Bloom Cosmetics has always been about taking a natural approach to beauty, so the launch of their new organics range, Bloom Organics, is a natural extension of their business philosophy. I was invited to the digital media launch in Bloom‘s pretty flagship store and had the chance to sniff, feel and test the products and to meet Natalie Bloom, the owner and founder of Bloom Cosmetics.
Bloom Organics has been a passionate project for Natalie for three years and Natalie has personally developed every formulation in the Bloom Organics range. For her, organic skincare products are the step into the future – it’s about using the power of nature to nurture the body and to help care for the environment at the same time.
You may or may not know that there is currently no Australian legislative standard for what is classed as an organic product, so there are many beauty products in the market which claim to be organic when in fact they only contain minor amounts of organic ingredients. For Natalie it was most important that she did not participate in this sort of consumer ‘green-washing’, so 17 of the 20 products in the Bloom Organics range are certified organic by Australia’s largest certifier of organic products, Australian Certified Organic. ACO’s standards require that certified products contain 95% or more organic ingredients and the remaining 5% must also meet strict requirements of being only naturally produced products and/or natural, non-toxic preservatives and additives. That means the majority of Bloom Organics‘ products contain no artificial fragrances or colours, parabens, petrochemicals, sulfates, mineral oils, silicons and are definitely not tested on animals.
Three products have not achieved certification mainly due to the fact that they are water-based formulations and thus require particular preservatives to make them last – and the labelling clearly indicates the percentage of organic ingredients contained in the product, from 81-94%. Natalie said that until she is able to get the formulations right, she did not want to compromise performance for the sake of receiving certification.
The care taken with the range extends beyond the product. The beautiful floral packaging (designed by Melbourne artist David Band of Mahon & Band and displayed fetchingly in the store’s light installation) is printed on recycled cardboard using vegetable-based ink. There are plans for a recycling program, which I’m most excited about as I often wonder about the waste I create when I throw out my empty cleansers and body lotions.
Furthermore, Bloom Cosmetics the business are acting on their green beliefs by switching to accredited green power, investigating supply chain transport alternatives and offsetting the carbon emissions of air travel.
While there are no plans to make Bloom Cosmetics are wholly organic brand at the moment (it is particularly difficult to develop organic cosmetics), Natalie said that it was important for her that her customers at least had the choice to use organic products.
Having met Natalie and members of her team at the launch, I very much respect their passion and integrity in their way of doing business. It would have been easy just to slap an ‘organic’ label on a product without certification and market the organisation as being caring and environmentally-friendly, while behind the scenes there was no real change. I guess when your name is also the name of your brand, it is critical that you believe in what you do and you back up what you say with real actions.
Oh and by the way in the launch goodie bags we received a jar of All Purpose Body Balm (Natalie’s favourite) and Rosehip Oil (their ‘hero’ product’), and I can vouch that the lovely-smelling body balm has already been put to good use on my cold-chapped hands :–) If you too fancy trying out the Bloom Organics range or any other Bloom Cosmetics products, they’re offering MEL: HOT OR NOT readers a discount of 20% off all products in their online store. Just make sure you include the promo code MOB0510 at checkout.
You can find out more about Bloom Cosmetics by reading their blog, joining their Facebook page and following them on Twitter. You can also click here for my recent interview with Natalie Bloom.
- Bloom Organics launch, Bloom Flagship Store, 574a Chapel St, South Yarra +61 3 9421 0200
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