After 16 years, Stella McCartney is launching a clean, eponymously named skincare line called Stella. Purest of the pure, learn more about her nature-inspired collection, editor Trudi Brewer reports.
Image Instagram
“Friendly reminder: nature is bloody beautiful. x Stella.”
It’s not the first time fashion designer Stella McCartney has made skincare. A pioneer in what is now known as one of the first clean skin lines named Care, it launched ahead of its time back in 2006 with YSL Beauté. It had a cult following for those looking for a natural luxurious alternative beyond brands such as The Body Shop and Lush - but sadly, it did not last. This new small and perfectly formed collection has some impressive backing, and its timing is could not be better. Globally, the clean beauty market is estimated to reach $22 billion by 2024, according to Statista Research. Retail analyst Heather Ibberson from Edited, a retail intelligence company based in London, says, ”The declaration of a climate emergency has increased consumer awareness and grown demand for ethical and environmentally-friendly products. Infiltration of these products alongside wellness and self-care trends has increased the demand for clean beauty.”
Better known for her luxury fashion and fragrance, McCartney's new line was created in close collaboration with her minority partners LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. True to McCartney’s minimalist style, the brand is launching three products: The Restore cream, including the glass jar, costs $105 (US dollars), while the refill is $85. The Reset cleanser is $60, with the refill priced at $45. The Alter-Care serum costs $140, with the refill costing $110.
Of course, everything is cruelty-free, certified vegan and regulated. It’s an ambitious project, and McCartney wants to tick as many eco-boxes as possible with the fewest number of products and ingredients. “I am not that person who wants to buy a million products for different areas of my face. I don’t want all that stuff in my life,” McCartney told WWD*.
Stella McCartney with her father musician Paul McCartney. Image Instagram
“I want less, and I want it to work. I want it to be honest and to complement my way of thinking, and of living life. I obviously wanted to do the cleanest skincare that we could do in luxury, the purest of the pure.”
For the past three years, McCartney and a dedicated team from LVMH have worked on the formulations and packaging; the scent was developed by luxury perfumer Francis Kurkdjian. A blend of clove leaf, pine resin and mentholated eucalyptus; the brand says the aroma evokes freshness, almost grass-like. The ingredients are sourced in northern Europe and made from upcycled food waste such as squalene, a byproduct of the olive oil industry, and the antioxidant cherry blossom extract. The skincare also includes organic rock samphire, rich in unsaturated and saturated fatty acids and phytosterols to smooth fine lines and wrinkles.
McCartney’s vision for the products was bound to a childhood spent in the Scottish outdoors, at her family’s farm on the Kintyre peninsula in western Scotland. Stella skincare has a new home within the group’s luxury beauty division and aims to tackle the challenges inherent in building an ultra-clean, green collection.
“We want to raise the bar on sustainability in beauty,” Stephane Delva, director of New Beauty Projects at LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics, told WWD*. Every detail has been thought through, the packaging a mix of disposable and long-lasting. The products come in pouch-style squishy packs (similar to baby food pouches) made from wood waste and fit inside recycled glass bottles and jars. The brand has banned ingredients in which the production or extraction process pollutants. It has also decided to ship the products rather than fly them to the U.S., meaning the carbon footprint of the collection has been slashed by more than a third. The brand has also eliminated any need for cotton pads or single-dose samples. Finally, McCartney will give back to a charity close to her heart. Donating one per cent of the net sales of Stella skincare to NGO Wetlands International. The money will go toward peatlands, the largest carbon store on earth that covers around 23 per cent of Scotland’s land mass. McCartney told WWD*, “At LVMH, there is a genuine passion for the future of the luxury industry. The beauty team at LVMH is pushing boundaries that she never thought were possible. They have been so hungry to find new ways, new solutions,” said the designer, who also serves as a special sustainability adviser to LVMH founder, chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault.
Stella Skincare launches later this month. The new collection will be direct-to-consumer, online at www.stelllamccartneybeauty.com.
Source WWD.*
Ideal for Christmas gifting.