EP27. Reviewing Indie Beauty Trends & Events

Welcome to the Formula Botanica Green Beauty Conversations podcast. Formula Botanica is the online award winning organic cosmetic science school with thousands of students all over the world. To find out a bit more about what we do and the online courses we offer, head over to formulabotanica.com and try out our free sample class. My name is Lorraine Dallmeyer and this week I am hosting our podcast and interviewing our regular host, Gemma, to talk about some of the events we recently attended in the indie beauty sector. Welcome to Green Beauty Conversations. So today's episode is slightly different because today I'm in the host seat and I, Lorraine, am interviewing Gemma, who normally hosts all of these podcasts. So it's really exciting to sort of flip the roles here because Gemma is our business and relationship manager at Formula Botanica and she manages all of our external relationships. So she's out there at events, she's talking to people, she's networking in the industry, she's getting to know people. So we thought it would be good, rather than Gemma interviewing someone else, that today we interview Gemma. So welcome, Gemma, to your own podcast.

Thank you for having me, Lorraine.

I know it's a huge honour and you know it's the best podcast because you host it.

Yeah, I'm going to see what it's like to be in the hot seat.

Exactly. So today we want to talk about some of the events that we've recently attended in the industry and the trends that we've seen. So maybe you could start by telling us which events going to talk about in this podcast.

Yeah, so let me just first start off by saying it's been an extremely busy couple of months for the Formula Botanica team in terms of events and we've attended quite a few. So I want to talk first about Indie Beauty Expo. So we attended that in London in October 24th, 25th of October. And then we're going to cover Stylist Live, which myself and my colleague Katherine attended in November, and then we're going to have a look at the fabulous awards ceremony that we attended. Lorraine, because you won an award, which you're going to tell us a bit more about and which I'm going to share also some more information about. So that was an award ceremony, so slightly different from a show, but obviously it still involved a lot of networking and socializing and getting to know people and just connecting with some people in the industry that we haven't had the opportunity to spend time with before. So that was awesome.

And I think maybe we should throw in a fourth event as well, now I'm thinking about it, which is of course our Formula Botanica conference, which we hosted two weeks ago, which was absolutely phenomenal. So welcome to that one. Let's start with the first one. So both of us and our colleague Catherine attended Indie Beauty Expo London, which was its inaugural event in the eu. It was very exciting and we went along to the Shoreditch venue that they'd set up, which was beautifully arranged. So maybe you could start by telling us a bit about Indie Beauty Expo and what we did and saw there.

Yeah, so like Lorraine said, it was the inaugural show in the eu, so the first one was in London. Normally they have them in the us. It's a US show, New York, Dallas and la, three times a year. And how it was arranged in London was that on one of the days they had an evening event which was Shop Indie, so general public could come and see the store holders, buy products, etc. And then the following day was Trade Indie. So it was set up more for, you know, businesses, buyers, retailers, press, etc. So Lorraine and I and Catherine attended on for Shop Indie and on the Trade Indie. It was just myself and Catherine exploring the Indie Beauty Expo show floor, which is very interesting.

It was a really exciting event to attend for us because I felt. I don't know how you feel about this, Gemma, but I felt that half the people there seemed to be Formula Botanica students and graduates. So it was a bit of a big love in for us, really, because we love meeting our community members. But do you want to run us a bit through the trends that we saw and what you picked up from our two days there?

Yeah, yeah. So, like you say, the first day that we went, it was pretty intense because I think we spent like almost an hour just near the front of the Indie Beauty Expo, just talking to people that we saw, our students, our community, people that we knew. So that was great. So I didn't get that much time to explore on that first night with you because I was talking to so many people and just kind of networking and seeing who was there. And it was very exciting kind of vibe. I think so many people in the natural and organic sector and the Indie beauty sector in the UK were so looking forward to this event. They'd seen it showcased, you know, in other in the us, so there was a very much like a vibe of excitement. So that was great. And then on the following day, myself and Catherine really, you know, walking boots were on, we were out there identifying trends, notebooks in hands, pens at the ready, so the main one that I saw at Indie Beauty Expo was the, the trend of crystal infused beauty. And I know this has been a trend for quite some time and this is the first time that I'd seen it on such a large scale. So there were brands like for instance, Ballet Pura who were doing sort of crystal infused like aura sprays and mists and then you had other brands, I can't remember all of them off the top of my head. I'm really sorry, but that were doing, you know, balms and creams and lotions with crystals actually inside them. So you had people who had just, you know, made their products with crystals and they weren't actually in the bottles. You know, just the idea that the crystal leaves itself kind of footprint in the products and then those people who actually could showcase their products with the crystals inside them. So yeah, so that was interesting. I haven't really used anything like that before and I got a chance to sample quite a few things out. So that was nice.

So that's a really clear trend that came out of IBE London for you. Were there any other trends that you saw as you made your way? I think you met. You walked about 8 km that second day, didn't you?

