Green Beauty Conversations by Formula Botanica

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 R...

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 vari...

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...

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...

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...

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 s...

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,...

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 sa...

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 i...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 groun...

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 graduat...

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...

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 bi...

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 an...

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 dr...

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...

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...

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 g...