Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A day at the lab...

It has been several weeks since I have been able to write about living a day in the beauty life. January has been all about new product development which is definitely my favorite part of my job. Products just inspire me!!

This week I traveled to New York with my new partner in crime, Helena Bruun. Helena is a blogger from Denmark that found our website and starting following our blogs. She liked what she read and sent me an email to see if she could come to work with me. Talk about initiative! I love to meet other people that love cosmetics, and I was impressed that she took the time to contact us. Now she is in the US for 4 months learning the ropes about what it takes to create new products.

For the past two days we have been working on lipsticks. It is so fun to see the amazing variation of shades that can be created! But there are so many other things to consider. Texture is huge! There is a fine line between luxurious full coverage and sticky/thick mess. Just altering shades slightly can push a lipstick one way or the other. Not only do you have to consider the way the shade applies but also how the bullet looks on first glance. Some darker shades can look very scary in the tube but apply beautifully. I always have to remember that a girl has to like a shade by glancing at the bullet before she ever picks it up.

Today we got a tour of the production floor so Helena could really get a look at how cosmetics are made. I always love this part and find it so fascinating how many steps there are to the final product. The last time I had a tour of the factory was several years ago, so they have added space and new machines since I was last there. The biggest change was that they added a $1 million deionized water filtering pipe system that allows them to create formulas with high percentages of water (which translates into long wearing). With this system, there is absolutely no waste and all water is recycled. It was really amazing to see in action. They also installed an air filtering system that keeps pigments and silicas out of the air which results in a safer, cleaner environment. Super medicinal looking and feeling. It makes me happy to see such a clean atmosphere for my products to be made. Check out our lab coats and hair nets! I just love this look on me:).

And finally, Mirabella really makes an effort to launch gluten-free products. Today I was able to see first hand the intense sanitization that occurs to make this possible. Very impressive indeed...

Now we are in New York City for brainstorming and innovation presentations. Looking forward to it!




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