The Truth About Sustainable Beauty with AORA Mexico Founder Nour Tayara

Summary

Gloss Angeles: The Truth About Sustainable Beauty with AORA Mexico Founder Nour Tayara

Hosts: Kirbie Johnson & Sara Tan
Guest: Nour Tayara (Founder, AORA Mexico)
Date: April 24, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this engaging conversation, Kirbie and Sara chat with Nour Tayara, founder of the sustainable beauty brand AORA Mexico. Together, they dig into the realities, challenges, and creative solutions within the movement for sustainability in beauty, drawing on Nour's extensive experience in global cosmetics marketing and his mission to make the industry plastic-free. The episode provides listeners with an honest, in-depth look at what it really takes to create a sustainable brand that balances beauty, luxury, and genuine eco-impact.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nour’s Background in Beauty and Sustainability

• Career Path:
  Nour details his nearly 20-year journey in beauty, much of it spent at L'Oréal in marketing and sustainability.

• Inside Look at Big Beauty Business:
  He describes the monumental scale of beauty product manufacturing, the inertia of major corporations, and why large organizations struggle to innovate around sustainability goals.

  • “L’Oréal is the biggest beauty group in the world... a lipstick... produced in billions and billions and billions.” (02:41)

• Barriers to Sustainability in Big Beauty:

  • Organizational silos mean the sustainability, product development, and packaging teams each have misaligned goals, making meaningful change difficult.
  • Legal and regulatory constraints often stifle authentic communication about sustainability.
  • “The first thing that leaves is authenticity... more and more people correct the document.” (05:10)

2. Building AORA Mexico — Purpose and Philosophy

• Origin Story:
  A personal journey—stepping away from L'Oréal during the pandemic, time spent soul-searching in Mexico, and meeting co-founder Rodrigo. Nour, who has Lebanese roots, found inspiration and partnership to merge local culture with sustainability.

  • “We built a beautiful team in Mexico City. We connected immediately... we want to build together instead of take from the culture.” (08:26)

• Brand Identity and Mission:

  • The name AORA (spelled without an "H" for style and to stand out among global brands) signals: "Mexico is now; we are doing this now." (09:33)
  • From day one, the mission has been 100% plastic-free packaging and a celebration of Mexican culture.

3. Rethinking Packaging & Rethinking Luxury

Innovative Packaging Approach

• AORA uses mono-materials (e.g., aluminum/metal instead of plastic), creating recyclable, beautiful, and functional packaging that doesn’t compromise on design or experience.
  • “Our palette, for example, is 100% mono material… you can just throw it curbside recycling… metal never even stays in the garbage because… you can sell it.” (12:01)
  • “We wanted to use noble materials.” (12:03)

Challenging the Notion of ‘Luxury’

• The industry has conditioned consumers to view black plastic and mini/travel sizes as luxury, but these are often non-recyclable and environmentally harmful.
  • “We’ve literally been told black plastic is the chicest… zero, it doesn't go through… it will never be recycled.” (15:38)
  • “Travel-size and the chicness and the cuteness... that’s pretty bad... completely unneeded.” (15:46)

4. The Realities of Recycling in Beauty

• Why Black Plastic & Minis Aren’t Recyclable:
  Black plastic can’t be optically detected in recycling centers and is frequently contaminated by electronic waste.

  • “It's like leaving a black object in the dark.” (16:16)
  • Small items (<2x2 inches) fall through recycling machinery, so almost all lipstick tubes, liners, and minis go straight to landfill.
  • “Already the small thing, you’re out... It’s like showing up to the rides where you have to be a certain height and you don’t have a ticket. Either way, you're out.” (19:27)

• Multi-material Components:
  Most beauty packages mix materials (plastic, glass, metal) and are essentially non-recyclable because they can't be separated.

  • “Plastic is not a material that gets recycled... it gets downcycled... becomes microplastic.” (19:42)

5. Moving the Conversation Forward: Beyond Guilt

• Manufacturer Responsibility:
  Nour emphasizes that manufacturers—not just consumers—must shoulder responsibility for sustainability.
  • “The responsibility is a manufacturer’s responsibility... the industry is even making [consumers] feel worse.” (21:15)
• Celebrating Solutions, not Shame:
  The brand aims to make sustainability inviting, optimistic, and aspirational, not judgmental.

