Haircare seems on the surface such an everyday topic. Who doesn't regularly see mainstream shampoo brand adverts touting the ease, speed and convenience of using their haircare products for instant well-groomed and manageable hair? But, there is so much more to unpack in talk of hair and haircare. As we discovered in our previous episode in conversation with Formula Botanica haircare diploma course lead and student mentor Suzanne Soto Davis, haircare can be minimalist and we should try to take a less-is-best approach to it. But, that does not mean that haircare is one size fits all, nor less complex or controversial a topic than skincare. In this Green Beauty Opinion, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier takes the issues involved in hair and haircare further. Before we can talk of swapping products for sustainability’s sake, we must tackle deeper issues about hair that overshadow our choice of product; hair prejudice and discrimination and hair as a tool of social norms and mores and at times also of stereotyping and repression. Listen in to hear just how much is at stake when we talk about hair and how we should be mindful about how we choose to discuss hair and its care.

Are you a person who shampoos daily? Do you also use a shelf of other haircare products like conditioners, detanglers, moisturisers, serums, leave-in shampoos and conditioners, sun protection products, styling gels, foams, hair fragrances, sprays, waxes and more? If this sounds like your haircare routine, then it is high time to start using fewer haircare products and less of them too. Not only will your hair – and more importantly, your scalp – thank you for it, but you will also be adopting a more sustainable haircare routine.  We have talked on the podcast about skinimalism, and now we are seeing the same concept applied to haircare. Joining Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier on the podcast to talk about minimalism in haircare is Suzanne Soto-Davies, founder of eco-friendly haircare brand Truu by Nature Obloom. Suzanne is also a Formula Botanica student mentor and course lead for our Diploma in Organic Haircare Formulation. If you currently use only shampoo and conditioner and think you are already on track as a haircare minimalist, listen in as you will be surprised to hear what Suzanne has to say about that daily shampoo too.

Does we really need more beauty brands? No, of course we don’t, we hear you reply. With thousands of beauty products on the market, and with the hundreds more that arrive – often born of celebrity brands and containing trending, so-called high-performance ingredients – it is reasonable to assume the cosmetics’ market is saturated. However, as with all opinions there are counter arguments to explore. In this Green Beauty Opinion episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier delves into the question and flips it to ask: “Does the world need more unsustainable beauty brands?”. Listen in for a soapbox opinion podcast that calls out the real problem underlying the majority of mainstream beauty brands – their inability to adopt sustainable practices. We may not need more, but we certainly need different kinds of brands to replace them; the kind of indie beauty brands many of our Formula Botanica graduates launch.

When we came across a cosmetics' company publicly declaring that it would love to see its customers buy fewer of its products, we knew we just had to interview its founder on Green Beauty Conversations. This podcast, as one focused heavily on the ethics and practice of green beauty, has heard industry journalists ask time and again how a cosmetics company would survive if it encouraged its customers to buy less. What kind of beauty business dare call out the elephant in the room - overconsumption as the root cause of an unsustainable economy, and planet? We have tackled the consumption issue in numerous episodes; Podcast 124: the four pillars of sustainable beauty spells out a blueprint of how the beauty industry can approach sustainability. But, until now, we had not talked directly to beauty brand that was so aligned with our own messaging. In this episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier talks to founder and CEO of Elate Cosmetics Melodie Reynolds to discover how her brand has built a sustainable business for a more sustainable planet by believing in less is more. Listen in to hear from Melodie, a driven and inspirational founder, about how Elate is putting those pillars of sustainable beauty into action.

This Green Beauty Opinion airs just before Black Friday; the day on which the world experiences a retail rush. With Black Friday now extending to a week – even a month – of heavy discounted prices on everything from big-ticket tech items to small business beauty products, we asked in our previous episode whether we – as beauty consumers and indie beauty businesses – should participate in Black Friday, and if so, in what way. The fact remains that Black Friday is a day indie beauty businesses too can make significant sales and reach out to customers with interesting offers. But, are they being heard in the noise of Black Friday mega deals from mainstream brands? In this opinion short, Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier explains why natural indie brands have a lot to offer beauty shoppers and dispels the myth that only the cosmetics' conglomerates can create high-performance skincare. Listen in to discover why small, natural indie beauty businesses and their products deserve our support all year round and not just on Black Friday. 

Black Friday, love it or hate it, is that annual event that sees consumers snap up bargains and big businesses add billions to their profits. Lasting a day, weekend, week and even a month for some businesses, Black Friday is embraced also by small indie beauty brands. It can be a tipping point in the year moving any size of business closer to its profit goals for the year. The sheer rampant consumerism of this particular Friday that falls just before the US Thanksgiving holiday - but which is now promoted as a shopping event the world over - has seen alternatives advocated. Some options include asking us on one extreme to boycott Black Friday altogether, to reminding us to shop more mindfully and support small businesses all year round. In this episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier and School Education Manager Ana Green discuss the background to Black Friday and how it arrived on almost the whole world’s calendar. They explore four main alternatives that both beauty shoppers and indie brands can adopt to make beauty consumerism that bit more sustainable on Black Friday and, in fact, all year round as well.

Is the metaverse a liberating space in which we can shake off our physical selves and explore multiple new identities freely and for fun? Or is it a means to escape very real-world, pressing and critical problems such as sustainability, climate change, and, where beauty is concerned, issues like body shaming? In other words, is the metaverse a place to bury our heads in the sand? In this Green Beauty Opinion, Formula Botabnica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier shares her thoughts on the potential of metaverse, having had many of her preconceptions challenged by the previous episode’s guest, Dr Alex Box, an internationally-renowned artist, identity designer and beauty futurist. Listen in to expand your knowledge and viewpoints on this next-gen version of the Web which we will all come across and have to negotiate sooner or later.

If you are a gamer, then the metaverse will be a familiar space. But, if you are a natural cosmetics’ formulator helping friends, family and customers with real-world skincare and haircare issues, a hyper-virtual reality metaverse of avatars, immersive digital experiences and the concept of the post-human body is going to be light years away from how you live your life in the beauty sector. As with all advances in digital technology, what is new, weird and totally incomprehensible today is likely to enter the mainstream later. In a few years, you too, whether beauty shopper or indie brand founder, may well engage with the metaverse in all its Web 3.0 glory. You are probably asking what on earth the metaverse is anyway and wondering how you can embrace physical beauty products without using your physical body. Dazed and confused about what this means for beauty as we know it? So were we. To help decode the metaverse, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier interviews Dr Alex Box, a beauty futurist and internationally-renowned artist who has redefined the role of creativity in makeup, beauty and identity. Don’t expect to hold on to reality in this episode as we immerse ourselves in a parallel universe.

