Editor’s blogs – Natural Beauty Yearbook

I had a conversation recently with an organic beauty expert who expressed genuine concern over the way in which we, as consumers, have been conditioned to buy cosmetics. Her fear is that many shoppers are enticed by premium designer labels rather than the contents of the product. The fact that these products often have overin- flated prices has in turn distorted consumer perspective of how much beauty products truly cost to make.

Her point is that while many shoppers are happy to pay upwards of £35 for a designer foundation, they will question the price of an unknown organic brand’s foundation despite its superior quality of ingredients and smaller profit margin.

She added that, more often than not, the bigger the price tag, the more a consumer is likely to trust and buy in to that brand because they believe there must be a genuine justification for such an eye-wateringly high fee. They refuse to believe that a £6 foundation often contains the same ingredients as a £40 one.

The holy grail of facial moisturizers, as endorsed by celebrities worldwide, is Cre?me de la Mer, which retails at a staggering £110 per 30ml pot (or, if you’re feeling flush, £1,370 for 500ml). I can find no list of ingredients on its website, but the product description informs me that the “heart of Cre?me de la Mer’s profound powers of transformation” lies in the secret of its “nutrient-rich Miracle Broth”. (I can’t help but wonder if it’s the same recipe as my mum’s chicken soup, because that too works miracles when feeling under the weather, but I digress.)

Although I don’t doubt that a drop of Cre?me de la Mer on each cheek will leave my skin feeling silky soft and hydrated, nothing short of cosmetic surgery can, in my mind, justify such a price point. My beauty expert and I can’t be the only ones who are questioning the marketing hype, who can see past the glossy packaging, and would prefer to pay face value for ingredients.

And please don’t misunderstand and assume that I’m simply a cosmetic Scrooge, because that really isn’t the case. Show me a nourishing argan oil serum, and I’ll pay whatever is required because I know full well how labour-intensive the journey is to get this prized argan fruit from seed to skin.

And there it is – product transparency – the real justification behind a premium price tag. And the reason for the latest big buzz launch – Beauty Pie. Masterminded by Marcia Kilgore, the brains behind Bliss Spa, Fit Flops, Soap & Glory and most recently Soaper Duper, the digital brand’s simple proposition is to cut out the middleman and allow shoppers to buy direct from the factories that also supply the majority of make-up to well-known luxury beauty brands. Those who sign up to Beauty Pie can buy a lipstick for £3.43, a mascara for £1.87, and foundation for a mere £5.29.

The Telegraph’s acting beauty editor Victoria Hall believes it to be a game changer, commenting: “The theory that ‘you get what you pay for’ has allowed the prestige cosmetics industry to thrive for years. However, it could all be about to change with Beauty Pie.”

It is unclear at the time of writing whether organic products are offered, but that aside, this is surely the long-awaited expose? the natural beauty industry has been waiting for. At last, consumers will be able to see the face value of beauty products – no marketing spin, no luxe packaging, just cost-price ingredients. That’s definitely the kind of pie that I will happily pay for a slice of.

Julia Zaltzmann is a freelance journalist and editor of Natural Beauty News.

Once a year, around the month of November, great minds from the natural beauty sector assemble at Diversified Communications HQ in Brighton to attend the Natural Beauty Roundtable. It’s a humbling experience to be part of, to witness the merging of expert opinions, to hear the knowledgeable speak from their perspectives, and to ascertain what new terrain our much-loved industry is embarking on.

What I found most revealing this time around, however, wasn’t the table’s desire for boundary-breaking innovation or their impassioned views on regulation, but instead a more self-effacing and introspective look at where to go from here.

Organic future?
There is no denying that the industry is indeed moving forward. The Soil Association continues to record around 20% growth each year, with the number of applicants increasing on average by 51% annually. But of course these statistics are only reflective of certified organic growth. As good an indicator as they are, what if organic isn’t the future of natural beauty at all? What if the focus is on sustainability instead?

The natural beauty industry has been marching to the beat of the certification drum for so long now that perhaps we’ve forgotten to tune in to the rest of the orchestra alongside it? Taking responsibility for our own health and beauty, and striving for an environmental, financial and ethically sustainable future, were the key points that seemed to truly resonate with all of the roundtable panelists.

I need a hero
It’s good to keep innovating, and definitely necessary to keep looking outside of our own sector for new, pioneering ideas, but not to the detriment of our existing creations. Particularly when retailers are telling us that 80% of their yearly sales are made up of ‘hero’ products.

