It’s all very well buying eco-friendly skincare brands - but where would we be without the high science of our anti ageing lotions and potions? Nude, a new range of organic, ethical skincare, claims it can do for our skin what Fresh and Wild did for our diet. Newby Hands puts it under the spotlight - and finds she can’t get enough of the naked truth.
Sixteen years of beauty journalism has give me two things: good skin (from using all of those free products); and a healthy dose of cynicism (from sitting through many of those product launches). But setting sometimes-dubious science aside, what has recently got me all riled is all the scrabbling around by beauty companies, keen to prove their eco-caring, ethically-sharing, organic credentials.
Making us look good is no longer enough. Now our face cream has to make us feel good, as we save the planet along with our skin. Admittedly some brands do this with passion and integrity – but for the rest, from an insider’s standpoint, this is one bandwagon that’s so full there’s barely any space left to jump on it.
So you can imagine my ‘joy’ at meeting the people behind Nude, the new eco-aware, organic based skincare range with its biodegradable, recycled and recyclable packaging that you chuck on the compost heap rather than in the bin. Its founder is London-based Irishman Bryan Meehan, the man who made ‘organic’ hot when he set up Fresh and Wild (and then sold it to Whole Foods Market for $38 million); his investor, inspiration and ‘muse’ Ali Hewson, wife of Bono and founder of ethical fashion brand Edun (Nude spelt backwards). Bono is also an investor, and supermodel Christy Turlington, a friend of all three, tried out every cream before it was given the final sign-off. All in all, Nude is just too eco-cool for school.
But experience has taught me not to believe what I hear about ‘organic’ beauty – if uncertified the lack of regulations means any claims can be made; or, if it is the real deal then it's OK for bath and body, but will do damn-all when it comes to skin and anti-ageing.
Which is why I arrived at my meeting with Meehan and Anna Ghee (formally Fresh and Wild but now Nude’s Retail Director) with my mind if not exactly closed to what they had to say, they open little more than a chink. Two hours later, I left seriously impressed, privately chastened and with most of my pre-conceptions blown out of the water. To cap it all, after a week of using Nude, I am addicted to some of the products – and as a beauty editor who expects high performance from her hi-tech skincare, I’m hard to please.
'After selling Fresh & Wild, I was talking with Ali as we had this great brand name – Nude – but weren’t sure what to do with it’ says Meehan. ‘Initially, we were thinking of Nudefood, but did the world need another bar of organic chocolate? So we decided to have a crack at skincare, as I was never convinced that natural brands had done a great job.’
And the failings of previous natural beauty ranges were something that Meehan knew all about. 'We had over 40,000 people shopping at Fresh & Wild each week but, although women were buying their organic food from us, they went down the road to Space NK to buy their skincare. When I asked them why, they said, “Your stuff just isn’t going to get rid of my wrinkles,” Meehan says. ‘The natural skincare we sold was totally overshadowed by the highly effective conventional brands; it just didn’t offer a credible alternative.'
As a marketing man (for Guinness before heading to Harvard Business School), Meehan spotted a gap in the market and decided to fill it ‘by taking natural skincare by the scruff of its neck and shaking it up to make something that wasn’t finger-wagging, scandal-wearing and worthy’.
Meehan is keen not to be seen as an eco-warrior, but with his background and his 'friends across the waters’ (Bono and Hewson), he is more likely to be seen as a canny businessman who's already made a mint, with good connections and an even better line in clever marketing. Having made Fresh & Wild organic heaven for the wealthy, healthy Notting Hill woman, Meehan planned to make Nude the first natural ‘eco’ skincare that these women would actually want to use.
Of course, Nude is about marketing – and of course, it's about making Meehan, Hewson and Bono lots more money – but what impresses me is that, underlying all of this, is an honest, carefully considered (and ecologically considerate) uncompromising range of skincare that genuinely tries to tick all the boxes (eco, organic, ethical) while still making our skin look great.
'The first criterion was what wasn't in the products. I had my list of things that either I didn’t want in there – PEGs [chemical emulsifiers], mineral oil, silicones and genetically modified ingredients to name a few – or those, like parabens, that the jury may still be out on but until proven one way or the other, won’t be included.' Not a new concept, and one with which Ren (with its 'clean' skincare) and Liz Earle have already, quite rightly, proven highly successful.
‘And it had to be effective. Initially, I went to the people I knew in natural products, but all their approaches were the same, as there was limit a to what they knew, skincare-wise. So I started talking to the labs that make skincare for the big brands.’ Meehan and Ghee won’t name the chemist they work with in Paris because, they say, he still makes for the big beauty names and so has to remain anonymous. A nice little touch of marketing spin perhaps, but what I question more is the science behind Nude. Using pre and pro-biotics, it apparently keeps the skin's microflora healthy and balanced, which in turn maintains its natural protective barrier, thereby helping keep out the bad (pollution, free radicals) while keeping in the good, (moisture).