Can synthetic biology offer a more sustainable way to bring "natural" cosmetic ingredients to market? Can a branch of bioscience that includes the word synthetic in its name ever be considered natural? These are questions Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier tackles in this opinion episode. Following her interview in the previous episode with Jake Wintermute, developer-evangelist at synthetic bioscience company Ginkgo Bioworks, Lorraine picks up on some valid comments and concerns of Green Beauty Conversations’ listeners. Our recent episode with Dr Barb Paldus on biotech beauty – or lab-grown skincare – proved similarly controversial. Lorraine asks us to think carefully before we dismiss synbio and similar advances in biosciences as the anathema to natural cosmetics. Each of us must make up our own mind on these new frontiers in cosmetic science, and dig deep before deciding on what natural means to us. Listen in for a thought-provoking Green Beauty Opinion which might leave you with even more questions to answer.

Imagine a future in which bacteria is king and you might give a friend the skincare equivalent of a sourdough bread starter so they can grow their own moisturiser at home. Our podcast guest in this episode is on record as seeding this idea. We love the concept of cosmetic science being ever more in the hands of the home formulator, but is this concept just too futuristic? In this episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier, a biologist and Chartered Environmentalist, digs deeper into the world of lab-produced ingredients to investigate the field of synthetic biology. Lorraine interviews Jake Wintermute, developer-evangelist at US-based synthetic biology research company Ginkgo Bioworks who describes SynBio as genetic engineering on steroids. In Green Beauty Conversations, we recently covered another new frontier in cosmetic science – biotech beauty. It proved a controversial topic as many in our community felt that using lab-grow plant molecules as 'natural' cosmetic ingredients was a step too far. Listen in and use this episode as a primer to another new branch of science that could open up a revolution in cosmetic ingredients - or perhaps give us more to worry about?

You may not have loved history lessons at school, but there is plenty to love about the history of cosmetic formulation. It shows that everyone can become a natural cosmetic formulator and be part of our millennia-old birthright to make our own beauty products at home whether for ourselves or to start a new career or small business. Making skincare is not a recent phenomenon. The vast global beauty industry is a newcomer at just under 200 years old. Well before lab scientists in white coats featured in cosmetics’ advertising came thousands of years of home formulation dating back at least to Ancient Egyptian times. Following her interview with Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at Harvard Business School and author of Beauty Imagined – A History of the Global Beauty Industry, podcast host and Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier highlights in this episode events in cosmetic history that show humankind had the inherent skills to formulate cosmetics. This Green Beauty Opinion takes you on a brief journey through the centuries to show you that it is time to bring cosmetic formulation home. Listen in to hear how history shows us that everyone can formulate.

What can history possibly teach us about the modern-day beauty industry? As it happens, there is a quite a lot. The lives of early beauty industry pioneers alone hold clues to how we have arrived at today's global cosmetic industry. There are parallels, for example, between how those early-20th century industry personalities started their businesses and the indie beauty founders of today; word-of-mouth marketing of a century ago and social media marketing of today are similar in their aims. Fueled by a desire to unearth the secrets of today's phenomenally-successfully global beauty industry and discover indie beauty's place in it, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier read dozens of books on the sector. One in particular stood out for its sheer depth and breadth of analysis of how the past continues to shapes the beauty sector today. In this podcast episode, Lorraine interviews Geoffrey Jones, author of Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Industry, who is Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at the Harvard Business School. Listen in for some fascinating insights into, among other topics, the myths, lies and makeup that helped shaped the modern beauty industry we know today.

Never has the barrier to entry to becoming a skincare formulator and starting your own beauty business been so low. Yet, with all the social media hype and hustle, we can get distracted by news of the indie beauty brand personalities who raise millions in funding and then sell their businesses to mainstream brands, and decide it’s all too overwhelming to think about. It is easy to lose sight of what formulating your own natural, organic skincare is all about – from learning a new, empowering skill to changing your life in ways that don’t necessarily mean becoming a superstar beauty entrepreneur. In this opinion short, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier talks about how indie beauty can empower you if you take the leap to learn to formulate. She urges us to go at our own pace and on our own terms without the pressure of comparisonitis. Don't wait for permission to start; just give it a go. Be the person you are meant to be. Create a natural beauty business that you shape and own and discover just how positive a life-changing experience it can be. 

When you come across indie beauty founders on social media, you may feel overwhelmed. Their branding, websites and social channels seem so visually together and focused, while you may still be at the stage of wondering how to formulate, let alone build a business with a clear mission. What is it really like to start your own skincare brand? Until you speak to an indie beauty entrepreneur who has truly changed their life and you see it happen before your very eyes, being an indie founder can seem an impossible journey. If these thoughts have run through your mind, then listen to Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier interview Naz Bashir, founder of Solo Skin London.  Naz's story is one of someone who started small, thinking of formulating for her own skincare issues only.  From DIY hobbyist to trained organic formulator and indie brand  founder with awards to her name, Naz Bashir talks about how her Formula Botanica courses changed her life. In learning to formulate professionally, Naz grew in confidence as a formulator and realised she was not alone with her skin issues. A business was far from her thoughts at the outset, but it is now her life's mission and very much a revenue stream for Naz and her family. We promise you that this episode will leave you feeling totally inspired about joining the community of natural, organic formulators. Just see where learning to formulate can take you too.

In this Green Beauty Opinion, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier shares the stories behind a poll she ran on refillable beauty. When asked whether they would go out of their way to clean, return and refill beauty packaging, some 75% of respondents said a resounding yes. While this is an encouraging sign, Lorraine paints a realistic picture of what is actually involved in realising a future where refillable beauty is the norm, not the exception. Some respondents commented that they simply didn't have time to go out of their way to make those refill trips. Others said beauty products were a luxury for them and they wanted shiny new packaging to complete their consumer experience. One said that reuse and refill was better suited to household cleaning products than beauty. However, Lorraine remains ever the optimist that refillable and reusable beauty packaging will prevail for the planet's sake. She challenges us to change our beauty consumer habits and help make refills the norm.

Imagine shopping in two years from now for anything from your favourite nut milk to face cleanser and struggling to see products on the shelves housed in plastic packaging. Futuristic perhaps, but it may arrive in a store near you sooner than you think if pioneering entrepreneur Jo Chidley, the founder of sustainable, natural personal care brand Beauty Kitchen, has her way. Jo’s latest venture ReRe, an amibitious return, refill, repeat scheme, is tackling the seemingly impossible by championing a far-reaching reuse revolution. Jo and co-founder Stuart Chidley set up ReRe not only to implement cradle-to-cradle design into Beauty Kitchen’s own products, but also as the world’s first closed-loop solution for packaging through its ground-breaking Re programme and refill stations. Already counting some of the UK’s biggest retailers like Asda, Marks & Spencer and Holland & Barrett as participating partners, ReRe is on a mission to change the way brands create packaging and bottle goods, how retailers sell almost anything, and how consumers shop. Join Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier as she interviews Jo Chidley, a circular economy expert, chemist, herbal botanist, and co-founder of Beauty Kitchen, the highest scoring B Corp in the UK beauty industry. This episode shows just how the power of the collective – manufacturers, retailers and consumers – can drive a truly circular economy in packaging.

