HELENE RAVLICH: LOCAL BEAUTY

ghd Deluxe Gift Set

HELENE RAVLICH: LOCAL BEAUTY THE BEST OF HOLIDAY 2020

After a tough year we could all do with a little extra self-care this Christmas, and for many, beauty treats and wellness offerings are much appreciated gifts. I’ve rounded up some of my favourites for the loved ones in your life, benefitting from top to toe.

THE GIFT OF GREAT HAIR DAYS Every year come holiday season, ghd really hits one out of the park. Their Christmas collections are always beautifully presented and always unabashedly glamorous - which I love. This year’s collection is inspired by constellations, and comes in a riot of iridescent whites, and deep luxurious midnight blues. At the top of the pile is the incredible ghd Deluxe Gift Set, which comes with an RRP of $650, so definitely for those on Santa’s ‘good’ list! Featuring the iconic ghd platinum+ SMART styler and the new ghd helios professional hairdryer, both dusted with a luxurious white finish and satin gold accent details, they come ready boxed in a luxury vanity case that has to be seen to be believed. They are also offering their iconic styling tools in a variety of beautiful packaging options, such as the ghd platinum+ SMART styler presented in a luxury vanity case all its own.

FOR THE M.A.C OBSESSIVE M.A.C always creates beautiful Christmas gifting, and at all sorts of price points depending on your budget. Their 2020 Holiday collection is called Frosted Firework, and it looks as dazzling as it sounds. The line-up celebrates glimmer, shimmer, and shine, and was inspired by ‘the surprise, delight and ambient beauty of fireworks’. The 20-piece collection consists of frosted pink-packaged products for eyes, lips, and face, with five shades of eye-shadow, five lipsticks, five lip glosses, three dual-ended eyeliner pencils, and two shades of highlighter. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a holiday collection without a line-up of drool-worthy gift sets to go along with the individual offerings for loved ones or just yourself!

Oribe Signature Essentials Travel Set

FOR THE LUXE HAIRCARE LOVER Oribe, the eponymous product line from one of the most influential hairdressers of all time, defines luxury in hair care. The brand doesn’t compromise on any detail, and its creators leveraged skincare technology and natural actives to deliver high-performance, treatment-based products that deliver major results. Its award-winning packaging was designed to make the experience of using the products as beautiful as the formulas themselves, and this year their holiday gifting sets are a collaboration with Native American artist Rowan Harrison of Two Tribes Pottery. Harrison’s original designs utilise traditional Southwestern indigenous decorative motifs that draw upon the ancient beauty of the natural world, and the kits contain all you need for beautiful hair.

THE GIFT OF WELLNESS One of my favourite rituals is to spend 45 minutes in an infrared sauna every Sunday afternoon at Hana, a beautifully warm and inviting wellness space in the Scrapyard development in Grey Lynn. Buying a concession card and committing to a weekly session was the most amazing gift to self, and it would also make a great surprise for a loved one who maybe needs a nudge to slow down. The main attraction for many is most definitely the aforementioned private infrared saunas, and the photobiomodulation (red light) therapy pods, which you can just lie back in and enjoy.

Oribe Dry Styling collection

FOR THE CLEAN BEAUTY FIEND Gucci Westman’s Westman Atelier makeup brand – available at Mecca Cosmetica – is the place where clean, nourishing beauty meets serious luxury. The brand’s holiday offering this year includes The Shanghai Edition - a special edition makeup wardrobe inspired by the energy and spirit of Shanghai. Tucked inside a lacquered box symbolising joy, luck, and happiness, it contains a luxurious clean beauty edit built on the classics: a vibrant red lip and supernaturally beautiful lashes which come in the form of Lip Suede in Les Rouges and Eye Love You Mascara.

Westman Atelier

FOR THE AESTHETE Aesop’s 2020 holiday collection continues the brand’s history of curating elegant and inspired gifting options. This year the theme is ‘Sensory Chronicles’, and pays tribute to the remarkable power of the imagination. In a year of restricted travel, they are offering the opportunity to grant the gift of flight– albeit imaginary flight – with formulations to rouse the senses and delight the mind. Each gift kit, housed in a biodegradable case made from 100 per cent recycled materials, offers a mix of Aesop’s most desired products along with a forgotten work of literature available to download as an eBook or audio file providing escapism and discovery.