6. Impact & Unique Contributions

• AORA’s Circularity Strategy:
  For each product sold, the company recovers nine times that product’s weight in plastic, actively reducing environmental waste.
  • “Every time you purchase one product from Aura, we recover nine times the amount of plastic. So we're nine times plastic negative.” (22:53)
• Refocusing Luxury:
  Defining “future luxury” as beauty in lasting, high-quality, responsibly made objects.
  • “Luxury should be about that... having an item that stays and stays long, and it's all about quality.” (21:15)

7. Rethinking Glass and Materials

• Complications of Glass:
  While glass is sometimes reusable (e.g., Mexican Coke bottles), colored glass for cosmetics is rarely recycled and often wasted due to industry preferences.
  • “When there’s a stream, glass is really good... When there isn't a stream, glass is harder.” (23:24)

8. Consumer Empowerment & Practical Advice

• What Can Consumers Do?

  • Use up products intentionally.
  • Demand mono-materials and better object design from brands.
  • Nest small packages into larger containers to help recycling.
  • Understand most impact must come from brands, not just individual effort.
  • “Honestly, there’s not much [consumers can do]... it’s about brands and manufacturers.” (33:23)

• Why Refills May Not Work:
  The impulse-driven nature of beauty purchases makes refill formats less appealing to typical consumers.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Big Beauty and Sustainability:
  “It was very hard to be genuine... the first thing that leaves is authenticity.” — Nour Tayara (05:10)

• On Redefining ‘Premium’ Packaging:
  “We wanted to build a brand that shows sustainability in a flavorful, sexy, cool way.” — Nour Tayara (10:20)

• On Black Plastic:
  “We’ve literally been told black plastic is the chicest… It will never be recycled.” — Nour Tayara (15:38)

• On Misconceptions about Minis:
  “What’s ridiculous is when someone is doing a mini of a mascara… a mascara is already a mini. That is a bit crazy.” — Nour Tayara (19:19)

• On Responsibility:
  “For me, the responsibility is a manufacturer’s responsibility because consumers feel guilty enough... the industry is even making them almost feel worse.” — Nour Tayara (21:15)

• On ‘Plastic Negative’:
  “Every time you purchase one product from Aura, we recover nine times the amount of plastic… together we can make a negative impact.” — Nour Tayara (22:53)

• On Future Luxury:
  “Luxury should be about... having an item that stays and stays long, and it’s all about quality.” — Nour Tayara (21:15)

• On Consumer Choices:
  “Everyone should be demanding nicer objects in general.” — Nour Tayara (27:56)

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Brand Achievements & Hero Product Spotlight

AORA’s Growth:

• Launched in Mexico in early 2024, US in 2025.
• +400% growth (from a small base), featured in Super Bowl halftime show, Oscars, and received notable industry awards (Allure, Oprah Midlife Award).

Breakout Product – Inicia Illuminating Primer:

• Multi-use, skin-care-feeling, anti-pollution, 12-hour wear, and a huge viral hit on beauty social media.
  • “We had produced 10,000 units... we almost were done with them within 24 hours.” (31:14)
  • “It feels like skin care and that’s why I gravitate towards it.” — Sara Tan (30:44)

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Practical Takeaways for Listeners

If you want to make a difference:

• Use up what you have before purchasing more
• Ask brands to use mono-materials and larger, better-designed packaging
• Don’t blame yourself for the industry’s waste: “Brands and manufacturers are the ones that should be thinking of... better products. It’s about inception and design.” (33:23)

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Key Timestamps

• [00:55] Nour’s current skincare & perfume routine
• [02:41] Insights into big beauty & scale of waste
• [05:10] Challenges of authentic sustainability in corporate PR
• [09:33] The story and mission behind AORA
• [12:01] How AORA achieves beautiful, plastic-free packaging
• [16:16] Why black plastic & minis can’t be recycled
• [21:12] Manufacturer/brand responsibility vs. consumer guilt
• [22:53] Aura’s “plastic negative” circularity commitment
• [23:24] Why glass isn’t always the sustainable solution
• [30:02] Inicia primer going viral & changing the game
• [33:23] What consumers can actually do to help

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Tone & Style

The episode is lively, witty, and educational—punctuated with Nour’s good-humored metaphors and the hosts’ enthusiastic, informed banter. Throughout, the discussion balances realism about the challenges with optimism about solutions, and never loses focus on the joy and pleasure of beauty.

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Final Note

Big things are coming:
AORA has just launched in Credo, with more expansion on the horizon—a sign that truly plastic-free beauty may soon go mainstream.

"Plastic free is going mainstream." — Nour Tayara (35:35)

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Hi, kirby.

[C]

Hi, sarah. Welcome to los angeles. Noor Tayara. Welcome to Gloss Angeles. We're thrilled to have you.

[A]

Thank you. I am thrilled myself. This is a big moment for me.

[B]

Thanks for wearing our colors. You look fab.

[A]

Didn't mean it, but it's perfect.

[C]

We kick off every episode with a guest by asking, what's on your face right now?

