers to make healthier choices. They also have a restricted list of ingredients that will not be allowed in the products that they sell to consumers. Because of this Follain has a very curated selection of products – whereby you won’t see all products from a particular brand online or in their stores. They also do performance reviews of products and will only work with vendors that are passionate about clean beauty. And another difference between the two retailers: Follain makes a number of their own products with this high level of oversite for the consumer. I will tell you that their Charcoal Deodorant retail $14.00  is absolutely wonderful.

Go online and check out these two green retailers – or if you are near one of their retail stores, go in and play! And please let me know your opinions about each.

Where I Shop for Beauty