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]]>The 2016 Natural Beauty Roundtable brought together a group of 20 prominent brand owners, CEOs, commentators and practitioners for a two-hour themed discussion, working lunch and networking sessions.
The event also included the formal presentation of this year’s Natural Beauty Retail Awards. Among those collecting awards on the day were Holland & Barett’s senior beauty buyer Lucy Pottinger (for Best Retail Chain), Lovelula founder Sonia White (Best Online Retailer), Joanne Hill owner of Amaranth (Best Independent Retailer) and Jo Chidley from Beauty Kitchen (Best Branded Store). Weleda UK MD Jayn Sterland meanwhile was presented with an award for being voted number one in the 2016 Who’s Who in Natural Beauty Awards.
The main roundtable discussion, chaired by Natural Beauty News editor Julia Zaltzman, focused on four themes – The K-Beauty Trend (Korean and wider Asian beauty trends), Waterless Beauty, Future Proofing and Trends of 2017. The discussion also covered the growing need for natural beauty businesses to demonstrate a coherent sustainability strategy, the future role of personalized beauty, and the emergence of ‘micro-influencers’. The group also advocated an approach which balances a desire for innovation with a respect for trusted ‘hero products’ and ingredients. And there was universal support for the sector to work more closely together and speak with a unified voice.
Speaking after the event, Jayn Sterland said: “It was great to have the opportunity to come together and discuss some really meaty issues. One of the things we sometimes forget about is that we all share the same vision and come from the same place, so we need to unite and have one voice. My big take out from todays is that there is more that unites us than divides us.”
Joanne Hill, owner of award-winning retailer Amaranth, said: “I thought today’s discussion was incredibly interesting and thought-provoking. And I thought it encouraged us to think about important issues in a very different way.”
“I thought today’s discussion was incredibly interesting and thought-provoking. And I thought it encouraged us to think about important issues in a very different way”
Luke Sherriff, of Pinks Boutique, said: “It was really interesting to talk with the group about how sustainability feeds back into your whole business, and isn’t something that just affects final products.”
Lorraine Dallmeir, from Formula Botanica, told us: “I loved this morning’s discussion. It’s particularly interesting to hear the experiences of people who are in different parts of the industry. For example, I spend most of my time with people who are learning how to formulate, so it’s very interesting to hear retailers saying what consumers are looking for when they walk into a shop, how they view different beauty products. That was very eye-opening for me.”
The full report on this year’s Natural Beauty Rountdable will form a centerpiece of the Spring 2017 edition Natural Beauty News. Video interviews with some of this year’s Roundtable contributors will be posted shortly on the NPN and Natural Beauty News websites.
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The UK’s best natural beauty retailers have been announced today with the publication of the autumn edition of Natural Beauty News, published by Diversified Communications UK.
Waitrose, Debenhams, Holland & Barrett, LoveLula, Beauty Kitchen, and Amaranth have all been recognised with Natural Beauty Retail Awards, while Jayn Sterland, managing director of Weleda UK, landed the top spot in this year’s Who’s Who in Natural Beauty.
Voted for by the natural and organic beauty industry, the hotlist – also known as the ‘Who’s Who’ in natural beauty Top 25 – provides an essential snapshot of the leading personalities driving the newest trends and best products on the market.
Whilst this is the first time she’s been voted number one, Jayn Sterland has regularly appeared in the ‘Who’s Who’ top 25 since its launch in 2007.
She joined Weleda eight years ago and brought the original products she found in the Weleda archives, such as the iconic Skin Food, to the mass market. Appointed managing director of Weleda UK earlier this year, she has transformed Weleda into a truly customer-focused business and regularly speaks about the value of authentically natural and organic cosmetics.
“I am so thrilled to be voted number one in the natural beauty industry’s Top 25 – what an incredible honour!” says Jayn Sterland, MD of Weleda UK. “I am delighted for all my team; it is gratifying to know our voice for authentically natural products is being heard in a world where organic beauty is so often veiled in green-washing and dubious claims.