If you are a regular listener to Green Beauty Conversations, you will have heard Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier and guests tackle numerous aspects of sustainable beauty. Circular, biodegradable, waterless, carbon and climate neutral, net zero and a gamut of other issues has come under the spotlight in our podcast conversations. Tackling the issues by examining the various certification schemes and looking at case studies one by one may, however, lead us to forget the bigger picture - and overlook some uncomfortable truths. Today's global cosmetics' industry is inherently unsustainable if it continues with its age-old model of economic growth. Business as usual with the production of billions of units of consumer products each year that still mostly end up in landfill, enter waterways and pollute the oceans is not an option if we wish to halt the planet's degradation and reverse climate change. In this green beauty opinion, Lorraine, who is also a Chartered Environmentalist and biologist, dares to talk about the elephant in the room - the need for the half-a-trillion US$ beauty industry to take drastic measures to change its behaviour. Infinite growth with finite resources has to end. Lorraine puts forward her four-pillar blueprint for a sustainable beauty industry that may come at a price to business as usual, but is critical if we are to address the crises humankind has inflicted on the planet. Listen in for some hard talk on the big issues and be inspired to act now, whether indie or large-scale beauty business, to take responsibility for, and to play your part in building a sustainable future for the industry and the planet. FREE FORMULATION RESOURCES Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram

Natural, sustainable beauty is a phrase used liberally in the beauty industry. Today, we are used to beauty brands, mainstream and indie, touting the naturalness of their formulations and their sustainability credentials, but can we be critical of their products, words and actions if we are in the dark about what the terms mean? Do the brands themselves truly know what they are committing to when using these words? Consumers may be far more unclear about where the differences lie between natural and sustainable than insiders in the beauty industry. Among the many beauty industry terms we have covered on Green Beauty Conversations, natural and sustainable still stand out as being particularly misused despite their familiarity. They are interchanged in error, misunderstood at best or harnessed to mask green-washing at worst. The terms seem so deceptively simple that it is entirely possible to not think through the complexities that underpin them. Given the continued lack of clarity about natural and sustainable, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier and colleague Ana Green, the School's Education Manager, devote an entire episode to the origins, definitions and practical application of these words in the beauty sphere. Listen in to make sense of natural and sustainable beauty and as a result, feel empowered as beauty formulators, founders and consumers to demand clarity from anyone in the beauty industry throwing these terms into their own conversations.

Would you buy lab-grown skincare? While this might seem futuristic, biotech cosmetic ingredients are here now, and going to become more commonplace on our beauty shelves – and sooner than you think. In this Green Beauty Opinion, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier follows up on key takeouts from her interview with Dr Barbara Paldus, the founder of biotech company Codex Beauty Labs. In that episode, we heard how lab-grown ingredients derived efficiently and sustainably from single plant cells rather than from vast fields of crops will become the new normal in cosmetics. But, are we as consumers and natural formulators ready to embrace lab-grown ingredients? The scene seems set for biotech beauty to be the next naturals vs synthetics’ battleground. But, as always, the issues are nuanced. Lorraine proposes we approach biotech beauty with informed debate and open minds. There is likely to be a hybrid model in the cosmetics industry as plants have given us a sense of calm, grounding and well-being for millennia and are inherent in our cultures, rituals and rites. And for now, biotech cannot efficiently lab grow every ingredient. Lorraine’s challenges us to be receptive to the radical solutions required to sustain the industry and the planet and to look into the research from suppliers of biotech ingredients. How would we react if our favourite plants were threatened by climate change? The advent of biotech beauty brings with it searching questions, but ones we need to think of answers to now, not in decades to come.

The natural and organic cosmetics world loves sourcing the purest, sustainable plant-based ingredients that are ethically picked, plucked, farmed and harvested, and processed with as little artifice as possible. On this podcast, we have covered a raft of natural ingredient sourcing and formulation concepts from wild-harvesting and biodynamic farming to blue, waterless and upcycled beauty. All of these topics, we have assessed through the lens of sustainability. It is worth reiterating and remembering this as we tackle the topic of this episode of Green Beauty Conversations - biotech beauty. The next most potent, active botanical is possibly being engineered from plant stem cells using biotech right now, as a breakthrough natural cosmetic ingredient. But does the sound of lab-grown plant actives in your cosmetics excite you or worry you? Is it too futuristic or something you'd adopt willingly right now? How receptive would you be to using biotech-based ingredients if your ideal of natural organic cosmetic ingredients is their farming or wild harvesting from forests and fields? The truth is that biotech beauty is happening now, and is gaining momentum - in part, as an answer to some of the key sustainability issues surrounding the farming of crops as cosmetic ingredients.  To give us insights into the world of biotech beauty, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier, herself a biologist and chartered environmentalist, talks to Dr Barbara Paldus of Codex Beauty, a firm pioneering biotech cosmetic formulation. Listen in to this eye-opener on biotech which, given current climate change predictions, could be the new normal for sourcing natural, and even organic, cosmetic ingredients sooner than you think.

We expect to find beauty brands that are certified clean, green, sustainable, Halal, vegan, carbon negative, plastic free and more. But, would you know which to choose if you had to opt for a vegan or plastic-negative version of the same product. "Have we over-certified the beauty industry to the point of confusion?", asks Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier. In this opinion short, Lorraine says that even those of us in the beauty industry struggle to make sense of all the schemes, so it is inevitable that many beauty consumers will simply have no clue about their merits. Now, retailers like Target and Sephora are coming up with their own standards and choosing to reject stocking brands on the basis of their own criteria. In her last guest episode, Lorraine interviewed Yashi Shrestha, Head of Science & Research at Novi Connect, an online platform helping cosmetic formulators comply right from product inception stage with a variety of standards. Similarly, another platform Provenance, also a recent podcast guest, helps with product transparency by using blockchain to verify brands' claims. But, even with these innovative, pioneering platforms, Lorraine says she keeps coming back to the question of whether the beauty industry needs all these certification schemes. Has the beauty industry gone too far and made life impossible for itself and its consumers? This podcast has covered a large number of the most commonly used terms and certifications on beauty and we urge you to delve into the archives to play catch up on them. All seem open to interpretation though. The fact remains that many cosmetic formulators are relying on obtuse supply chains that may not have all the documentation required to verify a claim or help certify a standard. The beauty industry is still working in the dark having made a rod for its own back by creating standards that for many are simply unattainable. Lorraine challenges us as formulators and beauty shoppers to ask ourselves what really matters to us. What standards and claims do we prioritise and why? Or, are we simply too exhausted and confused by the schemes to know? Listen in to another Green Beauty Opinion that challenges us to make the beauty industry a better, more sustainable place.

