5 PR Tips for Clean Beauty Brands in 2025
Stand Out, Stay Authentic, and Scale Your Story
Clean beauty is no longer a trend—it’s a movement. But with more brands entering the space each year, standing out in 2025 means more than just “clean” claims and pretty packaging. Today’s beauty consumer wants transparency, connection, and value-driven storytelling.
If you’re building or growing a clean beauty brand this year, your PR strategy needs to go beyond press releases and product mailers. Here are 5 PR tips for clean beauty brands in 2025 to help you get noticed, build trust, and connect with both media and your ideal audience.
1. Lead with Purpose, Not Just Product
Your mission is your greatest PR asset. Consumers—and editors—want to know why you exist. What’s your stance on sustainability? How do you source ingredients? Who are you serving, and what change are you championing in the industry?
In 2025, clean beauty PR isn’t about buzzwords. It’s about building a narrative that speaks to conscious consumers who are looking for more than just performance—they want values they can stand behind. Make sure your brand story, founder vision, and product ethos are front and center in every pitch, press kit, and post.
2. Work with Creators Who Reflect Your Brand Ethos
Gone are the days of paying influencers for one-off product shots. Clean beauty brands are now building long-term relationships with creators who live the lifestyle—wellness-focused, ingredient-aware, and mission-aligned.
Identify micro and mid-tier creators with audiences that trust them. Then co-create content that feels natural to their voice and meaningful to yours. Whether it’s “Get Ready With Me” Reels, ingredient breakdowns, or morning rituals, the key is authenticity over aesthetic.
Pro tip: Don’t just focus on numbers. Look at engagement rates, content style, and how the creator interacts with their community.
3. Tell Visual Stories Across Platforms
Clean beauty sells when people see it in action. In 2025, that means investing in visual-first storytelling—across TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and beyond.
Show texture, application, and results
Use UGC (user-generated content) to build trust
Leverage video testimonials from real customers or creators
Highlight before-and-after moments with transparency
Your PR team or agency should be thinking not just in headlines, but in high-performing content formats that can be pitched, posted, and repurposed.
4. Build a Digital Press Kit That’s Actually Useful
Journalists, editors, and creators all need quick access to your brand assets. In 2025, your press kit should be digital, dynamic, and regularly updated.
What to include:
Brand story and founder bio
Clean beauty credentials and ingredient philosophy
Product info sheets with hi-res images
Key press mentions or awards
Contact info and social links
Short-form videos or GIFs showing the product in use
Make it easy for someone to fall in love with your brand—and feature you.
5. Be Discoverable with an SEO-Driven Content Strategy
Search is a secret PR weapon. Creating blogs, product education pages, and how-to content on your site helps position your brand as an expert—and makes it easier for media and customers to find you.
Think beyond product pages. Create content around:
Ingredient spotlights (e.g., “Why we use bakuchiol instead of retinol”)
Skincare routines by skin type or lifestyle
Explainers on clean beauty terms and certifications
Interviews with your team or founder
SEO content also boosts credibility and makes your press outreach stronger—because it shows you own your niche.
Clean Beauty Brands Driving Success As Digitally-Native Brands
Crown Affair
Crown Affair is driving success as a digitally-native clean beauty brand by combining ritual-based branding, thoughtful storytelling, and strategic digital execution—all tailored to the modern beauty consumer who values intention over impulse. Here's a breakdown of how they're doing it:
1. Elevated, Ritual-Driven Positioning
Crown Affair doesn't just sell haircare products—they sell slow beauty rituals. From the beginning, the brand positioned itself as a daily wellness companion, not a quick fix. Their messaging centers around care, craft, and consistency—inviting customers to treat their hair the way they’d treat their skin or mind. This has allowed them to tap into the self-care movement while creating emotional resonance and brand loyalty.
2. Clean, Thoughtful Formulations Backed by Transparency
As a clean beauty brand, Crown Affair is extremely intentional about ingredients and sustainability. They clearly communicate what goes into their formulas—and what doesn’t—building trust with a conscious consumer base. The focus isn’t just on being “non-toxic,” but on being effective, elevated, and responsible.
3. Design-Led, Digital-First Experience
From their website to their packaging, Crown Affair leans into a minimal, luxurious aesthetic that feels as much like a lifestyle brand as a haircare company. Their online store is clean, easy to navigate, and visually consistent with their Instagram and campaign content. Everything about the digital experience is crafted to reflect care and calm, echoing their product philosophy.
4. Organic Creator Partnerships and Word-of-Mouth
Rather than chase mega-influencers or one-off promos, Crown Affair has nurtured relationships with aligned creators—beauty editors, creatives, and community builders who naturally fit the brand’s ethos. UGC and soft-touch creator content play a huge role in driving awareness while maintaining credibility.
They also launched “The Rituals,” a newsletter and storytelling hub that highlights members of their community—strengthening the brand-customer relationship and turning fans into advocates.
