The brand, True Earth, is expected to launch in the next couple of months through an Australian pharmacy chain that the company declined to name.
Unique ingredients wanted
The cosmetics and health products developer wanted to bring a hemp seed oil cosmetic product to market as they noticed consumers were looking for natural yet unique ingredients.
“The rise of environmental damage, pollution and skin aggravators has contributed to the need to heal and balance the skin. Consumers want that, but they don’t want to go to a product that is not completely natural, so they are demanding unique natural ingredients as well as good technology,” said Simone Cunico, head of brands and communications for Bod Australia.
With the recent spotlight on cannabis legalisation, interest in the plant has gone beyond its medicinal benefits, turning hemp seed oil into the latest buzzy beauty ingredients.
“Hemp seed oil is described as nature’s ‘most balanced’ oil,” explained Cunico. “Omegas three, six and nine are all found in hemp seed oil, so it has anti-inflammatory benefits that can help heal skin conditions.”
Developing skin care products with hemp seed oil was a natural move for Bod Australia, which produces medicinal cannabis products and has access to quality hemp seed oil.
The firm ultimately aimed to develop an accessible family-centric skin care range, said Cunico. “True Earth was created with the Australian family in mind. It’s a skin care brand that provides benefits to the whole family, even those with the most sensitive of skin.”
In order to achieve this vision, the company paired hemp seed oil with another on-trend ingredient, Manuka honey. “Manuka honey has been in skin care for a while, but there’s more of a focus now as it comes from New Zealand, which is very respected in terms by both cosmetics and food industries,” said Cunico.
She added: “We looked at what we wanted to achieve with this brand, and because of the anti-bacterial properties of Manuka honey, it just made a really great pairing for hemp seed oil and gave us a richness to be able to offer it in our skin care range,” said Cunico.
Opportunities and challenges
Being a relatively small yet agile company, Bod Australia was able to respond to the trend fairly quickly. According to Cunico, it took the company worked for around 12 months to develop the products.
At launch, the brand will consist of six products including a cream cleanser, face serum, as well as body oils. By the end of the year, the company hopes to expand the range to at least 12 products with an additional six new products.
Cunico revealed that new products in the pipeline include a body exfoliator and face mask. “The range will be very full,” she assured.
While the company is not the first to bring hemp seed oil cosmetic products to market, Cunico noted that True Earth is unique in its positioning as an effective yet affordable brand.
“We are not the first to market, but what we’re doing is bringing hemp seed oil to products that actually work, are natural and are really affordable. Sometimes, hemp seed oil is used in such small amounts so [brands] can claim there is hemp seed oil but it’s not high enough to have an effect on the skin,” she said.
Trying to develop an effective product at an affordable price-point was one of the biggest challenges the company faced, said Cunico.
“We wanted this range to be affordable to the average family. Not everyone has A$200 to spend on a serum. Our serum will be around the A$45 mark so the biggest challenge was to deliver that product and its ingredients to that price-point.”
At the moment, said Cunico, the brand will not be looking into a cannabidiol-based (CBD) skin care range yet. “It’s not legal for [Australia] yet, so we will not be going down that path yet.”