Catching up with Consul General: Finnish brand Lumene offers sustainable beauty products for Americans

Lumene is a natural beauty brand from Finland with a mission to bring sustainable Nordic beauty products to the limelight for American consumers. The company prioritize ingredients developed from wild Nordic plants, as well as ingredients developed from industry side streams that would otherwise go to waste. Johanna Paavilainen, Lumene North America General Manager tells more.

Mika Koskinen: LUMENE recently launched its online shop in the U.S. market – what has the reception been like? How are the American consumers’ buying habits different from the Finnish?

Johanna Paavilainen: Our consumers have warmly welcomed our U.S. online store! I’ve received many messages from our fans telling me how they love LUMENE products and that they’ve been waiting to order directly from us. A significant share of Americans buys beauty online. While the “big box” retail stores, such as Target and Walmart, hold about half of the cosmetic products purchases in the U.S., the growth of beauty e-commerce has been tremendous. Beauty e-com is still a younger area in Finland, yet it has started growing fast, accelerated by the pandemic. The pandemic has also affected beauty purchase behavior globally, hitting makeup sales more than skincare and personal care. This year, the U.S. beauty industry is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels, led by younger, more diverse consumers than before.

 

MK: The choice of distribution channels is of utmost importance in the beauty sector. Did you reconsider your overall logistics strategy after opening your U.S. LUMENE site?

JP: Yes, certainly. Even though we already had an established logistics system and long-term partners in place here in the U.S., we implemented a thorough project to choose the most suitable e-commerce partners for us. We decided to supply our online store with a new e-com specialized 3PL partner while keeping our retail business with our existing partners and processes.

 

MK: What do you think sets LUMENE apart from the rest and gives it an edge in the saturated beauty landscape? 

JP: In our homeland Finland as well as in Scandinavia, LUMENE is an iconic, much-loved brand that everyone knows. Many of our consumers have a deep connection with the brand and memories of decades.

MK: What differentiates us from other beauty brands here in the U.S. is the concept of Nordic Beauty.

JP: Our potent natural Nordic ingredients in our formulas are truly unique for us. In the hyper-competed U.S. beauty market, there is currently a new wave of consumers seeking fresh niche products with the sustainable and clean, plant-based offering - our Nordic Beauty approach resonates well with these consumers.

Meeting the needs of the ever more health-conscious consumers by promoting a natural healthy look separates us from the traditional beauty norms in favor of a fresh, naturally luminous look. Our consumers love our simple yet effective skincare routines, consisting of a few excellent products that match their busy lifestyles.

LUMENE products are of excellent quality-price ratio: following the Finnish “everyman’s rights” principle, we want to give back to the Nordic nature that has given us so much, but also to our consumers, by making our products available for many. We want to offer high-performance Nordic beauty for a better future.

 

MK: LUMENE draws its imagery and inspiration from Finnish nature, and sustainability plays an essential part in the company’s ethos – could you elaborate on its significance? What are the key things you do to protect the environment and promote sustainability both at home and abroad?

JP: Our approach to beauty and skincare begins at Nordic nature and its unique ingredients: from pure oxygen-rich, pH-balanced, and skin-friendly Arctic spring water to an expertly selected variety of wild-crafted Nordic ingredients. Finland is an amazing place in the world to source our natural ingredients. It’s one of the last un-spoilt sanctuaries on Earth, with some of the forests and wetlands certified organic and one of the purest water in the world. This power of wild Nordic nature is what we want to bring to our consumers; promote well-being through an effortless approach to beauty, and help our consumers achieve their own idea of beautiful.

LUMENE is a pioneer in a holistic approach to sustainability. We began making serious progress embracing the circular economy already decades ago, from product development, ingredient sourcing, water usage, and packaging through manufacturing, logistics, and to the use of the product and its post-consumer phase. Every decision we make is an opportunity to be a good corporate citizen and meet our goals of becoming carbon neutral by 2025 and zero waste by 2030.

