In 2016, after nearly a decade in the travel and hospitality industry, Michelle Hope launched her eponymous UK-based skin care brand. The Black-owned amenities and spa brand specializes in skin care formulations developed and tested for women of color and appropriate for all skin types.
For her customers, Hope tells Cosmetics Design, the launch of Michell Hope Skincare meant “long-awaited inclusion in a market that has predominantly catered to a white-only demographic.”
The brand formulates product and selects packaging with current consumer expectations in mind, explains Hope, noting the use of naturally sourced ingredients, essential oils, and packaging made from sugarcane biomass. “It's guilt-free luxury for all skin types,” says Hope, adding on the catchphrase: “Feeling good never felt so good before.”
Now, Hope has created a new line of products for the realities of 2020. “The BluBag,” she says, “has been thoughtfully designed in response to the present and future need for effective self-care products; helping families, and those on business, to regain their confidence to work and journey away from home, by helping to protect them from the dangers of bacterial and viral transmissions.”
The new BluBag from Michelle Hope Skincare brings hygiene and peace of mind to travelers
“In specific response to the current viral pandemic,” Hope has launched a new line of skin care called the Essential Care Collection and a travel-ready bag pre-packed with items from that collection called the BluBag.
The nine-product collection includes both hygiene and facial skin care products, including a face cleanser, a serum, an eye serum, a hydrating cream, a hydrating mist, and a multifunctional "anti-bac" hand cleanser and moisturizer.
That last item is one Hope is particularly proud of. She describes it as “a global cosmetic first - an antibacterial moisturizer that is suitable for both parent and child and is OBGYN certified, and designed to keep everyone's skin clean, moisturized and germ free.”
The Michelle Hope BluBag is a hygiene and care kit that comes “in a bespoke travel bag, specifically aimed at the airline, cruise ship, hotel, hospitality and corporate industries; bringing together the best of the Essential Care Collection in the smart BluBag, for the travelers’ peace of mind,” explains Hope.
She describes the BluBag concept further, telling Cosmetics Design, that the kit is packed with more than just personal care products, “Everything they’ll need [is] packed into a self-contained travel bag: cleansers, an antibacterial moisturizer, eye serum, hydrating mist and cream and the all-important gloves, mask and antibacterial wipes….It's a little bag with a lot of reassurance packed in,” says Hope.