Vegan CBD Skincare By Kristen Bell Is Launching at Ulta

Kristen Bell is launching her vegan CBD skincare brand Happy Dance at Ulta Beauty stores across the U.S.

The actor, singer, and animal advocate founded Happy Dance in 2020 in partnership with cannabis company Cronos Group Inc. The new brand’s products include body butter, a multi-purpose coconut melt, and a bath bomb — all infused with high-quality, U.S.-grown, traceable CBD.

CBD stands for cannabidiol, the active compound in cannabis. While largely unstudied, there is a moderate amount of evidence that CBD products can reduce chronic pain, ease anxiety and depression, and help with sleep and relaxation.

The CBD industry is growing fast, and many proponents also note that hemp production has several useful environmental benefits, including the promotion of healthy soil. On its website, Happy Dance emphasizes ingredient transparency, and its entire vegan CBD skincare range is made with “sustainability in mind.”

Vegan CBD skincare for moms

Bell, who is well-known for her roles in Veronica Mars (2004 – 2019), Gossip Girl (2007 – 2012), and The Good Place (2016 – 2020), has been vegetarian since she was 11 years old and briefly adopted a vegan diet after watching the documentary Forks Over Knives (2011).

Happy Dance is not the first vegan brand founded by the actor. Together with her husband, actor and writer Dax Shephard, Bell previously launched the vegan and cruelty-free baby care line Hello Bello at Walmart.

At the time, she said: “Our products are fresh and fun. More importantly, we use plant-based ingredients and organic botanicals that are better for our kids and better for our world.”

Happy Dance is also “made with moms in mind,” and Bell was inspired by her own experiences with CBD products to launch a brand that would “help take care of the people who spend so much time taking care of everyone else.”

A new way of life

In a recent interview with Forbes, Bell explained that she hopes the partnership between Happy Dance and Ulta Beauty will help the products reach more people.

“Accessibility means two things: it means a price point that you can afford, but it also means availability on a shelf where you can purchase it at a store near you,” she said.

Launching at a national level will also help highlight the brand’s charitable partner, Los Angeles-based nonprofit A New Way of Life Reentry Project. The organization was founded by NAACP Image Award winner Susan Burton and helps support women after prison.

A New Way of Life aims to mitigate the effects of mass incarceration, with a view to ultimately abolishing the prison system entirely. It also aids the communities “disproportionately affected by marijuana-related offenses.” One percent of all Happy Dance profits will be donated to the organization to support its work.

“It was not lost on me that the BIPOC community has been adversely affected for marijuana-based crimes throughout history,” explained Bell.

“Because CBD is pulled from the same strand of the hemp plant, we thought it was the perfect chance to donate one percent of profits back to this amazing organization,” she added.

Last year, Bell was called out for promoting “colorblindness” with the release of her children’s book The World Needs More Purple People.

In response to criticism, the actor told TODAY: “Some people interpreted that as trying to say it was colorblindness, which I want to be really clear it is not at all. When I say find sameness or common ground, I mean look at each other as human beings, right? We have an identifiable feature.”

Happy Dance products are currently available at 101 “SPARKED” Ulta Beauty stores — which highlight emerging brands — and the range rolls out to 550 additional locations from March 15. Prices begin at $15 per item.