The Unseen Beauty is totally un-kohl

“The thermal profile of the eye is more unique than a thumbprint,” says Lauren Bowker, founder of London-based material science company The Unseen. She is currently describing the basis for the company’s recently launched thermoreactive eye shadow – a world first – that will see the colour look different on each person.

It’s not the most significant world first on her agenda. That is reserved for a black algae colourant that has already won an IFSCC Sustainability Challenge award. Non-toxic, sustainable and carbon-positive (making additional “positive” contributions to the environment), it can be used as a pigment in cosmetics such as mascara or eyeliner. The hope is that it will change the face of cosmetics. 

For every litre of Algae Black, we remove four litres of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It’s bonkers

Salford-born Bowker, 38, is a UN ambassador for climate change, and already has a shelf of awards for innovation, disruption and sustainability. After completing a master’s in textiles from the Royal College of Art, she founded The Unseen in 2011 – it’s now an 11-strong team working across two floors of design and laboratory spaces in Dalston. They have worked with the NHS on “smart” bandages that change colour when they need to be replaced; with Formula One on making aerodynamics visible; with Virgin Galactic on thermal-tracking patches for spacesuits; with Tom Ford design studio director David Bamber on movement-responsive ballet costumes; with Puma on speed-reactive sportswear, and with the UN on a T-shirt that changes colour according to the pH of the water it is washed in. 

The company’s cosmetic arm, The Unseen Beauty, has released two products. Colour Alchemy Hair is a hyper-coloured hair dye that requires no bleaching. “It’s like loads of tiny micro-crystals,” Bowker says. “Depending on the light that hits it, colours shape-shift and evolve.” Spectra, meanwhile, is an eye colour that at first appears one shade, but transforms into a bright, reflective silver under a camera’s flash – so it looks incredible in photos.

The new make-up launch will help upend the long tradition of using carbon in cosmetics. Found in black eyeliners, mascaras and eye shadows, carbon black pigment is made by partially burning crude oil or natural gas, and is a Group 2B carcinogen (possibly carcinogenic to humans). “Here’s a sustainable answer,” she says of the non-toxic source. “Algae Black offers a new solution.”

Having worked with algae pigment for a textile project, Bowker saw huge potential for it in cosmetics. “After five years of R&D, we filed Algae Black under the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients,” says Bowker. The first Algae Black collection, Absorption, will include a mascara (£24) and a pencil eyeliner (£21), and will launch this month. “For every litre of Algae Black, we remove four litres of carbon dioxide [about 8g] from the atmosphere,” says Bowker. “It’s bonkers.”

The Unseen Beauty Absorption mascara in Algae Black, £24

The Unseen Beauty Spectra eye colour in Obsidian, £26

Following the brand’s autumn launch in Dover Street Parfums Market in Paris, The Unseen Beauty will also launch in Sephora this summer. “We’re also raising funds for our future product development pipeline,” says Bowker. “We have an exciting beauty conglomerate partner leading the round.” Plan to see plenty more of The Unseen.