Instead of following the mainstream beauty timeline, where new launches are old news within three to six months, we should be slowing down, taking our time and investing our energy and marketing skills in educating consumers. If the future of the industry is founded on sustainability, then ‘Slow Beauty’ seems to be the obvious next step.

New product development is what the consumer thinks they want, but it’s our job, as a sector, to show them what they really need. And that is ecological, justifiable, effective, viable beauty. If you get it right the first time, then there’s surely no need to keep reinventing the wheel.

New ingredients, evolving applications and innovative preservatives are always going to be at the forefront of an industry that is ultimately driven by a desire to look good. And there is no denying that it’s the exciting, fresh beauty inventions that entice customers through the shop door. But it’s not always necessary to be out with the old, and in with the new. Or more to the point, out with the local, and in with the organic.

If you don’t have an uber-dewy complexion and you’re not working your ‘bitten lip’ look every day, then you clearly haven’t got your K-Beauty ‘thang’ down pat!

Asian beauty trends have dominated the beauty market since their arrival in 2014. “Asian-ification”, as dubbed by Nicole Tyrimou, beauty and personal care analyst at Euromonitor International, is, she says, one of the major growth factors in beauty, especially skincare. And with unusual ingredients, new science and branding prowess, it’s clear to see how companies from Korea, China and Japan are challenging the dominance of Western beauty brands.

By 2019, Euromonitor estimates 80% of global skincare revenue (worth around $44 billion, according to the NPD Group) will come from Asia, with China set to account for 75% of total regional growth. That’s a considerable chunk of the market!

The bad news here for natural beauty brands and retailers, however, is the requirement in China for beauty manufacturers to animal test before products are sold on the local market. And an ever growing list of natural and organic brands are boycotting China, including Dr Hauschka, Weleda, Lavera, Pangea Organic and Jurlique. The good news is that where China is losing out, Singapore, India, Thailand and Hong Kong are picking up the slack, with the Asian natural beauty market continuing to expand exponentially, as are South Korean companies.

Not content to merely innovate in the field of BB creams, serums, brightening creams, dark spot correctors and anti-ageing products, South Korea is cottoning on to the burgeoning natural beauty market, and is in the process of phasing out animal testing for cosmetics by 2018. The bill entered into law earlier this year.

According to Martin Mallon of Cruelty International: “In the discussions leading up to the current law which phases out animal tests, we found Korean companies very supportive. This reflects strong feelings among many Korean consumers that they want to use cosmetics which have not involved animal suffering.”

Belif uses only herbal ingredients in its formulations (and boasts the No 1 moisturizer on the premium Korean skincare market), while Blossom Jeju and Innisfree source ingredients such as sea kelp, green tea, lotus and camellia from Jeju island, in an attempt to make products that are purely natural ingredient-based.

Sarah Lee and Christine Chang are founders of Glow Recipe, an e-commerce beauty site that curates the best natural beauty products from Korea. “Korean skincare and make-up are all about enhancing natural beauty rather than covering imperfections,” says Lee. “Koreans love using natural ingredients and are constantly looking for skincare formulations with natural ingredients that are highly concentrated, as they prefer a gentle, yet effective result, rather than a dramatic transformation.”

It’s still early days though, and according to Chang and Lee, it’s too soon to find the words ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ on Korean beauty products. Instead, consumers look for products that state ‘zero water’ in their ingredients list, as an indicator that the product’s use of natural ingredients hasn’t been watered down or diluted. Even more promising is the latest technique whereby fermentation acts as a natural preservative, providing a possible solution for manufacturers seeking alternatives to parabens.

It’s clear that the next wave of organic beauty formulations won’t be coming from Korea just yet, but if their successful innovations and beauty trends continue to marry with a drive towards natural beauty formulations, it’s only a matter of time before the likes of fermentation preservative systems become the norm across the Western world too.

And despite most of us not knowing any of the above names personally, we have felt all of their deaths so very acutely thanks to their sheer brilliance and legendary ability to bring a little bit of beauty into our everyday lives. An observational gag that has us weeping with laughter and nodding our heads in recognition of this overly familiar scene. A guitar chord that strikes a poignant note with our nostalgic hearts as we reflect on youthful times gone by. Our formative years influenced by the resonating lyrics of those in the know, those who have ‘lived’, those who know more than we will ever know.

