Lleig, created by Spanish design student Júlia Roca Vera, features cosmetic products based on upcycled vegetables rescued from food waste streams. The range comprises a soap and moisturizer, which are packaged in ceramic designs.
"The human being has a tendency to compare following an aesthetic judgment, which quickly values external beauty," says Vera (translated from original Spanish). "But is that the beauty we should value? The whole society is guided by the exterior, however, it can also perceive the interior and the essential."
Dezeen reports Vera's observation that similar collections could be designed using other discarded fruits and vegetables. As a response to the problem raised of wasted fruits and vegetables, the Lleig project is presented to redesign and modify the daily cosmetic experience. This cosmetic ritual is reportedly meant as a complement to health in order to enhance essential beauty through holistic healing externally and internally.
In total, there are four products that are based on a single orange, which had the flesh and oil extracted to create a soap and moisturizer; the peel to form potpourri; and the juice squeezed for a beverage.
According to the report, the remaining fruit scraps were liquified in sunflower oil to create an orange oil and some of the extract was thickened to create an orange butter using stearic acid and cetyl alcohol to smooth and stabilize the mixture. The soap and moisturizer combine all three of these ingredients together with additional foaming or thickening agents.