The 2022 CEW Responsible Beauty Award for Innovation winners UpCircle have made a name for themselves as the indie brand pioneering the “by-product beauty” trend. They are the UK’s no#1 upcycled beauty brand* and are known for being a young brand who speak up on issues important to them. Following on from their campaign for women’s safety they are now turning their attention to the cost of living crisis. “With inflation rates at the highest they’ve been for 40 years the UK is in crisis. To help understand the impact this crisis is having on their audience, UpCircle Beauty conducted a research panel with YouGov and what they found is concerning.”
Research by UpCircle Beauty found that…
1. 1 in 5 people in the UK are worried about being able to afford skincare products due to the cost of living crisis. This number rises to 1 in 3 people for those aged 18-25 in the UK
2. 1 in 6 people are worried about being able to afford sun protection products due to the rising cost of living. This is a worrying statistic given the serious health implications of not wearing a SPF especially during the heatwave.
3. 20% of people in the UK have found their spending on skincare increased since the cost of living crisis. This figure aligns with the RRP increases many skincare brands have had to announce in recent months.
4. 1 in 4 people have either decreased their spending or stopped purchasing skincare products entirely since the cost of living crisis began. Those that identify as male are twice as likely than females to have stopped purchasing skincare products due to the cost of living crisis.
5. Almost a quarter of the UK are more concerned about the condition of their skin since before the cost of living crisis began. Those aged 25-34 are the most concerned of all age groups about the condition of their skin.
6. 1/3 of the UK have sacrificed or have considered sacrificing their ethics and values when buying skincare due to the cost of living crisis. This means that people are having to sacrifice their values like vegan and cruelty-free in order to purchase essential skincare items.
Anna Brightman, Co-founder of UpCircle says, “Normally we’re not ones for a doom and gloom headline but the numbers are hard to put a positive spin on. Our research enables us to deeper understand how the cost of living crisis is impacting people in the UK. We’re responding to our findings by implementing five key “cost of living commitments,” including freezing the RRPs of all our products until the end of 2022 and donating £1,200 worth of stock to Toiletries Amnesty. UpCircle was founded on making sustainable skincare at an accessible price point. We want sustainable products to be available to all because price point shouldn’t be a barrier to ethical purchasing. When we found that almost a third of the UK have sacrificed or are considering sacrificing their values when purchasing skincare, we knew something had to be done.”
UpCircle has used these insights to generate five “Cost of Living Commitments to our community” and has pledged the following:
1. RRP’s of all UpCircle products frozen until 2023
2. Donation of £1,2000 worth of stock to Toiletries Amnesty
3. Team wide volunteer week at The Euston Foodbank
4. Lobbied local MPs to provide financial support to families in need
5. Use our platforms to reach 200,000+ weekly with knowledge and tips to help cost save
*All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2145 adults of which 1137 were female. Fieldwork was undertaken between 13th – 14th July 2022. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).