[A]

I have. I saw Sophie Pavitt when I was in New York, and she gave me a facial, and it was life changing, literally. I've never felt so good, so glowy. So I've been using her mandelic, which I didn't think. I don't have acne, so I didn't think I need it, but I've been using it. She said use it three times a week. And it's been just very fresh on my skin. And I have right now her new sunscreen, the purple one. Whenever I have an important day, and this is an important day, I start with the Forever Eye mask from Dieu.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

So those are the two things, really. I have a very, very simple routine, but. And at night, I do Instant angel from you. Like, it's very skincare, very easy.

[B]

Love it. I love that. I mean, both the mandelic acid serum and the sunscreen are so good.

[C]

Do you have a fragrance?

[A]

I do. I wear the same fragrance for the past, like, 16 years, and it's from Penhaligon, and it's called Halfeti.

[C]

Ooh.

[B]

What does that smell like?

[A]

It's woodsy with a bit of oud. It's very, very traditional, like musky, very Arab, very oriental in that sense. It just smells really good on you and on me. And you know when you get a. You. When you get a really good compliment in an elevator?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it's not that you're overwhelming people in the elevator, it's just that you smell good. So once I got that, I'm like, I'm sticking to this one.

[B]

Yes. I love it. That's your signature. You've worked in beauty for nearly two decades, spending a majority of your career at l', Oreal, overseeing marketing for various brand brands in the portfolio. You also had a stint working in sustainability for the conglomerate. What did you learn about waste and consumption during your time there a lot.

[A]

L' Oreal is the biggest beauty group in the world with some of the biggest brands. So I saw the problem really close because you can see one that a lipstick, for example, from some of these big brands, it's the most produced lipstick in the world. It is produced in billions and billions and billions. So you get to understand one that that machine is very hard to move. Like it's like one of those trains or planes. You cannot just change course of a ship very easily. You know, you change one thing and you can lose 10% of consumers, and that is hundreds of millions of dollars. That is not if someone doesn't recognize their lip gloss or lipstick. So that's the kind of things you start thinking about. You realize how much we know, but we cannot apply just because we know that black plastic or multimaterials or small products cannot be recycled. But it just has to keep going on, going on, going on. Very fragmented. I think the minute you're in big, big groups, you see a lot of fragmentation in general because you have a sustainability team and then a PD team and a packaging team. And they all have yearly objectives. And if everyone's yearly objective strategy doesn't match, plastic's not going to make it this year or some things. And then everyone's so far from each other. And I think how far you are from innovation. And unfortunately, I still see it. I think our industry will go a long, long way if everyone that works in big, big groups starts showing up to makeup. In la Makeup in New York, it's only entrepreneurs and only startups, the big beauty brands, because of fears. A lot of manufacturers are afraid that the marketers are going to steal their ideas in big groups. And big groups are afraid of bringing their marketers because they might have another idea or they might actually mess up that Chinese wall that's supposed to be built so that you're not stealing ideas because it's very easy to steal without wanting to steal. You don't even think about it, but then it ends up on your portfolio. So I would say these are my main thoughts of, like, what happened when I was. When I was in a big group? Yeah.

[C]

I'm curious about your marketing background and then now really focusing on sustainability. In the past, what was hard about your job in terms of marketing? Sustainability, if at all?

[A]

I would say. I mean, it was super hard. It was super hard because you could not lead with sustainability. I still don't believe we can lead in sustainability, by the way. And l' Oreal it was different because it was very much of an equation marketing. You have to have your points of difference, your reason to believe, your slogan. It has to be less than eight words. It's a lot of things like that. If you cannot pass, everything has to go through Nielsen tests and TV ads. So it's very hard to push something there. It's also very hard to be genuine. And I think just because you cannot go through that many filters and stay genuine, like at some point in the sifter of ideas, the first thing that leaves is authenticity once more and more and more people correct the document. And I do think that something like sustainability, I've realized with age and experience, it needs you to be authentic because it's a beautiful topic and it's a fun topic. I've also learned that when you're in a big group like that, there's so many rules, so many legal. So there's a lot of regulations that make you. You have to be almost perfect in what you claim. The percentage this. But actually the best solutions to our world today, like an imperfect environmentalist is the best kind of environmentalist. A perfect one will never make it. If we are so afraid of making mistakes, which big groups are because lawsuits, because just it's too many people, it's too many rules. You were never gonna make it. So now I'm a bit more imperfect. And that is, I think takes you a longer, longer way.

[C]

Okay, so your bio says you're on a mission to make the beauty industry plastic free.

[A]

That's me.

[C]

And your brand is celebratory of Mexico. Okay, how did Mexico become a part of the equation here?

