How do you live a wild and meaningful life?
Same as anyone really… time with family, friends, time spent outside, fishing, swimming, being grateful for little things. Work wise, we’re lucky in that we’re doing something that’s meaningful to us. Something that we hope will have a positive impact beyond our own company. And honestly, setting up our own business during a pandemic has been a pretty wild adventure.
What influences Flavedo & Albedo products and designs?
Sustainable makeup brands tend to be quite earnest and a little bit boring. We feel that makeup should never be boring — we didn’t want to strip the joy out of it. I don’t know that we have any specific or notable influences, but we’re aiming to make products that you covet, things you actually want in your makeup bag. If we can do that, and compete with all the plastic-heavy brands out there, then we’ll be happy.
What is the making process behind Flavedo & Albedo products?
Our process is pretty simple. We think about the products we want and then we set out to build a version that’s really high quality, with plastic-free packaging. We always start with colour and texture. Making sure the formulations are high performance is really important to us. Then we go about trying to put that product into packaging without plastic and without compromise. We don’t want Flavedo & Albedo customers to have to compromise aesthetically, or when it comes to functionality. We refuse to accept that sustainable has to mean boring.
What are you doing to minimise the environmental impact of your brand?
The problem that we set out to address is plastic packaging. The beauty industry is responsible for the production of more than 76.8 billion plastic packaging units a year, the vast majority of which aren’t or can’t be recycled. That’s why we exist. We make high-performance makeup in sustainable, plastic-free packaging. We felt there was room for a brand that reconciled our love of makeup with our rising concern about landfill. Your eyeshadow palette just shouldn’t live 500 years longer than you do.
We use aluminium, sustainable card and timber and a little cork to work around this. We sell direct, or through carefully vetted retailers to ensure there is no plastic in our supply chain.
Your brand is the epitome of modern beauty, the perfect mix of vibrant hues and neutrals. How did you pick the colour palette?
We’re a start-up and completely self-funded, so we’ve had to be pretty practical about how big the launch range could be. We wanted great neutrals — those everyday shades that you return to time and time again. But we also wanted to make room for some real pops of colour. We built a shade range that works for the widest possible variety of skin tones and it will continue to grow over time.
Could you share your top beauty tips with us?
For us, makeup is about being creative and expressing personal style. Not about concealing or correcting. It’s about trying new things and having fun with it.
2020 was a year of challenge and change. What made you decide to launch Flavedo & Albedo at this time?
We couldn’t find the products that we wanted to buy (without plastic guilt), so once we had an idea that we were passionate about, we figured why not?! It was going to be a weird and stressful year anyway, might as well go all out.
What’s next for Flavedo & Albedo?
We’ve been live for three months now, so we’re pretty keen to get as much feedback as we can from people on the products and the packaging. And we’ll keep developing plastic-free products, one at a time.
For more, visit flavedoandalbedo.com