Yeah, I did. So there was a couple of stands there that were specializing in what they call part customizable beauty. So the idea that you can pick say a base product like cream, a lotion, a hand wash, a body wash, and then customize it with things that you wanted, like the scents and flavors of the product, which I think would be very popular with people who have problems with specific scents that tend to dominate certain groups of products. Like for instance, your body washes and things tend to be citrusy and refreshing and that sort of thing. But there are people that have allergies or reactions to those types of products and might want to pick their own fragrance or.

Yeah, and we're seeing DIY beauty is a major trend all throughout the industry at the moment. And that isn't just sort of mashing up a banana and putting it on your face. That is literally buying the base and then customizing your product, as Gemma said. So that's a really interesting trend that we're seeing worldwide actually. And so it was good to see it come back at I've London as well.

Yeah, I think it was good to see how it function on a practical level. I wasn't always sure how this would work. It would be interesting to speak to retailers about how it would work in a retail space because obviously you have to have a fair amount of shelf space to be able to fit all the different things in. But certainly as people, you know, skin conditions and issues and sensitivities and allergies and reactions are much more discussed. Something like this could offer real practical solutions for people. So, yeah, so that was interesting to see.

Cool. So we've got crystal infused beauty, part customizable beauty. What else did you pick up at? I've London, so there was quite a.

Few stands there specializing in makeup. So the idea that you could have natural and organic makeup. Now, not every single stand was focusing on naturals and organics, but primarily, I'd say probably 90% were focusing on more natural side of makeup. But the idea that you could have effective natural makeup and be able to sort of have it as a. I'm trying to think of the word that they use used like couture makeup. So there were some really quite funky brands like Sappho Love. What was the other one? Winky Luxe, which I'm quite a big fan of. And I was so pleased to get a Winky Luxe lip gloss in my goodie bag. So, yeah, so. And, you know, natural concealers and so focusing on foundation and enhancing your features rather than kind of covering them up. And there was also a fabulous brand there called Axiology that had a whole stand full of natural lipsticks, which I was really impressed with. You could get lipsticks, lip tints. Yeah. So that was really interesting for me to see makeup showcased in that way.

And of course, our friend Meryl was there from Hint Beauty as well, who we got to see. And we interviewed Meryl on our YouTube channel, I think a couple of years ago already. So it was lovely to see her over in the eu. Of course, she's already selling here and I know many beauty bloggers love her products. So that was exciting to meet one of our online friends in person.

Yes, it was lovely. And her selection of makeup and the testers that she supplied for the goodie bag have been phenomenal. And myself and Catherine were talking about them and how pleased we are with them. So makeup was being showcased in a fantastic way. You know, people showing that you could use alternative makeup in the same way that you could use kind of the more mainstream makeup, that it could be just as effective that you could get really kind of quite striking looks and funky looks. Yeah. Using that makeup. So I enjoyed that part of the show a lot, actually. Brilliant.

So if you're a brand and you're thinking of exhibiting, would you exhibit at. I've London. What do you think, Gemma?

I think choosing any show, whether it be IBE or any of the selection of shows, you just need to think about what your key objectives are. Now we're going to discuss Stylus Live next. So I think the brands that were at IBE were trying to get in front of buyers and retailers and showcase themselves to move into those kind of arenas. So some of them were obviously in certain retailers. They wanted to attract the attention of other retailers. They might have wanted to attract the attention of UK retailers if they were retailing within the US market. For me, it wasn't a show that was focused on sales as such, so getting your product in the hands of the consumer. There was obviously a shop indie day. It was an evening, really. So it wasn't so much about getting in front of your target audience as perhaps showcasing what you had to offer to retailers and buyers. That's how I felt. So I think it depends what your objective is really and what your focus is in terms of how you're wanting to grow your brand and where you think you'd be best positioned.

Okay, so let's finish off our recap of IBE London by giving a shout out to our graduates who had stalls there, because it was obviously amazing to see. See them. So do you want to just run us through who was there and what they were selling?

So well, we had a few surprise people, didn't we? And this happens to us quite a lot where students don't tell us or graduates don't tell us they're going to be at events and then they see us there. I'm normally wearing a Formula Botanica badge and they're like, hey, I'm one of your students. So that happened with Baljinda from Adasi. So she actually launched at IBE fabulous showcase of her products.

Oh, gosh. It was beautiful, wasn't it? Just incredible what she's achieved.

It was beautiful.

It was so exciting to see her because obviously we've been talking to her for years in our classroom and she suddenly came running out and went, hi, it's Valdya.

I know. We were like, oh, my God, yes, we know you. Lorraine was like, I've been talking to you for ages and here you are launching your spectacular brand.

I know. So that was fantastic, wasn't it?