Our ingredients are thoughtfully selected not only for their ability to nourish the skin but also for their local origin and sustainable source. Rather than using plants from organic, fair trade, or conventional agriculture, wild-crafting ingredients from their natural habitat stands out as a more ecological approach for us. We sustainably hand-pick the native Nordic botanicals only during the narrow harvesting seasons. We want to cherry-pick the best ingredients and let nature regenerate and remain in balance, allowing an endless source of ingredients and maintenance of the local ecosystem. Besides wild-crafting, 50% of our Nordic ingredients are developed from side-stream products of jam, juice, other food industries, and the paper industry. These upcycled ingredients that would otherwise go to waste are valuable raw material for us.

LUMENE is committed to finding, using, and constantly improving sustainable packaging solutions. At the end of 2019, we began to remove all plastic wrapping from our products. As of last year, all cartons and moisturizer jars are 100% recyclable. Our plastic packaging will be made of 80% recycled plastic or plastic made from renewable resources by 2025, and we aim to use 20% less plastic in all packaging. We are also introducing new biobased packaging and refill options. We constantly rethink the overall product life-cycle - from ingredients and packaging to production processes as well as the end consumer - through the full closed loop. That is circular economy in action.

 

MK: What are LUMENE’s most successful products, and why?

JP: Our formulation and product portfolio strategy are based on sustainability and innovation. We are skincare experts, offering high-performance products targeted to different skin types and concerns at different ages. All our products are developed and manufactured in Finland.

Our vitamin C skincare range, NORDIC-C [VALO], has become a consumer favorite and is also my favorite collection. These products are proven to boost skin energy, enhance radiance and improve complexion evenness to unveil a natural healthy glow day after day. The NORDIC-C range is based on a blend of Arctic cloudberry, a wild super-fruit packed with vitamins A, C, E, and fatty acids with an extra dose of stabilized bio-available vitamin C and with hyaluronic acid and pure Arctic spring water.

Our intensely moisturizing skincare collection, NORDIC HYDRA [LÄHDE] is powered by two sources of ideal hydration: pure Arctic spring water and hydrating, mineral-rich organic Nordic birch sap. Also, we have a 100% fragrance-free collection designed for sensitive skin, ARCTIC HYDRA CARE [ARKTIS], and an anti-aging line NORDIC BLOOM [LUMO]. The latter is based on our recent innovation, natural Nordic Berry Pre-Retinol Complex, and our patented Nordic lingonberry extract that has become very popular among our consumers.

With all this work, LUMENE has a proven track record of building a unique portfolio of first-to-market and multi-award-winning products.

 

MK: There has been a significant shift in how people discover and shop the beauty category; how has LUMENEresponded?

JP: Long controlled by brick n mortar conglomerates, the U.S. beauty purchases have turned online. Besides launching our online store, we have deepened our collaboration with our carefully selected retail partners who have developed omnichannel strategies. As a result, our sales from the 3rd party online distribution are also growing.

To reach out to the consumers at the time and place of purchase decisions, we have developed our digital marketing strategies and social media presence, focusing especially on the growing Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. A highly personalized approach in our marketing communications and collaborating with the right kind of micro and macro influencers have made a big difference.

 

MK: Would you like to share some of your plans with us – for instance, what could be LUMENE’s next steps in the U.S. market?

JP: At LUMENE, we are proud of our Finnish roots and continue sharing our Nordic vision of beauty worldwide.

Looking ahead, the global shift towards more simple, healthier, cleaner beauty routines aligns directly with our brand principles. We know that our philosophy of natural, authentic beauty, paired with functionality, resonates with the American consumers looking to harmonize and simplify their beauty routines.

To respond to the ever-changing retail landscape and consumer purchase behavior, we are constantly developing our strategies, widening our distribution to new carefully selected beauty retailers, and expanding our assortment to meet and precede the changing consumer needs.

As a Finnish American working for a Nordic brand expanding into the U.S., it gives me great pleasure to share aspects of my dual cultures through my work at LUMENE. The brand’s commitment to sustainability and the preservation of the natural environment is a source of immense pride for me, and that mindset underpins everything we do at LUMENE USA.