Clean at Sephora vs Ulta's Clean Ingredients: what each bans, and where they disagree

What is the difference between Clean at Sephora and Ulta's Clean Ingredients?

What does each clean list ban?

Sephora bans 37 of its 47 categories outright and restricts the other 10. Its Clean + Planet Aware page calls Clean at Sephora "our curation of brands with effective formulas" that "avoid certain ingredients, such as parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and mineral oils", and says products "might contain both natural and synthetic chemicals". The full list sits in a FAQ modal with 48 rows (acrylates appears twice, once prohibited and once restricted) and a separate packaging list with 31 December 2025 deadlines. No publication date is printed on it.

Ulta's Conscious Beauty programme has five pillars, and Clean Ingredients is the one that "Excludes parabens, phthalates, and other ingredients on our Made Without List". Ulta says "every brand certified as having Clean Ingredients complies" with that list, and names Novi as the partner that verifies it. The Made Without page has three tiers: 23 entries made without, 14 limited use, and 16 "other ingredients you might be wondering about". It is unusually candid about scope: it does not guarantee "100% free from", and testing for trace contaminants is "not the intention" of the programme.

Where do the two lists disagree?

On 8 of the 38 shared categories, and mostly in Sephora's direction. Sephora prohibits seven that Ulta allows with a limit, a grade or a narrower scope: Aluminum salts (soluble); Ethanolamines; Ethylene oxide; Retinyl palmitate; Cyclic silicones (D4, D5, D6); BHT; Mineral oil, petrolatum, paraffin. Petrolatum is the clearest case: prohibited at Sephora, allowed at Ulta if it is USP, NF or Ph. Eur grade. The one category where Ulta reads stricter (Acrylamide and polyacrylamide) is a difference of scope: Ulta lists the contaminant as not intentionally added, while Sephora sets EU impurity limits for it. Fragrance is limited at both.

Do the seals agree on the same product?

On 14 of 21 products sold at both: 6 carry both seals and 8 carry neither. The other 7 are clean at Ulta and not at Sephora, and none went the other way. That direction fits the lists, since Sephora bans more, and it fits how each label is granted: Ulta certifies a brand, while Sephora's seal sits on the product and even the size. Drunk Elephant shows both: Protini carries both seals, B-Hydra carries only Ulta's, and Sunday Riley Good Genes carries Sephora's seal on 3 of its 4 sizes. Which ingredient keeps each product off Sephora's list is not shown on either page, so we do not guess it.

Does a clean seal match what ingredient apps say?

Not reliably, because they answer different questions. Six products from our 20-product database study carry a retailer clean seal. Three of the six sit in EWG Skin Deep's moderate band (3 to 6). Neutrogena Hydro Boost carries Ulta's mark while four of five databases say it is not fragrance-free, which Ulta's own rules allow: fragrance is limited use there, not banned. Only The Ordinary Niacinamide and COSRX Snail 96 Essence come back clean on all four databases as well.

The study also shows a gap in the other direction. In the study read 21 October 2026, EWG's ingredient list for CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser included a paraben, which Ulta's pillar prohibits; either EWG holds an older formula or a different listing, and we have not resolved which. Databases holding old formulas is the pattern the study found across the board.

How do Credo and Target Clean compare?

Credo's list reaches furthest on paper; Target's list is not published where we could read it. Credo's ingredient requirements, updated June 2026, prohibit petrolatum and mineral oil, PEGs and EDTA, restrict phenoxyethanol to 1.0%, and say the document "is not an exhaustive list". Its overview says the Dirty List "includes over 3,000 ingredients", a count of individual substances rather than categories, so it does not compare directly with Sephora's 47. On fragrance, Credo requires brands to categorise it and only encourages full disclosure. Target's launch article of 15 July 2019 described Target Clean as "formulated without a group of commonly unwanted chemicals", named phthalates, propyl-parabens, butyl-parabens and SLES, and counted nearly 4,000 qualifying products; its clean beauty category page returned "not found" on 23 October 2026, so we have no current list to compare.

1. Which list? Sephora's names 47 categories,
   Ulta's 23 plus 14 limited. Same word, two rules.
2. Brand or product? Ulta certifies the brand; Sephora's
   seal can differ by product, even by size.
3. Fragrance: neither seal means fragrance-free. Read
   the ingredient list for "fragrance" or "parfum".
4. Petrolatum: banned at Sephora, allowed at Ulta if
   pharmaceutical grade, prohibited at Credo.
5. Contaminants: Ulta says it does not test for them;
   no seal is a safety or irritation verdict.

Which clean label should you follow?

• If you want the longer exclusion listClean at Sephora47 categories, and stricter than Ulta on 7 shared ones.
• If you buy drugstore and derm brandsUlta's Clean Ingredients markCeraVe, Neutrogena and COSRX carry it at Ulta; Sephora did not list them.
• If you avoid petrolatum or mineral oilSephora's seal or CredoBoth prohibit them; Ulta allows pharmaceutical grade.
• If you react to fragranceNeither sealRead the ingredient list, or use an allergen-focused database; see the best ingredient checker for your question.
• If a product is clean at one and not the otherRead both listsAll 7 splits we found were Ulta yes, Sephora no.

How we compared the two labels

FAQ

Bottom line

Clean at Sephora and Ulta's Clean Ingredients share most of their core, from parabens to phthalates, but Sephora's list is longer and bans several things Ulta only limits. That is why every product we found with a split seal was clean at Ulta and not at Sephora. Treat either seal as a filter for the ingredients you want to avoid, not as a verdict on fragrance, irritation or safety.