Confused by the plethora of standards, regulations and accreditation schemes at large in the beauty industry? You are not alone. Whether you are a big brand striving for sustainability or an indie founder needing to demonstrate Halal, vegan, clean, safe, GMO-free or any other mission for your products, there is every possible scheme to apply for and label to slap on your products these days. But, how do you really know the provenance and composition of your cosmetic ingredients and can your suppliers provide a paper trail to back up any claims? From Formula Botanica's years of experience working with natural formulators and indie brand founders, we know the pain involved in digging deep on the supply side of cosmetics. But, times are changing. More and more beauty shoppers - and conscious retailers - wish to know the truth about what goes into cosmetics and are pushing the industry to validate its claims. One innovative platform is managing to square the circle and open up industry minds to a brave new world in which ingredient information is researched in detail, divulged, shared, and validated against claims to the benefit of everyone in the cosmetics' business. In this episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host talks to Yashi Shrestha, Director of Science & Research at Novi Connect, a turnkey solution for formulators to build beauty and personal care products that meet the complex transparency needs of today’s consumers. Put simply, Yashi and the Novi team are sorting out the whole mess for formulators and brands keen to make their product development cycles more transparent and sustainable. Listen in for an episode that could make conscious formulating a whole lot easier.

In this Green Beauty Opinion, we pick up on key issues of plastic waste raised in the last episode with guest Peter Wang Hjemdahl, co-founder of rePurpose Global. Here, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier sounds a note of realism and cautious optimism about how beauty can tackle its plastic dependency. While sceptical of offsetting and plastic waste credit schemes, Lorraine says that realistically a plastic-free beauty industry is not likely in our lifetimes. Offsetting and credits that help pay for the removal of plastic and global activism on plastic pollution are valid. Entities like rePurpose Global are making us aware of our responsibility to reduce, recycle and repurpose plastic already in circulation. This in itself is a first vital step to tackling the issue. Sustainability is a journey not a destination and we have to acknowledge that plastic is here to stay. Lorraine explains that plastic in itself is a fantastic invention. It is our use - or misuse - of plastic coupled with the lack of capacity worldwide to recycle and retain plastics within the supply chain that are at fault. Plastic is not the enemy. We are, along with the waste we create. Beauty and personal care industries should embrace circularity. We have seen this in action with past podcast guests; the US personal care company Meow Meow Tweet is a pioneer of return-and-refill schemes that keep plastic packaging in circulation. If all plastic in beauty could be cleaned and refilled and also made of PCR plastics that would be an enormous achievement. Lorraine challenges us to seek out beauty brands that use plastic responsibly and to cut down on our own consumption. Using less plastic and being responsible for the plastic on our doorstep is how we start to tackle those staggering figures on plastic waste, and make the beauty industry a more sustainable and better place.    

Having looked at the shocking extent to which plastic is present within beauty formulations in liquid microplastic forms, in this episode Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier tackles plastic in beauty packaging.  Few of us would disagree that the beauty industry and its consumers should reduce, reuse and recycle plastic packaging more. But, as the figures show, the challenge is great. Half of all plastics ever manufactured have been made in the last 15 years and production of plastic has increased exponentially from 1.5 million tons in 1950 to 367 million tons by 2015. An incredible 8 million tons or so of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations. As we know from our episode on biodegradability, plastic can take about 400 years to break down in the environment. Any discussion on plastic packaging and the millions of tons of waste it produces is fraught with complexity and seemingly irresolvable problems. Where do we start as small beauty businesses to play our part in reducing plastic waste when the figures are so daunting? There are ways to start small and still make a difference. In this episode, we hear from one pioneering social enterprise that is literally removing plastic waste and helping companies of all sizes to reduce their dependency on plastic. rePurpose Global is the world’s leading plastic action platform dedicated to reducing waste, reviving lives and restoring nature’s balance. Lorraine talks to Peter Wang Hjemdahl, co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer at rePurpose Global, about the creative, yet practical ways the social enterprise is tackling plastic packaging from its source in supply chains to its end of life in waste mountains. Listen in for some positive news on how our plastic dependency is being be tackled.

Reducing plastic in the packaging of personal care products is high on the agenda of many mainstream cosmetics’ firms, but are microplastics in cosmetics getting the same attention? Even if a brand’s packaging is plastic free, the product inside may not be. What goes into the bottle – the formulations we slather on each day – are literally riddled with micro- and nanoplastics. Shocked? So were we. We have covered the issues of post-consumer plastics, biodegradability and zero waste in the past. But plastic in outer packaging is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the use of plastic in the cosmetics’ industry. An estimated 9 out of 10 mainstream personal care products may contain microplastics. These figures aren’t plucked from thin air. They come from the Plastic Soup Foundation, a single-issue environmental organisation working to stop plastic pollution at its source. The Foundation conducted scientific research into its database of over 7,000 cosmetics from 10 big brands and concluded that microplastics were present in 87% of the products analysed. The environmental and human health impacts of these hidden plastics are now the subject not only of research, but also of proposed EU legislation. As we discover in this episode, intentionally-added microplastics are contentious and the very mention of their restriction or outright ban has seen push back from the mainstream cosmetics industry. To unpack the data from the charged debate, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier talks to Madhuri Prabhakar, project leader and campaigner of the Beat the Microbead (BTMB) campaign by the Plastic Soup Foundation. Listen in for some shocking revelations about plastics in cosmetic formulations.

Influencers have an exciting opportunity given their reach and reputations to change hearts and minds of beauty consumers. Imagine influencer product reviews mentioning how easy it is to refill packaging or that a beauty brand has gone plastic free or is working towards zero waste or carbon negative goals? In the last episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier discussed the world of the beauty influencer with School Education Manager Ana Green and questioned whether influencers were talking about, let alone talking up, beauty brands’ sustainability. One key thing hit home in that episode: the power and great responsibility beauty influencers have. In a recent survey, some 49% of shoppers interviewed said they relied on  recommendations of vlogggers, YouTubers, bloggers and social media influencers in making purchases, viewing their opinions as they would those of trusted friends. In this short Green Beauty Opinion, Lorraine proposes how influencers can use their platforms responsibly to drive home the message that sustainable beauty should be the norm, not the exception in the industry. Influencers are not going to stop covering new product launches, but they could do more to challenge brands about their sustainability credentials and include this information in their regular content. In this way, they will influence consumers to make sustainable choices and to ask their own questions of brands. Changing the beauty industry is a collective job that we all need to participate in. Lorraine’s challenge to influencers is to embrace their power and harness it to promote a more sustainable beauty industry. In doing so, influencers could have more influence than they perhaps realise and make positive, lasting change to the beauty industry.