5. Strong Founder Narrative & Brand POV
Founder Dianna Cohen is a powerful part of the brand story. Her background in editorial and branding (she was previously at Into The Gloss and Away) brings cultural fluency and clarity of vision. She speaks to the lifestyle behind the product, not just the product itself—which helps Crown Affair stay relevant, human, and high-touch in a digital space.
6. Consistency Across Channels
Crown Affair nails consistency—across Instagram, TikTok, newsletters, packaging, and customer experience. Everything reinforces the brand’s tone: slow, clean, elevated, and intentional. This coherence builds trust, especially important in a crowded clean beauty market.
Crown Affair Recap:
Crown Affair’s success lies in how well it marries a digital-first strategy with offline sensibility. It's not just selling shampoo—it’s selling a moment of calm in a busy world. For other digitally native clean beauty brands, the lesson is clear: brand ritual, clarity of purpose, and content that connects are more powerful than paid reach alone.
Tower 28
Tower 28 Beauty’s success is deeply rooted in founder Amy Liu’s personal story—and a clear mission to create truly skin-safe clean beauty products. Here's how her vision turned Tower 28 into a trusted, community-grown brand:
Origin Story: From Personal Need to Purpose-Driven Brand
Amy Liu, a longtime beauty industry veteran at brands like L’Oréal, Kate Somerville, and Josie Maran, struggled with chronic eczema despite shaping major beauty innovations. Frustrated that most clean beauty options still caused irritation, she set out to make something that both looked beautiful and was genuinely safe—her personal experience became the brand’s foundation (Online Queso, sidewalkhustle.com).
Tower 28 launched in 2019 with a small line of hero products—SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray, ShineOn Lip Jelly, cream blushes, and tinted balms—that reflected Liu’s ethos: affordable, inclusive, and safe for sensitive skin. The brand name itself—the real-life lifeguard tower in Santa Monica—symbolizes community, safety, and a relaxed SoCal lifestyle (Popsugar).
What Drives Tower 28’s Success
1. Third‑Party Validation & Product Credibility
Tower 28 earned the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance by avoiding known irritants and conducting rigorous testing on people with eczema. This external validation provides real trust for customers skeptical of generic “clean” claims (Online Queso).
2. Transparent, Ingredient-First Storytelling
A transparent ingredient policy—complete with a detailed blacklist of irritants and its own hashtag, #ItsOkayToBeSensitive—has helped Tower 28 define the clean beauty conversation on its own terms and drive consumer trust (sidewalkhustle.com).
3. Organic Momentum & Real Customer Experience
The brand’s SOS spray rose to fame during the pandemic as a solution to "maskne." Liu gifted early batches to essential workers and hospitals; real users shared before-and-after testimonials, creating authentic, viral UGC that outperformed traditional marketing (Online Queso).
One TikTok video went truly viral, though Amy Liu credits smaller creators for some of the biggest breakthroughs—not celebrity endorsements alone (RUSSH).
4. Collaborative Brand Extensions & Storytelling
Tower 28 runs around 20 collaborations yearly—partnering with aligned brands for cause-driven sets and visibility hits. Projects like the Kung Fu Panda 4 collab, and alliances with fellow AAPI-owned brands, demonstrate Liu’s commitment to community, cross-promotion, and narrative-driven growth (Glossy).
5. Accessible Price + Aesthetic Clarity
Priced under $28 in 2025, Tower 28 offers clean, high-quality formulations at accessible price points. That made it eligible to penetrate 1% of Sephora’s sales globally—a feat few brands accomplish—and helped scale both revenue and trust simultaneously (Glossy).
6. Digital Engagement & Content Growth
Tower 28 has grown quickly through creative digital channels—TikTok followers surged 125%, Instagram 61%, and website traffic grew by 137% in recent years. This strong digital presence supports ongoing visibility and community engagement around its sensitive-skin-first products (info.charm.io).
What the Community Says
Reddit users frequently praise the formulas, especially the lip jellies and blushes. One fan shared:
“I then bought the blush and lip balm and again I’m blown away!!! … I’m turning into a fan” (Reddit)
Another noted Tower 28's strategic positioning around community:
“Tower 28 is the place where two iconic LA worlds come together… community, healthy fun, and clean living.” (Reddit)
Tower 28 Recap
Tower 28’s success aligns intentionally across personal narrative → product integrity → trusted validation → community-driven growth. Amy Liu transformed her own eczema struggle into a vibrant brand mission, anchored by independent testing, relatable storytelling, creator-fueled momentum, and meaningful collaborations.
In a sea of wellness brands, Tower 28 stands out not for marketing hype, but for its integrity, transparency, and accessibility—a model that beauty brands should pay attention to when building long-term, trust-based growth strategies.
