Green Beauty Conversations By Formula Botanica | Organic & Natural Skincare | Cosmetic Formulation | Indie Beauty Business

At Formula Botanica, one of the most frequent questions our community asks is where to buy certain organic skincare ingredients. Our students have access to our resources list of recommended, trusted suppliers around the world. However, knowing more about how suppliers work behind the scenes can help you ask the right questions when sourcing ingredients to suit your formulating needs. Being a supplier of organic skincare ingredients isn't an easy business to be in. There are numerous challenges in getting specific ingredients to each and every customer when and where they want them. Ensuring availability of natural organic skincare ingredients isn't the only issue our suppliers have to contend with. As natural formulators, we ask them also about the sustainability of their organic skincare ingredients, as well as whether they were grown, harvested and supplied in line with ethical business practices. To help explain the supplier's viewpoint, we spoke to Jem Skelding, Founder and CEO of Naissance, a global sup

If you have been hanging out in our Skincare Entrepreneur Mastermind Facebook group or other beautypreneur forums, you are likely to have come across our guest Rachel Whittaker of Indie Beauty Delivers, who is a tour de force in beauty logistics. She loves telling us why beauty logistics are not boring and why you should consider them as a really important part of how you set-up your business. Rachel has long experience in all aspects of logistics from warehousing to distribution and customer service, and some 17 years specifically in beauty brand logistics. She has worked with everyone from big name brands such as Coty Prestige and Proctor & Gamble (P&G) to indie start-ups launched from homes and garages. She was also a panel speaker at the Formula Botanica 2018 conference  and had some key insights to share about why beauty logistics are not boring. And you will find out just how not boring beauty logistics are in this fast-paced interview, "Logistics is a really important and exciting part of your

Formula Botanica students and graduates are unsurprisingly mainly women, so we decided in this Green Beauty Conversation to focus unapologetically on women's health and well being; also because we're still in our designated Women's Month of March as we hit the airwaves. In this episode, we talk to Natasha Richardson, herbalist, women's health expert and founder of Forage Botanicals, a business aimed specifically at helping women alleviate and manage the stress and symptoms of period pain and other menstrual cycle issues through health coaching, education and herbal products. Host Gemma met Natasha at Stylist Live, one of the UK's main beauty events of the year, where Forage Botanicals had a stand and thought it would be fascinating to catch up with her for several reason relating both to women's health and building a small, niche business. This podcast gives us also another chance to celebrate women's achievements in business as we extend the tenets of International Women's Day throughout this month. Natasha

Most of us in the green beauty sector are familiar with long-established organic brands Weleda and Dr Haushka, but what we might not know is that they run their skincare businesses according to biodynamic principles. Biodynamic skincare is often described as 'organic plus' as it takes a caring, holistic approach that defines not only the farming of botanical ingredients for skincare products but also their entire life cycles from field to face. The Biodynamic Association defines biodynamics as a "holistic, ecological, and ethical approach to farming, gardening, food, and nutrition". That is a powerful statement combining as it does three prongs of business that generally don't feature in equal weight in the commercial realities of big name cosmetics' companies. However, this definition might still leave you wondering what exactly biodynamic skincare is. We felt we needed real-life examples of biodynamics in action and what it means in practice to the natural skincare formulator. Our Green Beauty Conversations

If you thought solid shampoo bars were a recent trend, you should listen to our latest Green Beauty Conversation with Akua Wood who is the founder of Sheabutter Cottage, a pioneering business that supplies natural haircare ingredients as well as skincare and haircare products. Akua's solid shampoo bars have been best sellers in her online store almost since she started out in the early 2000s. Ghanaian-born Akua arrived in the UK in 1994 and it was while her daughters were very young that she launched her first business, Cioccolatina, after finding a lack of natural haircare and skincare products suited to her needs. Recalling her childhood, her father's kitchen remedies and her grandmother's cocoa farm, Akua realised that her native Ghana was a fantastic place to source the pure oils and butters she needed. Cioccolatina was rebranded as Sheabutter Cottage as the supply side of Akua's business grew fast out of the necessity of sourcing larger amounts of the natural ingredients she needed for her own products.

