E.L.F. Beauty eliminates 1 million pounds of packaging materials

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Nov 16, 2021

Oakland, California-based cosmetics company E.L.F. Beauty announced on Monday that it has eliminated more than one million pounds of packaging materials through its Project Unicorn initiative.

First launched in 2019, the initiative aims to elevate the brand’s product assortment, presentation, and on-shelf presence through innovative streamlining of product packaging.

This year, as part of the initiative, it stripped away secondary cartons, vacuum formed trays and paper insert cards, and slimmed down secondary packaging, across more than 200 SKUs in multiple categories. One SKU alone — E.L.F.’s holy grail Clear Lip Lacquer — shed 66,000 pounds of packaging, and was updated with sustainably sourced cartons. The results follow its 2020 efforts, where it eliminated an estimated 650,000 pounds of waste.

“We named this initiative Project Unicorn because, like the mythical creature, no one thought it could actually be possible,” said chief creative officer, Ashley Rosebrook. “We were determined, and through design and teamwork, we proved it could work; when we thought outside the box, we were able to eliminate the box.”

“Project Unicorn is at the heart of our purpose platform,” added Tarang Amin, E.L.F. Beauty’s chairman and CEO. “We’re proud of reaching the one-million-pound milestone and are excited by the progress we’re making on our journey across all our brands to reduce package footprints. We look forward to continuing to push boundaries as we aim to make the world a cleaner place.”

Earlier this month, the company announced second-quarter net sales of $91.9 million, up 27 percent and marking the company’s eleventh consecutive quarter of net sales growth. 

Looking ahead, the company, which along with its namesake E.L.F. brand, owns W3LL PEOPLE and Alicia Keys’ Keys Soulcare brand, expects to achieve full-year revenues of between $364 million and $370 million in fiscal 2022.