[A]

Fun story. I've been going to Mexico for over 20 years. By the way, Lebanon is very involved in Mexico as a diaspora because so I have so much family because since like 1906, there's over 600000 Lebanese in Mexico. So we've been ingrained really well in society.

[B]

So is there a specific place in Mexico or Mexico City?

[A]

No, it's actually much more Puebla.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And the Caribbean.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

O where it arrived makes sense because the ships arrived.

[B]

Totally.

[A]

Many people, by the way, would arrive in immigration not knowing where they're going. Everyone thought they're going to New York, but that's why you end up right now with a lot of Lebanese or Syrian from Trinidad and Tobago. They didn't mean. They didn't. They were just told, here's New York, get off the ship. I mean, they couldn't check. They didn't have phones. So in my Case I fell in love with Mexico a long time ago. So maybe about six years ago, when it was the pandemic and I was leaving my job at l', Oreal, I was also divorcing. Like life was a bit intense. I was at l' Oreal in charge of COVID I was literally called the COVID mobilization manager. So it was a bit intense and I wanted to take a break from everything. And that's where I went to my favorite place in the world. And it's a beautiful beach in the south of Mexico where I lived about five months, just kind of soul searching and met my business partner right now, who is Mexican, Rodrigo, who immediately we bonded. He wanted to create a brand from Mexico. I wanted to create a plastic free brand. He showed me immediately his Mexico. And within two, three days we had left that beach, shaved, gotten like showered, gotten ready for the world and got to CDMX to Mexico City and started immediately working on Aura. And since then it's been my world has been there, my life has been there. We've built a beautiful team in Mexico City. We connected immediately. We went on a long journey of researching history, culture, colors. He's still, he's a bit less front facing on the brand, but he's guiding vision as he. As we explore together the Mexican scene. And we decided very early on that we want to build together instead of take from the culture and we want to make the culture shine worldwide because there was something very special about it.

[C]

Okay. Aurora has no H, no H, even though it's pronounced like Spanish in Spanish. Why no H? Just like a fun thing.

[A]

It looks better. It looks better. We wanted to do the pyramid. It's still very much about the now because in a world of l' Oreal Paris, this, Paris, Maybelline, New York this la, we wanted to say. And now Mexico is this idea of something new from somewhere else. And in a world of a lot of brands who, I mean, we're in Earth Month. This is the month of everyone's like launching their reports saying that by 2040 we will be reducing by 40% our plastic consumption. And we wanted to do it now. So from the beginning of the brand and we said, as of now, we are reducing by 100% everything.

[C]

Can you go into your brand a little bit in terms of the packaging? Because it's still beautiful, it still stands out.

[B]

Yeah, feels very premium.

[C]

It's completely plastic free.

[A]

Yes. I mean, that was the objective. Honestly, I'm so glad you're saying that and see how you said it. You said it's still. And I think that is. That is brilliant, because that is a bit where we are as a society. We've been shown that sustainability will come with a compromise, that you should expect it to be in cardboard or it's going to be oily, or the formula is not going to deliver, or it might not be sexy or might not look premium. And that's why sustainability hasn't worked, because in a way, we wanted to build a brand that shows sustainability in a flavorful, sexy, cool way. Electric cars didn't work until they were made to look sexy by Tesla and then uncool a bit after. But, like, in the beginning, he did make it very. He did make pretty amazing cars. Yes. And then same with, like, honestly, vegan burgers, when they were dry, lentil burgers, no one was eating them. And then came beyond and impossible. And it was. There was a lot of marketing, a lot of coolness. The names were super cool. Everything about it made us want it. We don't eat organic strawberries because we're trying to save the soil, honestly. They're smaller and redder and sugary and delicious. And we wanted to do that. So we created something that we don't want you to immediately think this is sustainable. We don't hate plastic, by the way. We just think we can do better than plastic. We think as consumers. I don't want to drink a glass of wine in a plastic cup. I don't want to have a nice meal in a plastic plate. I think often I want to wear clothes that they look nicer and they feel nicer when they're made out of more natural materials and fibers.

[C]

Yeah, they're not plastic and they're not plastic.

[A]

And that's what we've created here. We wanted to use noble materials. So you have. Our palette, for example, is 100% mono material, and it's thin. We were able to do a mirror that is not glass. It's thin and it looks like a mirror, it feels like a mirror, it acts like a mirror. Everything about it is thin. So the palette used to be a can of soup and will be again, and you can just throw it curbside recycling. Throw it in your garbage. Honestly, metal never even stays in the garbage because there are magnets and there are people that know that it has value and you can sell it. And our lip serums, the same, they're aluminium. So they used to be a can of Coke or beer and will be again. And everything is based on this one. Mono material. Two noble material in a world where every beauty brand shows metal, there's a thing called metallization. So you take plastic and then you spend a fortune putting it in these machines that is called, like, ionization. And you throw little particles of metal to make it look metal. Just use metal from the beginning.