Yeah, that was fabulous. And then we had Vivian from Vitruvian man, which I actually, a couple of weeks before, I've. I was saying to our team, oh, my God, I love the name of this brand so much. I'm Going to go and have a look at them. I just love brand and the concept. And then we went to talk to her and it turned out she, she was a student, so that was even better. We had Dewey from Skin Dewey who had a fabulous time at ibe. Her store was absolutely rammed.

Yes. And she came over all the way from Indonesia, of course, so that was really special. And again, if you haven't seen our interview with Dewey, go and head over to our YouTube channel because Gemma did an interview with her a while ago about her launching her Skin Dewy brand.

Yeah. And then we had Zane from Atlantis Skincare, who again had an amazing stall at ibe, just beautifully designed and set up and she was showcasing her range of products as well as her new additions to her range. So I know I've banged on a lot on our IGTV and other sources about her gel serum, which I am in love with and I got to try for the first time at ib, so that was great. And we had quite a few other students who were in attendance as well. We had Yelena from Lena Wild floating around, Carmen from Flower and Spice, Dominica and Elsie from Bybee Beauty.

Yeah, we saw so many of our students, actually, I think there's too many to name, but we took loads of photos with them. Yeah, it was wonderful to see everyone. So I'd say, yeah, it was a giant cuddle fest for us to go to IBE London to see all of our students and graduates because some of them flew in from halfway across the world to attend. So it was great to see them. So that's IBE London. Let's move on to Stylist Live, which you've already hinted at a little bit. I didn't attend this one, so I'd love to hear your experiences. Gemma, you know, how long was it on for? What did you see? Who did you meet? Tell us more.

Yes. So this has been my event of the year. I think I didn't have that many expectations about what it was going to be like. So Stylus Live is a three day event and for me it showcased the best in independent beauty. There was big brands as well, so it was a mixture. And it also held inspirational talks, workshops for women on topics that affect women every day. So things like, you know, the beauty industry's issue with diversity. We had really famous DJs like Clara Ampho talking about how to break into the boys club, you know, issues that they had with, you know, getting radio shows on when they were, you know, they were women. Does someone want to Hear a woman talk for a whole hour. Who knew she got asked questions like that. You know, we had people talking about anxiety. We had, you know, talks for entrepreneurs which were absolutely fabulous. You know, how to develop your skills as an entrepreneur. And they had Mary Porters there talking about, you know, different things that she was interested in from her, her perspective as a shopper and a buyer and a retailer, you know, giving out all her expertise on those sorts of topics. So it was a fabulous event to attend as someone who's in the beauty industry, as someone who is working for a smallish business and has some influence over some of the decisions we make, because it was great to have that information and then obviously to meet. We had students there. So that was awesome. Obviously to meet people within the beauty, the wider beauty sector and talk to them about what they are doing.

So is it only for beauty or other sectors represented at Stylist Live as well?

So there's other sectors. So you have beauty, you have food, you have fashion. And then you would have kind of like ad hoc things like stationery, people who are doing kind of design things like, you know, cards and planners and things that you could stick on your wall, like inspirational quotes and things like that. T shirt design. So how they work it is, and I thought this was really interesting, is that they don't kind of group things together. The only thing that was grouped together was the food for obvious reasons. And then the kind of pop up shop, what they called the pop up shop arena was a mixture of beauty, retail, fashion. So when I say retail, I mean kind of like general retail things like massage machines, kind of that. More that sort of thing. And then design businesses. So businesses might be doing jewelry or notebooks and planners and sort of thing. As you can see, I keep mentioning that because there was a fair amount of that there and I just, I love that sort of thing. So all of those shops were intermingled with each other. So there wasn't one whole beauty section as such, which I really liked because it meant that you could walk down the aisles and meet a variety of people.

Okay, so it sounds like a really diverse setup and you obviously really enjoyed it. You described it to me as indie beauty heaven. So it sounds like the place to be really, if you're into indie beauty. So what do you think are the main trends that have really come out of Stylist Live for you and do any of them correspond with the trends that you saw at Indie Beauty Expo?

A little bit. So for me, like I said, yeah, indie beauty heaven Indie brand Heaven, really. And I think it was a fabulous show to be able to see a variety of businesses getting in front of their target customers. Because obviously people who are interested, like me, who are interested in beauty, who are interested in fashion, who are interested in stationery, itinerary and just funky things for your house, those things were all there, as well as obviously being able to sample some food, have some drinks. In terms of the major trends, for me, one that really stood out at Stylist Live was artisan perfume. Now, there were a couple of stands at Ibe on. We're dealing with more natural perfumes at Stylist. It wasn't necessarily all natural perfumes, but there was a lot of artisan perfumes. Beautifully set up stands, showcasing themselves at their best. You got to speak to the owners and founders. It tended not to be kind of representatives of those brands, but rather the owners and the founders. So you got a real personal story. You got to engage in how they made their products, which for me was really interesting. I think perfume is something we're going to see a lot more of. I think if this show is anything to go by. And also the industry interest in perfume was something I found very interesting. So one of my objectives when I go to these shows is to talk to as many people as possible, and I certainly do that. So I talk to them. I want to find out about what they're doing. So I often say to them, how was the show for you? Have you had much interest? What have sales been like? I ask them all these sorts of questions, whether they want to be asked them or not. Sometimes, I think. And there was so much buyer interest in perfumes.

