EP114. Influence for sustainable beauty

I've just finished recording an episode with my colleague Anna, who is the education manager here at Formula Botanica, in which we talked about the world of beauty influencers and whether they're embracing sustainability yet. And by the time this episode recording goes live, you'll already have listened to our discussion in your favourite podcast app because it was released last week. Now, Anna was absolutely the right person to interview for that podcast episode, as I'm sure you heard too, because she herself worked as a green beauty blogger for many years before she joined our team at Formula Botanica. One thing that came out quite strongly in our discussion is the question around the power that influencers can have over shopping behaviors. A recent study found that 49% of shoppers, almost half, depend on influencer recommendations. Some of them even trust influencers as much as they would their own friends. But as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Wouldn't it be great to see a beauty vlogger lift up a formulation and say, I love this. My skin feels so amazing when I use it. And did you know that the packaging is refillable? Or wow, my hair has never felt so soft. Did you know that the brand is also carbon negative? It's exciting to think how quickly hearts and minds could be changed by incorporating sustainability messaging into in the beauty influencer community. So for that reason, I wanted to jump on quickly, record this super short opinion piece and challenge you to join me in bringing sustainability to the influencer community. Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmeyer, chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my green beauty opinions in which I share my takeaways from the podcast interview we released last week and set you a challenge to make the green beauty sector a better place. If you want to be the first to hear all of my latest episodes, make sure you subscribe to this podcast now. We know that beauty is big business. In fact, the industry is worth, get this, over half a trillion dollars. I can't even visualize that it's so big. Beauty standards have permeated every part of society. It's part of our daily lives. And because of that, shoppers are constantly looking for the next big thing. Cue the arrival of the beauty influencer who has the ability to match brands to shoppers. And when you consider that hundreds of millions of people worldwide watch YouTube on their TV screens and everywhere else, who better to go to in order to find out what's hot in beauty, that an influencer and I want to say for the record, that I am incredibly impressed by the amount of work that beauty influencers put into their jobs. As a content creator myself, it's not easy to constantly churn out new content, and I can imagine that being inundated with boxes filled with the latest beauty product launches must add a whole new dimension of pressure and stress. I know many influencers work very hard. I once attended an industry event where two incredibly influential bloggers took to the stage to discuss their work. And I remember one of them turned to the audience, which mainly consisted of beauty brand founders, and said that she viewed it as her job to protect consumers from the brands in the audience by telling them who to trust. Now, initially, I was quite shocked by that statement, but when I thought about it for a while, I realized that I think she's right, which is why influencers have such an incredible opportunity to weave the sustainability conversation into the mix in a really positive way. Influencers exist because brands exist and because shoppers exist. They're a perfect way to bring the two audiences together. But how can influencers bring those two audiences together to drive forward sustainability in the beauty industry? It would be so easy to say that beauty influencers should just stop covering the latest product launches in order to help drive more sustainable production levels, for instance. But that's not realistic and is easier said than done, as our industry has created a system of consumption that inherently relies on incessant product launches. Instead, I would encourage beauty influencers, if any of them are listening, to start mentioning the sustainability credentials of each brand they review. I know there are some influencers out there who are tentatively starting to do this, and I think we need to encourage them to do more. It won't be easy, but the more influencers challenge brands on their environmental and social credentials together with the shoppers, that's you and me. The more change we can make. I think the outcome could be really exciting and positive and drive very impactful change. I think influencers could have even more influence than they perhaps realize. So that's my challenge to you for this week. If you follow any beauty influencers, next time they review a product, genuinely and openly, ask them about the sustainability credentials for that brand and keep asking them in a really positive way. You might initially get nowhere, but the more people who ask, the more the influencer community will also have to answer. And in doing so, we'll challenge brands on what they're doing. We are in this together, and if you speak up, then you will help others find their voice, too. Thank you for listening to my Green Beauty opinions. Remember to visit the Formula botanica website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. And if you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, please make sure you do so in your favorite podcast app. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations I host and I'll be back soon with my next episode.