It is hard to imagine that beauty influencers barely existed a decade ago. Now though, hundreds of thousands of influencers take to social media platforms each day to talk about the latest beauty launches and offer their opinion on the promise and performance of products. Those who dominate social media are as influential and competitive as ever, and perfecting their presences on TikTok, which is the platform of the moment. Few influencers make a full-time living on social media, but all have one thing in common: their attraction to shiny new beauty products to test and talk about. But, with new products comes a tidal wave of samples as well as tens of thousands of units of unrelated, often unsolicited promotional merchandise which big cosmetics' brands think will influence the influencers. As we discussed in our recent episode with responsible beauty retailer Credo, samples' packaging is mostly not recyclable and comes laden with plastic. In this episode, podcast host and Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier discusses the business model of influencers with the school's Education Manager, Ana Green. Ana, once a beauty blogger herself, has valuable insights into influencer and brand relations and suggests how both parties can foster a more sustainable beauty industry as they partner to promote products.

Beauty shoppers are clamouring for green packaging and sustainable beauty. The industry is coming out with innovative packaging made from recycled plastics that themselves can be recycled. So isn’t this a positive landscape and a happier space for the beauty industry to be in than a few years ago? If only sustainable beauty packaging were so simple. In this Green Beauty Opinion, Formula Botanica CEO, Chartered Environmentalist and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier praises the strides the beauty industry is making on sustainable packaging, but also unearths the truth about how much is recycled. Consumers still know little about what our beauty packaging is made of and where it ends up in its afterlife. In this opinion short, Lorraine explains that while we are becoming familiar with acronyms for plastics, like post-consumer recycled PET plastics, and are better at deciphering recycling symbols, the reality is that very little plastic waste is recycled. Plastics are still shipped from rich countries across the world to be dumped in open landfills. Ultimately, much ends up polluting the oceans. Innovative packaging solutions are well and good, but are let down by a recycling infrastructure that can’t close the loop and sustain a circular economy. Lorraine’s challenge to all of us engaged in beauty, whether as shoppers or industry insiders, is to start having more conversations about the environmental harm of beauty packaging. Whether indie founder or mainstream big beauty business, we need to tell our customers just what our packaging is made of and how to recycle it. Make our customers lives easier by making videos on how to recycle that airless pump bottle, for example. As shoppers, we must be prepared to ask beauty brands how to recycle and reuse their packaging, whatever it is made of, and pile the pressure on them to respond with clarity. While R&D is coming up with the next closed-loop, circular economy packaging, we can start having an immediate impact by simply having conversations and educating each other. And remembering that because innovative sustainable packaging can be recycled, it doesn’t mean it will be.

We all love getting something for free. How many times have you shopped for a new cosmetic product and been rewarded for your purchase with a bundle of free beauty samples? Some of the sachets popped into your bag or mailer box might have nothing at all to do with eye cream, cleanser or serum you just bought. But does it matter when we love receiving those little sachets of samples for free? This podcast episode focuses on these tiny beauty products which are in fact staggeringly wasteful. Each year, the beauty industry creates 122bn units of sample sachets, most of which have no clear-cut way of being recycled. In all likelihood, we consumers don’t need them, don’t use them and certainly wouldn’t like them if we knew that those free gifts have no happy end of life and go on to do untold harm to the planet. Joining Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier to tackle the topic of planet-toxic beauty samples is guest Mia Davis, VP Sustainability and Impact at Credo Beauty, which is the largest clean beauty retailer in the US. Mia, a committed, career environmentalist, created the Credo Clean Standard, including the retailer’s ambitious and forward-thinking Sustainable Packaging Guidelines. When Lorraine learned of Credo’s bold step last year of announcing it was no longer providing beauty samples, she knew that something seismic was happening in the industry. So who better to have on the podcast to talk about changing habits of the beauty industry’s lifetime than Mia Davis, who has set not just Credo but also the wider industry the challenge of culling samples for good?

In our last guest episode with the indie beauty co-founder Tara Pelletier, we heard how her business Meow Meow Tweet was not only driving a successful bulk refill scheme for its beauty products, but also how it was shunning the pressure to churn out new products. But will the beauty media bother with indie companies that can't push out press releases about their latest new product? Will opting for deeper rather than wider product ranges self harm an indie brand? It takes a brave business owner to call out the traditional beauty business model that is built on bringing out a constant stream of new products. For the sake of sustainability, this should be happening if we are to consume less and save the planet's resources more. Can we change the culture around product development? Lorraine Dallmeier, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host, says that while she has come across numerous beauty brand and industry stories about improving packaging, finding sustainable suppliers and striving for circular beauty, she has heard none about a brand choosing to slow its growth for sustainability's sake. The beauty industry model is still all about fast churn; in fact, we can talk about 'fast beauty' just as we do about fast fashion. The beauty media thrives off reporting the latest innovation and product release. Lorraine's point is that a brand with loyal customers enjoying its current range has no need to keep pushing out new products. Are customers really waiting for something new? And why would an indie brand wish to upstage its hero products with new ones all the time? Lorraine challenges all brand founders in the indie beauty community, and beauty consumers, to be loyal to the fabulous products already out there and reject fast beauty. By doing so, they can start to shift mindsets on beauty's traditional business model. Listen in to Lorraine's opinion short in which she asks the ultimate question: can the beauty business model be built on slow beauty?  

Less is more so the saying goes, but one innovative beauty products' company is turning this on its head and offering 'more for less' with its inspirational refillable beauty scheme. Meow Meow Tweet, a US-based vegan, low-waste, personal care company has come up with a refill scheme that makes it easy for its customers to buy skincare, haircare and bodycare products in bulk at a discount. Can you imagine buying face cleanser in bulk? Meow Meow Tweet could and it decided its brand mission was to help customers reduce overall consumption by ditching lots of little pots and going for bulk buys. As the average woman beauty consumer uses about 16 product a day, you can get a feel for just how unsustainable the beauty business is. By buying more but less often and at a discount, its loyal refill customers have helped Meow Meow Tweet to embrace circular systems of reuse that can eliminate waste entirely. Founded in 2009, Meow Meow Tweet was certainly ahead of its time in acting on sustainability. It was the first brand to introduce 100 percent backyard compostable deodorant sticks and lip balms. Meow Meow Tweet is also a certified plastic negative and climate neutral company. In this second podcast looking at beauty refill success stories, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier talks to Tara Pelletier, co-founder of Meow Meow Tweet about the company's simple, sustainable slow beauty refill model. Listen in to hear about how one beauty company is quietly doing big things for sustainability.

