e.l.f. Beauty is celebrating a significant milestone on its sustainability journey, eliminating an estimated 650,000 pounds of packaging material within its namesake e.l.f. Cosmetics brand, in addition to receiving three design patents as a result of the company’s ‘Project Unicorn’ initiative.

Project Unicorn was designed to elevate e.l.f.’s product assortment, presentation, and navigation on-shelf, and resulted in a significant streamlining in its packaging footprint. Since the launch of the project in February 2019, e.l.f. Beauty claims to have eliminated an estimated 650,000 pounds of packaging waste to date by removing secondary cartons, vacuum formed trays and paper insert cards, slimming down secondary packaging, and designing a patented approach to tamper-proof product. In total, packaging for over 200 SKUs has been reduced through Project Unicorn across multiple categories.

“As e.l.f. continues to drive innovation, we are always evaluating ways to improve the consumer experience. Through Project Unicorn, we were able to make e.l.f. easier to shop while also driving our sustainability efforts,” said Ashley Rosebrook, Chief Creative Officer, e.l.f. Beauty. “When we started this journey, we had many packaging experts tell us that our vision couldn’t be executed, but we didn’t take no for an answer. Working at e.l.f. speed, we took it in-house with our own samples and designs, to show that anything is e.l.f.ing possible. By thinking outside the box – and ultimately getting rid of the box - we’ve been able to eliminate an estimated 650,000 pounds of waste - and we will continue to look for ways to reduce our packaging footprint.”

On November 15th, National Recycling Day, e.l.f. Beauty launched a marketing campaign to educate its community on the actions taken to date and sustainability impact, one critical step on a longer road of impacting more eco-friendly beauty.

“I’m incredibly proud of our team for taking a thoughtful approach to building out our sustainability practices and efforts,” said Tarang Amin, Chairman and CEO, e.l.f. Beauty. “With smaller package footprints, e.l.f.’s retail partners can also fit more items on shelves, maximizing shelf space and productivity, while consumers easily explore the products, textures, and formulas. We are just getting started on our sustainability journey and will continue to push boundaries to reduce our packaging footprint.”