So REN Clean Skincare dropped a new Evercalm cream, and I almost choked on my coffee. They built a brand on “clean” and then slipped a synthetic fragrance into the formula — while a class action lawsuit looms over their “clean” marketing claims.
It’s the same old story: greenwashed label, not-so-clean ingredient list. The fragrance isn’t just there — it’s masking a chemical cocktail that smells like a fancy candle, not skincare.
This is the Evercalm Global Protection Day Cream, $48 for 50ml. The claim? Soothe redness and protect sensitive skin — which is why I bothered.
Synthetic Fragrance
Listed as “Parfum” — a blend of undisclosed allergens and potential irritants, the opposite of calming.
Greenwashed Packaging
Recyclable tubes, but the formula tells a different story — it’s a marketing win, not a skincare one.
The Lawsuit Cloud
A legal filing questions whether “clean” means anything when the ingredient list has hidden synthetics.
Photo: ajie wp / Unsplash
The hero is “bioactives” like Bisabolol from chamomile — genuinely soothing. But then there’s the fragrance, plus a preservative system that’s safe but hardly revolutionary.
It’s not toxic garbage, but it’s not the pure thing they sell you.
- Bisabolol: Calms redness, but weak at 0.1%
- Glycerin: Hydrates, nothing special
- Parfum: Hidden allergens, a big no-no for sensitive
- Tocopherol: Vitamin E, antioxidant, but overhyped
Photo: Poko Skincare / Unsplash
Texture is a dream — absorbs in 20 seconds, leaves a velvety matte finish. First day I thought, “okay, maybe I’m wrong.” The scent is a floral-y synthetic that lingers like a bad memory.
By week two, my cheeks weren’t redder, but they weren’t calmer. The fragrance gave me a subtle tingle — not irritation, just a reminder it’s not as “clean” as promised.
Photo: Amanda Wolbert / Unsplash
My redness stayed the same — no worse, no better. It hydrated fine, but $48 for a “clean” product that’s secretly perfumed? That’s a hard pass from me.
Photo: Alexandru Zdrobău / Unsplash
It’s a decent moisturizer with a liar’s badge. REN’s “clean” promise is now just a scent of a lawsuit.