Be it humour, wit, musical talent or exceptional levels of pioneering genius that we commend them for, the real skill shared by those that we have lost is to unite us, on a global scale, via a collective passion or a common cause. Of course, you don’t need to be a celebrity to achieve that. One small act of kindness. One gesture of goodwill. One good deed a day. If we all lived by that mantra, if we all paid it forward all of the time, wouldn’t life be simply beautiful?

And it’s this humble philosophy that the Soil Association’s Organic September initiative aims to promote. One small change a day. A pint of organic milk. A T-shirt made from organic bamboo. A cup of organic tea and a slice of organic carrot cake offered to the kind builder who is happily installing your rainwater harvesting system.

There are so many ways you can ‘organic your September’, and it can become part of your beauty regime before you’ve even left the house. From shampoo to moisturizers, lipsticks to nail varnish, you can be a walking embodiment of organic beauty at its best. Not to mention looking and smelling amazing to boot!

And if you’re not sure how to get started, the Soil Association is providing an interactive ‘Organic30’ list throughout September to encourage consumers to make small changes. Alongside its established ambassadors and brands, there are hundreds of events planned up and down the country, and from 19-23 September the emphasis is on beauty.

So why not jump on the organic bandwagon and get your shoppers united by this common cause? Little and often is easy to do, and far less demanding on the average person’s work schedule. Besides, when we compare our daily grind with that of a Nicaraguan organic coffee farmer, an African organic shea butter producer or an organic tea grower from Assam, it seems a little foolish to think that to swap our mainstream shower gel for an organic option is just too hard, or that we’re too time poor, or dare we admit, we just can’t be bothered…

Pay it forward this month. One small act of organic kindness in the name of natural beauty!

Last month I joined the special 90th birthday celebrations for Weleda’s pioneering Skin Food product.

Made from a 100% natural blend of plant extracts in a thick, rich base, this whole body moisturizer has been nourishing the nation’s skin since 1926 when it was first formulated
by the brand’s visionary founder Rudolf Steiner.

There can’t be many beauty products out there – a cult, award-winning product at that – that reach the ripe old age of 90 without a single whiff of reformulation. Not even a discreet like-for-like swap of plant extracts flying under the radar! And the same goes for its iconic ‘little green tube’ packaging too. How many 90-year-olds do you know that still look and perform the same as they did on the day they were born?

It’s been quite a year for nonagenarians. Skin Food is in good company, sharing its milestone birthday with Queen Elizabeth II, the adored Sir David Attenborough, legendary crooner Tony Bennett, and of course, the one and only Winnie the Pooh. And in all fairness, they too look pretty darn good for their age. The year 1926 was clearly a good vintage.

The ‘Roaring Twenties’ itself was certainly a defining era for cosmetics. This was the time when Cupid’s bow lips, kohl-rimmed eyes and bright red blush became en vogue. A post-war reaction resulted in the creation of an international beauty culture, and society became increasingly focused on novelty and change. Lipstick came into its own thanks to the invention of the metal lipstick container, and even the first ‘natural’ lip gloss was produced, which used bromo acid to create a red effect as it reacted with the wearer’s skin (apparently still in use today!). Powder blushes became more popular, and crude concoctions of homemade mascara were devised out of petroleum jelly mixed with coal dust.

Suffice to say that times have changed, for the cosmetics industry at least. Fast forward to 2016, and this July we find ourselves in the thick of Independent Retailer Month – a celebration designed to highlight “the important role smaller, local, independent retailers play in the communities they serve, the local economy they contribute to, and in the retail sector as a whole”.
15 July also happens to be the closing date for entries for the 2016 Natural Beauty Retail Awards, designed to recognize and celebrate the importance of a great retail experience at the same time as increasing the awareness of organic and natural beauty.

But let me wrap up by returning to Weleda’s the story of Skin Food. The story of this classic – but actually rather humble – product is an enduring one. The fact that it has held its own among the glitz and glamour of the flapper girls, and flourished for so many decades since – selling more than one million units in over 50 countries in 2015 alone – astounds me. But more importantly, I think, there is a lesson here to be learnt by us all. It’s not he who shouts loudest, or she who dares, who always wins. Sometimes it’s just that the simple things in life turn out to be the best.

Summer solstice (solstice derived from the Latin word sol, meaning ‘sun’) happens around 21 June, and is the longest day of the year. It’s also the only day of the year when all locations inside the Arctic Circle experience a continuous period of daylight for 24 hours, and many argue that it marks the official start of summer. People around the world celebrate the day with feasts, picnics, dance and music. We also have the earliest sunrise of the year in June, and the latest sunset.

