Brandless Product Review

Are you tired of feeling like you are only paying for the name on a product. Whether it is clothes, food, or beauty products I mostly feel like I’m paying for the packaging. As someone who has worked in both the pharmaceutical and food industry I know that it is fact sometimes that’s all we are paying for. Generic drugs are the same regardless of who’s bottle it is in. That “off brand” food that you don’t want to buy is probably just the same food put into a different bottle. Sure, sometimes there are different formulas but majority of the time it’s just the same item in different packaging. For that reason, I love brandless. It takes the cost of the name out of the product but, of course I wanted to make sure the products were quality and non-toxic. Knowing that, here’s my Brandless product review. 

Night Cream

Ingredients

Water, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearic Acid, Concentrated Vegetable Glycerides, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, Polysorbate 20, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Dimethicone, Ethylhexyl, Palmitate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide. 

The Analysis

Well, there are definitely a few ingredients in this that are a little concerning but the majority of them are really great ingredients. Polysorbate 20, Dimethicone, and Tocopheryl Acetate all rank a 3 by the EWG website. In my opinion, that makes them just okay ingredients. They aren’t great but they also aren’t the worst. Phenoxyethanol on the other hand, has me a little concerned. This ranks a 2-4 depending on the use of the item. Well, one of the cautions is that if it is used by the mouth it has more risk because it has a higher likelihood of being absorbed. This is night cream for my face meaning it goes right next to my mouth. Sodium Hydroxide can also be a controversial ingredient but more caution is used in cleansers so I think this one would be okay in this application.

Overall, not terrible but not altogether great either. It has one pretty questionable ingredient and a couple that are just okay. From my perspective, this is something that I’ll probably keep looking for. I LOVE the price though and that makes me a little more torn. I want good products that don’t cost an arm and a leg. It’s possible I’ll have to settle for an okay product to be able to afford the cost of it. 

Tub & Tile Cleaner & Multi Surface Cleaner Refills

Ingredients

Non-Ionic Surfactant Blend (CAS # Proprietary), Hexylene Glycol(CAS # 107-41-5), Propylene Glycol (CAS# 57-55-6), Water (CAS# 7732-18-5), Fragrance (CAS# PROPRIETARY, See www.ifraorg.org), Biocide (CAS#26172-55-4, CAS# 2682-20-4).

The Analysis

These ones are a little harder to analyze due to the lack of transparency. The non-ionic surfactant blend gives us no details as to what is actually in there. Biocide is also an ingredient that I can’t find hardly any information on.Propylene Glycol is one of those just okay ingredients as it ranks a 3 from the EWG. The good news is that their fragrance isn’t something to be worried about. The website that they reference tells us that they are held to a level of standard that makes the fragrance that they use safe. That’s pretty cool because that’s generally where a lot of bad things hide out. 

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this. How are they different products but the ingredients are the same? Again, the price point is really ideal and the ingredient list doesn’t seem too bad from what I can see. I don’t love that they have this big proprietary blend that we don’t get to know much about. I would hope that there are some differentiating features in that blend but we have no way of knowing! They make a lot of promises on their website so I would hope that they aren’t hiding anything in there but I can’t be positive.

Glass Cleaner Refills

Ingredients

Non-Ionic Surfactant Blend (CAS # Proprietary), Hexylene Glycol(CAS # 107-41-5), Propylene Glycol (CAS# 57-55-6), Water (CAS# 7732-18-5), Fragrance (CAS# PROPRIETARY, See www.ifraorg.org), Isopropanol (CAS# 26172-55-4), Biocide (CAS#26172-55-4, CAS# 2682-20-4).

The Analysis

The only differentiating ingredient, that we can see, is the Isopropanol which appears to be a harmless ingredient. Based on that information, my review on this is going to be the same as my analysis above. I’m not sure how I feel based on the fact that I can’t see all of the information. I don’t trust a lot of companies but the cost and ease of use makes me really like this product. Plus, I really mean this, it smells incredible. Knowing that the fragrance isn’t toxic for us boosts my view on it a little more even. 

Facial Wipes

Ingredients

Water, Triethyl Citrate, Sorbitan Oleate Decylglucoside Crosspolymer, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil, Glycerin, Citric Acid

The Analysis

As we discussed before, Phenoxyethanol has some mixed reviews. It’s best advised to not use it around the mouth. Of course, using facial wipes means that it’s getting used around the mouth. Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil is a 3 so it’s just an okay product. It looks like as long as it’s used within limited quantities it should be fine. We don’t get to know the amount that they put in the wipes so it’s hard to tell how “bad” that ingredient is or could be. 

Overall, this is one item that I won’t be purchasing again but there are a couple reasons for it. One, I’m always looking to cut down on waste. I love the ease of these wipes and how nice they are when I’m in a hurry and don’t feel like putting the effort into washing my face. However, one of our goals is also sustainability which means cutting down on trash. I’d rather switch to some homemade cloths with a cleaner on them. The second is that I don’t like the Phenoxyethanol. It seems too risky to me and I’d rather avoid that. 

Silicone Kitchen Tools

Probably the items that I’m most excited about were the silicone spoon and ladle that I ordered. They are color neutral and made out of wood and silicone which aren’t toxic. I had the old plastic versions that I didn’t love and wanted to get rid of. For the price point that these had it made is a super easy swap. I don’t usually like to replace things until they are worn out and can’t be used but I didn’t feel so bad spending less than $10 to replace these. 

Brandless Product Review: Items I Haven’t Tried

There are some other items that I haven’t tried but definitely want to get around to ordering one of these days. A lot of them fall into the home category, as I know that is safe and that’s also where we tend to spend a ton of money just to get the name of an item.

Things like parchment paper and aluminum foil. Look, I don’t need my foil to be Reynolds. In fact, I try not to use these types of items as much as I possibly can. With that in mind, I also don’t like to spend a ton of money on them. The price on these is highly reasonable- just $3-4.

There are a couple different sizes of grill pans that I will probably pick up because we need some of those and they are reusable. 

One bonus item I want to talk about- their stainless steel pans. If we didn’t have stainless pans already, I’d be ALL OVER these. The price point is great and around the holidays they go on sale for an even better deal.

In Summary: Brandless Product Review

Overall, I like the performance and price point of the brandless product. I don’t feel like I’m buying something just for the name that is printed on the label of it. If the item doesn’t include chemicals- like the spoon and ladle- I would highly recommend. For the other products, you will need to decide what is best for your family. I could see myself ordering the cleaner refills again but then I might also decide to just order Azure Clean products too because they are super easy and still cost effective.

What is your favorite brand for cleaning products? I’d love to hear all of your non-toxic options in the comments.