“In the year Weleda Skin Food celebrates its 90th birthday, it is encouraging that old is the new new! A true testament to lasting sustainability in a very transient beauty industry,” she says.
Last year’s winner Sonia White, managing director of Lovelula, was voted number two, closely followed by Luke and Kirstie Sherriff, co-founders of Pinks Boutique. Alexander and Kim Barani, founders of Kinetic Enterprises, were voted fourth, and Graeme Hume, owner of Pravera was fifth favourite overall.
The 2016 Who’s Who in natural beauty top 25 personalities (as voted for by the industry) are:
The Natural Beauty Retail Awards 2016
Highlighting the valuable contributions and support of retailers to the vibrant natural and organic beauty market, the Natural Beauty Retail Awards celebrate the industry’s dedication and innovations in offering their customers a great retail experience, at the same time as promoting natural and organic beauty for all.
“The standard of excellence within the natural beauty industry has never been higher,” comments Julia Zaltzman, editor of Natural Beauty News. “With product innovations, customer care and consumer awareness all at the forefront of this pioneering sector, we are proud to be able to highlight those who are truly trailblazing within their categories.”
The Natural Beauty Retail Awards 2016 winners are:
“Our customers love natural beauty products so we’re really happy to win this award for a second year running,” says Jo Skelton, Waitrose beauty buying manager. “We’ve been working hard to make natural beauty more accessible, so it’s brilliant this has been recognised. The award is a fantastic vote of confidence in the quality and choice we offer our customers. We remain dedicated to leading the industry in this area and enhancing our range, and we’ve been given a great boost of encouragement by winning this award.”
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]]>Waitrose, Debenhams, Neal’s Yard Remedies, LoveLula, and Content Beauty/Wellbeing all took home Natural Beauty Retail Awards, while Sonia White, LovaLula’s founder, also landed the top spot in this year’s prestigious Natural Beauty Yearbook hotlist.
Voted for by the natural and organic beauty industry, the hotlist – also known as the ‘Who’s who in natural beauty Top 25’ – provides an essential snapshot of the leading personalities driving the newest trends and products on the market.
This year’s number one, Sonia White, has appeared in the Natural Beauty Yearbook’s top 25 for the past three years. As managing director of LoveLula, her mission has been to unite natural and organic brands from around the globe, making them accessible to all. With the launch of the Boutique, ManOrganic and the Real Beauty Manifesto, and also the recent addition of Balm Balm, she continues to push boundaries and is an inspirational figure in the world of natural beauty.
Broadcaster and natural beauty advocate Janey Lee Grace, founder of Imperfectlynatural.com (winner in 2013 and 2014), was voted number two, closely followed by Kim and Alexander Barani, founders of Kinetic Enterprises, who have retained their number three position for the fourth year running.
Kirstie Sherriff, co-founder of Pinks Boutique (last year’s winner), was voted fourth, and Francesca Morgante, label manager at NATRUE, was fifth favourite overall.
Accepting her award, Sonia White said: “There are so many fantastic brands and personalities here who have done great things for the market, and we are all so passionate about what we do, that I’m hugely surprised but extremely delighted to have won.
“The natural beauty industry is a growing market and it’s very positive to see everyone here involved in helping to develop it forward. Natural beauty isn’t yet mainstream, and there’s still a way to go, but awards like this help to promote and reward these great retailers and brands who are doing great work for the industry.”
