Creating Premium Beauty Brand Packaging – Sustainably

Some common misconceptions about Sustainable Packaging are that it must be dull, Kraft paper packaging that conveys anything but a premium product inside – contrary to everything beauty products need to express. Addressing the need to shift to sustainable packaging is not an easy solve and requires a wide range of stakeholders, manufacturing, and regulatory hurdles to overcome. Often, the aesthetics of the package, and desired consumer experience, can be the last considerations in the sustainable packaging process. 

 

And now a new challenge is coming into the space – consumer awareness and concerns over transparency of materials and sustainable materials claims. This is particularly relevant for the beauty industry as consumers have become more conscious about product ingredients in response to the Skin Deep™ database and transparency campaign, as well as other factors. Skin Deep was developed by The Environmental Working Group (EWG), an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human health from concerning substances in personal care products. The Skin-Deep campaign disrupted the beauty category by sounding an alarm, driving consumer awareness and demand for transparency. As a result, the personal care & beauty industries have worked to proactively change formulations and on-package claim language. 

 

For beauty brands, shifting to completely sustainable packaging can be particularly challenging, and for those in the prestige segment, even more so. How do brands maintain a premium package design that’s sustainable without increasing costs or shifting the burden onto consumers to recycle? The sustainable packaging issue is driving a new wave of consumer awareness and growing demand now focused on packaging materials.   

 

If the Skin-Deep campaign teaches us anything – it’s that consumer demand can lead disruptions of entire categories, including beauty. Now is the time to proactively innovate to identify alternatives.  

 

The good news is that there are some amazing alternatives, some of which are fully scalable today, and that can be considered for future packaging redesigns. Many of these are variations that use cellulose bases derived from plants – like corn, sawgrass, bamboo, and wood – to create a pulp that is then molded into a packaging shape.   

 

Using mono-material pulp, made entirely by COLOURFORM™, Lancôme®’s molded fiber packaging illustrates how a global luxury beauty brand can maintain its premium look and  appeal, while saving the planet. The ultra-light clam-shell case has been crafted from natural wood fibers sourced from sustainably managed European forests, and the renewable fibers come from responsibly managed forestry, certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards.

 

In a beauty industry first, Half Magic's range of vibrant pigments are encased in home-compostable compacts, courtesy of a bio-based material known as PaperFoam™. Designed to deliver fantasy and functionality, the makeup brand's mission is to "help support circularity in the industry." Popular with an avid Gen Z following, Half Magic is showing the beauty world how a material typically reserved for molded medical packaging can bring circularity to cosmetics. The company was recognized with Dieline’s Plastic-Free Innovation of the Year Award 2023 for their innovative thinking in cosmetics packaging. 

 

Flavedo and Albedo offers a range of makeup options using 100% aluminum tins and glass jars (both of which are infinitely recyclable) as well as sustainable timber. Packaging is made from acid-free and FSC-certified paper, recycled pulp, and paper tape which can be discarded and recycled. Their mission – reconcile our love of makeup with our (collective) plastic landfill anxiety. 
   

Haeckels and Vivomer™ , a product of Shellworks worked together to create compostable beauty packaging made from microbes. The packaging literally breaks down through a similar microbial fermentation process that is used to manufacture it, so they are practicing completely circular sustainability.  The packaging design team at Haeckels uses a wide range of sustainable materials in their packaging:  seaweed, algae, aluminum, cellulose, glass, glassine, mycelium (fungi) and Vivomer (microbes).  UK-based Haeckels and Vivomer is committed to sustainability in product and packaging across their portfolio of beauty and body brands.  

 

One of the most significant challenges with sustainable packaging is identifying materials that provide moisture barriers made without traditional additives. New Hydroblox™ water-resistant recyclable paper is one solution that is helping brands move toward an easily recyclable solution for a carton that requires a moisture barrier. 

 

Albéa is one of the largest global cosmetic packaging companies in the world, founded in 2004 in Gennevilliers, France. The company has worked with brands such as Chanel, P&G, L’Oreal, Coty and LVMH, as well as indie brands, like Milk Makeup, Glossier and Morphe. Recent innovations in mono-material paper-based cosmetic packaging are an industry development of note. Albéa Tubes features transitional innovations, such as their Metamorphosis Paper Tube, which is an FSC-certified paper squeeze tube with a bio-based laminate structure.

 

The design innovation required to create sustainable packaging, particularly in beauty,  is not simple; it takes exploration, consumer testing/feedback and consideration for how to eliminate excess packaging, while retaining a premium look and feel – but it is necessary.  Is your beauty brand ready?  

 

Deb Adams is Chief Creative Officer of domo domo Marketing and a lifelong environmental activist. She advocates for sustainable packaging and leveraging design as a powerful tool to empower people and brands to positively impact our world. She has extensive experience spanning branding, innovation, packaging and sustainable packaging design for brands including Banana Boat, Fab, Freshlook, Purina, Playtex baby,  Schick, Skintimate, Systane, Wet Ones and Wilkinson Sword, among others. Recognizing the urgent need to address the sustainable packaging design and  plastic pollution crisis, she and her team are actively working to help the CPG sector eliminate plastic from consumer packaging by 2030.  As Vice Chair on the board of the Oceanic Preservation Society and advisory board member of It’s Not Just Dinner, Deb is committed to empowering women and driving lasting change for the environment.