The waterless revolution: Meet the Aussie beauty brand who created a world first.

You Beauty's Better Beauty is a monthly initiative in which Mamamia highlights a brand, product or launch that is making positive changes in the sustainability space.

The sustainable beauty market. She's saturated. Loud. Confusing. Chucks around a lot of fancy promises. So, it's not everyday you come across a beauty brand that's *truly* different.

Intrigued? Excited? Can't wait to hear more? 

Please meet Conserving Beauty. (Be nice, you guys).

She's Australia’s first water-responsible beauty brand, with the sole focus of preventing water wastage, offering a unique range of totally waterless skincare formulas. Pretty cool, right?

Sooo... why waterless?

Watch: While you're here, why not find out all about the seven eco-friendly habits that aren't so green. Post continues below.

Good question. Important question.

ICYMI, the UN basically declared 2018 to 2028 the 'Water Action Decade' in order to accelerate efforts to solve our global water crisis. Currently, only one per cent of fresh water can be used to sustain all life on earth.

Meaning? Things aren't... great. And we're using more water than we actually have.

Coolcoolcool.

As water is the most commonly used ingredient in beauty products (it makes up between 70 to 90 per cent of formulations), it seems like the beauty industry is a good place to start when it comes to cutting down water wastage, yeah?

So, Conserving Beauty are aiming to make a change in this space.

Below, we have a chat Natassia Nicolao, the founder and CEO of Conserving Beauty, and find out more about the brand's latest, game changing innovation in the beauty space. 

What sets Conserving Beauty apart from other sustainable beauty brands?

Ever heard of a waterless skincare brand before? No? That's because there's not many out there.

"We believe waterless is more – more for your skin, more for the planet, and more for your money," Natassia said.

"As the first global beauty partner of the Water Footprint Network, we sustainably manage our water-footprint through our custom research project to track and measure our footprint."

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A post shared by Conserving Beauty (@conservingbeauty)

The aim? To think about ways to reduce our water footprint and help conserve water - as we can't live without it.

"While water conservation is highlighted in other industries such as agriculture and textiles, it’s not widely known, tracked, or measured within the beauty industry," Natassia said.

"We believe that choosing products that care for the earth also shouldn’t cost the earth, which is why our products are formulated entirely without water – so your skincare is never diluted, and your results are never watered down."

What are InstaMelt face wipes and how are they different?

In case you weren't already aware, conventional face wipes are terribly... s**t for the environment. And for your skin. (See: this doctor showing what happens to your skin when you use face wipes. We're sorry).

"Conventional wet wipes which include face wipes, typically take almost 100 years to biodegrade and contribute up to 75 per cent of sewer blockages in Australia and 93 per cent in the United Kingdom," said Natassia.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS, YOU GUYS. 

Your face wipes can be on this planet longer than you!

Most facial wipes on the market are actually made of plastic fibres - so once you've used them and thrown them in the bin, they also leak microplastics into the ocean - harming marine life.

Sad face.

Also, all those harsh microplastics are really not great for rubbing your delicate skin.

But that's where InstaMelt™ Deep Exfoliating Day Dissolver Wipes, $39, come in. These are designed to instantly dissolve in water after use. 

"Our fabric does not block sewage networks, pollute our waterways, or contain microplastics. Even if our wipes are not dissolved in water after use and placed in the trash, they will take 14 days to biodegrade in landfill unlike other wipes which can take 100 years to biodegrade.

"Introducing truly soluble and flushable wet wipes into the market will help reduce accumulation issues in our sewage and drainage systems, the cost of remediation, and reduce the presence of microplastics into our oceans."

The fabric instantly dissolves in water like aspirin. So, it won't block sewage networks, pollute our waterways, or any of that BS.

Huge.

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A post shared by Conserving Beauty (@conservingbeauty)

So... what is this magic? What exactly are the wipes made out of?

Well, the technology behind the waterless dissolving fabric has been developed in partnership with a soluble medical organisation, called McCormack Innovation.

"A year ago, through our global supply chain network, we were lucky to connect with an innovation start-up in Scotland who were developing a water-soluble fabric technology for medical applications including wound dressings and stoma care products," Natassia explained.

Originally used to develop easily removable and soluble medical grade wound dressings (i.e. instead of having to peel a dressing off an injured area), it could be painlessly removed by showering or spraying with water. 

How cool!

"We worked out uniting this technology with our waterless IP could help reduce the environmental impact of single-use beauty products including face wipes, sheet masks, and under eye masks," Natassia said.

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A post shared by Conserving Beauty (@conservingbeauty)

"We knew the products could be dissolved after use where our community already have a water footprint to make the best use of our water resources without clogging our water ways. For example, in the shower, the bath, washing dishes, or flushing down the toilet." 

What other good things can we expect on the sustainability front?

"To us, sustainability isn’t a buzzword or trend," said Natassia. "We built a completely traceable and transparent supply chain from inception and focus on responsibly managing our water footprint, carbon footprint, and waste footprint." 

"Our goal is to map our entire supply chain on a blockchain solution to transparently show our community how we do this and help us track our impact targets including water, carbon, and waste reductions."

In case you've been skimming, reducing our water footprint is one of the core focuses of Conserving Beauty.

"All our product formulations are anhydrous (a science-y way of saying we’re waterless), and we sustainably manage our water footprint throughout our supply chain with our global partner, the Water Footprint Network. Together we are running a custom research project to track and measure our water savings."

To reduce their carbon footprint, Conserving Beauty also have a partnership with non-for-profit SeaTrees, to help to protect and restore ecosystems.

"For every product sold and email sign-up to our community, we plant a mangrove tree in your name to sequester carbon five times more effectively than a forest tree, create local employment for villages and promote a critical habitat for marine life to flourish."

All Conserving Beauty products also have infinitely recyclable glass and recyclable sachets - everything is completely home compostable and recyclable.

On top of this, the brand is palm-free, vegan and cruelty-free. 

"We do not accept genetically engineered crops, farming endangered plants, animal products, palm oil, and palm-derived ingredients.

"We exclusively partner with suppliers who treat their farmers, manufacturing team and the environment with the same respect we would – this includes health and safety, freedom to leave, fair pay, free from discrimination and no child labour.

"We manufacture our products here in Australia and source our ingredients from ethical farms globally, with no deforestation or negative impact to the environment."

Feature Image: Instagram/@conservingbeauty.