July 2019

The Interview.
The secrets of botanical beauty.

GLAMOUR editor, Tanja Fox, has asked leading R&D expert and world-renowned molecular scientist, Frank W Legart, the mastermind of ambuja and DEAGE, for an interview about green beauty in general and plant-based cosmetics news in his green think-tank lab in the Alps.

Summertime that is the best time of the year – everything is blooming and greening.

Frank keeps you posted in this first part of green news article about the naturalness, implicitness as well as pitfalls, hazards of botanical or green actives .
Don’t miss this insider chance.
Let us start to define natural cosmetics for beginners in part I of the interview.

1. When do we call an ingredient natural, green or even organic?

There is a push for sustainable beauty in general. But you might have already noticed the diversity of language and terms used when it comes to green beauty.  In modern marketing, the word “green” has become synonymous with “organic” or “healthy.” When a consumer sees the phrase “green cosmetics,” they will automatically make eco-friendly assumptions about the product or company. But the field of green cosmetics still needs clarification. Typically, the term is used to describe products using environmentally-friendly formulations, production practices or packaging methods. A plethora of definitions and certification bodies, NGOs, associations and organizations exist, such as NaTrue, COSMOS, etc. that have published guidelines to clarify what green or natural means in marketing terms, though these guidelines are still loosely defined. A natural or biological ingredient is called organic when it is purely derived from a plant or parts of a plant. An organic ingredient (or natural ingredient) is formally an ingredient which has been harvested without the use of synthetic chemical compounds.
All this is to suggest that what is considered natural varies from person to person and organization to organization. As a formulator it will ultimately be up to me to decide which definition of natural fits my brand story and formulation style.

In terms of ambuja, we completely refrain from adding any natural water. All these formulas are loaded with 100% ingredients of natural origin and are based on our patented Superfluid™ – the lotus-coconut cell fluidum™, the brand’s signature broth.
Stay tuned for part II of our green journey. Enjoy an endlessly organic summer.