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I've been slathered in L'Oreal products since birth - and you probably have too.

With its catalogue of over 37 brands - including , and - there's at least one L'Oreal product in all of our homes.

Beauty Writer Mia Lyndon travelled to the L'Oreal Paris HQ
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Beauty Writer Mia Lyndon travelled to the L'Oreal Paris HQ

Now 115 years old, the household name manufactures over 7 billion products every year, which are distributed to 150 countries worldwide.

Whilst this might conjure pictures of grey, smoking factories and skips full of plastic waste, L'Oreal has committed to greener, environmentally conscious practices - and I went to see them for myself.

I travelled to the L'Oreal Packaging Lab in Clichy, Paris, to learn about how the brand designs, develops and creates its products - and ensures they're green.

L'Oreal is rolling out packaging that integrates cardboard
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L'Oreal is rolling out packaging that integrates cardboardCredit: mia lyndon

If you've recently picked up a tube of or , you might have noticed a few changes in its packaging.

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L'Oreal is now packaging a number of its hair, body and skincare products in cardboard-blend tubes, to help combat plastic waste.

With their rigid, card-like feel, these squeezy tubes are created from a similar material to egg boxes and are designed here at the L'Oreal HQ.

L'Oreal brand Garnier has rolled out this new packaging across some of its skincare
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L'Oreal brand Garnier has rolled out this new packaging across some of its skincareCredit: garnier

Garnier Intensive 7 Days Shea Butter Hand Cream, £4

While it's not created from 100% paper - this would quickly result in wet, mushy tubes - this packaging innovation is a blend of plastic and wood, which ensures tubes are durable and waterproof.

The material begins as wood chips blended into a pulp, which are then bleached, diluted, sprayed into a flat wire, and then wound into shape.

This packaging integrates cardboard
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This packaging integrates cardboardCredit: la roche-posay

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Sun Protection SPF50+ Milk, £20.40

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Dermatologist and skincare enthusiast Andrea Suarez - known as Dr Dray - revealed why you should wear suncream.

The one thing you can do that will make the biggest difference - and this matters for all ages - is protecting your skin from the sun, Andrea stressed.

"The vast majority of external aging is due to exposure to ultraviolet radiation," she continued, not because you're "not using some jazzy serum or layering 90 different things on your face everyday".

"If you're not doing in your 20s, get on that now."

But she said the use of sun cream alone doesn't go far enough. Andrea urged that you also wear sun-protective clothing like broad-brimmed hats and long sleeves, on top of not staying out too long in the sun.

Doing this over your lifetime - and all year, not just during the summer or on sunny days - "will reduce the visible signs of photoageing", Andrea said.

Those are wrinkles, muddled pigmentation and sagging skin.

L'Oreal rolled out the paper-blend packaging over three years ago, and is now working towards reducing the plastic and increasing the paper content in each tube (this currently sits around 50%, depending on the product).

Scientists say that one way this could be achieved is by coating paper tubes into a waterproof treatment - but time will tell.

Here, designers use AI to inspire new designs
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Here, designers use AI to inspire new designsCredit: miai lyndon

After wandering past labs filled with jars and bottles, and shelves clad with lipsticks, I arrive at the UX Design Lab.

Here, the design team uses artificial intelligence to think up new designs for perfume bottles, skincare tubes and eyeshadow palettes.

This might sound like a packaging designer's worst nightmare - threatening the future of their jobs - but the L'Oreal team are using the software to their advantage.

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The team uses AI as a starting point for new ideas on product shape, colour and finish, which they then leverage into realistic, L'Oreal products.

Many of the ideas that the AI software creates are nonsense or unrealistic and require a human touch, meaning the designers can breathe easily when it comes to the future of their jobs.

Shape, feel and user experience are of high importance
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Shape, feel and user experience are of high importanceCredit: mia lyndon

From perfume bottles to moisturiser jars, L'Oreal designs many of its glass packaging in-house to minimise the impact on the environment.

As shoppers, we associate heavy, weighty glass jars or bottles with luxury, which often motivates us to purchase a particular product.

However, heavier glass packaging has a greater impact on the environment, due to the larger amount of raw materials and energy that goes into their creation.

Interestingly, within homeware products, thinner glass (think sleek wine glass and chic coasters), is associated with luxury - and hopefully, beauty will adopt this one day, too.

Designers are working towards more sustainable packaging
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Designers are working towards more sustainable packaging

So, L'Oreal is trying to rewrite the narrative by reducing the weight of its glass packaging by 20% by 2040.

L'Oreal is also on a mission to ensure that glass containers are fully recyclable, too.

This bottle features an embossed design
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This bottle features an embossed designCredit: YSL

Yves Saint Laurent MYSLF EDP, £63

Moulded onto the new bottle is the YSL monogram - a chic addition to the bottle, which also reduces environmental impact.

Rather than applying a sticky label onto the front of the perfume, designers instead embossed the logo directly onto the bottle - meaning it's fully recyclable.

This cult EDP is refillable
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This cult EDP is refillableCredit: mugler

Mugler Alien EDP, £67

Like many L'Oreal fragrances, such as cult-classic or , the perfume is refillable, meaning shoppers can refill their original perfume bottles with replacement fragrance pods.

You can also now refill L'Oreal perfume bottles in-store at some The Perfume Shop branches.

All Mugler fragrances are now refillable
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All Mugler fragrances are now refillableCredit: mugler

Mugler Alien Refill, £110

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As I tap out my visitor pass and (begrudgingly) return my lab coat, I realise that my perspective on the beauty giant has totally changed.

It's refreshing to see that sustainability remains at the heart of what L'Oreal does - and I'll wait with bated breath to see if it delivers on its green goals in the future.

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