Ilia BeautyThe founder Sasha Plavsic has been traveling for more than ten years to make beauty products cleaner. The brand launched a product this summer that combines beauty with skincare and hopes to redefine how makeup is conceived for women in the coming years.
“We are no longer just a makeup company. If there’s an ingredient like vitamin C, we’ll dive in and find a way to make it most effective for the skin. The pipeline can be endless. We are not here just to launch products, but to build great products that will stand the test of time,” she says.
The latest addition to the Ilia range is the Beyond Trip Serum SPF 40: a vitamin C serum combined with a mineral SPF (non-nano zinc oxide), niacinamide and oils that hydrate the skin (jojoba, meadowfoam and squalene). Free from fragrances, synthetic dyes, vegan, cruelty-free and formulated without gluten, Plavsic and the Ilia team have tried to create a product that is as “clean” as possible.
“I believe vitamin C is most effective with SPF, protecting it from degradation when exposed to light. [It] combines vitamin C with mineral SPF for the first time to target the visible signs of sun damage and protect against future signs in one step. Pure vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) and mineral SPF cannot normally exist together in the same formula,” she explains. “Because of our breakthrough encapsulation technology, which stabilizes and protects the active skin conditioning agents, C Beyond delivers powerful vitamin C, mineral SPF and niacinamide in one application. In order to perfect the product, Ilia underwent 45x revisions.”
Available in just three shades, unlike some other Ilia products (which come in 18 options), this isn’t a product designed to give a lot of coverage. Rather, it’s a translucent finish that covers a wide range of skin tones and helps neutralize the whiteness that results from sunscreens, Plavsic says. “This is designed for the skincare enthusiast and those who want a really great foundation, with a few products streamlined into one stop. This is more of a treatment product than makeup.”
In an effort to reduce confusion and make it easier for women, Ilia strives for multi-purpose products that show a woman’s beauty and celebrate her age, rather than completely hiding it.
“We believe in skin that looks like skin and a natural look. With transparency as our guide and color as our vehicle, we challenge the conventions of clean beauty to create something radically new, through safe, potent formulas that leave your skin looking and feeling vibrant.”
Although the product comes in a plastic bottle, Plavsic has been advocating for better recycling for years and is experimenting with various take-back programs to send ’empty’ to the right recycler. That’s what led the company to partner with Pact Collective, a non-profit organization that focuses on waste generated by the beauty and wellness industry, to recycle its products. Pact Collective states that approximately 120 billion beauty and wellness products are produced each year – most of which end up in a landfill at the end of their useful life.
Started by executives in the beauty and sustainability industry, the collective brings a unique lens specific to the industry that has been missing until now. The process is quite simple: consumers are asked to clean their finished bottles, remove labels and send them to Pact (or drop them off at one of their partner locations). The organization hopes to add more drop-off locations to their roster to make it easier for consumers (currently, most are only in major cities).
In addition, Plavsic notes that the company hopes to help with reforestation by joining 1% for the planet with the goal of planting 1 million trees by the end of 2023, mostly in Peru’s Amazon rainforest.
Can skincare, beauty and sustainability coexist? Plavsic certainly hopes so.
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