Macy’s relaunched its Conscious Beauty program as part of its wider Mission Every One sustainability strategy. The refresh introduced a new trust mark and improved online experience to help customers identify products that are safer, more ethical, and more sustainable.
At its core, Conscious Beauty gives shoppers clear standards around ingredients, animal testing, and mindful production. But behind the scenes, Macy’s relies on Novi Connect, a transparency and compliance partner, to ensure that every product carrying the Conscious Beauty label truly meets these expectations.
This is why you might notice a difference: Macy’s highlights three pillars for shoppers, while Novi outlines four refined compliance criteria for brands. Let’s explore what this means.
Macy’s Conscious Beauty: Three Shopper-Friendly Pillars
On the Macy’s website, Conscious Beauty is defined by three key pillars:
- Clean Ingredients – Products are formulated without parabens, sulfates, phthalates, mineral oils, and other controversial chemicals.
- Mindfully Made – A broad category that covers sustainability practices, vegan formulations, and ethical production.
- Cruelty-Free – Products that are not tested on animals at any stage.
This simplified message makes it easy for customers to identify products that align with their values.
Novi Connect: The Partner Behind the Standards
To ensure these promises hold up, Macy’s partners with Novi Connect, a technology platform that reviews ingredients, packaging, and supply chain details. Novi translates Macy’s consumer-facing pillars into four refined compliance criteria for brands:
- Conscious Ingredients – The same as Macy’s “Clean Ingredients,” but backed by a detailed restricted substance list (covering parabens, sulfates, silicones, microbeads, palm oil, and more).
- Cruelty-Free – No animal testing, at any stage of development or production.
- Vegan – Explicitly requires no animal-derived ingredients.
- Packaged with Care – Packaging must be refillable, reusable, or made from recycled, bio-based, or certified sustainable materials.
Why the Difference?
The difference is all about audience focus:
- Macy’s keeps the message simple for shoppers (3 easy-to-remember pillars).
- Novi provides the detailed framework that brands must follow (4 compliance pillars).
In fact, Macy’s “Mindfully Made” essentially combines Novi’s Vegan and Packaged with Care categories.
What This Means for Cosmetic Formulators
- For formulators and ingredient suppliers, Macy’s Conscious Beauty isn’t just a marketing label — it’s a set of clear formulation and packaging benchmarks that shape product development.
- Formulation strategy: Products must exclude a growing list of restricted substances while addressing consumer demand for clean, effective alternatives.
- Animal-free innovation: Cruelty-free and vegan pillars push formulators toward plant-based actives, alternative testing methods, and new preservation systems.
- Sustainable packaging: “Packaged with Care” criteria require collaboration between formulators, packaging engineers, and suppliers to deliver low-impact solutions.
- Transparency: Working through Novi Connect means full disclosure of ingredients and packaging components, aligning with the industry’s move toward digital product passports and regulatory transparency.
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