EP274. The beauty industry’s obsession with exotic ingredients is wearing thin

What if the next big breakthrough in beauty wasn't hidden deep in a jungle, but growing in your own back garden? In this episode of Green Beauty Conversations, Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier asks whether the industry’s obsession with exotic ingredients is no longer serving us – or our planet. Must beauty always come wrapped in mystique and flown halfway across the world? Or could the future lie in ingredients that are local, familiar and often overlooked? Tune in now to find out!   Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram  

How do you turn farm waste into liquid gold and build a cult beauty brand in the process? Well, Allison Taylor from Le Prunier did just that. Along with her sisters, Allison took a forgotten byproduct from their fourth-generation, 100-year-old plum farm and turned it into a skincare phenomenon that’s gone viral – while staying completely self-funded. In a world obsessed with growing fast and big, Le Prunier chose slow growth, intention and innovation, proving that less can truly be more. In this week's episode of Green Beauty Conversations, Allison returns to the podcast to tell the remarkable story behind Le Prunier. Tune in now!    Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram  

Is the future of beauty really found in a lab? Or does true sustainability lie in the soil, the roots, and the traditional ways of working with nature? In the final part of this thought-provoking four-part series, Formula Botanica CEO Lorraine Dallmeier looks ahead at the shifting definitions of sustainable beauty, and asks whether the next big divide won’t be natural vs synthetic, but harvested vs lab-grown. Tune in now so you don't miss out!    Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram  

What if the real reason the beauty industry can’t become truly sustainable… is emotional? In this honest and eye-opening episode of Green Beauty Conversations, Lorraine Dallmeier – Chartered Environmentalist, Biologist and CEO of Formula Botanica – explores the hidden engine behind overconsumption: the way beauty marketing makes us feel about ourselves. In part three of her exclusive 4-part series, Lorraine challenges the idea that we can achieve sustainability while still selling products by preying on people’s insecurities. Tune in now!    Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram  

These days, everything in beauty is “more sustainable.” More sustainable packaging. More sustainable formulas. More sustainable choices. But if everything is claiming to be sustainable… is anything really sustainable at all? In this second episode of her exclusive 4-part series, Formula Botanica CEO, Chartered Environmentalist and Biologist Lorraine Dallmeier takes a hard look at the beauty industry’s most overused word. Tune in now to find out what sustainability really means in beauty today.   Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram  

What if some of the most hyped innovations in sustainable beauty – dissolvable sheet masks, waterless shampoos, wild-harvested botanicals – are unintentionally part of the problem? In this powerful solo episode of Green Beauty Conversations, Formula Botanica CEO, Biologist, and Chartered Environmentalist Lorraine Dallmeier kicks off a bold four-part podcast series challenging everything we think we know about sustainable beauty. Drawing on seven years of expert interviews and hundreds of insights from the global cosmetics sector, Lorraine exposes one of the industry’s most uncomfortable truths: clever isn’t always the same as sustainable.   Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram  

Right now, we're facing an impossible moment in beauty. Brands are under pressure to create fully recyclable packaging. Consumers are expected to recycle correctly, often with confusing or incomplete information. And regulators are pushing for urgent change, without enough funding or infrastructure in place to support it. Everyone is trying, but the system isn’t ready, and no one is winning. In this week’s Green Beauty Conversations episode, host Lorraine Dallmeier, biologist, Chartered Environmentalist and CEO of Formula Botanica, breaks down the messy and confusing state of recycling in the beauty industry. If you’ve ever stood in front of a recycling bin unsure of what to do or felt frustrated by the mixed messages around sustainable packaging, this episode is a must-listen.   Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram  

Packaging is about to get a whole lot pricier for beauty brands, and it’s not just a minor cost increase. In this episode of Green Beauty Conversations, Lorraine Dallmeier – Chartered Environmentalist, Biologist and CEO of Formula Botanica – is joined by Renata Daudt, Director and Principal Consultant at AWEN Packaging Consulting, and a globally experienced chemical engineer, to discuss the new packaging regulations and considerations for beauty brands. Together, they break down the new regulations, from mono-material mandates to reporting obligations, and reveal the most overlooked packaging pitfalls that could cost your brand money and credibility. Tune in to learn why now is the time to futureproof your beauty packaging before regulators and fees catch you off guard.    Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram  

Is your favourite beauty brand walking the talk on sustainability, or just selling a story? Last week on the podcast, Lorraine Dallmeier – Chartered Environmentalist, Biologist and CEO of Formula Botanica – talked to Carly Snider of the Pact Collective, and Carly dropped a truth bomb: in many beauty brands, sustainability sits under the marketing department. Not operations. Not product development. Not supply chain. Marketing. And in this week's episode of Green Beauty Conversations, Lorraine unpacks why this matters more than you realise and how it impacts every conscious consumer and ethical beauty entrepreneur. Tune in now!    Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram

The beauty industry has a packaging problem – and it's much bigger than you think. But how do we fix a system that was never built for circularity? And who’s actually stepping up to tackle the problem? Join Lorraine Dallmeier – Chartered Environmentalist, Biologist and CEO of Formula Botanica – in this exclusive episode of Green Beauty Conversations as she speaks with Carly Snider, Executive Director of Pact Collective – a nonprofit collective uniting the beauty industry to reduce packaging waste and drive toward circular solutions. If you’ve ever wondered what really happens to your beauty empties after you drop them in the bin, this episode is for you.   Free Resources Free formulation course | Green Beauty Conversations Podcast | Blog | YouTube Socials: Formula Botanica on Instagram | Lorraine Dallmeier on Instagram