It may not be the easiest shade of lipstick or blush to carry off, but beauty brands are—increasingly—going green with their cosmetics. An escalating number of executives view the move to natural and organic makeup as a predictable follow-up to a similar trend in the treatment category, where sales growth has spiked in recent years.
Natural beauty products are made with plant extracts and natural ingredients, with minimal amounts of mineral oils, chemicals and synthetic substances. They contain neither parabens nor petrochemicals. Organic beauty products fall under this category, but go further in terms of the actual percentage of organic ingredients contained in them.
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“Once organic skin care becomes an important segment in the market, organic makeup seems the logical next step,” said Paris-based industry consultant Nancy Flavin. “It’s a niche market, but it has the potential to grow and become more important.”
“Why stop at skin care?” concurred Peter Allard, chief executive officer of Kerikeri, New Zealand-based Living Nature. “We see it almost as our responsibility” to offer natural makeup, he said.
In the U.K. alone, sales of organic and natural makeup combined are expected to spike about 120% to ?15.5 million (£10.6 million/$21.5 million) by 2012, according to Organic Monitor, a London-based tracking firm.
Among the brands entering the natural color cosmetics segment are:
– The Organic Pharmacy, which introduced its 10-unit Organic Glam makeup line in July;
– Living Nature, whose 60-unit natural makeup collection bowed in May;
– Kitten Vixen, which added an organic lip pencil and lip gloss to its portfolio in April;
– Terre d’Oc, which introduced Inde, a collection of five natural cosmetics and treatment products in April, and
– Korres, which launched a 14-unit natural makeup line in 2006.
“Consumers are turning to organic cosmetics because it’s a natural extension to eating organic and living a healthy lifestyle,” said Geraldine Shaker, founding partner and makeup artist of Los-Angeles based Kitten Vixen. “Initially, the demand for natural and organic cosmetics stemmed from consumers who suffered from ailments, such as skin irritations and allergies. However, the consumer base has expanded in recent years. There is growing awareness amongst consumers that what we put on our bodies is as important to our health as what we put in our bodies.”
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It seems simple in theory. But the practice has not been as straightforward. Organic makeup brands face numerous challenges, including difficulties in creating products that perform as well as traditional cosmetics.
“The organic movement is still in its infancy, and there are chemicals commonly used in cosmetics that just do not have a viable organic substitute,” said Shaker. “Consumers want luxury products that are chemical free and the industry just isn’t there yet. Finding a balance between what is available and what consumers expect from luxury cosmetics definitely complicates the production process.”
“Most people assume organic products don’t work and aren’t effective,” continued Margo Marrone, co-founder of The Organic Pharmacy, a London-based retailer and manufacturer. “So, to create the ‘wow factor,’ you have to be even more excellent.”
The upsides to natural makeup are plentiful. “Any color we see in nature could potentially be a pigment,” said Living Nature’s Allard.
Additionally, the segment is buoyed by the public’s interest in anything green these days. Sustainability and environmental protection in cultivating raw materials and in product production—key subjects for natural color cosmetics makers—are also very important topics for consumers of organic makeup, said a spokesman for Eckwälden, Germany-based Dr. Hauschka, which introduced organic makeup in 1999.
“It’s ecolo-chic,” continued Stéphanie Lavie, marketing director at Bourg-de-Péage, Francebased Nature Cos, which owns the natural and organic makeup brands Elysambre that bowed this June, and Couleur Caramel, first introduced in 2003.
Plus, natural makeup can have wide-ranging appeal. While Allard said Living Nature’s core clientele is generally aged 25 to 45, teenagers are also keen on it.
Natural makeup’s market may still be tiny, but executives are bullish it will bulk up. “It took five years to see organic skin care go mainstream, and it’ll probably take another five years before organic makeup is mainstream,” said Marrone.