Packaging

Clover has moved its skincare range almost entirely into glass. The Balancing Oil, Balancing Water Balm, Rose Suds cleanser, Collagen Quench mist and Hydratint stain are all housed in glass bottles or jars, and the brand flags recyclability directly on each product page. Glass is endlessly recyclable without quality loss, and while it carries a heavier transport footprint than plastic, we favor it in evaluations because it does not shed microplastics and because a fully renewable energy supply chain could theoretically make it a closed loop. 

The gaps are in everything attached to the glass. Pumps, sprayers, droppers and caps are plastic, and these mixed components are exactly the parts most likely to be pulled out and landfilled at end of life. Color products are more compromised again: the Collagen Cloud lip oil is a plastic tube with a plastic wand, a format with no recyclable pathway once product residue is inside it. The brand states that it prioritizes post-consumer recycled plastics and uses sugarcane bioplastic in some components, which is meaningful, but it gives no percentage of recycled content anywhere and no third party has verified the figure. Outer cartons are paperboard, but there is no FSC certification named and no statement on soy or vegetable-based inks.

There are no refill or return options in the current range. 

Ingredient Sustainability

cross the entire current range we found no palm oil or palm-derived surfactants, and none of the ingredients most associated with habitat loss and species pressure: no frankincense or myrrh, no sandalwood, no wild ginseng, no spikenard or jatamansi, no cupuaçu or murumuru butter, no geranium oil, no saffron, no vaguely labelled wild-crafted botanicals.

The plant oils Clover does build on are largely low-impact and low-input. Sunflower seed oil, castor oil, black cumin seed oil, chamomile, licorice root, willow bark and white lupin extract all come from hardy annual or perennial crops that grow without heavy irrigation, often on marginal soil, and several actively support pollinators. Balancing Oil in particular is a four-ingredient formula built on squalane and three plant oils, which is about as lean as a facial oil gets.

Three ingredients pull the score down. Argan oil appears in at least three current formulas. Argan is drought resistant, prevents desertification in Morocco - Clover labels the argan in Balancing Oil as organic but lists it unqualified elsewhere, and names no cooperative, Fair Trade arrangement or region. Rosa damascena flower water leads the ingredient list on two products. Rose is one of the most land and water intensive crops in cosmetics because of the sheer petal volume required; a hydrosol is a distillation co-product rather than the oil itself, which softens the concern considerably, but no origin or growing method is disclosed. Rosehip oil carries wild-harvesting pressure on rose populations, and while Clover specifies organic rosehip on some pages, cultivated versus wild sourcing is never stated. Tea tree oil in the Water Balm sits in the same bracket, sustainable from cultivated trees, less so from the large plantations that supply most of the market.

On the synthetic side, most of the skincare sits in the lower-impact range: glycerin, propanediol from corn sugar, sodium PCA, panthenol, xanthan gum and polyglyceryl esters are all readily biodegradable. Phenoxyethanol, which preserves nearly every water-based formula in the range, is the recurring weak point, with limited biodegradability and moderate aquatic toxicity. Carbomer and the acrylate crosspolymers in the Water Balm and Daily Dewtox do not biodegrade and persist in water systems, and PVP in Hydratint has the same profile. Makeup is where this becomes a genuine problem: the Collagen Cloud lip oil is built on hydrogenated polyisobutene, a petroleum-derived polymer, plus two styrene copolymers and silicone-treated silica, none of which break down. It is the least sustainable formula in the line by a clear margin.

Overall, transparency is the binding constraint. 

Energy Use and Carbon Footprint

This is the weakest of Clover’s environmental areas, mostly through silence rather than bad practice. The brand does not measure, report or publish emissions data of any kind. There is no scope 1, 2 or 3 accounting, no reduction target, no renewable energy commitment for manufacturing or offices, and no third party verification of anything energy related.

What the brand does have working in its favor is structural. Everything is formulated and manufactured domestically and sold predominantly into the United States, which removes transoceanic and air freight from the largest part of the supply chain. Production runs in small, made-to-order batches, which avoids the emissions embedded in overproduction and warehousing. Carbon offsetting is offered at checkout through a third party provider, but this is paid for by the customer as an optional add-on rather than funded by the brand, which means it reflects consumer choice rather than corporate commitment.

The combination of a genuinely short domestic supply chain and zero disclosure is what holds this score where it is. A brand this size is not expected to publish an audited emissions inventory, but a basic footprint estimate, a renewable energy statement for its facilities, or brand-funded offsetting on all orders would move this materially.

Waste Management

Clover’s waste profile benefits from being small and deliberately so. Skincare is made in fresh batches, with the site openly telling customers that a product marked pre-order simply means a new batch is being made. That model prevents the bulk overproduction and expiry write-offs that drive waste in mass beauty, and small-scale operations of this kind are treated favorably in our evaluations given they lack the infrastructure for large mitigation programs.

Multi-purpose formulation is a real strength. Hydratint works on both lips and cheeks, Hydrashimmer covers cheeks and eyes, the Collagen Glow elixir is sold for body and hair, and the Balancing Oil is positioned as a mixer into other products. 

What is missing is circularity. There is no refill program, no buyback or empties return scheme, and no take-back for the plastic pumps and caps that cannot go in with the glass. 

Business Model

On the positive side it maintains a genuinely small, evergreen catalogue of roughly fifteen products, most of which are functional skincare basics rather than trend pieces. There are no seasonal collections, no holiday collections and no rapid shade drops. Pricing is set on cost to produce rather than perceived luxury value, which removes some of the artificial scarcity and aspiration that drives overbuying elsewhere in beauty. The brand publishes routine guides and skin barrier education that steer customers toward using fewer products correctly rather than accumulating more, and multi-purpose formats reinforce that.

Against that, the brand’s current market positioning is explicitly built on chasing viral products, marketed under the line "Dupes Done Better." Tying a launch calendar to whatever is trending is a trend-driven model by definition, even when the resulting product is better made than what it references. Discounting is also constant rather than occasional.

The result is a brand with a slow-consumption product range and a fast-consumption sales approach. The inventory discipline and durability focus are real and count for something; the permanent promotional pressure and trend-tied launches keep it out of the top band.