Blue Beauty 101: Creating A Sustainable And Ocean-Safe Brand
The blue beauty movement is revolutionizing the industry.
Not only are governments cracking down on brands that fail to live up to sustainability standards, but your competitors are already matching and exceeding the market’s ethical and environmental expectations.
How can applying blue beauty principles help you stay afloat in the competitive beauty market?
Our in-depth guide below defines blue beauty, discusses the key blue beauty-related sustainability issues, and outlines how to adopt a blue beauty approach in two key areas of production to boost your chances of success.
What Is Blue Beauty?
Due to the rise of ‘green beauty’, brands and consumers are increasingly aware of sustainability issues caused by the cosmetics industry.
Although the green movement is a net positive, consumers are growing more and more frustrated with ‘greenwashing’ - exaggerating the sustainability of beauty products or the amount of time and resources spent on sustainable efforts.
A joint 2023 survey by BEUC and ICRT1 found that 34% of consumers noticed greenwashing at least once in the past year.
Plus, there is concern that the ‘green’ movement is too conservative in its efforts. It fails to emphasize certain major sustainability issues that need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
That’s where ‘blue beauty’ comes in. The blue beauty movement aims to take green beauty sustainability efforts more seriously, and then go one step further - by focusing on the beauty industry’s impact on oceans and water supplies.
The Beauty Industry’s Impact On Oceans And Water Supplies
The blue beauty movement is concerned about the impact of the industry’s excessive use of plastic on the environment, particularly the ocean.
Did you know that a 2020 report found plastics comprise over half of the materials used for packaging in the beauty industry? In fact, a Clean Hub report claims as a direct result of the beauty industry, 120 Billion units of plastic packaging are disposed of each year.
The scale of the issue is huge - even just reducing the use of plastic at the small-business level could have a considerable positive impact on the environment.
What happens to all of that plastic? Unfortunately, much of it ends up in the ocean, where it can devastate our natural resources and cause issues for marine life.
For example, a 2012 study of albatross birds found that 63.8% contained ingested plastic, with the majority of the plastic traced back to consumer product origins.
Plastic in the ocean doesn’t just disrupt natural animal habitats, but it can also have an impact on the food we eat. A 2015 analysis found that 28% of processed fish in Makassar, Indonesia contain microplastics, while 25% of commercially processed fish in California, USA contain microplastics.
The devastation does not stop there. The cosmetics industry is one of the major over-consumers of water resources and is also a key contributor to water pollution and wastewater issues. According to Euromonitor, the beauty industry used 10.4 million tonnes of water across the world in 2020 alone.
Awareness about these issues is key for all brand owners, especially if you plan to enter the hair care or body care niche in the future. The Euromonitor report names the shower and hair care subdivision as the largest culprit - responsible for more than half of the total water consumed by the cosmetics industry.
The Context Behind The Rise In Blue Beauty
Awareness is increasing, but is anything being done to move the needle for the blue beauty movement? The good news is that consumers, businesses, and government bodies are beginning to take action.
Government Action To Date
Although plastic pollution is largely caused by product packaging, a 2021 study notes that microbeads (a form of microplastics) in cleansers and exfoliating products can also cause devastation to marine life and water supplies.
The first step in the right direction was the 2015 federal ban on microbeads, called the ‘Microbead-Free Waters Act’.
European countries are typically ahead of the game when it comes to clean beauty, however, the USA was the first mover to ban this particular form of microplastic, and many European countries have yet to catch up.
Consumers Are Focused On Blue Beauty
Not only are governments taking action, but consumers are increasingly voicing their concerns. Clean Hub’s survey data shows that 81% of consumers believe cosmetics brands should reduce their reliance on plastic.
Additionally, BusinessWire projects that the clean beauty industry will grow to $14.36 Billion by 2028, and lists blue beauty as a rising market trend of note.
The Role Of Business For The Future Of Blue Beauty
On the private industry side, several start-ups are hoping to tackle the marine sustainability and water safety issue head-on. A 2022 analysis of the blue economy reviewed the business models of 96 marine-plastic-management startups and identified four separate categories:
Consumer-targeted solutions
Government and/or business-led solutions
Value chain development strategies
The generation of revenue to fund plastic waste recovery
To be successful across all four categories, we need cooperation between governments, private businesses, and consumers - meaning there’s a real role for your small beauty business to make a difference.
How Your Brand Can Make A Positive ‘Blue Beauty’ Impact
Your small beauty business can play a part in the fight against ocean pollution and water waste in several ways.
There are ‘blue’ steps you can take at every stage in the product development process: through your formulations, your packaging, or your marketing promotions.
Some simple effective blue beauty ideas include:
Selling makeup-removing reusable pads on your online store to discourage the use of cotton pads
Informative marketing campaigns that advise against running the tap while washing your face
Partnering with a charity that specializes in blue sustainability and donating a certain percentage of your profits each year
Encouraging recycling through a loyalty program. For example, until 2023, MAC’s sustainable ‘Back-to-MAC’ Programme provided an incentive for customers to return 6 empty products (which were then recycled) in exchange for a free product
As a small business owner, your focus should be on creating ‘bluer’ cosmetic formulas and more sustainable product packaging moving forward.
Creating Blue Beauty Formulations
In addition to avoiding microbeads, two specific formula decisions can reduce your brand’s impact on oceans and water supplies: going vegan and optimizing your water consumption.
Create A Vegan Beauty Brand
One of the most effective ‘blue’ changes is going vegan. Vegan cosmetics are those that do not contain any animal products - and that includes no fish.
