Beautycounter vs Kosas: Counter's Relaunch and Clean Rivals

On 29 December 2022 the president signed the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act, the first major expansion of the FDA's authority over cosmetics since the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. Overnight, companies faced mandatory recalls, adverse event reporting and facility registration. Gregg Renfrew, the founder of Beautycounter, had testified to Congress for reform, according to Elle. For most of the twentieth century, what went into a face cream was largely the maker's decision.

That is the gap this brand was built in. Renfrew founded Beautycounter in 2013 and wrote a private Never List, which the brand says covers more than 1,800 questionable or harmful chemicals. It grew fast, Carlyle bought a majority stake in 2021, and then things fell apart: by April 2024 the company was in foreclosure. Renfrew has said she shut it down and spent about thirteen and a half months reimagining everything. Counter, the brand many people still search for as beauty counter, came back as a smaller company selling directly from its own site, soft-launched in June 2025 and pushed properly that autumn. Renfrew's own line is that Beautycounter was never an MLM, which I would file under her account of it.

The trick is to shop the first grid as the new, edited Counter. Skin Twin Featherweight Foundation comes in 27 shades, says the site, with the Skin Twin Creamy Concealer beside it. All Bright Vitamin C Serum and Countertime Retinatural+ Advanced Super Serum are the two hero serums, and the brand says it never formulates with retinol, relying on its own Retinatural complex instead. Countertime Antioxidant Soft Cream is the everyday moisturiser, Overnight Resurfacing Peel is the weekly treat, Counterglow Hyaluronic Moisture Mist is for midday, and Lotus Glow Cleansing Balm takes it all off.

Pick one lip product, one eye product and one body product from this grid, and live with them for a week before buying anything else. Work outward from the face.

On the lips, Beyond Gloss and the Sheer Genius Conditioning Lipstick cover shine and color. Velvet Cream Bronzer and Lid Glow Cream Shadow are cream formats, which I find kinder to fingers than a brush when you are in a hurry. Think Big All-in-One Mascara and Brilliant Brow Tinted Brow Gel are the quick eye pair, and they make a bare face look awake without much effort from you.

Then the body. Superquench Body Butter and Sugarbuff Body Polish make a good weekend pair: polish in the shower, butter on damp skin afterward. That combination is a small ritual that does not need a spa.

A pairing I like: the cream bronzer and the lid shadow in the same warm tone, blended with fingertips, for a five-minute face.

What I would skip: a cream shadow on an oily lid in humid weather, unless you are happy to touch it up at lunch.

Makeup that calls itself clean still has to pass the ordinary tests, so swatch the lipstick on your lips, not on your wrist, and wear the tinted moisturizer for a full day before deciding.

ILIA's Fullest Volumizing Mascara is the one for lashes. Kosas has three here: Shiny Objects Wet Glisten Highlighter Powder for face and eyes, BB Burst Tinted Moisturizer Gel Cream with copper peptides, and the Weightless Lip Color Nourishing Satin Lipstick. Westman Atelier brings the Sun Tone Bronzing Crème, the Baby Cheeks Blush Stick and the HydroBalm Tinted Lipstick, which is a lot of finish for three small pieces. RMS Beauty's Cashmere Matte Eyelights is the matte eye option.

The BB Burst goes on in the morning, the Baby Cheeks Blush Stick over the top, then a swipe of the Weightless Lip Color. That is a full face in under five minutes.

What I would skip: assuming clean means the same thing on every label. A brand's ingredient list is its point of view, not a federal standard, so read the ingredients that matter to your skin.

Change only one skincare step at a time: cleanse, treat, moisturize. Clean skincare gets judged unfairly when three things change at once, and you never learn which one your skin liked. Keep a note on your phone of the start date.

Vintner's Daughter's Active Renewal Cleanser and goop Beauty's Cloudberry Exfoliating Jelly Cleanser are the two cleansers, one richer and one lighter. KORA Organics' Plant Stem Cell Retinol Alternative Serum and goop Beauty's 3x Retinol Regenerative Serum are the two night serums worth comparing, since one is a retinol alternative and one is a retinol. Tammy Fender's Plant Milk Serum and ILIA's True Skin Radiant Priming Serum are the softer, more glow-minded serums.

Tata Harper's Crème Supreme and True Botanicals' Ginger Turmeric Hydraglow Cream are the two creams. They are the ones I would put on at night, when the skin is quietly doing its work. Press a pea-sized amount of either into the skin rather than rubbing it around, and give the serum a minute to settle first.

What I would skip: starting a retinol and a retinol alternative on the same night. Choose one, and give it a proper run before you judge it.

The nicest thing about Counter's comeback is that it is smaller. Fewer products, a clearer point of view, and a founder who has been through the worst version of a beauty story and still came back. That gives it a sharper shelf than the old one.

I would start with the Skin Twin Featherweight Foundation and All Bright Vitamin C Serum, then see how the rest of the routine shakes out. The law took eighty-four years to catch up with a cream. You can take a week to choose one. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Cushion Foundation Went From K-Beauty Novelty to Every Luxury Counter and SUBTL Beauty.