Lorraine Dallmeyer, CEO of Formula Botanica, argues that mainstream and celebrity beauty brands fail on sustainability and push harmful beauty standards. She advocates for independent, genuinely sustainable brands that encourage buying less instead.
Lately, a sentence I've heard a lot from influencers, journalists and just people in general is the statement, the last thing the world needs is another beauty brand. And I'd say that this has largely arisen in response to the increasing number of celebrity brands mushrooming out of the ground. But it isn't limited to celebrity brands, though. In recent years, I've had journalists ask me how sustainability can possibly be achieved by us training up more beauty brands. I also had a journalist tell me, please do share any interesting Formula Botanica graduate brand launches with me, but whatever you do, do not share any brands that were started as a result of them having healed their own eczema. We are done with that narrative. In other words, they were also telling me, we don't just need another beauty brand, we only want something that's different. And that's a topic I want to explore a bit more. Because that one little sentence, do we really need more beauty brands? Is so loaded with so much meaning behind it, and I don't think anyone's really stopped to think about why they're saying it. And yes, there's a whole debate around celebrity brands that also needs to be had. And we'll be having that discussion later in the year on the podcast. But this episode isn't about them. This episode is about our independent brands. The beauty brands run by people who didn't just get into this industry to make a quick buck. The beauty brands that genuinely want to make a difference. Which is why I want us to ask ourselves, is it really the case of the world not needing more beauty brands? Or has it now become a case of the world not needing any more of the same old beauty brands that have dominated our shelves for decades? Because that's a conversation that most influencers and journalists and other people are not having with just that one little loaded sentence. Does the world need more beauty brands? They are inadvertently propping up the same old tired brands that have been around for over a century and undermining an entire industry built to create strong, independent brands. They are also saying that the way the beauty industry currently works is absolutely fine. Which of course we all know is not the case at all. So settle in for my rant because today I've got on my soapbox. 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 that 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. So let's start from the top. Does the world need another beauty brand? Well, let's flip that question over now and ask does the world really need the beauty brands it currently has? Do we really want to continue with the huge multinationals that tell us day in, day out that we're not good enough? That we are covered in imperfections, that we shouldn't, mustn't age? That not fitting this standard, so called human mold of a white, skinny, straight haired woman makes us inadequate as human beings? Is that really what we want? So does the world need another beauty brand? Well, if they can replace the rubbish we currently have, then yes, please, I am all for that. And let's ask another question. Does the world then really need to continue with beauty brands who don't care about sustainability? Oh, the beauty industry talks about sustainability now, how they talk about it. The amount of hot air, meaningless hot air that comes out of them. But when it comes to actually placing sustainability at the very core of their business, then these huge multinationals are far too beholden to their shareholders to really make profound sustainable long term change. Let's not forget that this industry has recently been flooded with press releases announcing that some beauty packaging has finally become recyclable. Regardless of whether the recycling facilities actually exist or not. These are their big sustainability wins. At the moment, the conversation is too short term, too narrow, too focused on PR sound bites. So does the world need another beauty brand? How about instead we ask, does the world need another beauty brand that wants you to have 40 products on your bathroom shelf? Because that's the ultimate goal. Of course, your skincare tube might now finally be recyclable, but we all know it's going to end up in a big discarded pile somewhere in a long forgotten corner until it eventually breaks down into microplastics. In hundreds of years time, the ultimate goal has never been been to get you to buy less. And that's why, of course, it was so refreshing to interview Melody Reynolds of Elate Cosmetics last week, whose very business mission, which sits at the very core of her brand, is to get you to buy less. Does the world need more beauty brands like hers? And the answer to that is yes, yes we do. We need beauty brands who challenge the old stale mantra that everyone else keeps bleating at us, telling us that we're inadequate as human beings. We need beauty brands who are prepared to do something different. We need beauty brands who are going to champion sustainability properly, not just this half hearted lip service I see everywhere. We need beauty brands that make a difference in the world, all the while celebrating our innate humanity. So my challenge to you this week is this. Whenever someone says, does the world really need another beauty brand? Firstly, send them here back to this episode. And then secondly, I recommend you say to them, you're just happy with the way things are, aren't you? But have you ever considered just maybe that actually replacing the beauty brands we already have might be the very best thing we can do for all of us? Thank you for listening to my green beauty opinions. I know it was a bit of a rant this week. 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 now 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.
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