Well, that's great to hear, particularly for all those indie artisan perfumers out there who are hopefully all listening to the podcast. So other than artisan perfume, what other trends did you see come out of Stylists Live?

I saw quite a lot of ingestible beauty. So I know this has come as it has been highlighted as a trend before. I haven't seen it at other shows on this level. So ingestible beauty. So the idea that you'd be taking supplements and they're not just sort of synthetic vitamins, they're a sort of plant based, what I call them food based supplements. So it's actual food in a supplement that. So the idea is that your body is able to ingest them and make use of them in a way that they wouldn't in terms of synthetic vitamins. And I think we're going to see a Lot more of this moving forward. And already we've seen like supermodels like Elle McPherson. She has her own brand, she has Wellco, she has a series of products that fit in this kind of trend. And I know she's done several podcasts and different things promoting that. Obviously it's quite a well known thing. And now we have other brands, brands doing that. And I think that we will see beauty brands doing this alongside their beauty offerings. And this is certainly something we saw at Stylist Live. So we saw like brands like Superfood, Luxe, who we've done a podcast with before. They do shampoos, conditioners, as well as supplements to help with issues that you might be experiencing with your hair. And at Stylist Live, I saw that and I saw that for skin as well. The idea that you would ingest as well as put on your beauty.

Okay, that's fantastic. And if you want to hear that podcast, make sure you go check out. I think it was episode 19 where Gemma interviews Paula from Superfood Lux. It's definitely worth listening to that one as well. So any final trends that you picked up at Stylist Live that you think we should be paying attention to?

Well, there's a couple of trends that I wanted to talk about that relates to ibe, so the idea of wellness as part of your brand. So there were quite a few brands at IBE as well as stylists that were talking, talking about their wellness offering. So the idea that you have products and you talk about how these products contribute to general wellness and how they can improve your life in a certain way. So obviously you have people that have said, you know, use this cream, it is going to help if you have a skin condition or if you have dry skin. But this goes beyond that. This talks about how it's going to make an impact, your kind of general wellness. So obviously you see that with ingestible beauty and supplements, but you also see that with things like actual skincare. So people are talking about their skincare products and the products that form a part of that range, forming a part of your kind of overall wellness, part of your wellness routine. So for instance, things like toners and sprays and mists, obviously enhancing your well being in terms of, you know, you've got all things like aura cleansing and that kind of more spiritual side of things. But also people talking about, you know, you can spray this mist just as a way of, of being a little bit meditative. So you might be having a really stressful day, you're sitting in front of your computer, have a couple of sprays of this. It's going to make you feel awesome. It's going to enhance your well being. You can also combine that with our hand cream, which has got these very specific scents that if you inhale them and you kind of take five minutes away from your desk, rub this on your hands, inhale it, do some deep breathing, you know this is going to have a real impact on your day and the way it's going to kind of make you feel essentially. So that was talked about quite a lot across both shows and it's interesting that this tied in. And we're going to talk about our conference in a little bit as well. But we had a retailer there from Planet Organic and they were talking about how they want brands to talk about this wellness offering.

Yes. And I think this is what attracts a lot of people to the indie and green beauty movement to start with because they want it to be part of a bigger thing. People aren't just interested in beauty anymore. They're in interested, interested in skin health and hair health and overall wellness and health. So it's good to see that trend coming out and I'm excited to hear more about it and I'm excited to see our students start to create more formulations for it as well. So when should you exhibit at Stylist Live? I know we asked this question about ibe, so let's have a look at Stylist as well.

