The new feel-good factor...

…is all about the do-good factor too. And this groundbreaking range is blazing a cruelty-free trail

An internal special report produced this year by Avon recently reached me. Entitled Beauty, Happiness and the Rise of the ‘Perfectly Me’, one of the trends highlighted is that happiness is ‘beauty’s new frontier’ – representing a seismic shift from the notion that beauty brands offer transformation. A routine is now as much about making you feel good about yourself as making a physical difference. But how we feel also incorporates our emotions about what we’re buying and why. In other words, what’s in what we’re buying (and what’s been left out) and the impact that it has environmentally and in other ways.

So Avon has just launched a skincare range called Distillery that speaks to a new clean beauty ethos. It still has all the high-level research and development that a big corporation and its labs have available, but all that knowledge has been applied differently here. For starters, this line is completely vegan. It’s also largely waterless and contains no ‘filler’ ingredients – only what’s required, so products are super concentrated. This means volume is reduced as well as the packaging, which is fully recyclable.

To go vegan, the brand had to do things ‘a little differently’, says Gina Ghura, director of Avon’s Future Innovation team. ‘We identified new ingredients, new suppliers and sources to deliver something that is completely pure, potent and vegan.’ And it is an important element, especially in terms of happiness, says Gina. ‘Choosing a vegan