Clean Beauty – We strive for it, we work to achieve it, it’s GOOD for us. How has one phrase seemingly taken over as the darling of a $500 billion industry in just a few years? Call it positive change; innovation with a purpose- such a powerful movement fits the bill both ethically and notably within the beauty space. With vast market growth and a shapeshifting approach to sustainable product development, launches, and promotional campaigns, the clean beauty movement is here to stay.
Throughout the better part of the last decade, we’ve begun to see mass-produced, under-regulated “fast beauty” make way for something better. Sparked in part by Asian and Korean beauty trends and skincare routines, clean beauty has increasingly become a part of the mainstream. Much like minimalistic fashion, green household items, and the shift in consumer wellness trends, it’s clear to see why and how a new business model has propelled so many small startup brands into the spotlight.
Esker, Good For Us and the Earth
Following a decade-long career as a New York trend forecaster, Shannon Davenport leaped into beauty entrepreneurship. This came after years of feeling disengaged in the corporate world of branding, pushing her to take full ownership of something new and rewarding that she can feel proud of. Understanding that without the welfare of our ecosystem their plant-derived products would be an afterthought, she sought to create a line dedicated wholly to ethical practices when creating luxurious skincare to the masses. In 2018, she launched the natural body oil company, Esker.
Hoping to be an industry bellwether in the shift towards safer ingredients and promote accountability, the brand desperately needed to create a buzzworthy anchor for its marketing campaigns. In addition to clearly labeling the ingredients comprising all of her products, Davenport devised a marketing strategy placing preservation directly into consumers’ hands.
Previously unseen in the industry, Esker provides individualized packets of wildflower seeds with every purchase. Without healthy pollinators like wildflowers, we can’t sustain a thriving environment. With her background in product innovation, Ravenport saw this as an opportunity. Call it a real-time call-to-action on the part of a budding skincare brand.
“I’m really passionate about plants and plant-based ingredients, and I wanted to use packaging as a vehicle for raising awareness around pollinators,” Davenport explains to Beauty Independent.
In an otherwise elusive market regarding product quality and safe practices, emerging beauty brands understand the demand for transparency in their products. With her experience monitoring purchasing trends, education in Aroma Studies, and extensive knowledge of modern retail strategies, she knew she could take stock in a dual-purpose company.
Centered around three individual oils touting firming, restorative, and clarifying benefits, the line set about revamping the run-of-the-mill dry oil into something more with better absorption and more nutritive properties. True to Davenport’s sustainable aspirations, Esker utilizes cruelty-free, recyclable materials, and organic ingredients, plant-based oils, and a slow approach to production.
“We use plant-based ingredients and without bees and butterflies none of those crops would be available to us,” says Davenport to Beauty Independent.
Despite a modest 9,000 Instagram followers, Esker has managed to garner attention and accolades from both the indie beauty community and major publications alike. Vogue editor Jenna Rennert regards holistic self-care as an essential new beauty ideology and Esker’s products are nothing short of that. In her recent feature covering lymphatic drainage, she features the brand’s jade roller: “I’ve grown to appreciate the 20-minute ritual as a meditative way to wind-down- and look after my body,” Rennert says. Actress Hilary Duff revealed in Peoples’ Earth Day issue that she “knows and loves” Esker’s Restorative Body Wash, one of the brand’s best-selling products since their inception. Esker even encourages their audience to share photos of the plants they’ve cultivated to spread awareness, a perfect foray into gardening, home decor, and horticulture enthusiasts.
An Ode to Fragrances
Of course, clean products go beyond the popular contenders of skincare and makeup. In recent years, small fragrance brands have released their sustainably-developed and non-toxic perfumes to the masses. Whether in candles or perfumes, many traditional fragrance products contain endocrine disruptors, often cited for their cancerogenic and anti-neurological properties.
As a result, Even household item brands are cashing in on cleaning products with minimal contaminants. 2017 brought us fragrance brand Thin Wild Mercury who, behind the leadership of founder Cathleen Cardinali, applies their clean philosophy to every step involved in the production process. This cruelty-free and natural unisex line offers an enticing array of scents ranging from clean and classic to deep and woodsy.
Sandalwood, a key player in hundreds of fragrances, is a vulnerable material most commonly harvested through destructive practice. Thin Wild Mercury focuses on obtaining their extractions of the flower through environmentally-safe methods sans insecticidal-farming. They even omit cellophane wrappers in their facilities and avoid cheap labor practices at all costs, and everything is manufactured in the U.S. All of these factors make for a development process that is slower and more costly, but is most certainly in-line with the brand’s mission.
Naturally, a Facelift for Deodorant
Another subcategory in the clean beauty realm, and one that is often overlooked, is deodorant. Known for gritty texture and subpar performance, natural deodorants of the past have beckoned an entirely new strategy and formulation. Each and Every was incepted in 2018 by Lauren Lovelady and Mikah Coffindafer and swiftly grew in the ranks of organic antiperspirant.
“The scents are wonderful, and my transition from regular deodorant to this natural product was very easy. Just a few days and the effectiveness and scent lasts. I am continuing on with these as my deodorants of choice- I highly recommend!” quoted one user and recent customer.
Lovelady and Coffindafer looked past traditional ingredients in common products, mainly baking soda and aluminum, to rebrand what is normally a humdrum toiletry staple. With scents like Coconut and Lime, and Ginger and Cardamom, there’s something to please every wearer. Of-course they offer Unscented and Sensitive Skin options as well.
With the current state of our world and an uncertain global economic future, purchasing trends have shifted concertedly. Brick and mortar retailers, already in decline, will face a substantial loss of revenue for the foreseeable future, as more and more consumers come to rely on online-purchasing options fo health and safety reasons.
According to the data-managing program Skypad, the cosmetics industry alone has declined by 32% since March 22-March 29. With more downtime, increased ability to research alternatives, and greater exposure, people have resorted to safer, easier, and more convenient purchasing decisions, and are engrossing trends as they see them.
The clean industry knows this and has made an ardent effort to partner with large mainstream merchandisers in the hopes of reaching them. Skincare and beauty products are often the first items we run out of. This habitual desire to replenish our personal-care products is a huge industry driver and should buoy sales. With social media posts flexing “self-care” and stay-at-home beauty rituals, we’re seeing more and more holistic, almost spa-like beauty aesthetic, in-line with the clean movement’s image. Coming at a time where the masses have instant access and exposure to every new brand or product launch, these small, uprising beauty leaders can look on to a promising future in the beauty community.
Trailblazing clean brands like Esker have already been picked up by big names like Netaporter, Anthropologie, Goop, and more. With better practices, smarter facilitation, and marketing campaigns that consciously promote inclusivity and “realness”, growth is inevitable.
“This momentum in Clean Beauty overall has the potential to deliver over $130 million in sales and over $90 million in revenue with very strong gross margins for 2020 across our Clean Beauty portfolio”, says John Melo, president, and CEO of sustainable biotechnology firm Amyris. Brands like Esker and Thin Wild Mercury hope this forecast holds.
Featured Image: Morgan File