I think Stylist is a fabulous show for getting in front of your target audience. So it's a show focused on sales. It's a three day event. I mean there certainly were probably. It was a Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's just before Christmas, it's in November. Peak buying time. People are starting to think about Christmas, starting to think about gifts. And it's an excellent way to get your products in the hands of the consumer and get feedback. Now, obviously it was a bigger show than Indie Beauty Expo and just a word for both shows is that you would need to make sure that you have thought very carefully about how you organize and arrange your stand and how you put yourself out. So the stands to me that seem to be the most successful had their branding and everything on point and the stand was in sync with that. So color coordinated, professionally printed product information sheets. For instance, often at Stylist it's busy. You want your customer to come to your stand and if they can't speak to you or one of your representatives, you have a print out there that they could easily read about your product, whether that's a brochure or whether I call it a sheet, because I saw quite a few stands with just kind of lovely A5 style sheets with all product information so people could have a read about it, get the product in their hand because there would often be lots of samples, be able to use it and then be able to speak to someone if they couldn't get to them. So Stylist, I think if you have finished products and you have the stamina to do three full days, it is the show for you. I mean, there's just such a diverse audience there. Like I was saying to Lorraine, you know, there were people my age, so late 30s, there were people much younger than me. There were some teenagers, there were much older groups of women. There were a lot of bloggers there. There were a lot of people from within the wellness industry there, because you only have to search the hashtag stylistlive to have a look at the kind of live streams and things that were happening there. Instagram lives. I was seeing people do that all over place. So it was very happening. It was very. What do you call it? Upbeat. And I said to Lorraine, one of the things that I wanted to talk about across both shows was the feeling of indie beauty collaboration and the feeling of community within the indie beauty or indie entrepreneur community. It was lovely to see such cooperation between store holders and just a atmosphere of friendliness and kindness towards each other.

Yeah, that is one. I think that's something we see particularly in our community as well. And I think it's what drives the global green beauty movement forward because we're not in competition with each other necessarily. We are lifting each other up. And that's heartwarming to watch. And I think it's what will ultimately lead to the success of many of these brands. And we saw it at our conference as well, didn't we? It was as our friend Marie Raymer from Humblebee and me described it. She said it was like a giant cuddle puddle, which I just thought, best description ever for our community.

I love it. And you know what? Stylist Live and IBE to a certain extent was a bit like a cuddle puddle. I mean, everyone I spoke to, how was the store for you? What were your highlights? You know, what did you love? So many people at IBE and Stylist said, making friends with store holders. Now, it's interesting because technically, if we want to be horrible and cynical about it, those people are your competition. I never want it to be viewed like that. And I know that our community don't want it to be viewed like that. And you could tell at those type of events, it wasn't being viewed like that. People were talking to each other, sharing their experiences, helping them, you know, getting each other's coffees. You know, I was saying at Stylus Live, there was, you know, two store holders that were next to each other that had very kind of similar merchandise, but the one was helping the other breastfeed her child. She was letting her use her stool. She was, you know, helping her, supporting her. There was such a feeling of collaboration and niceness. And, you know, when I went to see our student, Helen Taylor from Bareface Skin, who had a stand, she wasn't actually at her stand. Her husband was there and she's. I said, where is Helen? And she went, oh, no. She's talking to some of the other store holders. So I go around the corner and there's Helen and Henrietta, who's attended loads of our conference, supporting each other and just like bigging each other up, looking at the layout of the stand, trying out each other's products. You know, they're selling a similar thing. They, you know, if you want to be like, oh, they're my competitor, they wouldn't have to do that. But they're friends and they like each other. And it was so nice to see that atmosphere across those two shows. For me, that was a real highlight. So I just want to say, indie beauty people, you're awesome.

They so are. So let's wrap up our discussion around Stylist Life by giving a shout out to. To our students and graduates who were exhibiting there.

Yeah. So we saw Helen Taylor from Bareface Skin, which. It was one of her first shows, I think, so she was very excited, lots of interest in her stand. I also saw our wonderful student ambassador, Lucia from Ismiri Beauty, who's going to be launching soon. So I'm sure you'll see a lot more of her. So she didn't have a stand, but she was out in force, just supporting our community and supporting all the people that she knows and just visiting stands and bigging everyone up and doing Facebook lives and Instagram lives with them. So it was wonderful to see see her there. One of our longtime supporters, Henrietta Lampkin from Elsa's Organic Skin Food, was there. It was lovely to see her. We saw Michaela from Neighborhood Organics, who, again, I didn't know she was a student. I just happened upon her stall at these events. I just want to say I try to go to every single stall. It's ambitious. I know, and that's why I walk nine kilometers at these shows. But I was determined to go and see all the different stands. And I happened upon her store and it was so lovely. Her branding and everything was so lovely. And I was like, hey, can I have a try of this cleanser? She was telling me about it and she was like, hey, you've got a Formula Botanica badge. I'm your student. So that was wonderful.

So it sounds like our community were out in force again, which is heartwarming to hear because I think we are taking over the world with Green Beauty.

We are indeed.

I think we've covered ibe, we've covered Stylist. So let's go on to the next big event we attended, which was super exciting, which was the Cosmetic Executive Women UK Annual Achiever Awards.

Yeah. So if you haven't heard about it already, Lorraine won the digital achiever of the award at the Cosmetic Executive Women Achiever Awards sponsored by Google. It was a big deal for us. It was a big deal for the entire team. It was obviously a big deal for Lorraine, and as a Formula Botanica team, we were thrilled that her achievements and our achievements were being recognized and showcased by such a prestigious institution like Cosmetic Executive Women and the industry as a whole. So it was a fabulous award for us. But maybe, Lorraine, you can tell us a little bit about what it was like for you, because you were obviously representing Formula Botanica and you were the recipient and you had to make a acceptance speech on a stage which had been graced by some pretty big people just before you.

