Switch2Pure Is A Clean Beauty Retailer And Brand—And It’s Growing On Both Fronts

Estela Cockrell is in a rare position in the indie beauty world. Her company, Switch2Pure, juggles being a retailer and a brand—and both portions are growing.

Following the e-commerce platform’s physical premiere about a year ago with a temporary store in the upscale River Oaks District retail complex, Cockrell is planting a permanent Switch2Pure unit in January at a central 2,000-square-foot Houston location that will merge services and products. She says, “People want to really experience new products, and try skincare and makeup on first.”

Additionally, Cockrell is expanding Switch2Pure’s product label, which she launched because she was dissatisfied with a lack of available products that she deems clean, into a CBD range. Cockrell is convinced CBD is a “wonder” ingredient serving up antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

Switch2Pure debuted two years ago as a website to showcase Cockrell’s vision of clean beauty. She painstakingly sources, investigates, tests, discovers and curates its lineup to pass stringent Switch2Pure standards. With assistance from University of Texas professors, the retailer compiled a database it’s dubbed The Purist List of potentially harmful ingredients. Brands it carries must not contain ingredients on The Purist List. Ethoxylates, dyes, oxybenzone, glycols, parabens and phthalates are no-nos.

“Our standard bans about 1,000 ingredients that are known and substantiated endocrine disruptors, cancer-causing ingredients and neurotoxins,” says Cockrell. She developed Switch2Pure’s products after looking for brands to fill pop-ups and being pressed to find what she considers “truly nontoxic” formulations that worked.

“There’s a difference in products that are just natural, but not awesome enough for those trading their luxury products for pure,” says Cockrell. “I felt like there was a hole in the market.” Complicating the matter is that some brands tout their products with terms like “natural” when, in reality, she suggests they don’t meet Switch2Pure’s clean beauty requirements.

“Our standard bans about 1,000 ingredients that are known and substantiated endocrine disruptors, cancer-causing ingredients and neurotoxins.”

Cockrell says, “We have created a brand beyond our online store because we want to reach more ‘purists’ as we call them, and the only way I could do that was by building products that were reflective of our mission and passion.”

The Switch2Pure brand started with a probiotic deodorant, active bar soaps and biodegradable konjac sponges. It’s bar soap and probiotic deodorant are sold by Urban Outfitters. Cockrell recently introduced facials tools, including a gua sha and jade crystal roller. The selection is being supplemented with the CBD range spanning four products—gel cleanser, spray serum, face oil and body rub—sporting clever and descriptive names like Be Glowy (hyaluronic serum spray) and Be Chill (a body rub designed to smell distinct from most options on the market). The formulas feature squalene, organic avocado oil, pomegranate oil, turmeric and hyaluronic acid.

The CBD range’s prices run from $55 to $95. Its glass, and recyclable plastic and paper packaging was chosen with the earth in mind. Cockrell’s social outreach efforts for the products are devoted to teaching consumers about the differences in CBD and its benefits. With CBD in Switch2Pure’s portfolio, she believes her own brand could reach as much as 30% of Switch2Pure’s sales.

Cockrell’s path to clean beauty is highly personal. She’s lived with Lyme and celiac diseases for 23 years. Her health issues prompted her to scour medical studies and wellness blogs to learn about the impacts of beauty products she relied on. Cockrell wasn’t about to give up beauty products. She simply needed to make sure they weren’t detrimental to her health.

“Our customers are purists who don’t want to give up performance in the name of luxury.”

“I was self-motivated,” says Cockrell. “I liked my expensive night cream, but I can’t use it because of the toxic ingredients.” She reports her health struggles have diminished since she transitioned to clean beauty and a well-rounded approach to nutrition.

In 2017, Cockrell brought her knowledge of clean beauty to women like her searching for luxurious, effective and clean beauty products. A one-stop shop for verified goods, Switch2Pure incorporated a monthly subscription service. Cockrell says, “Our customers are purists who don’t want to give up performance in the name of luxury.”

Switch2Pure’s upcoming permanent store will stock items from its line as well as merchandise from brands such as Uma, Innersense, Lauren B., Suntegrity and Fitglow Beauty. It will also encompass Switch2Pure’s Wellness NOW program providing food sensitivity and vitamin absorption assessments, and counseling to go along with them. A self-service glow bar will be onsite, and customers can explore that themselves or move deeper into the experience with CBD and gua sha facials, #TheFacelift (a European facial and body firming machine), an ozone sauna, and makeup applications. Cockrell believes physical stores could eventually produce as much as 60% of Switch2Pure’s total company sales.

“The store is an extension of my online site,” says Cockrell. “I feel it is important to have multiple brands because we don’t have our own makeup and body products. People should have options.”