In this short Green Beauty Opinion, Lorraine celebrates the bounty of botanicals, but urges us to think about how to conserve the very plants that provide us with endless inspiration and incredible ingredients. There wouldn’t be a single natural formulator in the Formula Botanica community who wouldn’t agree that plants are changing the beauty industry for the good and must be cherished. The groundswell of natural formulators and indie beauty founders is unstoppable. Lorraine points out that while Formula Botanica has enrolled some 15,000 students worldwide, you might not know that our community comprises some 300,000 people who have taken our free courses as well. Our Free Organic Skincare Entrepreneur Masterclass is open for enrolment now as we air this episode. Botanical bounty for formulators comes from leaves, roots, seeds, bark, flowers, stems, twigs, marine plants and more. Different parts of the same plant provide us with incredible phytoactive extracts to let our creativity as formulators run wild. Botanical formulation has the power to ground us in our busy, stressful lives. The term "earthing" refers to our ability to connect deeply with nature around us. Lorraine quotes a report which spoke of improved mental health and overall wellness in female participants of a survey into the effect of living in or near green spaces. Plants have made a presence throughout mankind’s history, sharing in rites and rituals, and providing us with the stillness we crave. Little wonder then that we love them as natural formulators. Lorraine challenges us as natural formulators, indie beauty brands and beauty consumers to make sure our use of precious botanicals does not deplete nor harm them. We must exploit plant power sustainably ensuring the bounty of botanicals thrives and not just survives for future generations. This is a responsibility that faces both the natural and mainstream beauty industry.

At Formula Botanica, we have over 15,000 students studying to become organic cosmetic formulators with us and many have  already launched their own cosmetics brands in parallel with their studies – and day jobs. If you are considering bringing natural formulation into your life, then this episode is a must-listen. Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier interviews a school graduate and indie beauty brand owner who has taken her love of botanical beauty to new heights, expanding and diversifying her original business along the way. Copenhagen-based Stella Nisreen Kanaan, a lifelong learner, beauty salon owner and cosmetic brand entrepreneur, talks about her passion, drive and determination to make plants and nature the foundation of not only her personal journey, but also that of her entire business. Stella infused her new, organic beauty product business into her salon practice and hasn't looked back. Unstoppable and certain of the business sense of botanicals in beauty, Stella talks us through her entrepreneurial journey, and shows just how possible it is to turn a dream into reality if you really believe in your mission.

Our last podcast episode on the sustainability of using tropical ingredients in our cosmetics raised the issue of transparency in supply chains.  In this Green Beauty Opinion, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier examines one solution to this lack of transparency; going local. Should indie formulators seek to source their ingredients as close to their homes and labs as possible? What implications and advantages are there in doing so? Is it more sustainable to go local than shipping ingredients across the world? Lorraine points out that supply chains are hard to unravel. We have very little information on an ingredient apart from its safety data sheet (SDS), which says nothing about sustainability apart from mentioning the toxicity of a material. We can't know for certain if any ingredient, local or not, is a sustainable option. For example, a particular seaweed ended up crossing country borders five times as it was shipped in and out during its processing into a cosmetic ingredient. Would it still qualify as a local and more sustainable ingredient? Going local in your sourcing of ingredients can however hold out hope for indie beauty formulators keen to be sustainable. Formula Botanica has always stressed indie formulators should build strong relations with reliable suppliers. If they are local, then you can have even greater chance of making this a success. With strong ties, comes a flow of information, insights and advantages, such as greater quality control and brand differentiation. Lorraine points to her podcast interviews with international beauty brand founders May Lindstrom,  and Sarah Brown of Pai Skincare who both said that that keeping manufacturing in-house and using trusted, mostly local suppliers had given their brands an edge in quality and transparency. By going local you can also infuse your brand with your heritage and with personal meaning. Every little we can do to help drive sustainability in our formulations and brands is worth it. Going local may not be the complete answer, but by doing so, indie beauty can start to make a sustainable difference and avoid those murky supply chains.

The destruction of rainforests - the world's most bio-diverse ecosystems - and the impact this has on the indigenous peoples living in and depending on them, and on global climate change is imprinted vividly in our minds. As a community of indie, organic beauty formulators and entrepreneurs, we are highly aware of the value of tropical habitats. None of us would wish to add to a greater loss of biodiversity nor cause more environmental and societal harm simply by going about our daily business as indie beauty formulators. Knowing where, how and by whom our natural cosmetic ingredients are grown and harvested and how they travel to us is one of the biggest challenges facing the indie formulator. Today's beauty consumers too are asking hard questions about the sourcing of cosmetics' ingredients. Yet, as we discussed before on this podcast, simply boycotting ingredients won't help sustainability. In this episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier and colleague Ana Green, the School's Education Manager, discuss some of the many complex arguments underlying the sourcing of natural cosmetics ingredients from at-risk tropical forests and regions. Should we be using those gorgeous rainforest ingredients in our formulations even if we don't know how sustainable they are from their source to our skincare pots? Listen in to the nuanced debate to make your own mind up.   FREE FORMULATION RESOURCES Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram

Welcome to this Green Beauty Opinion in which Formula Botanica  CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier shares her main takeouts on the last episode with guest Tammy Facey, founder of indie beauty brand Jim + Henry. In a beauty world struggling to grasp sustainability concepts, let alone act on them, solopreneur Tammy impressed us with her simple solutions for getting a product refill scheme up and running.  Where mainstream and big beauty brands stall behind well-meaning reports and set impressive goals for decades ahead, Tammy shows how indie beauty can succeed in doing something about sustainability right now. Sustainable practices can't wait. If indie beauty adopts simple answers - which in Tammy's case meant picking up the phone and persuading refill stores to join her network - we can start to chip away at the complex challenges and make a real difference. Indie beauty doesn't need to overthink the issues.  With the founder often as sole decision-maker, indie beauty can be nimble and pioneer simple, local solutions that make a difference immediately. Size doesn't matter in acting on sustainability. While indie beauty is world's apart from personal care giants, it can have the advantage of connecting directly to and helping educate its customers on sensible, simple solutions everyone can adopt effortlessly. Lorraine is sure that an entrepreneurial mindset is the way to driving greater sustainability in the beauty sector. Are you up to the challenge? Listen in for a thought-provoking opinion in which Lorraine challenges us to be the voice of change and integrity, making the beauty industry better and more sustainable.

On Green Beauty Conversations, we have covered some challenging concepts in sustainable beauty such as the circular economy, carbon neutral and climate neutral beauty and zero waste. We admit these are not easy to grasp, but together with some incredible guests, this podcast has tried to unpacked these topics in simple terms. While we might all nod in agreement with the ideals and aspirations driving sustainability concepts, just how do we in the indie beauty world make them part of our daily lives and business? Isn't the circular economy something that only big beauty brands with significant research teams and funds can put into practice? In this episode, we hear from one indie beauty entrepreneur whose actions answer this question with a resounding 'No'. We find out that small brands can do just as much to reduce, recycle and reuse and retain resources in the economy as big businesses. It just takes vision, drive and some lateral thinking. Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier speaks to indie beauty entrepreneur Tammy Facey who single handedly pioneered her own circular economy scheme. In 2017 Tammy founded Jim + Henry, the UK's first brand for Afro and curly hair type to create a leave-in hair conditioner comprised of only eight ingredients. Committed to sustainable beauty, Tammy set herself the mission of building a refillable beauty business. Listen in to her story and discover how small indie beauty brands can play their part in the circular economy too.