[C]

Right?

[A]

It's just like the length we go to transform. Plastic.

[C]

Yeah, plastic that looks like metal. It's like we're living in the Twilight Zone.

[B]

So is it more expensive to do what you're doing or is it just easier to use plastic? Is that why big brands are just. And again, it's both, okay?

[A]

It's both. It's. Look, plastic is the easy way out, but the easy way out is not going to get us anywhere in anything, okay? It's in every topic. By the way, it's easier to hire men because they have been maybe working for the past 90 years more than women and at higher positions, so they have more experience. And it's easier to hire white people. And it's like, it's easier to do a lot of things. It doesn't mean it's necessarily. I think we do need to move in a different direction. Yes, it's a lot easier to do plastic because one, the industry is full of plastic. So we have a lot of history. We know how packaging works with formulas like, you don't have to do much of the testing. Most manufacturing is very good at plastic, so you can get there very quickly. All standard packaging is in plastic. But also that's why all brands look the same with the same tube and the same everything. So because it's very easily available, plastic is faster to produce, Much faster to produce, because the supply chain is a lot easier. And so you can get to a lead time that is obviously better. You can do a lot more with Plastiq. And it's cheaper. It's a lot cheaper. But by the way, absolutely everything I have listed right now is not fatalistic. It's not necessarily needs to stay that way. All of that is only that way because it's what the world has happened right now. Someone asked me the other day and I used that metaphor and I love it now. So you go on a vacation. I love boats, okay? I always want to go on a boat when I'm on a vacation, but I often can't because it's very expensive to take a boat when you're alone. But if you go with 10 people, then that boat ride is like taking an Uber. It's nothing. Everyone pitches in and it's like $60 a person. And you don't want to do the thousand dollar boat on your own. Right now doing plastic free packaging is like wanting to go on a boat on your own when everyone else is in a group like hopping on and off boats all day long, spending nothing. So I think everything I said about plastic could be happening for metal or plastic free if enough people jump on board.

[B]

So you've said for years we've been told premium makeup belongs in black plastic, impossible to recycle. What else have we been conditioned by consumers to believe in terms of luxury that's actually horrible for the planet.

[A]

I mean black for sure. Like look at the amount of brands out there that are black. We've literally been told black plastic is the chicest zero. It doesn't go through like it will never be recycled. I would say small things like travel size and the chicness and the cuteness, like the amount of posts out there that are celebrating how cute it is. All of these tiny little things that's pretty bad because it's so small and it's just an extra thing that is completely unneeded.

[C]

Noor okay, before you go on, why can't black plastic be recycled? And same with why can't these mini sizes be recycled?

[A]

So black plastic is fascinating for a couple of three reasons. I would say so one, because at the entrance of recycling facilities you scan for colors and it's optic scanning and you cannot see the black. That's a very simple. It's like leaving a black object in the dark. You're not going to see it. So that's number one. Number two, it's because actually a lot of black that goes to be recycled is actually electronic waste. So that's why, by the way, there's a big movement like look at everything around us here. It's literally black plastic, every electronic in this room. So it messes up with the systems and it also creates really toxic plastic so it's easier to just discard it completely. And number three is because recycling at the end of the day is not a pro bono thing. It's not charity, it's a business. It's usually a recycling facility. It's not the government, it's private. It needs to be a business. So for it to be a business, the output needs to be something you can sell. So when you think of if black plastic goes in, it's the equivalent of washing a black T shirt in your white laundry. Everything is going to come out gray. You're going to ruin everything. And that's what black plastic will do to a recycling load. So. And no one wants to buy gray plastic after. Because then l' Oreal or LVMH or Estee Lauder cannot buy it. And then say, hey, Garnier, go do your lime green. You cannot do lime green with gray. So everyone. No one buys it. So it's been quite the understanding that, hey, no one take black plastic.

[C]

Wow. Okay. And then what about the travel sizes? Because Sarah and I have been very public about our love for anything mini. Not just because it's cute, but because

[B]

it feels less wasteful. But then, yes, in the end, it's more wasteful.

[C]

I feel more validation getting through it because I'm like, oh, I actually finished this. I know we're in the industry, so we have to try all these things. I would rather be sent a smaller trial size of something so I'm not wasting something bigger for sure.

[A]

I think, I mean, first of all, I think we should acknowledge that you're the exception.

[C]

Correct.

[A]

You guys are the minority getting.

[C]

Okay, so we want to know. We want to.