I know, I know. It was really humbling, actually. Yeah. I was totally blown away, first of all, to learn that I'd won this award and just even more blown away when I saw the other people who are winning these Achiever Awards. I mean, the lifetime achievement award went to Jane Werwand, who founded Dermalogica, and she was incredible. I mean, listening to her story, you know, it was just humbling to know that I was also receiving one of these awards alongside someone so such a visionary who'd really created this amazing business from scratch. And, I mean, she's grown Dermalogica to be the leading professional skin care brand that's used by skin therapists, and they have more than 100,000 skin therapists around the world. So it's not surprising she won this industry award. And then Matthew Moulding from the Hut Group was there and, you know, he stood on stage and he was talking about how his business is worth more than a billion pounds in terms of turnover. I mean, that is incredible. And then I walk up and I received this Digital Achiever Award and I'm a bit like, hello, everyone, thank you so much. Because it was truly incredible. Now, saying that we've worked so hard over the last five, six years for Formula Botanica to be where it is today. And, you know, I've grown it from a teeny tiny business to a global teaching institution now. And this wasn't just for me, this was for the whole Formula Botanica team. And we've all worked really, really hard to get here. So it was really humbling, as I said, and exciting and such a huge honour to receive this award. And yeah, as Gemma said, it was actually voted for by Google. So Google actually sponsored this award and a team of people at Google chose us because they felt that we, unanimously, they chose us, that we, we really embody empowerment and education and quality in what we do, which is why Formula Botanica and I won this fantastic award. So, yeah, it was a really exciting evening, wasn't it, Gemma?

It was amazingly exciting. I mean, so it was Lorraine, myself, Catherine and Liz who went as the Formula Botanica representatives and we were able to go to a drinks reception and meet the people from the beauty banks who are doing, you know, amazing work. We got to meet some of the CEW board members, you know, who have been in the beauty industry their entire lives and often run and, you know, developed really successful businesses from scratch, a lot of them, or have been really high profile beauty industry experts and journalists. So it was so nice to be able to talk to them and then to be in the actual award ceremony. So Lorraine was on the kind of winners panel at the front, go up and receive her award. And then Catherine, Liz and I were a couple of rows behind and we were able to obviously network with the people in our rows, which was also really interesting. And to see these industry greats go up on stage and receive these awards and then to see you, Lorraine, you know, be introduced by Jackie Owens from Google, to say all these amazing things about us and to hear your acceptance speech, it was just, you know, lovely. I mean, Jane Whirlwind Sharma, Dean Reid from WA Nails, her acceptance speech was just amazing.

And as you say, beauty banks, if you haven't heard of, they're a new charity who are getting brands to donate personal care products to sort of food banks so they can pass them on to people. Because, I mean, that acceptance speech by Jo Jones was just incredible, you know, she was saying that I think it was one in five people, a client classified as living in poverty in the uk and so many people can't. They don't have shampoos or body washes or toothpaste or. She was talking about girls going to school with socks or newspapers in their underwear because they can't afford sanitary products. So they've created this incredible charity where they're getting the beauty industry to donate products and getting people to donate unwanted products to food banks to collect personal care products. So very deserving. I mean, absolutely incredible what they've created. And we hope to get our community more involved with that in the future as well.

Yeah, the CEW event was. I haven't attended anything like that before and to be able to. We attended a dinner afterwards and it was great to just sit on a table of beauty entrepreneurs and talk about the work that we do and the different things that we experience on a day to day basis. And I think all through these events and we're going to move on to the conference as well, where we're going to talk about this a bit more. But the spirit of entrepreneurship and of women supporting women was such a highlight for me, particularly at the CEW Awards. You know, I think there was someone who, I think she did well. I know she, I can't remember what her name is, but she introduced Jane Whirlwind when she was for the Lifetime Achiever Award and she said people ridiculed her when she chose to have a career in the beauty industry and they didn't think what she was doing was serious. And she'd met Jane who was a serious entrepreneur and wanted to move beauty forward in a way that was revolutionary and innovative. And I think that so many people have maybe thought that is the case for the beauty industry. It's kind of shallow, it doesn't have much depth. But meeting the woman entrepreneurs at that event and to see what they have achieved and how many female owned businesses the beauty industry supports, I think it was just amazing.

For me, it was absolutely humbling. Those executives there were incredible. And to be part of that, to be listed alongside them, just incredible. So, yes, it was a real highlight for all of us. I think there are even some politicians there. You know, this is a big deal and it's a big deal for Formula Botanica. So we are extremely grateful. So before we both burst into tears, let's move on and talk about the final event, which wasn't the final event of the year, but a very exciting event nonetheless. The Formula Botanica Conference, which we hosted 10 days ago already. Can you believe it? So tell us a bit more about the conference, Conference Gemma, because not only does Gemma host this podcast, she also organizes our annual conference and does an amazing job of it. So you tell us, how did it go?

