New innovations from a bigger-can-be-better class of product delivery methods.
In our wildest dreams, we would never run out of our favorite beauty products. We’d have dispensers of beautifully scented hand soap that magically refilled itself, everlasting supplies of shampoo and conditioner on tap in the shower, and lipstick that kept coming up into its tube like something out of Mary Poppins’ magical carpet bag.
But alas, this is not what life is like. (At least for most of us!) However…
More and more beauty, skincare, and makeup brands are making this reality a little closer with refillable products, jumbo sized containers of the stuff we can’t live without, and innovative pods, pouches, and tubes that make refills a literal snap.
“Thoughtful and environmentally sound beauty should no longer be an exception; it must become the standard.”
—Amy Liu, founder and CEO of Tower 28 Beauty
The biggest draw here, in addition to how these refills keep your wallet a little more, well, refilled, is how sustainable, eco-friendly, and downright ethical refill systems are. We can no longer pretend that global warming isn’t happening, nor that consumer waste isn’t a big contributor to it, and thus, when spending money, we prefer to support brands that are trying to do better.
“As a longtime beauty executive, I often think about how many single-use virgin plastic products and samples I’ve helped circulate—much of which is still sitting in a landfill,” says Amy Liu, founder and CEO of Tower 28 Beauty. “Thoughtful and environmentally sound beauty should no longer be an exception; it must become the standard.”
Tower 28 Beauty is thinking big—like four times as big—with its jumbo size offering of its hero product, SOS Rescue Spray. “By offering the SOS Rescue Spray in a 16-ounce refill size, we’re making it easier for our customers to reduce waste while still enjoying the benefits of their favorite skin-soothing product. The jumbo can be used to refill four 4-ounce bottles, and all of our SOS packaging is made with 100% post- consumer recycled (PCR) plastic.”
They’re not the only brand that recognizes that bigger can be better when it comes to our most-loved and most-used products. B Corp and Plastic Neutral Certified brand Nécessaire, known for its deliciously scented body and hair care, offers body lotion in 450 ml sizes and body wash in 500 ml, in addition to its regular 150 or 250 ml packaging, so that once a consumer decides to commit to a product, they can use less plastic and save money, all while ensuring that they won’t run out too quickly.
Probably the most visible and utilized refill method in beauty, however, remains the refill pouch. Innersense Organic Beauty introduced its popular 32-ounce refill pouches almost four years ago. “These pouches are a significant step forward in reducing our environmental footprint, using 70–75% less plastic compared to our traditional bottles. They’re also lighter and take up less space, which lowers their carbon footprint during shipping, making them a more climate-friendly solution,” says Greg Starkman, founder and CEO, Innersense Organic Beauty.
Homecourt, a sustainable home care brand, offers fine fragranced, sustainable hand soaps, dish soaps, and surface spray cleaners in 1-liter kraft-paper refill pouches that reduce plastic use by 92%.
Los Angeles-based Salt & Stone offers refills for its social media cult favorite body washes in 32-ounce pouches, which fill up the consumer’s bottle twice over. In addition, each refill pouch is recyclable and made with 60% less plastic than bottles.
Another California brand, family-owned Wonder Valley, is celebrating the holistic powers of extra virgin olive oil. It has recently introduced refill options. Its Sandalwood Yuzu Shampoo, Conditioner and Hinoki Body Wash are packaged in aluminum bottles to start with, and then one can purchase refills in a 1-liter pouch, which is equivalent to 3.3 shampoo bottle refills, (each 300 ml), offers a 20% savings compared to buying 3.3 bottles, and is made with 67% less plastic than a bottle of the same capacity.
Hand soap is a product that is in high demand year-round, across all demographics, so it stands to reason that refill pouches for handwashes are extremely popular. Pharmacist-formulated, family- friendly clean brand Kosmatology’s foaming hand soaps come in 8.5-ounce bottles, and a refill pouch will fill the bottle an additional four times. Female-founded, Austin-based clean personal care brand Esker recently introduced its Calendula Hand Cleanser Refills in a fully curbside-recyclable mono- material PET pouch. Bathing Culture offers whopping 1-gallon refill bottles to replenish its glass or aluminum containers of Mind and Body Wash, or, if you live near a stockist of the groovy, outdoorsy brand, you can often refill your containers in store!