A surprisingly large number of marine life animal products are widely used in cosmetics.
You should familiarize yourself with the most common animal and marine-derived ingredients before you begin the product selection process for your brand. For example:
Guanine, originating from fish scales, is used in some color cosmetics to provide a shimmery effect
Squalene, typically found in moisturizers, is often extracted from shark livers. However, some many brands (and labs, like ours) use vegan squalane (made from raw materials like wheat germ, olives or sugar).
Caviar, made from fish roe of wild sturgeon, is an effective hydrating ingredient
Not only are there ethical issues around using animal products for cosmetic purposes, but there are also pressing extinction concerns when it comes to certain marine life.
Overfishing Is A Complex Issue
Whale oil, ambergris, hyaluronan, and chondroitin sulfate are extracted from whales for use in cosmetic products. According to The Animal Fund, the cosmetic industry’s use of these ingredients is increasing the likelihood of the sperm whale going extinct.
Opt for vegan alternatives like plant oils or natural butters instead of relying on dwindling marine resources.
However, the overfishing issue is not always black and white.
Take the use of jellyfish-derived collagen in cosmetic products as an example. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization requested that the beauty and food industries actually use more jellyfish in their products - not less. This is because overfishing issues in other species are boosting the jellyfish population, and the increase in jellyfish population is further impacting fish stocks.
However, many would argue that using jellyfish in cosmetics is unethical in the first place, and perhaps overfishing jellyfish will have unintended knock-on consequences.
At Genie Supply, most of our preformulated products are vegan and we can also custom formulate vegan and sustainable skin care or color cosmetics to your exact specifications. Learn more about our custom formulating process here.
Optimize Your Water Consumption For Conservation
A blue beauty approach also involves analyzing the amount of water consumed by your production process and putting plans in place to create a more efficient and less wasteful system.
Take Schwarzkopf’s hair care range as an example. According to a case study on the brand, water represents around 70-80% of a typical Schwarzkopf shampoo formula.
The case study also noted that around 70-80% of Schwarzkopf products are manufactured using water, with additional water use also required at the production level (including the palm oil extraction processes and agricultural sources). This represents a significant strain on water resources.
What can Schwarzkopf do to reduce their water consumption?
The report recommends retrofitting to upgrade to more efficient machines, as well as recycling wastewater through new innovative management systems like Membrane Technology or Minimal Liquid Discharge.
Work with Genie Supply: a lab that prioritizes sustainable, cruelty-free, and clean beauty starting with our preformulated range through to our custom-formulated cosmetics. Learn more about clean and sustainable beauty at Genie Supply here.
Innovative Blue Beauty Packaging
Plastic is the hot-button issue when it comes to cosmetic product packaging, but It’s not just overly-packaged, non-essential beauty products that are causing this waste.
On average, how many bottles of shampoo and conditioner do you use each year?
According to Plain Magazine, if every person uses just ten plastic bottles of shower gel, shampoo, and conditioner each year, this sums up to a total of 75,000 tons of plastic waste. That’s enough waste to fill 1,000 Olympic swimming pools! Even if you run an essentials personal care brand, you need to take blue packaging seriously.
There are already some impressive innovations in the beauty industry to tackle this huge problem. One option involves designing an eco-friendly product so that it does not need excessive packaging. For example, Lush Cosmetics developed plastic and packaging-free shampoo bars to cut down on this waste.
Alternatively, consider some eco-friendly plastic alternatives. Post Consumer Resin (PCR) is one of the most effective and popular alternatives to plastic.
More and more plastic alternatives are emerging each year. As outlined by BeautyMatter, Sway officially launched its 100% biobased plastic alternative composed of seaweed in 2024. According to a 2022 report, other up-and-coming plastic alternatives include cornstarch, mushroom fibers, and avocado nut.
Eco-Friendly Packaging At Genie Supply
At Genie Supply, we have commissioned our own exclusive eco-friendly 50% Post Consumer Resin (PCR) packaging for four of our different base SKUs: 3031, 187018, 125007, and 125007B.
PCR packaging is much better for ‘blue beauty’ as it is made from recycled post-consumer waste. This means more plastic returns to the production process instead of ending up in the ocean.
We offer PCR packaging from 250 pcs for in-house SKUs or 5,000+ pcs for custom SKUs. Although PCR packaging naturally has an off-color appearance, we can custom color this packaging for you in any Pantone shade you require (from 10k+ pc per base SKU).
Additionally, we keep sustainability in mind when it comes to our labels. Our hemp vellum labels are 50% PCR waste and 50% hemp. Our biostone labels feature no deforestation, and our kraft labels are 100% PCR waste. Our uncoated paper stickers are also fully biodegradable.
We recognize that the sustainability of outer packaging layers is also important. Our uncoated clean cartons (available in ivory board or kraft paper) are fully biodegradable. Learn more in our full packaging catalog here.
In sum, building a ‘blue beauty’ brand involves:
Understanding the ocean and water issues caused by the beauty industry
Keeping up to date with evolving clean and sustainable beauty legislation
Building blue beauty products by going vegan or auditing the water supply process
Sourcing eco-friendly packaging including PCR or any other new plastic alternative
Are you ready to build your blue beauty brand? At Genie Supply, we have the facilities to create a more ocean and water-friendly product from start to finish. Learn more by contacting us via email: customerservice@geniesupply.com or through phone: (812) 329-1105.