We met Jo Chidley, beauty entrepreneur and founder of Beauty Kitchen, effective, natural, and sustainable beauty, almost a year ago and have been stalking her ever since to give us some airtime.  We are so excited to have caught up with her in her busy schedule running a multi-million turnover business from her native Scotland. Jo has won multiple industry awards, including the Natwest Everywoman Award in the Brand of the Future Category and was recognised as one of the 10 most influential people in Natural Beauty in the UK. She’s been featured in the likes of ELLE, Woman & Home magazine and BBC News and is a founding member of the Global Advisory Board for Sustainable & Natural Cosmetics. Jo was voted Nr 2 in the 2018 Who’s Who of Natural Beauty. In this episode of Green Beauty Conversations, Jo takes us back to her early days in the beauty business, and talks us through her start-up strategies and how she grew from small beginnings to where Beauty Kitchen is today. We realised talking to Jo that whi

There is no better time to take stock and review indie beauty trends and events than the start of a new year; nor is there a better time for a change. So, in this episode of Green Beauty Conversations podcast we see a role reversal with host Gemma in the hot seat as our interviewee, while school director Lorraine asks the questions. This is one of our longer podcasts as Gemma does an extensive, insider round-up of the value of attending, as a visitor and as trade, both Indie Beauty Expo, which had its inaugural European debut with its London show late last October, and Stylist Live which took place at Olympia, London, in November. Gemma describes Stylist Live as "indie brand heaven" as it combined beauty with a range of lifestyle, homes' style and wellness sectors to offer a really great day out. Just as exciting are the indie beauty trends that Gemma noticed emerging at these events which ranged from brands offering varying levels of product customisation to those promoting a more holistic, wellness view of

It takes one to know one, so the adage goes and never more so than when referring to the incredibly diverse and mysterious roles played by the green beauty influencer. To help shed light on how new indie and niche beauty brands can make the most of collaborating with green beauty influencers, we invited Callie Lions of The Green Beauty Mom fame to the podcast. Callie, a graduate of Formula Botanica, straddles the green beauty influencer world. She started out in 2011 blogging and running her social media as a way to indulge her passion for all things green beauty as she learned the practical formulation skills on our diploma course. Driven by a desire to share news and reviews of often lesser-known yet brilliant new green beauty products with other mums and mothers to be, Callie says her mission was and and still is to help them step-by-step transfer their beauty and personal care regime to green beauty. However, all along Callie knew she eventually wished to launch her own brand, which she did this year. Cal

We are excited to welcome fragrance industry expert and practitioner Karen Gilbert to Green Beauty Conversations because Karen not only works actively as a perfumery trainer but also has a wealth of experience in the world of natural skincare. Karen, who is also a trained aromatherapist, started her perfume industry career with one of the large fragrance houses, IFF, as an evaluator of fragrance in products ranging from luxury brands to functional household cleaners. In the late 1990s, Karen joined Neal's Yard, a UK company that helped pioneer natural ingredients in skincare and retails essential and carrier oils. Karen developed their in-house training arm and was key in helping retail staff understand the therapeutic and holistic benefits of naturals, including fragrance, in Neal's Yard products. Who better then to pass on some practical advice to the Formula Botanica community about using fragrance in natural skincare? We learnt a lot from Karen in this packed interview which covered topics ranging from wh

What is CBD skincare? If we'd told you even a year or two ago that CBD skincare is related to cannabis, it's likely to have triggered an automatic association with scheduled drugs. However, today, certain bio-active compounds, or cannabinoids, found within both cannabis and its relative hemp are being used not only in medicine but also far more recently as legitimate, active ingredients in high-performance skincare. In brief, cannabis itself is scheduled as an illegal drug in most western countries although as recently as October 2018, it was legalised in Canada for recreational use. It has hit the news in the UK in particular this autumn with the case of a boy with epilepsy who was denied legal use of cannabis oil to ease his symptoms. It seems timely then to look into the rising trend of cannabinoids in skincare formulations. The main psychoactive part of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is one of just under 500 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids. Another gro

