Image – Courtesy of Plenaire and Powder Beauty
Beloved Gen Z skincare brand Plenaire is now available in the UAE and has been launched exclusively on Powder Beauty. Founded by Namrata Kamdar in 2020, Plenaire was created with the goal of bridging the gap between beauty and emotional wellness for young consumers who are just getting started on their skincare journey. The brand is a shining example of the fact that quality, great design and sustainability can coexist with each other, with all Plenaire products being made with clean ingredients that are sourced and made in the UK. The brand is also certified by the Vegan Society and is cruelty-free and also exclusively work with cruelty free suppliers. Moreover, Plenaire has been a carbon neutral company since 2021 and work to offset their carbon emissions, in turn contributing to safe drinking water in Odisha, India.
The Luxe Scoop sat down with Namrata to know more about the philosophy behind the brand, the use of social media in the brand’s strategy, and future beauty trends :
The brand is designed with Gen Z in mind. Can you share specific insights or challenges you discovered during your research into how skincare routines impact Gen Z individuals both physically and emotionally?
We came to this landmark idea when we began our research – talking to women of all ages about their beauty routines. This positioning was formed as a direct result of talking to young women about their daily lives, anxieties and of course, most importantly their relationship with skincare and beauty.
From a business perspective I could see that the classic “coming of age beauty rituals” specifically within skincare, were undergoing seismic shifts, just compared to my own experience 20 or so years ago. Younger consumers were discovering and consuming brands in a completely different way to previous generations.
To get the ball rolling, we hired Flamingo, one of the top strategic insights agencies in the UK to conduct ethnographies with engaged skincare users across Los Angeles, New York and right here in London. We met with young women and their parents across a diverse set of incomes levels and backgrounds. I personally road-tested over 300 formulations, as well as placed prototypes with friends, family and other volunteers to get feedback and understand what was loved but also what was hated. Basically, anyone who we could recruit in exchange for products, we did.
During discovery, it became evident that cultural beauty narratives for younger people have most definitely evolved. The everyday products that were marketed to young people as they come of age, we heard from them, felt sort of generic, a bit bland. Many of the young women we spoke to said that they felt patronised by brands and that they were being offered fundamentally out of date ideologies and childish ingredients – “phoney science” that they didn’t buy into. The more we talked about beauty, the more mental health and wellbeing came up- which at this time was completely ignored.
So many categories whether it was music, technology, retail or fashion had evolved whereas Skincare overall seemed a bit stuck in the past. This was combined with a higher degree of transparency via digital search around formulation, and ingredients, juxtaposition against an increased focus on health.
We could see that consumers of all ages but most of all younger consumers were researching ingredients and brands ahead of making purchase decisions as well as educating others including older generations via their own social platforms on how to make better product decisions, too.
So Plenaire is part of creating a bigger conversation with not just young women, but women of all ages to stop, think and perhaps change direction a bit. To begin to focus on themselves through skincare, rather simply race to an end result or strive for perfection.
Image – Courtesy of Plenaire and Powder Beauty. Photographed by Yana Sheptovetskaya.
How do you balance the aspiration for sustainable practices with the desire for a visually pleasing and luxurious product, especially in a market driven by aesthetics?
For Plenaire, we have found that marrying Aesthetics and Sustainability was not easy but with a fair amount of discussion and working with experts, a possibility. Oue packaging is based on the same material that goes into creating the classic PET mono material milk bottle- that is designed to go round and round in the recycling chamber and process 100s of times. We used monomaterial plastics, avoided metallic stamping or over proliferation of decoration which would have defeated the purpose and taken away from the sense of simplicity and symmetry that the brand stands for. We believe that beauty can be minimal, and singular. The packing is “beautifully uncomplicated” which leads to a sense of innate luxury. Being a Carbon Neutral, Vegan and now B Corp certified brand since 2023, has been a journey for us and all of these initiatives have built on eachother creating a truly modern beauty business.
How important is social media in the brand’s strategy, and how do you leverage platforms like Instagram to connect with your audience?
Social media is key, to delivering our always on strategy but to be honest, META/FB Instagram is now a fully paid platform. Non – Native content doesn’t perform well there. While maintaining it is key, it is not strategic for an indie beauty brand to invest there anymore. We cannot get traction there without spend. New and evolving platforms like editorial, advertorial, in home catalogue and loyalty programs, beauty discover boxes, Tik Tok, X and Tik Tok shop are more where we are beginning to look to drive organic growth.
