Allure Cuts Its Clean Standard to 10 Banned Ingredient Groups

Allure has cut its Clean Standard from 15 banned ingredient categories to 10, seven years after the guidelines launched in 2019. PEGs, formaldehyde, triclosan, microbeads and hydroquinone came off the list because, according to Allure, they are no longer used in over-the-counter products.

Any product carrying the Allure Clean Best of Beauty seal must be a Best of Beauty winner that is free of the 10 remaining ingredient classes. Consumer interest keeps climbing: Google searches for clean beauty peaked in April 2026 at more than double the volume of April 2022, Allure reports.

What made the cut this year?

The list now includes:

• Chemical sunscreen filters. In September 2021, the FDA proposed that there is not enough data on 12 permitted chemical sunscreen agents to deem them generally recognized as safe and effective. Five years later, the agency says the data gap persists. In September 2026, the FDA issued a final administrative order banning aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and trolamine salicylate — though both had already been phased out. One new filter, Bemotrizinol (BEMT), joined the FDA's permitted list this year and was deemed safe for adults and children six months and older; it is the first sunscreen filter the FDA has approved in over 20 years. A small clinical study published in JAMA in January 2020 found some chemical filters entered the bloodstream at concentrations above the FDA's safety threshold after a single application.
• Parabens. A 2014 study found some parabens have weak estrogen-mimicking properties, and California and Maryland have banned isobutylparaben and isopropylparaben. The FDA says there is no conclusive evidence that parabens in cosmetics affect human health. "The industry removed them for marketing reasons, not safety reasons," cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowski told Allure in 2024.
• Phthalates. The National Toxicology Program listed diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen" in 2021; the cosmetic phthalate DEP is not on that list. A 2022 pooled study in JAMA Pediatrics linked higher urinary phthalate biomarkers in pregnant women to "greater odds of delivering preterm."
• Certain sulfates, silicones, aluminum salts, talc, mineral oil, petrolatum and toluene. The EU capped cyclic silicones D4 and D5 at 0.1% in wash-off cosmetics in 2020 and restricted D6 in leave-on products in 2026. Hawaii banned sunscreens with oxybenzone and octinoxate in 2021 over coral reef concerns.

What about talc litigation?

Talc remains one of the most commercially significant entries. Johnson & Johnson, which denies plaintiffs' claims that its talc products caused cancer, proposed a $5.5 billion settlement in July 2026 covering roughly 76,000 cases. Brands including recalls and reformulations have pushed talc out of many formulas, replaced by cornstarch, mica and kaolin clay.

The FDA's asbestos testing record drew consumer criticism on social media in 2025, but the agency never mandated such testing. "The proposed rule aimed to close this gap by making testing mandatory and uniform," cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos told Allure this year.

Do these ingredients actually absorb into the body?

Some do, but rarely far. Only the smallest molecules — especially fat-soluble or encapsulated ones — can reach the bloodstream, and detection alone is not evidence of harm. "The dose makes the poison is kind of that central theme of toxicology," Dobos says. "So an ingredient that might cause harm under some conditions doesn't mean it poses a meaningful risk when it's in a cosmetic product."

On sunscreens specifically, she notes that BEMT was engineered as a larger molecule to limit skin penetration. "If people have concerns about some of the other sunscreens and skin penetration, this molecule is really an improvement on that," she says.

Allure says it will keep updating the standard as new research emerges, which means the 10-item list could shift again as regulators and formulators move.