If you are creating natural, organic cosmetics with a view to selling them, the chances are you are also keen to run a sustainable, ethical skincare business too. Green beauty goes hand in hand with sustainability and transparency in all aspects of producing natural skincare, from field to face. We've talked a lot recently about the need to drill into the sustainable sourcing of botanical ingredients and also discussed the true meaning of formulating with green chemistry credentials. We've also reviewed some of the trending, top environmental and sustainability issues facing the green beauty industry. There is no end in sight to the challenges and market pressures facing the natural skincare formulator wishing to ensure their skincare products, at any point in their life cycle, don't harm our planet's resources and the people we rely on in our supply chains. Zero waste and damage limitation aren't the only concerns of an ethical skincare business. Many of us also wish to do good, actively, by supporting ca

Isn't green chemistry always at work in our artisan labs when we're formulating natural organic skincare? Our answer would be, yes it is, but probably not to the extent it could be, nor in line with how we would define green cosmetic chemistry. Believe us when we say we're not trying to make your formulating lives harder! However, take a moment to think about how consumers are increasingly asking penetrating questions about the green credentials of skincare brands, both large and small. You'll realise that the artisan formulator with business aspirations needs to work to green chemistry principles to survive in today's ever more sophisticated green beauty market. To truly adhere to green chemistry, you need to go way beyond what is in the pot and think about the whole life cycle of your products. This includes knowing how they are harvested in field and forest to how they are finally flushed down the drain at the end of their lives. In this episode, Formula Botanica Director Lorraine Dallmeier, who is a biolo

Knowing how to price your skincare products is one of the most important factors in getting a viable beauty business off the ground. You're passionate about natural skincare formulation, but are you guilty of shirking the numbers? It's all too easy to get our heads in the pot enjoying making skincare but forget the nuts and bolts of running and growing a business, such as profit, retail and wholesale margins. Spreadsheets not just formulae sheets should be your number one priority once you've decided to make a serious business out of your skincare products. To help talk you through the numbers and how to factor enough wiggle room into your margins, we welcome a familiar face in the skincare business world, Melinda Coss. A several times entrepreneur and pioneer in the natural beauty industry, and experienced skincare business mentor, Melinda walks us through the most important things to think about in pricing skincare products. She takes us from working out the unit cost of products to the percentages retailer

A year ago, if you'd searched online for the term zero waste as it relates to the beauty industry you would most likely have found few search results returned. What a difference a year makes. These days, it is a buzzword in the cosmetics industry and nowhere more so than in green beauty. What might surprise you is that a body promoting zero waste was set up as long ago as 2002. The Zero Waste International Alliance drafted its first definition of the term in 2004. It is only relatively recently, due in part to the widespread publicity of key environmental issues such as the impact of ocean plastics - including the cosmetic industry's now vilified microbeads - that the term is taking centre stage as a concept. How to go from concept to practical action on zero waste is the dilemma facing large, let alone indie beauty brands. Unsurprisingly, the natural, green and indie segments of the beauty business strive to live up to consumer expectations that their products go from field to face adhering to production pra

With the sheer number of hair and beauty trade shows around the globe these days, you might feel intimidated by the prospect of exhibiting at one, especially if you're new to the beauty industry. You know the score; you sign up for the details months in advance but when the time comes, you feel you either can't afford it or that your business isn't at the right stage to benefit from attending. Beautypreneurs face overwhelm in terms of the sheer effort and financial outlay required to get prepared and ready to make the most of trade shows. But, as you'll find out in this episode of Green Beauty Conversations, there are innumerable spin-off benefits that go way beyond making sales. Our guest Paula Francis is co-founder, along with her mother Cherry, of SuperFoodLx, a vegan, natural hair and skincare brand offering personal care products as well as nutritional supplements. Podcast host Gemma met Paula earlier this year at a fair, as it happens; Beauty Exchange organised by Enterprise Nation. Paula's professional

