SMART THINKING

The rise in refillable beauty products.

The idea has been increasingly embraced by a number of brands for liquid-based products like body wash and shampoo, most involving an initial vessel that is topped up with subsequent larger pouches that require less plastic.

Notable right now, however, are the brands ranging from mass to indie including YSL, Giorgio Armani and Fenty Beauty, aiming to overcome other barriers that have previously prevented trickier items such as skincare and perfume being housed in refillable vessels. Here, issues of sanitisation and retaining potency abound.

NZ skincare entrepreneur Emma Lewisham has put significant effort into ensuring that, as with each of the brand’s previous products, the plastic used in new Brighten Your Day Crème remains in circularity. The initial purchase comes with the airless pump components, as well as a loose tub containing the daily moisturiser that easily slots into an outer casing. When finished, you can re-purchase a refill and return the empty inner tub to the brand for free using the delivery bag the refill came in. It is then cleaned, sterilised, refilled and re-sold.