Can you elaborate on how the products are designed to enhance the ritualistic aspect of skincare, and what specific rituals you had in mind during the development of the collection?
Absolutely, all Plenaire products have a ritual built into them, and we have always framed skincare as moment or bridge to wellbeing and therefore important to have the products echo these aspects. Our platforms Rose Jelly, Tripler and Skin frosting all have rituals built into them and are intended to be used in a prescribed way, to get closer to yourself. Skin Frosting for example, is an indulgent cocooning product that leaves your skin feeling plump and pampered. The tagline is Tune out yourself and tune into you. Ideal to be used in the evenings and accompanied by light lymphatic drainage, Gua sha or a cranial massage which helps deposit the product into skin and allow skin to achieve better circulation.
What factors influenced the decision to launch in the Middle East, and how do you anticipate the brand resonating with the beauty-conscious consumers in this region?
We see the middle east as a key market for Plenaire. At the intersection of east meets west, a vibrant consumer culture, an appreciation for fashion, holistic wellbeing and design is evident in the region. There is an appreciation for British brands and love of comfortable, modern luxury that we feel is very synergistic with Plenaire. We believe platforms like Droplet, Skin Frosting and Rose Jelly meet the skin needs of the Emirati customer perfectly, while providing a sense of everyday indulgence that is craved.
Image – Courtesy of Plenaire and Powder Beauty. Photographed by Yana Sheptovetskaya
The exclusive partnership with Powder Beauty is noteworthy. Could you share more about the collaboration and how it aligns with Plenaire’s values and mission, especially in the context of conscious beauty and emotional well-being?
Powder Beauty represents a set of brands in the Middle East that Plenaire identifies with perfectly. The team at Powder really understood our brand values and the consumer journey of our core customer. They have been careful to vet brands based on ingredient ideology, well being and social responsibility which resonates with the Plenaire vision.
How does the brand cater to a diverse audience, considering different skin types, tones, and concerns, while maintaining a curated and cohesive brand identity?
Because Plenaire have focused on Skincare, this has been somewhat easier. However, as a brand we realise that factors like age, ethnicity and melanin production effect women and men differently and therefore products need to be tested and tried within research or testing panel that has been recruited to represent this diversity. Our brand identity promotes diversity in beauty itself, propagating the ideal that beauty comes from differences rather than playing into a western or any type of beauty stereotype.
How do you strike a balance between making clean beauty accessible to a broad audience while maintaining a sense of luxury and exclusivity?
I think there is always going to be a tension between luxury and scale- the evergreen question is how do brands scale with integrity and still be approachable enough to buy regularly? With Plenaire, we have created a brand that we hope feels accessible, but still beautiful a set of beauty staples that people can reach for again and again. Ingredient ideology is also key: how do you blend raw materials and actives to create a memorable texture and sensory. What role does fragrance play/not play? How do you manage allergens. Its important for any masstige or luxury brand to consider these questions to create elegant formulations with superior sensory design and skin feel. So, for example with Plenaire skin frosting we wanted to create an addictive, indulgent sensory. Violet paste was about soothing the eyes and the skin. Rose Jelly was about embedding this idea of gentle, refreshing cleansing into a humdrum cleansing moment. Each product texture delivered a feeling of easy-going luxury while still maintaining a price point that was accessible enough to be used weekly, daily.
As someone deeply involved in skincare innovation, where do you see the future trends heading in the beauty and skincare industry, particularly in terms of sustainability, inclusivity, and the intersection of technology with beauty?
In a post COVID 19 world – it’s hard to say what longer-term impact this crisis will bring to not just one but all types of businesses, even outside Beauty. But if we have one thing to take away from this it is the somewhat hopeful idea that we have to find ways for technology to help keep our safety, health, and wellbeing intact even in the most challenging times.
Like Powder, we aim to have technology and community at the very heart of every part of our business, knowing that the way we shop and live today may be very different in the future. I think we will always want beautiful experiences, both in product or service, but perhaps the way in those products and services need to be delivered will need to be flexible and incorporate new ways of communicating.
In terms of innovation , what has been trending has been haircare and body- supplements and additives and a continued focus on ancillaries like SPF and lip care. On trend ingredients we are evaluating now : Vegan collagen, Ceramides, Peptides. Rosemary has been having a moment, too.
To discover Plenaire’s range in the Middle East, visit https://powderbeauty.com/