In this short Green Beauty Opinion, Lorraine challenges us to act now to change the status quo on the discrimination women of colour face every day. Whatever our platform, we all have a chance to alter the narrative that has dominated society's view of ideals in beauty for hundreds of years. Inclusivity and diversity are words easily slipped into beauty industry discourse. While progress has been made there is a long way to go to erase societal conditioning about Black, Brown and other non-European/Caucasian skin tones. Change needs all voices to participate and all of us to act if the beauty industry is to drill down into why and how it not just historically, but also today still excludes people. If we all use our platforms, whatever they may be and however widespread our communities, we can help break the bias the beauty industry perpetuates against people of colour. Not using our voices to effect change would be to do a disservice to them. Lorraine mentions just three of numerous, glaring and deep-rooted examples of where diversity in the beauty industry is found lacking: beauty product design; marketing and advertising language; and beauty imagery. In conclusion, Lorraine challenges us all to think about how we can use our platforms, whether in the workplace, socially, as indie beauty advocates, on social media or elsewhere, to call out the inequalities. How will you use your platform as you move forward?

For decades, the dominant portrayal of beauty has been through the lens of white and lighter skin tones. Beauty editorials, advertising and marketing - and of course product formulation - has typically failed to represent, let alone understand the needs of Black and darker skin. Well-intentioned and long overdue conversations are going on in the industry about diversity and inclusivity. And there are some breakthroughs with product ranges such as Rihanna's Fenty Beauty which caters to all skin tones. However, women of colour are still facing the daily challenge of finding beauty products, information and salon practitioners who understand their skin's needs. Behind the words and celebrity product lines lies the reality of beauty counters and salons that are lagging behind and unable to cater to those with darker skin tones. Podcast guest Dija Ayodele has made it her life's work to educate the industry and advocate for all types of beauty products to be  accessible and relevant to women of colour. Simply put, Dija Ayodele is making Black skincare matter. A successful practising aesthetician, Dija is a champion and pioneer of black and darker skincare and beauty and she has plenty to say about the gaps in beauty industry education when it comes to understanding the needs of women of colour. Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier talks to Dija about her work and her book 'Black Skin: The Definitive Skincare Guide' which was published in late 2021 and is already receiving international acclaim.

It is incredible to think Green Beauty Conversations has arrived at episode 100. What a milestone to celebrate and an opportunity for me to take stock of the past four years on air. In this time, the podcast has been listened to over half a million times and been downloaded in at least 90 countries. We’ve hit the number one spot in the beauty podcast charts in 50 of those countries, so I want to give a shoutout to loyal listeners in Egypt and India and Ghana and Saudi Arabia and Nigeria and Indonesia; just a few of the countries where we regularly top the beauty charts. It is humbling to know we make a difference to the indie beauty community right across the globe. As podcast host, I have had the pleasure of interviewing a diversity of guests from across the beauty industry and beyond. They have not only shared fascinating stories of entrepreneurship and personal growth, but importantly also been controversial and thought provoking. Each guest has opened up our minds to new possibilities and the change needed in this half a trillion $US business called beauty. I invite you to listen in to this short celebratory 100th episode that I dedicate to you – our listener – and to all our guests, and in which I share what I have learned from running this podcast over these past four years.

With beauty trends predicting a big return to colour cosmetics post pandemic and spiralling demand for plant-based skincare, 2022 looks set to be the year of growth for botanical makeup. And right on cue at Formula Botanica, we are launching our first, botanical makeup mini course as this podcast airs. Behind the scenes, our in-house formulation team led by cosmetic chemist Rouah Al-Wakeel has experimented with botanical pigments for years and has now perfected a range of luscious lipsticks coloured only with plant pigments. To celebrate this breakthrough, we are running a Mini Lab on Natural Lipstick Formulation in our exclusive, members-only site The Lab at Formula Botanica. In this episode, Rouah joins podcast host Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier to talk us through the facts, fun and challenges of formulating with plant pigments. They may take time to get to know, but botanical pigments can open up a whole new market for formulators keen to get ahead and get an edge in the natural makeup niche. Listen in to find out why Rouah's favourite lipstick colour is now red radish.

Welcome to this Green Beauty Opinion in the run up to International Women’s Day 2022 (IWD). In this opinion short, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier follows up on the previous podcast on the role of indie beauty in empowering a new generation of women entrepreneurs.  Lorraine reflects on why female entrepreneurship is so valuable in our societies. Against a backdrop of the pandemic, which according to the NGO Oxfam cost women in 2020 alone some 64 million jobs and $800bn in revenue worldwide, women now have even greater need to be included at parity in economic, social and political life.  Goal 5 of the UN’s Sustainability Agenda recognises that gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but also key to fostering a sustainable, peaceful and prosperous world. Women’s equal representation in all spheres of life helps improve the overall well-being of society. Women’s greater participation also helps educate societies, alleviate poverty and reduce environmental destruction.  Above all, women’s entrepreneurship and women in leadership roles lift other women up, showing them what is possible to be and do. Women can further empower women, lifting all boats on a rising tide. This is something we have seen time and again at Formula Botanica where our graduate and student indie beauty entrepreneurs not only lead by example, but also actively share know-how, give of their time and support those following in their footsteps.  We need to reevaluate what we mean by entrepreneurship and see its value lying not just in the ability to create wealth, but also in contributing positively to society. And it is in this sphere that female entrepreneurship has shown it has a major role to play.  Lorraine urges us to participate in International Women’s Day and to be the change we seek. Join in, share your actions via social media and strike the IWD #breakthebiaspose.   Listen in for a thought-provoking opinion that challenges us to be the voice of change and integrity, making the beauty industry better and more sustainable.

Indie beauty may be driving a generation of female entrepreneurs but women in other sectors still don't make it to the boardrooms. With this in mind, we ask what is gender equality today? Think of the people running the beauty industry in your locality. The beauty salons, nail bars, hairdressers, spas, and the beauty counters of drug stores are likely to be staffed by women. From a quick survey like this, you would think we should be addressing the need for greater diversity or the promotion of men in the beauty industry instead of the parity of women in the sector. But, what is gender equality or diversity or inclusivity too if there is no equality of representation across an industry? From shop and salon floors to the boardroom tables of big beauty brands and from the kitchen tables of start-up entrepreneurs to the offices of venture capitalists, gender, and other forms of equality must be factored in, focused on and fast forwarded. Because the beauty industry seems to be the domain of women does not mean it is led by women at management level nor do many female entrepreneurs attract the financing and support they need to help them succeed. In this episode, which airs a couple of weeks before International Women's Day (8 March), Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier and Ana Green, the school's Education Manager, discuss the vital role that indie beauty plays in fostering women's self empowerment, and also the startling realities many women face in getting to the top and succeeding as beauty sector entrepreneurs.