[A]

Getting sent like it's for a consumer, of course, using something out of a bigger package. It's all about the balance. It's all about how much plastic or packaging are we putting out there for a milliliter of formula. So once you get to that ratio, you want that ratio to be the smallest possible. That's number one. Number two, they're not recyclable because recycling facilities have little holes at their entrance and they're two by two holes. So anything less than two by two. By the way, it's not about mini. Don't culpableize or feel guilty about the mini. The problem is every lipstick, lip gloss, mascara, eye pencil, eyeliner, lip liner, brow, all of those are less than a two by two, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What's ridiculous is when someone is doing a mini of a mascara, like a mascara is ready a mini. That is a bit crazy.

[B]

Fair. Is it because of also like, not only is it small, but then the different components because, you know, some of it, you have to like take it apart, throw the cap away 100%.

[A]

I mean, it's also, I mean already the small thing, you're out.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Like you're literally. It's just. It's like. It's like showing up, you know, to the rides where you have to be a certain height and you don't have a ticket. It doesn't matter. Either way, you're out.

[C]

You know, you are not even counting.

[A]

You're not even getting in here. The multi material Thing is, is because also that's the thing. Like, think about it. If you have a piece of jewelry that is like, it has a stone and it has a maybe silver and gold or platinum, it has multiple materials. They're going to melt and separate. Plastic is just going to melt into a blob. That's why as well, you cannot. Plastic is not a material that gets recycled. It gets down, cycled. A rigid plastic becomes a softer plastic, becomes a plastic bag, becomes a carpet, becomes microplastic.

[C]

So it's really a forever product.

[A]

Like it's never disappearing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's getting smaller. It's just.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. We can say we're recycling it.

[A]

We are. We were the machine at this point.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Okay.

[A]

We are the machine. We're the recycling facility.

[C]

Okay, Got it. Got us. Got it, Got it. I adore you. This is so interesting to me. While your brand is plastic free, what does your brand do that other brands do not do? That actually makes an impact on the planet?

[A]

I mean, what we're doing right now, I mean, for me, we've been having so many conversations about sustainability, like, so many. And I think that already making. Making it be a conversation, a conversation that is enjoyable, a conversation where everyone gets to learn. A conversation that's also not about culpableizing or making the consumer feel guilty.

[C]

Right.

[A]

I think that's the most important thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

For me, the responsibility is a manufacturer's responsibility because consumers feel guilty enough about a lot of things. And right now, the industry is even making them almost feel worse. Like you should be washing your empties and then cutting them with a knife and then bringing them, like driving back to somewhere to put them in a recycling thing that doesn't get recycled, by the way. We're giving them all of these hopes and dreams. And then people ask, can I refill? Can I do that? So I think, first of all, what I love about what we're doing is that we're bringing some positivity to it and saying that solutions are possible, that we can do it. Number two, I think by showing that it's quite beautiful and sexy and cool to do sustainability, it's actually a better object. We say plastic could never. It's a much more beautiful object. We think that's future luxury. Luxury should be about that. And I think we're going to start seeing it with a lot of things. We're seeing it in furniture, we're seeing it in clothing, because that is really what true luxury is. Having an item that stays and stays long and it's all about quality and what else we're doing. One thing that is great is that. So what happens is there's another metaphor. I love metaphors. So someone calls you and says your apartment is flooding. Run, run back. Right away, you run and you get there. And what do you do when you ask people? There's two types of people. Some are going to tell you, I'm going to immediately start grabbing towels and wiping everything and removing the water. And other people are going to be like, I'm going to find where that leak is. Like, did I, did I forget a faucet on? And we're doing a bit of both. So we have closed the leak of plastic by going and being a plastic free brand. But what we're doing as well is in the beauty industry, for every product that is recycled, nine are not. That's how bad it is. So right now, every time you purchase one product from Aura, we recover nine times the amount of plastic. So we're nine times plastic. Negative. We say that together we can make a negative impact. And it's, it's, that's, that's our biggest impact. Our negative impact, I would say.

[B]

Yeah, I love that. What are your thoughts on glass?

[A]

I'm not using it a lot right now for one reason is that actually contrary to belief, a lot of glass is not very recycled.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Reusable is different. So when you see like a Mexican Coke bottle or those are reused, they don't get melted. These are personal. The problem with recycling and all of that is like there's not even a regulation in the US about how to recycle metal properly. Yeah, those guidelines haven't been written. It's that bad. So it's a lot of personal opinions. But I think when you're in something like Coca Cola bottles or Pepsi bottles, where there's a stream. What do I mean by stream? You see the cases, see how the cases that hold the bottles. So there's a stream for it, Beer bottles and Coca Cola bottles. So when there's a stream, glass is really good because they know how to get back in the stream of things. And those big companies have taken the responsibility because it's better for them. They don't have to buy fresh materials. It's all about cleaning what you have. When there isn't a stream, glass is harder because darker glass in cosmetics is often preferred because think of like advanced night repair. Think of your. They need to be protected. So you usually in glass have to put a darker thing which makes it not easily recyclable. And then when you're buying a lot of glass and perfume, etcetera, there's different levels. It's like grade A, B, C, D. And you want. Most companies want the best, so they discard a lot. So it ends up being very wasteful as an industry.

