The Art of Sustainable Glamour: Inside Manasi 7's Beauty Revolution
Can you elaborate on the founding philosophy of Manasi 7, which combines high-performance beauty with naturally harvested and organic ingredients? What inspired you to create a beauty brand with sustainability at its core?
I would say that I wanted to create a collection that is an extension of myself, being my interest in health and sustainability combined with my profession as a makeup artist, for me I’d rather do what I believe in than look at trend reports or business of fashion. A healthy lifestyle for me is eating non-processed organic foods and promoting my gut health from an evolutionary perspective, distressing and exercising. Personally, I also support local farmers and organic produce by buying from our local farmers market and small-scale businesses. As a makeup artist I wanted to combine my sustainable approach and healthy lifestyle with beauty products that give high colour pay-off and have great performance as well as produced in a sustainable way. And for the newly launched Microbioskin™ collection it was a must for me to use probiotics and fermented ingredients since I know how important it is to keep the microbiome intact both on the inside and outside. I’d rather apply a product that has nourishing properties, contains vitamins and minerals naturally instead of synthetic ingredients that do not benefit the skin. By producing our products in the way we do, we also promote organic farming and environmentally friendly production methods.
With your extensive experience as a professional makeup artist and cosmetic product developer, how does your background influence the formulation and development of Manasi 7 products?
The performance and colours of the products permeate all of my decisions. I do not compromise and I am dedicated to develop the best possible mix of ingredients, composition and quality and that has a lot to do with med working in depth with formulations and the effect in my previous line of work. As a brand we want to work to bridge the gap between the great colour pay-off and high performance of conventional beauty products and the nourishing and healing properties of natural, wild harvested and certified organic ingredients by understanding for the good of both systems and show how they can work together to complement each other and create balance. I would not develop a formulation or shade that has great ingredients unless it performs as I want it to. In addition to the quality, it has always been important to be able to cater to all skin tones, it should be the norm, not the exception. That is why the skin care products I develop are for all and the makeup comes in shades where anyone can find their favourite and the textures give buildable colour pay-off. For example, someone with fair skin tone can just as easily use our All over colour Fuchsine on cheeks as a blush if gently dabbed, as well as someone with a very deep skin tone can use it when more formula is applied. Another example is the Skin enhancer, which is a concentrated concealer/foundation that is made to be customised into your own perfect shade that matches your skin tone by mixing one base shade with either a white (to lighten the shade) or a dark (to darken the shade) shade.
You mentioned the importance of a holistic mindset in living a conscious and healthy life. How does this mindset translate into the products and practices of Manasi 7?
I believe that most of the “conventional” beauty brands mass produce their products in a non-sustainable way and they are often made with cheap synthetic chemicals and ingredients derived from the petroleum industry. I wanted to create high quality organic products and support small-scaled producers and sub-contractors throughout our production cycle and reduce the environmental impact by acting on the production chain and promoting the link between cosmetic products and organic farming. If you also consider the ingredients being absorbed by the body to some degree, absorbing plant oils and waxes is healthier and gives you moisturising and nourishing properties, while absorbing petroleum by-products and synthetic chemicals does not give you any benefits and can be potentially harmful both for humans and the environment. I rather prefer the precautionary principle than finding out later in life that these conventional ingredients were harmful to humans or nature.
Can you provide more details on the sustainable development processes and production cycles that minimise environmental impact while creating timeless and multifunctional beauty products?
We live in a world that demands fast seasonal change of products and mass-production which often equals unnecessary waste and unsustainable production cycles.
We produce everything in a slow pace and in micro batches which is the definition of sustainable since we have control of the waste management and can plan our production, so nothing goes to waste in terms of products and the actual waste is very low. You cannot claim to be sustainable if you mass produce, it is simply not possible. We also create multi-use products, and they last for a while, which means you do not have to buy new all the time. In our latest path to improve our sustainability process we try to find upcycled ingredients, which means ingredients that are made from byproducts of organic farming, so we close the loop and there is zero waste. I believe that slow is the way forward for the modern customer. Slow production, and high-quality multifunctional products that last and can be used in many ways. Less is more.
Manasi 7 places a strong emphasis on using natural, wild-harvested, plant- based, and certified organic ingredients. How do you source these ingredients, and what benefits do they bring to your skincare and makeup products?
The first step for me is when I get an idea of a product texture is to try and find the best ingredients for that specific texture. I always use my extensive blacklist where I have a long list of ingredients I avoid and a list of my preferred ingredients. The benefits of these ingredients are endless, they naturally contain all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, essential fatty acids, moisture and hydration you need. You do not need to add synthetic vitamin C or A for example, these natural and organic ingredients contain these in their natural form. We try to source these close to the production in Italy, but if we cannot find them there, we source outside as well.
Could you explain the advantages of producing your products in small batches and how this minimises waste and supports small-scale farmers?
Usually, a lot of the brands in the cosmetic industry work with manufacturers that have a high MOQ (lower quality and lower prices), that means you must produce a lot of products, with cheaper ingredients at the same time even if you do not know if they will be sold. By producing in smaller batches, we can support smaller farmers that do not want and/or have the possibility to produce ingredients to accommodate these large players. It is also a big effort/cost to get the organic certification for these smaller farmers. Even though they produce organically and even higher standards than some of the bigger farms, they still not have the funds to get the certifications, those smaller we can support by buying directly from them.
You mentioned that most of your packaging is plant-based, reusable, and recyclable. How do these choices align with Manasi 7’s sustainability goals?
The packaging issue is a tricky question. One material can be good in our country since a lot of people can recycle it, but in another country, they have not yet been set up to recycle these in a convenient way, which means they end up in landfill anyway. For example, plastic is widely recognized to be avoided, but is usually very easy to be formula compatible and has a great recycling possibility unless it is very small (then it is not possible to recycle) but comes from the petroleum industry and it is not always recycled and can end up in landfill. So, when we researched packaging, we wanted something that was durable and would not break easy, stand out from other brands and have a visually pleasing aesthetic and at the same time be sustainably manufactured and recyclable. It was not an easy task, but we found what we believe is a great solution for us. In terms of production the environmental footprint of the production of our plant-based jars is lower than for plastic and the material is much more durable and unique. We also use recycled glass for our glass packaging. What we are working on, and would like in the future, is to find a refill system for our products.
The Declaration of (7) is a critical aspect of Manasi 7’s approach to quality. Can you share some insights into what this declaration entails and how it guides your product development?
It is based on a list of criteria that I had when I had the idea to start the brand. I thought of it as a manifesto that I can have whenever I develop a new product, connect with a supplier so our customers always know what they will get. You can say it is the foundation of my own values and our responsibilities as a brand. It is based on my experience and interest of living a healthy lifestyle and knowledge as a makeup artist.
What are your future aspirations and goals for Manasi 7, both in terms of sustainability and the expansion of your product line?
We still want to keep our slow pace for new product launches since that is a more sustainable approach to production and consumption, to offer less but higher quality and take care of each product and really emphasise it so our customers know how great they are. We also want to add more upcycled ingredients and recycled materials in our packaging to close the loop. Our main goal is now to launch the rest of the fantastic products in the Microbioskin™ collection during 2023 and 2024. I am also currently working on some new exciting developments