Oh, thank you, Lorraine, first of all, for that lovely introduction to the conference. Yeah, so this year we had our conference over three days. So we had a formulation workshop on the Friday for our elite ticket holders, and then we had two full days of workshops, talks, presentations, which it was, I think you will agree with me when I say it was our best conference ever.

Oh, yes, totally. It was incredible.

So we had around 170 people there. It's our biggest one as well. We had it in the best venue I think we've used, and it was just a weekend full of innovation. That was our theme. We had so many innovative workshops, innovative speakers, and. And I think as well, it was about the innovative people that attended the conference. Because there was so many ideas and things floating around. I didn't get a lot of chance to speak to people at our conference because I never do, really. I'm busy running around organizing million different things, as probably events organizers will know. But when I would listen in on snippets of conversation, it was to people talking about innovations in how they're marketing their products, innovations in what they're formulating. You know, we had a store marketplace this year, so we had ingredient suppliers and people like Vivian Campbell who were offering their online courses. And our students were talking to them about innovations in ingredient supplies, in using ingredients. You know, Joe Nazza from Avicenna was talking to so many people about his. They're not hydrosols, are they?

Aromatic waters.

Aromatic waters, yeah. And the whole weekend, and it was exhausting on one level, but it was so exciting and dynamic. And the speakers that we'd organized, you know, we had Robert Tisserand Ian Taylor from Green People. I mean, Green People. What an innovative, trailblazing brand.

Incredible. The stories that Ian told us of how there were no organic standards when they started, but they basically helped create them. You know, that's amazing. And all these new brands that were set there in front of us, you know, they are walking this path that companies like Green People have paved for them effectively.

We had a retail panel, so we get to put our students and graduates in front of beauty buyers, retailers so they can hear what they're looking for. We had Catherine Collins from upfront consultancy Deliver just a fabulous workshop on getting your brand toolkit ready. And then Sunday we're going to backtrack to Friday to Formulation Workshop in a minute. Minute. Because I want to really highlight that. But Sunday we had a keynote speech from Antonia Burrell. From Antonia Burrell Holistic Skincare, which was just off the charts.

Yeah. People were crying. She was amazing.

She had no slides, it was not rehearsed. She just talked about herself and her business and it was incredibly humbling. It was a riches to rags to rags to riches cycle.

Yeah, she was incredible. And I know everyone left feeling completely inspired after she'd spoken. She was fantastic and we were really grateful to have her at the conference. And, you know, the only reason we had her there was because Gemma tracked her down after a live event, didn't you?

Yeah. I'd attended Professional Beauty and I'd seen Antonia Stahl and her demonstration of her products and I was like, we need to have this woman at the conference. She is phenomenal. She knows her product, she knows her brand and she's developed this from scratch and I think everyone should hear her talk. And then there was a few months of, you know, trying to track her down and convincing her to come. And I'm so pleased that we did.

This really shows why it's so important to attend some of these events that we've been talking about today, because the connections you make there will benefit you and benefit, benefit them if you set them up right forevermore. And that's certainly what we're seeing when Gemma and other team members attend these events and meet these inspirational people.

Yeah, it's just fabulous. And we had Jo talk about his aromatic waters.

Yes, aromatic waters. Not hydrosols.

Not hydrosols. Which was, again, such a dynamic and engaging talk. He engaged the whole audience just like Antonia Barrel did. We had our fabulous blogger panel. You know, we had Linda from Wanderlusting, Anna from Anna Goes Green, Aish from the Glow Getter, Lola from two Mums Views, talking about what it like, it's like to work with influencers and beauty bloggers. And obviously we try to pick topics. Like we said our theme was innovation. And, you know, working with beauty bloggers and influencers has had such a. I don't say negative wrap over the past few months, but there's been a lot of contentious issues and they. We addressed those issues quite, you know, head on. People asked them about it, you know, fake reviews, negative reviews. We talked about it all, you know, we engaged in it all. There was nothing that was off the table. Which is another thing I like about our conferences because I always encourage people what was my thing on the panel. It was dig deep, people.

No, you kept telling everyone to dig deep. But we got some amazing questions from the audience because, of course, you know, they'd flown from 35 countries. And as Melinda Koss, our next speaker, talked about, she said, you've flown from halfway across the world, you've travelled from so far. That shows me how much you want this. Because everyone was just soaking up information like a sponge. And afterwards, people were saying, I got more in five minutes here than I would have got in a year by myself just researching things online about general business issues or how to collaborate with the people or how to work with bloggers. So, yeah, we very grateful to all these amazing speakers we have there.