The 2016 Who’s who in natural beauty top 25 personalities (as voted for by the industry) are:
1. Sonia White – LoveLula
2. Janey Lee Grace – Imperfectlynatural.com
3. Kim & Alexander Barani – Kinetic Enterprises
4. Kirstie Sherriff – Pinks Boutique
5. Francesca Morgante – NATRUE (new entry)
6. Graeme Hume – Pravera
7. Jayn Sterland – Weleda
8. Emma Reinhold – Soil Association (new entry)
9. Tracey Robinson – Vert PR
10. Ben Wigley – Big Green Smile (new entry)
11. Fiona Klonarides – The Beauty Shortlist
12. Lorraine Dallmeier – Formula Botanica (new entry)
13. Olivia Crighton – The Glasshouse (new entry)
14. Simon Golding – Australis Distribution
15. Rebecca Goodyear – Biteablebeauty.com
16. Ailish Lucas – The Glow Getter (new entry)
17. Kim Allan – Botanical Brands (new entry)
18. Wendy Stirling – Botanicals
19. Simon Ford – L’Occitane Group
20. Catkin Wemyss-Bodmer – BRYT Skincare (new entry)
21. Jo Fairley – Beauty Bible
22. Dr Mariano Spiezia – Inlight Organic Skincare
23. Abi & Margaret Weeds – Odylique
24. Emma Coleman – Inner-Soul Organics
25. Elijah Choo – Bodhi and Birch
Natural Beauty Retail Awards 2015
The new Natural Beauty Retail Awards were launched this year to highlight the valuable contribution and support of retailers to the growth of the vibrant natural and organic beauty market. The awards recognise and celebrate the industry’s dedication and innovation in offering their customers a great retail experience, as well as promoting natural and organic beauty for all.
Awards’ organiser Diversified UK received a raft of high-quality entries from across the UK, with the final winners decided by a panel of leading industry experts.
Simon Duffy, co-founder of leading men’s skincare range Bulldog, Emma Reinhold, trade relations manager at the Soil Association, award-winning beauty journalists Sarah Stacey and Jo Fairley, and numerous ‘Who’s who’ top 25 personalities (past and present) were among this year’s 14 judges. The full list is available at www.naturalbeautyyearbook.co.uk/judging-panel-2015.
The first ever Natural Beauty Retail Awards winners are:
· Best Department Store – Debenhams
Judges’ comments: “We weren’t expecting an exclusively natural or organic offering with this category – we were looking at retail environment, having a credible natural offering and, ultimately, reach. With 240 stores, Debenhams is giving brands like Korres, Balance Me, Trilogy and Nourish the platform to reach the mass market.”
· Best Branded Store – Neal’s Yard Remedies
Judges’ comments: “With their reach, ethos, campaigning and overall retail experience Neal’s Yard Remedies really sets the benchmark for great beauty retailing.”
Highly commended Branded Store – The Organic Pharmacy
· Best Supermarket – Waitrose
Judges’ comments: “The ‘Waitrose Way’ prioritises treading lightly on the environment – an ethos in harmony with natural and organic brands. Having increased their proportion of natural and organic brands within all of their beauty categories they have been rewarded with strong sales growth.”
“It’s really brilliant to win this award,” said Waitrose beauty buyer Mark Steele. “We are trying to promote our natural products ranges within our seasonal campaigns, and in our stores, so it’s great to receive this recognition for our hard work here today. The natural industry has come a long way in terms of availability and performance. It’s slowly punching its way above non-natural brands – especially with the support of larger retailers and brands that are here. We are extremely happy to be a part of it.”
Highly commended Supermarket – Ocado
· Best Online Retailer – LoveLula
Judges’ comments: “LoveLula has a clean, sophisticated e-commerce site and a great range of brands, but most impressive is their dedication to the organic beauty field, both in growing it and establishing trust with their Real Beauty Manifesto.”
Highly commended Online Retailer – Naturisimo
· Best Independent Retailer – Content Beauty/Wellbeing
Judges’ comments: “Content Beauty retails natural beauty like no other store, managing to meld the best aspects of an upmarket department store vibe with all the individuality, personality and personability of an independent. Distinctive, cohesive styling and shop-fitting, a unique tone of voice and with a finger on the pulse of the latest trends and brands before anyone else, Content has done a great deal to raise the profile of natural beauty amongst mainstream beauty influencers and does an incredible job of bringing the customer closer to the brand via ‘Meet the maker’ events.”
