This month we’re delving into why ‘Less is More’ is one of our central philosophies here at MV. Achieving more with less is logical, honest and for us very rewarding, so Sharon and the team have long felt that using fewer ingredients for greater efficacy seems like a no-brainer.
However, if you’ve ever meandered through a cosmetic isle and turned over a skincare product to study its ingredients list, you’ll know that it often reads like a long, complicated science experiment. It’s tempting to think that more ingredients = added benefits, especially as our culture puts us in consumption overdrive, but really, it often just reduces efficacy of the core ingredients.
Think of a homemade tomato sauce. A wonderful tomato sauce relies on deliciously ripe, aromatic tomatoes, which we may simply simmer with zippy torn basil and a drizzle of EVO. The culprit of a sub-par tomato sauce, however, is nearly always low-quality tomatoes. No matter how much sugar and salt you fling into it, you will never mimic the natural sweetness and punch of high-quality tomatoes.
In the same vein, our quadruple award-winning Rose Plus Booster is a testament to how minimal ingredients of the highest quality are vital for an incredible product. Simply by honouring 3 antioxidant rich organic plant oils, and one of the world’s most precious essential oils (Bulgarian Rose Damascena) in high concentration, it has established a cult following.
Sometimes, ingredients are simply cheap fillers to increase profits. They may be added purely for texture and feel, with no skin benefits. Sharon shared with us in our Cash Cow blog that most eye creams are simply a very light lotion with a higher water content, but of course, they are marketed to us as essential.
The result of this is that the uninitiated – i.e. almost all of us - can feel anxious when we haven’t invested enough time and money into “essential” products for our skin. Many of us have been made to feel that beauty is scarce – that we don’t have enough of it, and that we could acquire “more” of it if we lather on every single new ‘on-trend’ ingredient on the market.
Instead of living through the less is more philosophy – we are made to feel less than, so we will buy more. This scarcity mindset keeps us trapped on the commercial beauty industry’s carousel – keeping our insecurity and self-doubt on a loop so we funnel more money into the cosmetic industry.
But there is a way to get off the carousel. When our products are multipurpose, we are able to adopt a mindset of abundance. It becomes less about “What else do I need to make me feel better?” and more about “What else can I do with the things I already own?”.
At MV, we have hard-working hero products which multi-task, like star performer, Pure Jojoba. Jojoba is a liquid wax similar to the skin’s own sebum, and can be used to remove eye makeup, strengthen lashes, hydrate the face and protect skin whilst showering.
Pure, simple and successful on all skin types, Jojoba is a beautiful example of how fewer ingredients – 1 only in fact - can tick so many boxes in a bathroom cabinet, and help all of us to embrace a gentler, more mindful ‘less is more’ approach to beauty.