The Queen’s official birthday celebrations (because one 90th birthday party simple isn’t enough!) takes place in June, as does Father’s Day, Royal Ascot and Wimbledon. But the most exciting aspect of all during this fertile month is the fact that it’s the ideal harvesting time for mallow.

Marvellous mallow
I love mallow, in particular marshmallow, and not just because the name has me picturing rows and rows of sweet, fluffy pink and white confectionery dangling from long-stemmed plants in a large, organic field (although wouldn’t that be brilliant? A Willy Wonka dream come true!). But I love its abundance of beautifying properties.

Of course, we all know that summer and herbs go hand in hand. Now that the warmer weather is here, we can add a fistful of basil here and a blanket of chopped mint there when preparing delicious lighter meals. But why not make the association with our summer beauty regime too? A pinch of turmeric here, a snip of rosemary there, a drop of chamomile everywhere …
An aromatic herb that usually grows up to a height of three feet when mature, mallow blossoms between May and August and has purple-pink coloured flowers and soft, long-stemmed heart-shaped leaves. While the common mallow has effectual soothing properties and is generally used to relieve irritated or inflamed skin, the marshmallow has more medicinal values. And both the leaves as well as the flowers of mallow have a softening effect on the skin, particularly on susceptible areas.

The main ingredient
It comes as little surprise then that in the bountiful world of organic beauty products mallow features fairly predominantly. Take, for example, Lulu & Boo Organic’s Melissa & Mallow Foot Balm, or Neal’s Yard Remedies’ Rose & Mallow Moisturizer. It is also present in all three of Weleda’s White Mallow Baby Cream, White Mallow Body Lotion, and even its Wild Rose Smoothing Masque, despite it not being featured in the name.

And last month came the long anticipated unveiling of the rebranded Herbfarmacy range. Celebrating all that is British, this modern range of organic skincare puts its homegrown Herefordshire marshmallow at the heart of its beautifully redesigned brand, with its two hero products being Mallow Beauty Balm and Rose & Mallow Facial Oil.

“I love the marshmallow which flourishes in our soil with its pretty lilac flowers,” says Paul Richards, founder of Herbfarmacy. “If you split the roots you can get the silky feel of the delicate mucilages it contains; so delicate that herbalists use the root to soothe troubled digestive systems – perfect then for soothing delicate skin on the face and anywhere where there is sensitivity. In addition, the mucilages attract water to give softening moisturization. For me, it’s the ultimate herb for the skin.”

I’m throwing it out there that June should become the official month of marshmallow. Be it face creams, root tea (accompanied by the sugar-glazed sweet, of course) or a healing poultice, let mallow be the symbol that summer is finally here!

Life in the 21st century is just one long, ever-decreasing circle of commonality. In the same way that the older you get, the social game of six degrees of separation actually begins to ring true, it seems to me that no matter what genre you look at, it’s intrinsically linked with all others.

Take fitness, for example. What is the first thing that springs to mind when you read that word? Is it exercise, or getting fit? Fitness trackers, maybe, and the new wave of smart technology? Food, perhaps, and eating healthily? Or maybe just health in itself? All of these are plausible, to me. But high-end catwalk fashion? Hmm, that one’s a little more tenuous, right? Wrong!

The latest discovery to be touted is that fitness trends are influencing high-end fashion. Activewear brand Sundried claims that the ‘superior materials’ its collection is made from, not to mention its ‘ergonomic features’ actively empower men and women to get fit.

And, careful not to appeal to too-small a market, the brand has even reached out to the environmentally-minded consumer and offers transparency through uniquely coding each item so that its journey from sourcing of materials to final product can be traced.

Now this is merely the marketing hype of a single brand, you may argue. But, apparently not. In February The Guardian ran a story on Canadian company lululemon, which is “known for selling £138 leggings” and has successfully tapped into the goldmine clothing industry for the yoga and pilates market. This success story alone (it expects sales of up to $695 million in the fourth quarter of the year) is, says columnist Nadia Khomami, “indicative of a wider trend – sometimes labelled ‘athleisure’ – in which expensive workout clothing has become a wardrobe staple”.

Trends are powerful things. They’re much like self-fulfilling prophecies. If you tell a consumer something for long enough, they start to believe it, live it, expect it.

Back in 2013, the Spafinder Wellness 264 Trends Forecast report singled out ‘mindfulness’ as the uber trend to watch for in the spa and salon industry. Fast forward to 2016, and the term is now referenced in everyday life. Mindfulness is even recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to prevent depression.

Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, is quoted on the NHS website as saying that “an important part of mindfulness is reconnecting with our bodies and the sensations they experience. This means waking up to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment”.

Spas traditionally embrace and encourage the value of inner health leading to that outer glow, and it’s clear to see why mindfulness resonates with them in particular. It’s also interesting to observe the parallels with the natural beauty industry, especially when you take into account that the non-surgical cosmetics procedures market has grown by almost 500% over the last 20 years. While spas have traditionally been at the forefront of the clean beauty movement, they are also the integral lynch pin between the organic industry and other core markets, such as health and leisure.

When it comes to trend-spotting, the March issue of Natural Beauty News offered its fair share of insightful 2016 nuggets, including that of using food-grade ingredients in beauty products. Nowhere has this trend been more beautifully exemplified than on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, when Gwyneth Paltrow recently demonstrated that her new organic beauty range Goop is good enough to eat, by dipping a McDonald’s chip into a pot of cream. Now that’s what I call putting your mouth where your money is!

It’s official, the ideal age for a person, according to the people of Britain, is 36. New research brought to us by a recent YouGov survey shows that the majority of the 1,700 people who took part in the poll view middle age as having the highest prestige, status and everything else deemed to be good and worthy.

I’m a little unsure, however, as to what this new-found information means for me, personally. Either it’s fantastic news due to the fact I am sprinting towards my now enlightened 36th birthday faster than I can shout “wrinkle at six o’clock!”, or it’s all downhill from here …

The survey goes on to reveal that 29 is the average ideal age for physical health (I’m definitely doomed there), and for wisdom, it is 51 (I’m working on it).

Yearless beauty
Now that I know I am soon to be experiencing the best year of my life, I feel inclined to make the most of it. Or best of all, I should pay no attention to it whatsoever. According to Fiona Klonarides, founder of The Beauty Shortlist, 2016 is in fact the age of ‘yearless beauty’ where age is irrelevant.

This alternative take on the zeitgeist is a reflection of the ever-expanding range of products and brands that have been entered into the 2016 Beauty Shortlist Awards that focus on nurturing skin health, embracing natural beauty ingredients and not pigeon-holing consumers into buying from limited categories. At the time this column was going to print, Klonarides was in the thick of the judging period, and stated that: “This year there are more products that got ranked ten by the judges than in the past five years; the standard has shot up and it’s a year of game-changers.”

Shifting categories
And Klonarides isn’t alone in her age-resistant stance. Newly emerging make-up brand Wild About Beauty, co-founded by make-up artist Kim Jacob and TV personality Louise Redknapp, has the mantras ‘wearable, affordable beauty’ and ‘ageless radiant skin’ at the forefront of its branding.

Even the larger players are changing the way consumers shop for their products, and ultimately view their brands. The Organic Pharmacy, for example, allows its online customers to choose whether they wish to shop by category or by concern, and breaks it down even further so they can shop by what’s new, types of treatments, the changing seasons and promotional campaigns.

The vast majority of shoppers will still want to stick with what they know, and search for the likes of anti-ageing skincare or sun protection, and we are a long way off retailers and brands alike doing away with this type of categorization. But recognizing the shifting sands of consumer shopping habits and adapting with them is the smart (and some may say only) way of moving forward and ultimately growing as a retailer.

If you fall short of the dream age of 36, fear not, however. Apparently, people aged between 18 and 24 said the ideal age was 27. It was 34 for the 25-49 bracket, 40 for those aged between 50 and 64, and 42 for the over 65s.

So what the survey really tells us is there is no dream age, just an ever-changing perception of utopia …

Research has demonstrated that green tea is packed with beauty benefits that consumers can attain by drinking it as well as by applying it directly onto their our skin, which is great news for all you natural beauty retailers looking for a nifty way to tap in to next month’s Fairtrade Fortnight.

Running from 29 February to 13 March, the annual fortnight organized by the Fairtrade Foundation aims to raise awareness about fair prices, good working conditions, agricultural education and sustainability for farmers and workers in the developing world. And this year its theme is ‘Sit down for breakfast, stand up for farmers!’

The foundation is calling on a bevy of organizers and retailers to host breakfast mornings and afternoon tea parties across the two hectic weeks to get the message out loud and clear to consumers. And who doesn’t love being handed a freshly brewed cuppa when out on their travels? But to pack a real antioxidant punch with your shoppers, why not highlight all the organic beauty products sat patiently on your shelves, Fairtrade and otherwise, that contain breakfast ingredients?