Versed
Versed Skincare built its clean beauty success on a foundation of e‑commerce excellence and social media savvy, especially across TikTok, Instagram, and community-focused channels. Here’s how they’ve grown into a category leader:
1. Community-Led Development 🧪
From day one, Versed involved thousands of real consumers in product development via its private Facebook group, The Good Skin Crowd. That continuous two-way dialogue helps them refine formulations, packaging decisions, and product naming based on real feedback—from ideas to final launch. (Forbes)
2. Affordable Clean Beauty at Scale
Versed's model is built on formula-first thinking and cost-effective design. By using stock componentry, avoiding celebrity endorsements, and limiting unnecessary marketing ingredients, they keep prices under $20–$25, making clean skincare accessible to a wide audience. (Forbes)
3. Strategic Retail Partnerships
Beyond DTC, Versed launched in over 1,400 Target stores on day one—rapid expansion that drove scale and cost efficiencies. Their later partnership with Ulta extended their reach even further, letting in-store events and loyalty programs accelerate awareness and sales. (The Business of Fashion)
4. Viral Social Media and TikTok Success
Versed experienced explosive growth on TikTok by creating authentic, educational content and repurposing organic videos as ads. One campaign used Spark Ads to amplify creator content, resulting in 5.7 million views, 33,000 new followers, and significantly lower CPA than other platforms. (TikTok Ads) Their “Good Hair Day Bubble Headband” even sold out repeatedly thanks to TikTok hype. (Real Simple)
5. UGC-Driven Trust and Conversion
The brand prioritizes user-generated content and expert reviews—from platforms like Beautytap—to boost credibility. Their use of diverse, detailed review content is layered across product pages, social media, and email campaigns, enhancing trust and nudging conversions. (Beautytap)
6. Integrated Digital & SEO-First Strategy
Versed’s digital growth is driven by combining SEO with social-first content. Their team builds social videos based on top searched skincare questions (like ingredient comparisons), boosting both engagement and search rankings. (Reddit)
Why Versed’s Plan Works
Versed’s success is built on balancing purpose-driven storytelling, community feedback, and digital-first execution. They democratized clean beauty via:
Affordable pricing
Ingredient transparency
Consumer co-creation
Viral content and creator amplification
Frictionless access through retail and digital platforms
The result: a digitally-native brand that combines trust, scale, and social authenticity—making clean skincare desirable and easily available.
Tips for Clean Beauty Brands Launching in 2025: Succeeding Across Social Commerce & E-Commerce
The clean beauty space is growing rapidly—but so is the competition. To stand out in 2025, new brands need to master both authentic digital presence and seamless commerce experiences. Here are key strategies to drive traction and convert customers from scroll to sale:
1. Start With Community, Not Just Product
The most successful clean beauty brands aren’t built in boardrooms—they're built alongside real people. Use tools like Instagram Close Friends, private Facebook Groups, or Substack to bring early adopters into your process. Test packaging, scents, names, and even formulas with them. This builds loyalty before your first sale.
Pro tip: Launch with a waitlist or early access campaign that drives FOMO and allows you to gather valuable zero-party data.
2. Go All In On TikTok & Creator-Led Discovery
In 2025, TikTok (and TikTok Shop) remains the engine of product virality. Build relationships with micro and mid-tier creators who have deep trust with their audiences—especially those focused on skincare education, ingredient transparency, or lifestyle wellness.
Spark Ads, creator collaborations, and repurposing UGC as paid content can massively boost reach without losing authenticity.
Bonus: TikTok's SEO is growing. Optimize captions and spoken content around skincare questions your audience is already Googling.
3. Make Social Commerce Seamless
Whether you're selling through TikTok Shop, Instagram Checkout, or your own DTC site, frictionless purchasing is key. Make sure your storefronts are optimized for mobile and aligned with how people discover your brand.
Use Linktree-style hubs to guide traffic smartly.
Offer exclusive bundles or limited drops on social platforms.
Leverage native review tools and video content for trust signals.
4. Lead With Ingredient Transparency & Results
Clean is no longer a buzzword—it’s an expectation. Use plain language, ingredient callouts, and dermatological testing where possible. Better yet, show real results with before-and-after content, customer testimonials, and clinical data.
Your packaging and site should answer: “Is this for my skin type?” “What makes it clean?” “Will this really work?”
5. Think Like a Media Brand
Content is currency. From launch, develop a plan for creating:
Weekly TikToks or Reels with tips, myths, or user reactions
Email newsletters with skincare routines and ingredient spotlights
Blog posts optimized for SEO with trending keywords (like “niacinamide vs vitamin C,” or “sensitive skin routines”)
You’re not just selling product—you’re building trust, expertise, and lifestyle alignment.
Final Thoughts
As the clean beauty industry continues to evolve in 2025, so should your PR strategy. It’s not just about coverage—it’s about connection. From meaningful creator partnerships to value-driven storytelling, the brands that thrive will be the ones who show up with clarity, consistency, and authenticity.
Ready to take your clean beauty brand to the next level?
So Sloane specializes in PR and content strategy for clean beauty and wellness brands that are ready to grow with purpose. Whether you're launching your first hero product or scaling globally, we help you create content, build awareness, and connect with creators who believe in what you do.
Let’s talk → hello@sosloane.com