Indeed. Now I just want to backtrack a little bit to Friday, because Friday for me was one of the highlights of our conference. We did an exclusive formulation workshop just for 36 people, and it was hosted by our fabulous education team and our education manager, Timmy. And we were working with making a vitamin C serum and using sucra gel. And Lorraine, perhaps you can tell us a little bit more about how things actually happened on the day. So, obviously I helped implement it and organize it, but you were in it doing it with the students, so.

Well, I was running around with my selfie stick a bit more than in it with the students. But no, as Gemma said, we made a vitamin C serum because it's one of the questions that we get most often. You know, how do we make a vitamin C serum? So we knew it was popular. So we've been pushing out some information on our blog recently about vitamin C. So go and check it out if you haven't had a look@formulabatanica.com blog. But we decided to make a cold process serum. And I know that quite a few of the students who attended had not made this type of formulation before. Some of them were feeling a little bit hesitant about pushing themselves out of their comfort zone. So that's why we run these events, to really bring people together, get them through their courses, get them motivated and inspired and drive forward the global green beauty movement as part of that. So people were emulsifying, they were blending essential oils. The whole room smelled amazing. And our education team with Timmy and Barbara and Priscilla, who came over from Slovakia and from the Netherlands, unfortunately, Gilly couldn't join us. But, yeah, it was wonderful to watch them running around and engaging with all the students and really helping them perfect their formulation techniques. And everyone went home with a beautifully designed serum at the end of it. Which I hope they're all using and enjoying at the moment.

And they also get to spend time with our education manager, Timmy, and make use of her expertise.

Oh, gosh, yes. That was incredible. I mean, Timmy did the Q and A at the end and she is so knowledgeable and she makes the most incredible formulations, as Gemma will agree with. You know, we often when we have team meetups, we're like, what have you made now? Show us, show us. You know, she is so knowledgeable.

Oh, just the best one I've used. I'm always asking her to make me things, hinting for Christmases and birthdays. So I'm just so glad that our students got to be in front of her, with her in person, that could ask her all these different questions that could make use of the expertise that the tutor team can offer.

Yeah, absolutely. We have an incredible tutor team at Formula Botanica and we're really proud of them.

Them.

So, for me, I guess the highlights or the main trends that I got out of the conference were threefold. First of all, there's science. I see our students very much want to back up the decisions they make with proper science and that's certainly something that we at Formula Botanica stand for and have really pushed out. So I was delighted to see that. The second one is simplicity. And I think, I'm sorry, starting to see more and more of that, where people want to make things in a very simple way with a few number of ingredients, so they know that they have the very best and most potent formulations they could make. And I certainly see that more and more coming out of our community. So that came back at the conference for me too. And then the third one, the final one, which ties in with everything you've said earlier, Gemma, is kindness. And I've been actually going through all the footage for the conference videos over the last couple of days and there are just so many shots of people hugging each other. It's so lovely. And people having selfies taken. I mean, we had like an hour long selfie line at the end of the conference, didn't we? Everyone just wanted to keep in touch with each other and so many of them had already made friends from past events. So it's fantastic to see all these people lifting literally each other up and driving forward the global green beauty movement as part of Formula Botanica. So I feel honoured to be part of it.

Yeah, me too.

So, on that note, I think we've covered four incredible events and it's certainly worth attending all four of them. We're not hosting our Formula Botanica conference next year, but we will be hosting some kind of formulation event in London, so there will be something going on anyway. And the CEW events are on their website. It's worth checking them out. It's worth becoming a member wherever you are in the world. There's also a US branch. I'm not sure if they have other. There's one in France as well actually. I think where you can become a member Stylist Live is certainly on every year. Is it?

It's on every year, yeah, at the Limpia in London and I would highly recommend going to check it out. Even if you don't want to have a stall, just checking it out as a visitor is an extremely worthwhile experience.

Remember, Gemma called it Indie Beauty Heaven, so you don't want to miss this. And then the last one, of course certainly not least is Indie Beauty Expo and we know they'll be in Berlin at the beginning of next year and obviously they have their US events and they'll be back in London again next year and there are hints of them branching out further, possibly even into Asia. So we'll see what happens in the coming years. If you're an indie beauty brand, there are lots of events on for you and we recommend just keeping your finger on the pulse and watching what's happening because it could make your brand who knows what could happen.

That is great advice, so thank you very much.

Gemma. Thank you for being the guest on your own podcast today and thank you for sharing all your words of wisdom and trends.

It's my pleasure.

Thanks for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. And thank you found our discussion about the indie beauty events we recently attended helpful and engaging. We want you to get involved with the global green beauty conversation too, so make sure you have your say by visiting us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and joining our free industry networking group on Facebook called the Skincare Entrepreneur Mastermind. Tune in for our next episode soon by subscribing on itunes or stitcher Sam.

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