Point of difference
Tapping into the theme will keep you on point, but flipping it on its beauty head will give you an added point of difference too.

Of course there is a growing range of natural beauty brands that do a sterling job of incorporating Fairtrade ingredients in their ingenious product ranges, such as Lush’s Fairly Traded Honey Shampoo, Boots Extracts’ Cocoa Butter Sugar Scrub, Neal’s Yard Remedies’ Jasmine & Ylang Ylang Body Oil, Honeystreet Handmade’s Rose Garden Bath Oil, not to mention Odylique’s Organic Eye Liner in Black.

Raw ingredients
From sesame oil from Nicaragua, Brazil nuts from Peru, cane sugar from Paraguay, Brazilian soya oil, Ethiopian honey, to Kenyan tea tree oil, Moroccan argan, beeswax from Cameroon, cocoa and shea from Ghana and Namibian marula oil, there seems very little in the way of Fairtrade ingredients that haven’t been worked into the natural beauty mix.

But it can be hard to consistently raise awareness in-store of all the different independent elements trying to grab a slice of the campaign action. Fairtrade Fortnight and Organic Beauty Week are the front-runners with their established calendar dates, but let’s not forget vegan, veggie and PETA, as well as all the other health and nutrition weeks that many of your shoppers are doubtless alerted to.

Even Halal cosmetics were cited in The Times last month as the latest trend coinciding with Ramadan, with natural beauty brands such as Amara Cosmetics and Inika having certified Halal products on retailers’ shelves.

So the best way to handle this bevy of activity is to combine and conquer! Get your kettles on the boil, stock up on an army of cups and saucers, and treat your customers to some homemade (or locally made!) cake, finished up with a splash of Fairtrade hand cream for good measure. We’re all singing from the same song sheet after all!

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, even the January sales have started appearing before we’ve sung the New Year in. Loud price slashing has always been most retailers’ preferred way of engaging with consumers, and once our interest is piqued we’re further enticed with BOGOFs, three-for-two deals and any other money-saving offer that can be dreamed up. It’s a war zone where a war of attrition is being played out to the bitter end.

But just wait a minute. Let’s sit down, pour ourselves a herbal infusion and think this through properly. There’s only so far that we (retailers and shoppers alike) can go with eye-wateringly low prices before quality becomes compromised, questions get asked, both integrity and trust is lost, and we’re surrounded by irreparable collateral damage.

There has to be another way. And the empty shop floors during this year’s infamous Black Friday suggest weary shoppers are thinking along the same lines.

Last month The Independent published its ’10 best online beauty retailers’. It’s a giddy list of fashionable e-tailers purveying the best that beauty has to offer, and I was delighted to see that at number three and number eight respectively were our very own natural beauty trailblazers Being Content and LoveLula.

Rubbing shoulders with the likes of SpaceNK Apothecary, Look Fantastic and The Independent’s number one pick Get The Gloss, which was launched a year ago by two former beauty editors – Vogue’s Susannah Taylor and The Times’ Sarah Vine – it is yet again clear to me that organic beauty is very much at the top of its game, and shouldn’t be treated as a niche sub-category.

SpaceNK itself offers up no less than 144 beauty products when you search the term ‘organic’ on its website (I know because I counted them), and yet it is not considered a speciality store. More accurately it is a stylish emporium stocking what are deemed to be the world’s best beauty brands, whether they are organic or not.

And then it dawned on me. When sold online, natural beauty doesn’t have to compete with the minimalist designs of stores such as SpaceNK. The products speak for themselves, and the ratings naturally follow.

Out on the High Street, however, little independents are most definitely battling with the sleek Apple-like appeal that nowadays we shoppers readily associate with premium outlets stocking premium products. And it’s when we’re feeling frumpy in our plain old bricks and mortar and crowded out by the big boys that the knee-jerk price-slashing reaction tends to creep in. But stop. Don’t do it!

Independent natural beauty retailers, you may be small, but you are mighty. Our stake in the beauty retail sector is considerable enough to have all the large multiples wanting a piece of the organic action. The age-old mantra of quality over quantity has never rung more true. Organic beauty is no longer the future, it’s the here and now, and you independents are in effect the godfathers of that gold mine.

So this January stand tall and stand proud. Don’t slash your prices to compete with the national chains left floundering after Christmas. Instead cease-fire, hold the line, and stand by the brands and products on your shelves. There’s no need to compromise when what you’re offering is the nothing but the best.