What woman hasn’t wished for a peek inside a natural beauty lab? Better still, take home a to-go bag of the leftovers. Good news! This dream has come true, thanks to moss skincare.
Do you ever wonder what goes on in an organic beauty lab? And what the heck do they do with the bits they don’t use? I picture creators whipping up creams and combining oils. Studying lines on beakers and pouring gloriously gloppy mixtures into little glass pots. And oh, the scents would be divine.
Of course, this day dream also comes with me sampling the wares. A dab of this, a pinch of that, a few little items making their way home with me.
Lucky for us green beauty lovers, moss skincare has decided to share. THE L4B is an online exhibit of sorts, featuring the remnants of the brand’s “experiments, prototypes, and play” in limited quantities, never to be seen again. And yes, you can buy them!
moss founder, Celestyna Brozek, was kind enough to take us on a virtual tour and share a behind the scenes peek of THE L4B.
A Look Into THE L4B of moss skincare with Celestyna Brozek
Liz Thompson: How often do you create new experiments in THE L4B?
Celestyna Brozek: I wish I could do it all the time! The most fun part of my work at moss is creating and experimenting. Recently, my mother was in town and we made a ton of perfumes. These are currently aging right now and will be ready soon! THE L4B is veeeeerrry organic, and it is a simple way to share my passion with other people interested in the same thing. With that being said, the last thing I want is for it to become stressful, so I am very careful about putting any parameters or promises in place. I make new things when I have the time, energy and inclination. It is not very consistent and tends to occur in bursts of creation. Much like Nature itself. I am reading a book about oxygen now and it says that evolution happened in bursts, not consistently or evenly at all. So, THE L4B is very active, but in a very organic way. Periods of stillness perhaps..but something is brewing!
LT: What size are the samples?
CB: They are small – just a few uses. The novelty of the first use, the recalibration and rediscovery with the second use, the burgeoning familiarity with the third, some wistfulness perhaps creeping in with the fourth use. I emphasize that these are not “products” but little tastes or experiences. They are quite ephemeral. I sometimes wish skincare was like fashion (I come from a fashion design background) where there were collections every year and the brand/line was constantly evolving. Spring 2016 was passé as soon as Fall 2016 launched…. A hectic pace, but so much movement and ideas. Of course, then you have the opposite problem – instead of boredom, you have burnout! In skincare, people do not like it if a beloved formula is discontinued or altered. It is a lot more static, which I get, but THE L4B is my own little way of saying that I am a creator – I always have been and I am not ashamed to admit that I adore a little bit of chaos in lieu of commitment.
LT: So these are one-offs. Any chance they will eventually come to full sized life?
CB: A lot of times THE L4B has protos for the moss collection and I use it to get feedback as I tweak a product. So the final product will be in the moss lineup. If enough people let me know they love something, I always consider doing a limited edition run. Often, THE L4B products contain very expensive, or difficult, or rare ingredients that would not make sense to put into production.
LT: If I truly love one of the samples purchased from THE L4B, what are my chances of scoring one again?
CB: Since the test batches are small, the chances are pretty low. Anywhere from 50 on the very high end to five samples. It’s not meant to be commercial at all and perhaps isn’t very fair to the consumer. But we are so used to having everything we need and want at our fingertips immediately, and is that really okay? Sometimes, I feel quite guilty about how much I consume and how demanding I am–of perfection, of customer service, of everything! It doesn’t feel right. Maybe the experience of scarcity is meaningful.
LT: What types of products are available in the lab?
CB: Skincare, perfume, body care, maybe some makeup soon!
LT: What is the best way to keep up with the latest lab offerings?
CB: Sign up for moss emails and follow @mosskincare on Instagram. I may start a separate IG just for THE L4B and a separate email as well, but you would get notified through the moss media channels in that event. 🙂
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Image of rustic lab via Shutterstock