Highly commended Independent Retailer – Amaranth
Highly commended Independent Retailer – Earth Mother Soul Sister
Natural Beauty Yearbook 2016
The Natural Beauty Yearbook 2016, the definitive trade guide to the natural and organic beauty industry, is packed full of trend features, company profiles and an exclusive directory showcasing the best of this successful sector. The yearbook also includes a full profile of everyone who’s made this year’s hotlist.
Looking ahead to 2016, the Natural Beauty Yearbook will become Natural Beauty News, with a printed publication and digital edition published in March and October. It will cover the best in seasonal trends whilst retaining the Yearbook’s most popular elements, such as Retailers Choice, the Beauty Round Table and the Who’s Who in Natural Beauty. The spring and autumn editions will also be supported by a news-driven website and monthly e-news.
For further information about the Natural Beauty Yearbook or Natural Beauty Retail Awards, please contact Dominic Roberjot, on 01273 645128 or [email protected].
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]]>As this latest installment of my Beauty Buzz column goes to press, we are putting away the chairs and closing the door on yet another hugely successful Round Table discussion hosted by the Natural Beauty Yearbook and Natural Products News magazine.
Held once again on the first day of Organic Beauty Week, a select group of retailers, distributors, PRs, brands and industry experts gathered under one roof to share views and opinions on the future of natural beauty.
When the clock struck 12 the room was abuzz with animated voices and excited chatter as new and familiar faces greeted and jointly Tweeted for the Soil Association’s Thunderclap midday announcement. In a bid to get the organic message out to as many consumers as possible, the charity stored up hundreds of Tweets citing this year’s theme, Campaign for Clarity, and released them in one job lot.
Jumping on the pumpkin wagon of this Cinderellaesque announcement was successful organic beauty blogger Ailish Lucas from The Glow Getter, who recorded an instant ‘periscope’ interview with her fellow Round Table panelist Emma Reinhold, trade relations manager at the Soil Association before sending it off into the ether to be viewed by her thousands of followers.
To say the event was a lesson in the art of social media is an understatement. More importantly, it illustrated the international reach that organic beauty could potentially leverage. It is no coincidence that ‘going global’ was the first debate topic of the day, which proved to be one that came full circle, concluding the morning’s discussions as well.
“Unfortunately I don’t think there is a global understanding at all, and I think there probably won’t ever be a correct or in-depth understanding – nobody is ever going to agree,” said Sonia White, owner of Amarya and LoveLula.com. “However, it would be great, and hence why we launched the Real Beauty Manifesto just so that we can at least get the basics right. Defining the term ‘natural’ would be a great first step.”
Helen Lewis, brand manager at Neal’s Yard, agreed that there remains a confusion among consumers on a global scale regarding the varying different terminologies: “We find that consumers understand the term ‘natural’ more than they do ‘organic’, and tend to trust the term ‘natural’ more as well.
“From an international perspective we are seeing the level of organic understanding growing, but there are differences. For instance, in Japan consumers are very hot on what is good for your skin, on healthy eating, and they’re leading the way in Asia; whereas in Korea, where we’ve just opened up, it’s all about cosmetic surgery. In order to get that organic message across you have to make sure that your products are effective. We have to show that organic isn’t just a fluffy word – it actually does something beneficial for your skin.”
Once again it all comes back to efficacy and brand transparency. It was agreed that getting the retail message right is also vitally important, particularly in light of the rise in online sales. But if ever there was a succinct way of reaching an international audience with one clear message then the Internet is just that.
The untapped potential for natural beauty is overwhelmingly large. Forming key partnerships, agreeing on a clear message, producing efficacious products and reaching a wider audience is the way forward. The ingredients are elementary, the question is, how long until we get there?
A full write up of the Round Table discussion will be available to read in the 2016 Natural Beauty Yearbook, published in November this year.
Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of The Natural Beauty Yearbook
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]]>It’s been more than six months since the team at the Natural Beauty Yearbook and Natural Products News magazine sat down around a round table with a handful of key industry figures and discussed the state of the natural and organic beauty market.
In what was a lively, topical and engaging debate, one of the main issues raised at the event was the need to communicate more clearly with both existing natural beauty consumers, and the wider general public, to get key messages both heard and understood. And it was felt that in order to do so the industry as a whole had to unite and come together as one, to sing off the same song sheet, so to speak.
We all agreed that high-end, efficacious, natural beauty products are now at the forefront of the industry, competing like for like (if not even better) with mass market brands on quality of ingredients, proven results and price point.
I couldn’t help but feel at the time, though, that once again we were all preaching to the converted, and wondered how the message would reach those who really need to hear it. Which is why I was so delighted when I heard the exciting news about the recent launch of the Real Beauty Manifesto (realbeautymanifesto.org).
Founded by Sonia White, managing director of leading online natural beauty retailer LoveLula, and partaker at last year’s Round Table, it’s aim is for the unification of natural and organic beauty brands “in support of a more holistic vision of honesty, integrity, community and sustainability,” says White.
A complementary manifesto
Far from competing with existing certifiers, the RBM logo complements the current standards and provides an immediate point of reference “informing customers that a product is made with decency and care and can be bought
with confidence”.
Over 20 companies (including the Soil Association) have already signed up to the campaign that White describes as “a tangible way for us to unite and move forward”.
A similar initiative – the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics – was launched in the US back in 2004 by Stacy Malkan. Set up as a consumer safety advocacy group uniting hundreds of non-profits and natural beauty companies for a safer beauty industry, the campaign helped prompt mass manufacturers such as Johnson & Johnson to reformulate, and for the US Government to consider updating cosmetics legislation.
The persistent lack of a proper framework or point of legal reference for the UK’s natural beauty industry is a long-standing bugbear for retailers, brands and consumers alike. It breeds greenwashing, confuses shoppers and diminishes the hard work done by those who do actually produce products that tick all the right boxes. If the Real Beauty Manifesto could at the very least lend some weight to getting natural beauty standards recognized within European law, then that would be a long-awaited victory for us all.
So let’s make a concerted effort to unite on all fronts, and stand up to be counted. It’s about time our rather substantial voice was finally heard, don’t you think?
Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of The Natural Beauty Yearbook
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]]>Developed by the specialists behind LoveLula, the site offers handpicked ethical natural and organic brands including established favourites like REN and Dr Hauschka alongside new brands including Elements and Preserve.
ManOrganic and LoveLula MD Sonia White comments: “At LoveLula we’ve seen a strong uplift in the number of men choosing natural and organic grooming products over the last five years, but until now, they’ve never had their own dedicated site. To meet this demand, we’ve brought the world’s best natural and organic grooming brands together on one site and made it super-easy for men to shop the range.”
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]]>Presented by Gethin Jones, the award recognizes the innovation of the LoveLula Boutique concept which provides a platform through which fledgling brands can bring their products to market.
The award was voted for by readers of the trade title Pure Beauty, and LoveLula was shortlisted against the likes of M&S, Elemis and Murad.
Sonia White, MD of LoveLula, commented on the win: “I was genuinely thrilled and want to say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to vote. Winning against such big mainstream retailers felt like a real boost and a significant step forward for natural and organic beauty.”
The company was praised for offering customers an unrivalled choice of natural, organic and ethically produced beauty products, and for expanding the horizons of natural beauty in the UK.
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]]>Sonia White, director of the company, launched the new section to actively support young, artisan brands needing a marketplace in which to bring their products to the attention of consumers. Commenting on the launch, she says: “The Boutique is about providing customers with increased choice and brands with increased opportunity.”
The line-up of new brands encompass everything from skincare and make-up to bath products and perfume, and includes brands like Apple & Bears, Suti, Funny Bee and Beyond Organic.
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