Foile is the newly opened beauty store of your curated beauty dreams. Located in Bondi beach - just off Bondi Road, not far from landmark Totti’s - the mint green space offers a place to purchase your beauty products. From socially conscious skincare brands Foile also offers their Classic range of oils In refillable bottles.
On offer is a selection of eight oils housed in glass bottles - available in either 60 milliliters or 200 milliliters - include Argan, Marula, Coconut, Almond and Hemp.
We spoke with Alexandra Grima, co-founder of Foile, on how they got started and the importance of moving towards a sustainable future.
How did you come up with the concept for Foile?
We created Foile to transform and reimagine the way we consume, experience and connect to skincare. A central element of this is enabling and empowering people to be a part of a more circular model that lessens the impact on our environment and natural resources. It was born out of a singular oil that would be refillable - the idea snowballed and now we have a concept store, which we realised was an important facet for us to speak with our customer and create a space to experience Foile.
Where are your Classics sourced from?
Our Rose Water comes from a farm in North East Victoria that grows, harvests and distills organic Damascan roses. The rest of our Classics are currently sourced from a distributor. The origin of which is found next to each Classic, some are from Australia such as our Hemp Seed Oil, whereas others such as our Coconut Oil are from Fiji. As we grow, a core focus for us is building our supply chain to a place where we have direct relationships with each of the farms harvesting the raw product in the country native to the plant.
What are the benefits of a single oil - as opposed to a blend?
Well, it’s essentially self-stable which means there’s no need for additional preservative ingredients for good quality skincare. Nature is so bountiful. The Classics are wonderfully rich as it is and can act as your skincare alone or fit seamlessly into a current multi-step regime.
Why was having these Classics be refillable important to you?
The beauty industry is made up of products that generally have a high consumption rate, therefore a significant amount of packaging ends up in the bin, moving to landfill and our oceans. We had to really rework this model so this packaging comes full circle, in turn hopefully creating a better sense of permanence and place for a product in the beauty cabinet. A refillable model we think fosters this. The system isn’t new-age. We are just applying it to the beauty industry and making it accessible in a contemporary way. We also want people to feel they can use the Classics liberally - face, body, hair - and then return to refill.
How did you select the brands stocked in the store?
There are really really clever wonderful people in Australia, New Zealand and beyond, that have worked hard to create incredible skincare and consciously doing so. They needed to be celebrated and a part of this. The brands we carry are more grounded in active botanicals or premium natural ingredients. Altogether less toxic skincare but super hard-working products that make people feel supported in taking care of their skin. We don’t carry a whole range, more carefully selected products from each; cleansers, serums, masks, moisturisers. It’s important that these brands also help us meet and celebrate our diverse community and customers.
