Cosmetic and skincare brands are major culprits when it comes to sustainability, but some are trying to pivot with new packaging initiatives and innovations.
Life as a beauty editor for glossy magazines back in the ’90s was a privileged existence. Think helicopter rides to lunch in the Blue Mountains to launch an eye cream, or 48-hour junkets to St Tropez, London or New York for 20-minute celebrity-fragrance interviews with Gaga/Rihanna/Beyoncé. Endless courier deliveries of huge packages involved extravagant unboxing stunts and reams of packaging to unveil … drumroll – a lone lipstick.
The cumulative effect of this steady stream of products meant managing huge beauty cupboards the size of a small Sephora. For the beauty industry has been built on the premise that constant newness is what drives sales – a reality that sadly still exists today.