Maintaining a healthy skin barrier is not new – beauty companies have been doing it for years, but whether doing it with pre and probiotics (something neither I, nor the organic and conventional skin scientists I spoke to had ever heard of) has credence, I genuinely don’t yet know. But then, I’ve learnt to put little store by many a miracle ingredient as, for me, the proof is always in the using.
It’s said that, for long-term success, a beauty company needs three hero products. Well, to my mind, Nude already has two, and maybe even four. The Cleansing Facial Oil is, quite simply, the best cleanser I've used. But the real star of this show is the Advanced Smoothing Complex; I can’t get enough of it. I also seriously rate the Hydrating Water, and the Replenishing Night Oil is so gorgeous, it’s my essential – all layered in with my favourite conventional high-science Estee Lauder, Dior or La Pairie creams for good measure.
But getting these results to keep the tricky, discerning Notting Hill woman happy while still ensuring Nude is as ethical, eco-friendly and organic as possible (and the three are not necessarily compatible), is incredibly hard. ‘It’s a very difficult road, and it's not a well travelled one, so it’s a bit bumpy and very daunting at times,' says Hewson. 'We’ve tried to be open and honest as we work towards getting it right, but when it does work it’s so satisfying – this has to be the future.'
And no matter what you throw at them, they have already thought of and have a credible answer for it. They seem to have more eco-bases covered than I even knew existed. To highlight just a few: lighter bottles reduce transit emissions; manufacturing and printing is UK-based where possible (using green energy and non-toxic, water-soluble inks); organic cornstarch shrink-wrap outer packaging biodegrades on the compost heap; recycled bags are soon to be replaced by those made from fruit pulp; shipping is used rather than air freight; and the sales consultants’ uniforms are made from organic cotton on an African reserve that supports wildlife and the local community.
‘We are not perfect, and some things just aren’t possible yet; for instance, though we use milk peptides (to boost collagen), no one produces these organically yet,’ say’s Ghee. It would be easy to pick holes in Nude, to point out what they haven’t done or haven’t got right – the packaging for one. It's modern, but for me it lacks a certain luxury, design-wise – which is their problem: however their slightly Fisher Price feel of the recycled (and recyclable) pots is probably more my problem: if we are going to get serious about waste, packaging and production, then maybe, at present we can’t have our skincare in glossy, gorgeous pots.
But ultimately they are doing something that is essentially good, and Ghee and Meehan are the first to admit that Nude isn’t yet perfect on the organic and eco front. ‘But we hope to be 100 per cent biodgradable in three years' time, and fully organic in five years,’ says Meehan.
Nude, and the way it essentially carries through what it professes to care about, has certainly made me less cynical, but what really got me hooked were the products themselves. This range does seem to manage to do something good to the skin, while not doing anything bad to the planet. I’ve already requested my second lot of press samples because I like how smooth my skin feels, and the fact that, within a week of using these products, the strange dry condition that I’ve had on the backs of my hands for years has cleared up completely. It’s almost enough to make me think about questioning my allegiance to anti-ageing chemicals.
Like many of us, I have good intentions (most of which have yet to be put into action) about helping save the planet, but selfishly, my vanity makes me want to save my skin first – and though Nude may have some way to go and things to perfect (the eye cream for one; the smoothing body refiner for another), it gives me a chance, for the first time to do both. I may not be green but Nude has proved good enough to make me just that little bit greener around the edges.
Cleansing Facial Oil
Rich in maturely oils this cleanser is the best I’ve used. The Japanese may have been using oils to remove make-up for decades, but this natural gem beats their high-tech wizardry hands down. Plus it doesn’t even make my contact lenses smeary.
Advanced Smoothing Complex
With hyaluronic acid to hydrate and natural peptides to boost collagen, the real joys of this little bottle are near instant smoothing and its plumping effect. I can’t get enough of it, using double of what I should on my face, backs of hands, chest and shoulders. This serum breaks the mould, being, in my experience, the first natural skin product that has visible anti-ageing effects.
Replenishing Night Oil
Packed full of omega, plant and nut oils, it’s too good just for evening – especially as its ‘dry’ enough to use morning as well. Rich but non-greasy, it’s a total aromatic and skin-feeding joy to use.
Hydrating Water
The rose and vanilla-scented natural take on toner feels like a slightly thicker version of water, which goes into the skin rather than sitting on (and running off) it. Buy several to keep in your bathroom, car, handbag, desk draw and so on.