From Kitchen Table to Global Aspirations: The Glitter Eco Lovers Journey

By Charlotte Bakke, founder of Glitter Eco Lovers

I have always been a social creature: clubbing, concerts, music festivals, parties. And I have always loved music and can dance until the early hours. That's why I took a second job during summers working at festivals, so I could share the fantastic atmosphere and joy music brings along with thousands of other music lovers.

From Glittering Joy to Harsh Reality

In 2018, while working at a festival, I decided to add glitter makeup to my festival customers. I had been inspired by the world's largest festival, Coachella, and I saw great potential in this fun, sparkly trend. Then everything changed when I read an article in The New York Times about how plastic glitter contributes to an enormous environmental problem. In reality, glitter is microplastic, and most of it ends up in our oceans. I was truly shocked – I had never thought about glitter being made of plastic!

This newfound knowledge about sparkly microplastics led me to start intense research for a glittery material that was not made of plastic to develop my custom products for festivals. I did end up finding a solution, and after much deliberation, I decided to risk spending all my savings to invest in this new project. Evening after evening after my 5-year-old had gone to bed, I sat at my kitchen table mixing, testing, and developing products until I was satisfied with the result. A passion had been awakened. This passion and the discovery of plastic's harmful effects are at the core of how Glitter Eco Lovers was born – literally on my kitchen table.

From kitchen table to festivals

When launching my kitchen-made glitter products at Stavernfestivalen that summer, I was both super-excited and really nervous. All my savings had gone into this, it was nerve-wracking!

The products became a super hit at the festivals, and demand grew rapidly. People were asking where they could buy it for their next festival and I understood these products should be available online as well. This again led me to decide to go all in and to it properly: build a plastic-free brand focusing on sustainability and the environment. And not only do it halfway but to develop products that are without plastic, chemicals and allergens. But why stop there! Packaging should also be eco-friendly and plastic-free. And last, but not least: I wanted to make all vegan and cruelty-free products too.

No smooth sailing

Here is an insight to some of our challenges: finding packaging without plastic (that is also compatible with our product lines), developing safe and natural products, AND ensuring that everything we develop is vegan and that no components have been tested on animals. It's pretty hard and time-consuming. As Glitter Eco Lovers is ahead of most other brands, we need to pave the way, do a lot of testing, and try to find manufacturers that are willing to cooperate with us to make more eco-friendly solutions. And so much time goes into doing research and sourcing components and materials.

The cosmetics industry is still dominated by products full of plastic, chemicals, and ingredients that are not always safe for us or the environment. Finding natural alternatives that are both effective and sustainable has been challenging, but I refuse to compromise. For me, Glitter Eco Lovers is not just about selling products, it' about making a difference. Every product we create is a step towards a greener future.

Today, Glitter Eco Lovers is much more than just glitter. It's a movement for those who want to make an environmentally conscious choice. It gives me great personal joy to know that we offer a plastic-free alternative in an industry where more than 99% of glitter is still made of plastic. I am more committed than ever to building this brand into something big - not just in Norway where it all started, but globally.

Today we are stocked in 160 stores in Scandinavia, and a year ago we launched our global webshop that ships to the USA, Canada, and all EU countries. We continue growing day by day, and what an exciting journey this is.

For me, Glitter Eco Lovers is not just a job, it's my life. And I love every second of it!

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Glitter Eco Lovers