[B]

Okay, thank you.

[C]

I love that you're educating people and talking about this because one thing that I've started to notice, especially online, is people, especially in fashion, are starting to clock when something is polyester or when something is like, why are we paying this much money for plastic? It has completely flipped how I value something now where I'm like, that looks expensive. Oh, my God, it's not. And also, I'm wearing plastic.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

It's fascinating. What do you think we have to do to get beauty to that point? If I'm a listener right now, what is something you, as an expert in this space would say they should start to kind of seek out in terms of their beauty products to be like, we maybe shouldn't be going this direction.

[A]

Look, I think it's. It's hard right now, okay? Because the vast, vast, vast, vast majority is plastic and quite cheaply produced plastic. So I think consumers can start already by asking for mono materials. I think asking for mono materials and bigger materials is something super important. We cannot change people's behaviors and we will not. I think we really cannot. The idea is to start moving in the right direction. I would say everyone can demand that the companies they buy from, the brands they buy from, help us clean up the trash a bit. I think the first thing is this is like a house party where everyone trashed everything and they've left us with the problem. You know what I mean? Like, I think everyone can clean up after themselves a bit. Maybe that's one thing everyone can demand. It's going to take years and years and years to get brands and companies and big groups to move away from plastic. And we will not. And this is not what I'm trying to do, or our brand is trying to do. We're trying to show one scenario and it mostly to show that, God, there's something else that exists. Like, we can branch out of here. I believe in disruptive innovation, not incremental one. I think incremental can get you somewhere, but if you get disruptive, it's almost like building a ceiling that's so high that gives the trees so much room to grow. It's not about having the highest one, but it's about everything. So I think that's our purpose right now to open it up so that there might be other ideas that can sprout. But consumers can ask, I think for mono material, consumers can ask and say, hey, why not? Why aren't you changing this? Why aren't you? And I think everyone, whatever we are doing, should be asking whether it's plastic or not. For better design and a better object. I think we're all paying a lot of money and beauty is. Beauty is pleasure. No one needs anything. Honestly, no one needs much. So it's about. That's why I don't believe in refills, because you're in front of a shelf. Who wants to buy like this big plastic bag? Like, no, you want the nice product because it's about an impulse purchase. It's about passion. It's about following, like your instinct at the moment. That's what beauty is. So I think everyone should be demanding nicer objects in general.

[B]

Aurora is four years old. Happy birthday.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Well, when is the anniversary?

[A]

I mean, we started writing and thinking four years ago. We launched in Mexico two years and three months ago.

[B]

Okay, okay.

[A]

And in the US less than a year ago.

[B]

Okay. Amazing. Wow. What stats can you share about the success of the brand that separates you from your competitors, would you say?

[A]

I mean, we've had tremendous growth, but Obviously, like our plus 400% is still tiny until we get the right big retail investment funds. Awareness. And it's happening.

[C]

Yeah, Awareness is there. Bad bunny. Hello.

[A]

I know. So I was just gonna say. I was just gonna say we have so much to be proud of, honestly, because we're small, but we've been embraced in a beautiful way. Like we're on Los Angeles and that's a massive deal, honestly, for me and for the brand. But we were part of the super bowl halftime show. So 400 dancers. Major moment, major moment. Because it was probably one of the most viewed televised things ever. But it's also because it was at a moment that was just beautiful and brilliant. I think one of the new thesis of the brand is how can we be doing the glam of people who are on the right side of history. We ended up doing as well the makeup of Clara, who was one of the actresses of the voice of Hindra Job that was also at the Oscars. We're doing a lot of honestly. We're being featured. We've won some awards. We were allure nominated for Allure readers in the breakthrough beauty brand. We just got a new beauty award. We just got an Oprah on Oprah's list of midlife Awards for our lip serum last week. So I think it's starting to get there. And what I love about that is that none of these are sustainability awards. I don't want to win for most sustainable product. We're winning for making people look beautiful in a super. In a halftime show because of performance. At the end of the day, you got to sweat in this. That's what. That's the real performance.

[C]

100%. What is Aura's hero product?

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And then do you have any juicy stats about it that you can share?