In this Green Beauty Opinion, Formula Botanica CEO, chartered environmentalist and biologist Lorraine Dallmeier comments on the often knee-jerk tendency of some in the beauty world, both formulators and consumers, to boycott cosmetic ingredients that they deem unsustainable.   Talking to the Responsible Mica Initiative in the last podcast, Lorraine heard about the complex world of mica mining that produces the glittery ingredients we love in cosmetics. Mica mining in India, the largest producer, relies on vulnerable, isolated mining communities who live in extreme poverty and often use child labour. Before you boycott mica - or any other natural or botanical ingredient - think again. An all-out boycott rarely provides a solution to those unsustainable practices you’ve found out about. Lorraine lists five key reasons we should ask before we act on boycotting an ingredient: Synthetic or other alternatives may not be less environmentally damaging nor even more sustainable. Boycotts can harm the local, traditional and often indigenous communities that derive their livelihoods almost entirely from producing that ingredient.  How do you know the ingredient you boycott won’t crop up in other products or aspects of your daily consumption? Mica, for instance, is in hundreds of products we use daily, from cars to toasters.   A contentious ingredient like palm oil, that hits the media headlines, might trigger a concerted effort to prioritise conservation efforts or its sustainable production.  Sustainability is too complex to make sweeping statements or judgements on. The Responsible Mica Initiative counts 80 members and works with a multi-stakeholder taskforce from a range of industries.  Lorraine challenges us to boycott instead our own unsustainable practices such as over consumption of beauty products. Listen in for a thought-provoking opinion that challenges us to be the voice of change and integrity, making the beauty industry better and more sustainable.

As we go to air with this episode of Green Beauty Conversations in early 2022, the predictions are that frosted eye shadows, glittery nail art and luminescent blushers are going to be big trends this year. Adopting the hashtag #Y2K, a new generation of beauty consumers is exploring makeup trends of the 1980s to the millennium, and rediscovering the allure and bold shimmer of mica minerals in cosmetics. But, all that glitters in the cosmetics’ world is not gold. Behind those shimmering cosmetics lies a mineral mining industry that in some parts of the world relies on artisan and small-scale miners who are living in poverty and often have to put their children to work to have any chance of supporting their families. How can natural formulators or beauty consumers know where their mica comes from and the conditions in which it is mined? What about the environmental as well human health and welfare impact of mica mining in parts of the world that are well out of sight of the global cosmetics industry? What can we do to source and buy cosmetics using ethically-mined mica? In this episode, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier – a chartered environmentalist with a passion for digging deep on unsustainable and exploitative practices in the beauty industry – talks to Olivier Dubourdieu, Project Manager at the Responsible Mica Initiative to find some answers to these questions.

Welcome to this Green Beauty Opinion on the challenges of changing consumer perceptions about the image of solid formulations from homespun artisan goods to luxury cosmetic purchases.   Following on from the last podcast episode on innovative sustainable packaging solutions, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier asks why consumers won’t see solid formulations as on a par with their high-performance emulsions and serums.  With the beauty industry responsible for tens of billions of packaging units ending up in landfill each year, it is imperative that both manufacturers and consumers embrace solutions such as refillable beauty and solid formulations that can do without most packaging in the first place.   Why banish solid formulations to functional products for cleansing and washing? Already, solid formulations have the capability to cover an exciting range of cosmetics including those with active, efficacious ingredients such as retinoids.  Lorraine says that the only thing holding manufacturers back is their perception that consumers conceive of high-performance cosmetic formulations as needing liquid forms and luxury packaging. But, there are exciting opportunities for the innovators and the climate crisis demands action and leadership from both mainstream big brands and the indie beauty community.  Lorraine’s challenge to us all, whether as formulators or beauty consumers, is to take action now and start shifting perceptions by changing our own behaviour by both formulating and choosing solid cosmetics.  Listen in for a thought-provoking five minutes that challenges us to be the voice of change and integrity, making the beauty industry better and more sustainable.  

Imagine beauty packaging given to us by nature and that returns sustainably to nature once we, as beauty consumers, have unboxed our product and have no further need for its protective cartons, filler materials, mailer boxes and more? Imagine then the infinite possibilities of magical mushrooms and plantable cosmetic containers. Does this all sound too far fetched? In this episode, you'll hear just how organic matter from mushrooms is literally growing consumer packaging and how eye, brow and lip pencils and liner casings are sowing the seeds of bee-friendly, wild flower meadows. Green Beauty Conversations has covered just about every sustainable angle, and many a greenwashing one too, in the world of beauty and its packaging. But when we heard about two innovative companies using nature to create packaging that is truly cradle-to-cradle in their life cycles, we just had to discover more. The Magical Mushroom Company and Sprout World are redefining the notion of ethical sustainability in beauty products and packaging. Podcast host and Formula Botanica CEO talks to Michael Stausholm, founder and CEO of Sprout World – the company behind the first makeup pencil in the world that can be planted and grown wildflowers; and to Natasha Walker, Business Development Manager at Magical Mushroom Company which develops a natural alternative to fossil fuel-produced polystyrene and other polymers at industrial scale. Might the beauty industry be looking to the very nature it reveres in its cosmetic formulations for answers to reducing the tidal wave of unsustainable packaging it creates? Listen in for some fascinating insights into how sustainable packaging is literally growing before our eyes.

In this Green Beauty Opinion short, podcast host and Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier challenges all indie beauty founders to make a real difference to the beauty industry. Picking up on her interview in the last episode with Formula Botanica graduate Sandra Velasquez, who built her Nopalera brand firmly rooted in her Mexican heritage, Lorraine urges the indie beauty sector to make products with both purpose and passion. Sandra is not only an inspiring founder and formulator with business acumen and drive, but also one who focused on a clear mission. She set out to change consumer preconceptions about the status of Mexican products. By celebrating and amplifying Mexican culture in her range of upscale beauty products, she succeeded in raising the bar on attitudes to other sectors of Latino-based products too, not just beauty.   Sandra is an example of how formulating for change is a powerful business driver. A clear mission for your business is a vital ingredient for indie beauty success.  Lorraine sets all potential indie beauty entrepreneurs the challenge of finding their special 'why' and to build a beauty brand with purpose. The world has no need of more beauty products unless they make a real difference, not just to consumers' lives, but also to the industry they operate in - and perhaps beyond too.  Listen in for a thought-provoking five minutes that challenges us to make the beauty industry a better and more sustainable place.