What you put on your body is just as important as what you put in your body; although there's much debate over whether our beauty products can actually be absorbed into our bloodstream (there's a great article here which debunks a lot of the myths and explains why products are actually designed to stay in the upper most layers of the skin,) there's no doubt that we're collectively becoming more concerned with the beauty treats we buy and the impact they can have on both ourselves and the world around us. Many brands like to jump on trends and use clever marketing tactics to sneakily trick you into thinking you're making better choices, but there are also many more doing great things and proving you can still get a great result without the potential downsides. I'm a firm believer that you should arm yourself with as much information as possible and make choices that are right for you, rather than feeling pressured to adopt a strict regime or restrict yourself from using your fave products. But some of the phrases and terms being flung around the beauty industry right now are causing more confusion than an episode of Sherlock; it's no surprise, in the style of Justin Beiber, we're all asking 'what do you mean"'
In the interests of clarity and helping you make the best decisions possible, I've broken down for of the most common terms and attempted to provide a comprehensive breakdown of what they mean and the implications for your beauty regime. You may choose to embra...