Helping an Innovative Beauty Brand Become a B Corp

Founded in 2018 in the U.K. by Colette Laxton & Mark Curry, The INKEY List’s mission is to lead with knowledge, demystifying the beauty category through knowledge-driven solutions at an accessible price point, as well as to support consumers throughout their personal skincare journey.

The INKEY List wanted to join the global community of B Corp certified purposeful businesses. They recognized that certification would help them demonstrate their business values and hold them accountable to their goals.

The Challenge

As a cosmetics business that is thoughtful about its ingredients and packaging and aims to empower its customers, The INKEY List was naturally attracted to B Corp certification as the leading, holistic sustainability mark. However, in a fast-moving business there are always competing priorities, and with little spare internal capacity, the company needed support to navigate the assessment.

The INKEY List also had several positive initiatives underway across their business around the theme of educating consumers. They were keen to measure their impact against a rigorous third-party assessment to learn where they could adapt their approach and sought Junxion’s help. 

How We Helped

Junxion began by establishing a baseline score for the business, interviewing people across the business and gathering existing documentation. Having identified the gaps The INKEY List needed to fill to certify, we led a ‘hack-through’ workshop to prioritize which improvements to the business were most impactful and feasible for The INKEY List to implement. We also supported the team in making the case for the legal change––embedding stakeholder thinking in the company’s articles of association.

We pulled together an action plan and supported The INKEY List with making further improvements to their social and environmental performance, using our in-depth knowledge of the B Impact Assessment to help them demonstrate their impact and produce the robust evidence needed to meet the 80-point threshold for certification.

Measuring Success

In early 2023, The INKEY List became a certified B Corp after two years of work devoted to meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. The rigorous verification was an instructive process, helping The INKEY List to appreciate what is needed to track and demonstrate positive impact for stakeholders over time and align their various initiatives.

Alongside its B Corp journey, the business has become a carbon net zero certified brand, introduced 100% recycle-ready packaging, and established a youth-led INKEY Impact Fund to drive system change in education.

The pride and inspiration that The INKEY List derives from B Corp certification and its commitment to ongoing improvement are evident in their latest impact report.