Aesop Gift Kit - The Chance Companion

THE PERFECT FESTIVE CANDLE An overlooked fact: Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a festive candle to get you into the spirit of the season. From warming cinnamon scents to fresh pine and fir, the best of the bunch conjure up Yuletide atmosphere with a single sniff. Diptyque’s limited-edition Christmas candles are practically collector’s items, and this year’s offering now at Mecca Cosmetica is as covetable as ever. My pick is ‘Sapin de Nuit’ for the perfect warm woodland scent, which is also available as a room spray to take on the road. (HELENE RAVLICH)

Diptyque Holiday Candle

SCHWARZKOPF TO RECYCLE ALL HAIR CARE PACKAGING IN NZ

Schwarzkopf has partnered with TerraCycle® - a global leader in recycling hard-to-recycle waste - to make ALL retail hair care, hair colour and hair styling products recyclable nationwide.

The Schwarzkopf Cares Recycling Programme encourages consumers to recycle any brand of retail hair products – presenting a meaningful opportunity to divert millions of units of hair products from landfill.

Schwarzkopf is the only hair care brand in New Zealand giving consumers the opportunity to make the previously unrecyclable recyclable. Hair care products are part of the daily routines of millions of New Zealanders and hair product packaging has historically been difficult to recycle. Kiwis buy approximately 21 million units of hair care every year*. Unfortunately, that also means tonnes of plastic headed to landfill – all in the name of beauty. Until now.

From now, consumers are invited to register online at TerraCycle.com to be part of the Schwarzkopf Cares Recycling Programme. The innovative recycling programme allows consumers to recycle all product packaging including trigger heads, pumps, tubes, caps and tubs, hair product aerosols, including hair spray, mousse, dry shampoo and hair colour products including bottles, pumps, sachets, gloves, plastic stirrers and tubes. Registration is free and open to individuals, households, schools, offices, and community groups.

According to general manager of Henkel Beauty Care Retail ANZ, Peter Rigby, the programme builds on Schwarzkopf’s commitment to taking action when it comes to sustainability.

“We’re proud to be launching the Schwarzkopf Cares Recycling Programme in partnership with TerraCycle in Australia and New Zealand. This is one step closer to our goals to ensure all packaging is 100% recyclable or reusable by the year 2025. Our partnership with TerraCycle provides an opportunity for all consumers to recycle all brands of hair products. We believe that partnerships such as these are key in our sustainability journey and look forward to growing our sustainability movement as a key pillar within Henkel Beauty Care Retail ANZ,” he said. Consumers can collect used packaging from hair care, hair colour and styling products from any brand, and when ready, download a shipping label from the www.terracycle.com to mail in for recycling.

TerraCycle Australia and New Zealand general manager Jean Bailliard said he was pleased that TerraCycle and Henkel have worked together to offer a recycling solution for all hair care products and provide an easy, nationally-accessible solution for all parts of those products, including those that can be tricky to recycle through kerbside recycling programs.

“Not only are we diverting tonnes of plastic from landfill, but by recycling products through this program, consumers can also earn points which can be converted to cash and donated to a charitable organisation of their choice.

“Once we receive the items, the packaging is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products, while metals can be smelted and transformed into new alloys,” he said.

For every shipment of waste sent to TerraCycle as part of the Schwarzkopf Cares Recycling Programme, participants will earn credits to be donated to a charity or not-for-profit of their choice – one kilo of waste equals a $1 donation.

Schwarzkopf is also working to reduce the amount of virgin plastic used in the manufacture of their products by using more recycled plastic, reducing the amount of plastic overall, and using bio-based plastics.

Operating across 21 countries, TerraCycle partners with leading consumer product companies, retailers and cities to recycle products and packages. TerraCycle was named #10 in Fortune magazine’s list of 52 companies changing the world and has donated over $44 million to schools and charities and also won over 200 awards for sustainability since its founding more than 15 years ago.  PN