Another refill mechanism gaining popularity is a “pod” that slips into a reusable plastic or metal dispenser, allowing consumers to use the outside container over and over, with refreshed product inside as needed, most popular for face creams.
Maya Chia Founder Susanne Norwitz explains the benefits of her brand’s efforts in this area. “Our refillable Advanced Response Complex pods reflect our commitment to sustainability. By offering refills, we’ve reduced plastic waste, aligning with the goal to minimize environmental impact.”
And it’s well received by consumers, she says. “Customers have embraced this initiative, appreciating both the eco-friendly benefits as well as the cost savings. For us, it’s about more than convenience—it’s about fostering a circular beauty economy and empowering conscious consumption. Together, we believe it’s another proof point that luxurious skincare can also be responsible skincare.”
Other brands utilizing this pod method include Tata Harper, whose Water Lock Moisturizer Refill Pod and Eye Crème Refill Pods save consumers up to $20 per purchase and allow them to continue to use the brand’s iconic green glass containers in perpetuity.
Speaking of iconic containers, makeup, and skincare brand Kjaer Weis is a trailblazer in the movement of creating reusable compacts and product containers with ultra-sustainable refills. The brand’s silver compacts are beloved and legendary. Refills are packaged in recyclable paper, and the metal pans that hold the products can be taken to most recycling centers.
RMS Beauty has followed suit with its own chic twist. Clean, white compacts and foundation canisters allow consumers to swap out the brand’s five refillable products: ReEvolve Foundation, ReEvolve Primer, ReDimension Bronzer, ReDimension Luminizer and ReDimension Blush.
“Our refills are among our most viral and bestselling,” says RMS founder and celebrity makeup artist Rose-Marie Swift. “[P]eople went nuts for the bronzer. They’re also the products that our customers are most subscribed to, which shows me they’re doing exactly what we intended—replacing their product while reusing the outer packaging and reducing their use of plastic. There’s always more to do, but one step at a time is better than no steps.”
The benefits of this system work on multiple levels, Swift adds. “Our customers save a significant percentage of plastic when purchasing just the refills, rather than a totally new product (67% by weight of plastic is saved for ReEvolve Primer and Foundation; 79% for ReDimension Blush!). Also, the compacts for bronzer, blush, and luminizer are made of 75% PCR. Plus, they’re also saving money as well.”
Australian brand Ere Perez Natural Cosmetics has entered the refill arena with a refillable compact for its Corn Setting Powder, and Soshe Beauty offers refills for its lipstick, lip treatment, eye liners, and mascara.
In case you’re thinking that mascara is possibly the most innovative and unusual refillable item on the market, brace yourself for an even more recent addition to the mainstream refill craze: candles. Brands like Atmo Home and Siblings, both sold at Credo Beauty, offer gorgeous, luxe candles and kits to refill them when you’ve burned them with the frequency they deserve.
Atmo’s nontoxic, clean burning soy, coconut, and apricot wax candles come in a reusable glass vessel, and the solid refills are shaped to slide into the empty, cleaned containers when the original candle has burned all the way down. Siblings’ refills come in the form of a microwavable pouch filled with the brand’s blend of coconut
and soy waxes plus a safe fragrance and essential oil blend, and a new, wooden wick. Consumers can refill their ceramic “forever vessels” in about two minutes with a microwave, or five minutes on the stovetop.
What will they think of next? We can’t wait to find out. Knowing that our favorite sustainable, clean beauty brands are always looking for new ways to innovate and reduce waste, we can be sure they will continue to develop and deliver our beloved products in safer, more earth-friendly ways. As long as they keep smelling great and working well, we’re all in. And we’re that much closer to a magical, never-ending supply of the things we can’t live without.
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