Top: Shidong Yan, director of the Centre for Environmental Education and Communications of Ministry of Environmental Protection; Tom Szaky, TerraCycle founder and global CEO; Haoran Liu; Zhenzhen Lan, Vice President, L’Oréal (China). Above: The Body Shop British Rose Premium Selection (NZ$95·50), and the British Rose collection.
It’s nice that the Body Shop can also source from its home country of the UK, and the British Rose collection ensures that its origins—as well as one of botany’s most celebrated flowers—are in the name.
The collection is made with organic, hand-picked and air-dried roses, used to create a youthful and fresh scent. These products are rich in vitamin C to give the skin a gentle, soft and silky effect. The British Rose collection includes the Instant Glow Body Essence (NZ$47·25), a body lotion with a lightweight and lasting formula that hydrates the skin over 24 hours, leaving it feeling smooth and soft. The British Rose shower gel (NZ$17·50) is perfumed with essences of hand-picked rose; the Petal Soft hand cream (NZ$9·95) is lightweight, won’t grease the skin, and is absorbed immediately. The British Rose Instant Glow body butter (NZ$38·95) is a velvet-soft moisturizer that is light to the touch but rich on moisture, providing 24-hour hydration; and the exfoliating gel body scrub (NZ$42), with real rose petals, helps reveal smoother, fresher skin. The Beauty Bag (NZ$39·50) includes the shower gel, body butter and hand cream (in 60 ml, 50 ml and 30 ml respectively), and the Premium Selection (NZ$95·50) has the shower gel and body butter but in larger quantities (250 ml and 200 ml respectively), the same hand cream, and a 250 ml bath foam.
Parent company L’Oréal is getting into the natural beauty market with a second line specifically for hair, called Botanicals Fresh Care. Now available in New Zealand, the new hair care line sources from Egyptian geranium leaves, Cretian safflower, Bulgarian coriander seed oil, and French camelina flowers, from the most sustainable producers.
Geranium essential oil is an antioxidant rich in fatty acid; safflower oil is rich in lipids; coriander seed oil has Omega 6 properties; and camelina oil is rich in Omega 6 and Omega 9.
The Botanicals Fresh Care range is divided into four: Botanicals Geranium Colour Radiance for coloured hair, Botanicals Safflower Rich Nourishment for dry hair, Botanicals Coriander Revitalizing Strength for fragile hair and Botanicals Camelina Smooth Ritual for frizzy hair. The products are vegan, free of silicone, parabens, and colourants, retailing at NZ$17·99 each.
Finally, Ultra Doux—which occidental readers might be more familiar with as a Garnier range—is a separate L’Oréal line in China, aimed at the mass market who wants natural hair care. The brand has teamed up with TerraCycle, a specialist in recycling hard-to-recycle consumer waste. At an event in Shanghai, L’Oréal China VP Zhenzhen Lan, Chinese government rep Shidong Yan, TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky, and Ultra Doux spokesman Haoran Liu launched the partnership, which is claimed to be the first comprehensive solution for hair care packaging waste in China.
Individuals or communities can sign up to a recycling programme, and collect the packaging, to be shipped free to charge to TerraCycle. The organizations expect that millions of pieces will be collected, so they do not wind up in landfills or incinerators. For every unit of waste collected, the programme will contribute 1元 to the individual’s charity of choice. All plastic waste collected through the programme will be made into desks and chairs and donated to a school in China.
Ultra Doux has also opted for renewable, bio-derived plastics and sustainably sourced cardboard for its packaging, as well as more naturally derived ingredients.—Nathalia Archila and Lucire staff
You may also like