[A]

Oh, my God, yes. I mean, you. I think even you personally contributed to it. It's Inicia, a new primer, which I knew this is going to be big, but I didn't know it this way, honestly. We launched Inicia less than two months ago. I think it was just now. And that went. I mean, it's a beautiful, illuminating primer that's 12 hours. But also it's anti pollution. And what's beautiful about it? You almost forget that it's a primer. It could be a primer, but it could also just mix it with your. I have it on. You can mix it with your moisturizer. You can put it under a foundation over it as a highlighter. People are putting it on the body.

[C]

I use it on my body.

[A]

It's.

[C]

I use it on my body. I brought it with me to Orlando for Ulta Beauty World. I wear it all the time. I put it on my neck for a glow. It dries down so nicely. It does not feel like a primer. It feels like skin care. And that's why I gravitate towards it, because it really just illuminates in a way that doesn't look glittery or shimmery, but then it also feels good. It feels good to rub in on the skin. Can you please make a bigger size?

[A]

I'm literally just like, honestly on it to another. Like, I'm making it. I'm making everything.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Like, love a tiny aluminum one. Just. Just so. Because I think it's also going to be our Trojan horse on the brand. It's the first thing that you can discover. I want everyone to have access to it the minute you touch it. We're going to make big sizes. We're making so many things around it. I mean, I think immediately when it came out, there was a couple of people that started posting. You were one of them. And then Charlotte Palermino went and said, did a series called Products I Fuck with. And it was the first product of that series. And she just did it about inicia. And then Katie. Katie Jane Hughes. Right after I kind of knew it, Katie was at my place in Mexico, like two months ago, and we were having breakfast and she was trying it and she's like, it's like that horse. She's like, it's like that horse from Instagram. Like, damn, what highlighter is she wearing? You know, the, like, shiny horse. She's like, I hate primers, but I love this. And she started using it. Honestly, that week we had produced 10,000 units. We almost were done with them within 24 hours. I was flying from Mexico to the US to LA. March 4th, I still remember. And I got on the plane, I was so tired. I'm like, don't get the WI fi, just sleep. I landed. And by the time I landed, I'm like, what is going on? And we were just D2C back then. What is going on with Shopify? And then I saw that Charlotte has posted. And then it was just. I had to do apology emails, apology videos saying how bad our logistics is. Because at that point, it was honestly, we. We didn't even have enough shippers. Like, it wasn't even just about the products. We're like, we didn't think we would be shipping thousands of products in a. In a week.

[C]

Right.

[A]

Or in a day. So that, that has, like, I think, is catapulting the brand into a different level. I truly believe it's one of those products that is going to make a difference in the market. People are going to remember it and use it and it's going to be copied and all of that. So let's go.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

I can't wait to try it.

[C]

It's fabulous.

[B]

You have it in your bag, I think.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

What are three things? Beauty. Consumers with their products at home or before their next purchase will actually make an impact on the planet. Besides not buying anything, what can we do?

[A]

I mean, use it up. I would say we can start with that. Use it up. Just because I think everyone has so many products right now. We all do. I do. I don't know how many we use. Just, like, maybe go through that cute purge by actually using the product, it's less about delaying your next purchase, more about being, in general more intentional about it. I would say check its recyclability. I think you'd be surprised. There's still a lot of things that you can. That you can do that you can recycle. There's also little techniques like nesting. Sometimes products are too small, but you can put them in something else and together it makes a bigger object. I think that is good. And I would say maybe. I mean, honestly, there's not much. This is the thing I want to give you so a much bigger list. But it's about brands. I think brands and manufacturers are the ones that should be thinking of what are 30 things they can do before the end of Earth Month to, to put better products. I think it's also about better products. It's about better trash, it's about better waste. That's what we're putting from the beginning. It's about inception and design right now. That's the issue. I truly believe that most consumers wake up in the morning with a very good intentions for the planet, for themselves, for others. And it's about just giving them the right tools and solutions to be able to, to get there.

[C]

Amazing. Noor, thank you so much. Is there anything that you can or want to share with us before we go? Or is that still a TBD conversation?

[A]

Still a tbd.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

I mean it's, it's, it's big things are happening and we have, we, I mean, we just launched at Credo. I think that's a big moment for us because people can feel and touch our product. Being a brand from Mexico, it's been a bit hard as well. Because honestly, SEO is hard because the minute Mexico is in your name, it's like harder. People are afraid from duties and tariffs and think that the product is going to show up at their door and FedEx or UPS is going to charge them an extra $40. But no, like no duties, no tariffs you can get from our website. And we're having big conversations right now for a lot of big expansions on the brand. So I'm very excited about that because it means also plastic free is going mainstream.

[C]

Yes. Amazing. Thank you so much for coming on.

[A]

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