The Ingredients List - Breaking down the what, where and why of natural and eco-friendly beauty.
So, you’ve got the refillable water bottle (infused with crystals if you’re extra-bouji), and you always buy unpackaged veg at the supermarket. But what are you doing to help the sustainable effort elsewhere at home? Statistics suggest that we’re still struggling to combat plastic waste in our bathrooms.
Recent research has revealed that 8 million tonnes of plastic are currently being dumped in our ocean every year, and the cosmetics industry is accountable for around 30-40% of all landfill waste.
Of course, the responsibility lies with all of us, from the manufacturers and brands, right through to the consumer. But when the vast majority of beauty products have always been packaged in single-use plastic, (then usually placed in a cardboard box, and wrapped again in cellophane), is it really surprising we’ve got such a serious waste problem on our hands?
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There’s already a wealth of consciously packaged beauty products occupying the eco aisles, from zero-waste solid shampoo bars (Ethique’s are genuinely excellent) to long-loved classics in new, post-consumer recycled plastic packaging (shout out to REN for spearheading this one). But if we’re really going to pivot on our plastic problem, more must be done – and it all begins with re-wiring our brains when it comes to consumption.
Helping us to break the consume-and-discard cycle at the centre of our single-use plastic panic, refillable beauty products allow us to side-step the waste and top up our most trophy-worthy packaging as soon as the contents get low. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense – why invest in all those beautiful products, only to toss them aside once you’ve scraped the lipstick tube or snipped open the shampoo bottle to squeeze out the final suds?
Yes, the concept of refillable products demands a serious shift in our mindset, but this is where beauty’s best-looking brands come in – you’ll be hard-pressed to ever throw these gilded tubes and metal dispensers away. (Not to mention the cost-saving appeal of buying top-ups, which are often up 50% cheaper than the original product.)
'Refillable concepts and products are certainly of increasing importance to us and our customers,' says Melissa McGinnis, head of beauty buying at Selfridges. 'We have seen some incredible results from refillable products across beauty over the past year, particularly from hero brands such as Penhaligon’s and Guerlain.'
Selfridges is planning to use this year’s festive shopping season to really push its refillable offering, with the London flagship playing host to a new, dedicated space showcasing the most exciting refill brands and concepts in the industry. As McGinnis aptly says, a refillable flacon is really the gift that keeps on giving.
Enter Viktor & Rolf's ingenious Flower Bomb Fountain - a refillable station for the fashion house's most iconic perfume. From September you can simply take your empty Flower Bomb bottle (any size works) to selected Debenhams stores, seek out the Viktor & Rolf counter and top up your existing scent. Waste-free, 20% cheaper than buying a new bottle and you don't have to part with the chic grenade design.
Elsewhere, Net-A-Porter is backing a bevy of sustainable-minded luxury brands, stocking gilded refill kits from perfumers Kilian and in-shower essentials from Marie-Stella-Maris. At Cult Beauty, Kjaer Weis’s classic too-good-to-chuck metal compacts now sit alongside Escentric Molecules’ glass perfume top-ups and Welleco’s supplement refills (with a generous 30% discount, no less).
It’s not just the niche players making waves, either: long-loved brands from Hourglass to Charlotte Tilbury now offer refills for their most popular make-up products. But perhaps the chicest example of keep-forever cosmetics comes from Gloss Moderne - the ultra-cool hair brand that was promptly snapped up by Net-A-Porter earlier this year. Before Christmas, the brand plans to roll out aluminium dispensers for its shampoo, conditioner and treatment, so you can bring seriously sleek (not to mention practical) hotel vibes to your own bathroom.
So it seems, reducing our plastic consumption isn’t the only perk here: there’s also the opportunity to invest in some seriously good-looking beauty swag. Just like a treasured handbag or favourite wallet, these beauty heroes are designed to be used, loved and kept for as long as you like. Leather-bound travel cases are here to store your signature scent, while beautiful refillable shampoo bottles are begging to be showcased in your shower. After all, if you’re going to keep that conditioner bottle around for the rest of the time, it may as well look good.
Like cotton tote bags, refillable water bottles and metal straws, (all of which have slipped seamlessly into our everyday routines), these keep-forever products are a drop in the ocean, yes, but they’re a worthy start.
