June 2010

• The 'If' Word
  - Editorial
• Entertainment Ready
  - The biggest change to our outdoor settings is colour
• Stimulating the Senses and Keeping it Real
  - Bath and body speak that won't leave you dizzy
• Hooked on Christmas
  - The silly season's stationery trends are wrapped up in traditional Christmas themes this year
• Feel Good this Father's Day
  - Men are notoriously hard to buy for – just ask any woman.
• Buy, Buy . . . Bye?
  - Getting ready to stock up for Christmas has a pre-festive warning for you

Stimulating the Senses and Keeping it Real

Bath and body speak that won't leave you dizzy

Move over seven-note fragrances and old-news paraben chit chat – this decade is all about the fresh, faithful and chic in the bath, body and home fragrance departments, say gift specialists.

Claire Hogg, regional sales manager of Ecoya, says eco-friendly issues aren't fore-fronting bath and body trends or customer purchases like they used to. “Eco-friendly talk surrounding the use of parabens and palm oil has been circulating for a while now,” she says. “Manufacturers and buyers of candles and body products are much more clued-up nowadays – and will remain that way – and the majority of customers are now well aware that environmentally friendly candles don't come as cheap as chips. One of our main focuses this year is lifting the game on our packaging, turning our gaze toward promoting a high-end product both inside and out.”

Jenny Agnew, director of Pacifica Skincare, also believes the environmental ‘hype' around skincare and body products isn't as prevalent as what it has been in recent years. “We still get the odd retailer or customer enquiring about eco-friendly issues, but we're not inundated with them,” she says. “At the end of the day, the majority of consumers simply want a product that looks good and smells good at first glance.” Being too ‘green' can also take some of the joy out of a product, says Fiona Terry, co-director of natural bodycare company Kio Kio. “The ingredients claimed in a product have to be there for a start – often they're not,” she says. “As an eco-conscious company, you've also got to find ways of appealing to a wider market, not solely through the ingredients you're using but through your packaging and your design and the overall concept you're marketing.”

Liz Young, the other half of Kio Kio and a busy pharmacist, believes many consumers are falling victim to the ‘natural ingredients' label without realising they're being duped. “Many of the large bodycare companies will only include a small drop of botanical oil or the like into their lotions and potions – which is no benefit to the skin at all, unless you use the whole bottle in one sitting,” she says. “You actually notice the difference when using an all-natural ingredients product, like one of our body lotions, because it glides on to the skin and absorbs quickly. That's because the body knows what to do with it – it can handle the ingredients.”

Warren Bryson, co-founder of Blue Earth, a natural skincare company, echoes similar eco-sentiments, and believes many consumers run a fine line between being under and over educated when choosing a body product. Bryson's company works to produce products that are as eco-friendly as they possibly can be, but you can't compensate on everything, he says – especially when it concerns hygienic issues.

“Sometimes it's difficult to please everyone. For example when you're working with natural ingredients, the shelf life of your products won't be as long as those with added preservatives,” he explains. “We've had one case recently where we've introduced a plastic pump lid to one of our moisturisers to avoid people having to dip their fingers into the pottle, and there have been standoffish customers because of the lack of a recycling number on the lid. However, I've phoned our local council who say they can't actually recycle these particular lids because they get stuck in the machinery, and as yet they don't have the technology to dispose of them. It's a hard position to be in: Do you lose the lid and add a whole extra dose of preservatives, or hope people see the sense in keeping it?”

Agnew of Pacifica Skincare also agrees it's vital that safety factors aren't superseded by natural interventions when producing bodycare products. “You've got to draw the line somewhere. Sometimes companies simply can't afford to lose all preservatives because that means an even shorter shelf life and the possibility of contamination problems,” she says. “Nothing should be created at the expense of safety, health and hygiene.”

Whilst technological advances to lengthen the shelf life of natural skincare products are constantly being made, many stockists of body and bath products fail to acknowledge ‘best before' dates as readily as they should be, say Terry and Young of Kio Kio. “I remember walking into a pharmacy not long ago and peering at a test pot of a moisturiser which was sluggish and brownish around the edges and asking the sales assistant if it was still okay to use,” says Terry. “Her response was ‘Oh yes' – it was quite shocking really.”

“Skincare product does go rancid,” continues Young. “I'm not sure if there's a misconception or acceptance out there or not that a test pot of moisturiser will last for ever on a shelf, but it most certainly doesn't.”

Whilst some bodycare companies might be stingy with the ingredient count, many make up for it with words, says Agnew. “On one occasion recently I was reading the label of one company's moisturiser and it advertised that they used no SLS – sodium laurel sulphate,” she explains. “The funny thing in this instance is that moisturisers don't usually include SLS anyway – they're reserved for shaving gels and foams. It was a case of someone playing on an issue that never even existed.”

Natural notes aside, many body, bath and home fragrance companies are focusing more intently on making the luxury affordable and the affordable luxury, says Ecoya's Claire Hogg. “People not only want something that smells nice, they want something that's fashionable for their homes. Whether they own a villa or a more modern apartment, consumers are becoming more house proud. And people are entertaining more at home too,” she explains. “This is why we've recently revamped our packaging to meet the needs of customers who appreciate good design and wish to create aesthetically pleasing surroundings.”

However, luxury packaging has to do more than just sell itself, says Hogg. “You can't rely on the likes of a part-time sales assistant in a department store to explain the ins and outs of a product,” she says. “The packaging has got to attract and educate beyond the means of staff and marketing campaigns.”

Encapsulating the luxury isn't all too hard either, especially when you dwell in a place like New Zealand, says Terry. “With our products, we're really trying to capture the fact that New Zealand is the youngest country in the world, full of vitality; we're not just about gumboots,” she says. “City dwellers are an inaugural part of New Zealand too, and most deserving of a product that exemplifies modern New Zealand and makes us proud.”

Whilst most Kiwi body, bath and home fragrance companies will stay abreast of overseas fragrance trends and what's showcasing at international fashion houses, we're often content to make statements of our own, says Pacifica's Agnew. “One of the biggest fragrance trends of late is the one-note fragrance – which actually in truth is still a highly complex mix of many fragrances – that has been set in motion by the likes of Kate Moss and Stella McCartney,” she says. “And what we're seeing also harks back to the 1960s and ‘70s era – a retro involvement – with notes of sandalwood, patchouli and amber pushing through. I also think that with the recession in motion, people are still opting for the safe and the pretty over the overtly designer and cutting-edge – most desire the tried and true.”

Hogg also believes it is consistency and simplicity that will satisfy both Kiwi and international customers. “We've recently dropped the second name on our candle labels because it was getting quite confusing for customers,” she says. “No matter which fragrances or packaging revamps we add/make to our body and home ranges over time, I think we'll always keep our key fragrances – vanilla bean, frangipani, French pear and lotus fl ower – because they're our mainstays, our staples.”

The colour yellow is also on the cards in the coming months, says Kio Kio's Terry, because of its uplifting qualities. “Traditionally retailers have shied away from stocking yellow product – whether it be candles or moisturiser – but with the doom and gloom the recession has brought, it's actually a great energising colour. Yellow is a swing to brightness.” And with winter hard on our heels, maybe an extra boost of colour is just what the doctor ordered.