Our last three episodes of Green Beauty Conversations formed our Beauty Branding Week and gave you plenty of strategies and practical tactics to help you get under way on your branding journey. However, if you've already launched your brand but feel that it's looking tired or is not doing your business justice or perhaps you've simply fallen out of love with it, now might be the right time to consider rebranding your beauty business. If you are at this juncture, then our guest in this episode has plenty of insights to help you work out if a rebrand might be good for your beauty business. We chat to Formula Botanica alumni Heather Urquhart, founder of Huna Natural Apothecary about the gains and pains of a rebranding exercise. Huna Apothecary is based in Winnipeg, Canada, and creates 100% natural and organic high-performance skin nutrition. Although having launched her business only a few years ago, Heather realised that Huna needed to enhance its brand positioning to be able to attract more retailers and compe

One of the questions we are most often asked at Formula Botanica is whether it's worth hiring a designer to help with branding your beauty business. With start-up beauty brands pressed for cash flow and with the proliferation of free or low-cost design apps and programs, it's tempting to think we can do it all ourselves. In this episode of Green Beauty Conversations, we answer most of those FAQs, and hope to clarify why and when you might wish to outsource to a designer. We go behind the scenes of a typical branding process to talk you through what you can expect from a graphic designer or branding agency, and how best to work with them in smooth collaboration. Our guest is Nancy Poller founder of Aligned Design Co, which is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs with their branding from initial discovery phases to fully-fledged visual interpretation. Nancy has a long-held passion for the beauty sector, having, as she admits, spent hours trawling the aisles of Space NK and top department store cosmetic counters.

As we watch indie beauty brands crushing it on Instagram with amazing eye candy images and gathering tribes into the tens of thousands, we may think that kind of brand visibility is an impossible dream for our own beauty businesses. While it does, of course, take hard graft to get that kind of brand awareness, you can go far if you know from the start how to define, style and build your brand on strong foundations. Our guest in this episode of Green Beauty Conversations offers some invaluable advice and practical to-do's on branding a beauty business for success. Joining us is professional photographer and branding guru Briena Sash, founder of Wellness Stock Shop, which is an extensive resource of stock photos tailored to the needs of the natural beauty and wellness industry. Briena has joined us for a branding webinar in the past at Formula Botanica, but here, for the first time, she shares three key branding exercises to work through before you rush out to hire a graphic designer or talk logos! Listen in an

We kick off a series of podcasts on branding indie beauty businesses with a marathon interview packed with actionable advice. You've no doubt heard the one about your brand being more than your logo, but have you worked out what this means in reality? Here, at Formula Botanica, we thought we knew all about branding, and how it applies to indie beauty businesses, but our chat with Rob Moore of The Design Co certainly opened our eyes. We'll give you a clue to just how much more there is to branding: it's only by Tip 8, that we start talking about logos and visual design. The eye-catching visual elements that we tend to think of as branding are only the tip of the brand iceberg. A truly strong, successful brand is one that creates touch points with its audiences from the very start and pays attention to fine-tuning the little details that go into running a business day to day. Rob is an energetic, inspirational designer who went through this self-same checklist when he set up his own branding agency just a coupl

In our very first Green Beauty Conversations podcast, we discussed what natural means in skincare and this week's topic about sustainable beauty is another of those hotly-debated issues that has no clear-cut definition. We'd go so far as to say there are even more interpretations of the term 'sustainable' as used in the natural beauty world than there are shades of green. To help us unravel sustainable beauty and shed light on the top concerns, we spoke to Dr Barbara Olioso, a cosmetic chemist with a long-standing fascination for the traditions of herbalists and formulating with natural ingredients. With over 20 years in both  the beauty and food science industries, Barbara now runs her own business, The Green Chemist Consultancy. In this episode, Barbara talks us through the perennial dilemmas about sustainability that face us in our everyday formulating, let alone when we start a beauty brand. From bio-based packaging to sourcing sustainable ingredients and from child labour issues to cruelty-free claims,