Credit: Geenie

The retailer fast-tracks you to brands that share your values.

It’s always a little disheartening to find out that your favorite brand is secretly run by Dr. Claw or something. Being a regular consumer of a particular brand of product is an agreement of sorts; you buy their stuff, they don’t destroy the world with bad business practices. When you get burned multiple times in a row by brands with questionable values, it can start to feel like the whole system is corrupt. But there are good eggs out there, and you just gotta find them. To aid in that process, Chana Ginelle Ewing founded Geenie.

Geenie is a new e-commerce platform designed to pair up beauty shoppers with brands that uphold the values that matter to them. It’s a much more community-centric platform; Geenie encourages users and sellers to interact with each other regularly, holding open virtual Q&A sessions (or “Ask Me Anythings,” if you prefer the modern parlance) to get everything out in the open.

“We are building a shopping community that pairs independent beauty brands with consumers looking to buy based on their values,” Ewing said in an interview with Fashionista. “By curating a selection of value-driven brands, from culture-first brands — founders across a spectrum of diverse backgrounds, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disability, age and so on — to sustainably-sourced and inclusively-designed lines. We’re powering the multiplier effect of consumer activism through beauty.”

Credit: Luis Garcia/Geenie

The platform just launched today with a small starter catalog. The only product available at the moment is lip color, and from only five brands: Hi Wildflower, Beauté Brownie, Kami Cosmetics, FemPower Beauty and Gold Label Cosmetics.

“We decided to focus on lipsticks before adding other product categories because of the fun nature of the product and the wide range of colors and finishes available,” Ewing said. “We will grow into other product categories, with the feedback and input from our community.”