The Saie Way to Conscious Beauty

More Than Makeup

By Katie Ogletree | Photography courtesy of Saie Beauty

Some of our favorite celebrities, influencers, and fashion icons wear Saie Beauty, founded in 2019. As consumers, we sometimes don’t expect makeup brands to be the most conscious when it comes to caring for the planet. We expect them to give us lasting foundation and waterproof mascara. But it’s a real treat when they give you those things and more!

That’s exactly what you can expect from Saie Beauty.

The Saie Way is a climate docuseries that began in 2024, marking a bold new chapter in the brand’s mission to align luxury with responsibility. Rather than explaining the work and the sustainable values they hold, Saie invited its community behind the scenes to show it all in practice. The digital content series goes beyond traditional marketing. Instead of focusing on products, it highlights the true heroes of climate action: the individuals and grassroots organizers in communities across the world who are working to keep the planet clean and healthy. From restoring local ecosystems to pioneering new recycling and packaging methods, these are the untold stories of genuine commitment to the planet.

“One of our pillars—and something that’s so important and I’m so passionate about—is our environment and having the smallest footprint possible,” says founder Laney Crowell.

The web series currently has eight episodes, each with its own focus. With the cinematic flair of a mini-documentary, it feels more like a movement than a marketing campaign.

Ep. 1 “Trash Is Treasure”

This episode focuses on Saie’s vintage merch initiative. The team travels to Los Angeles and works with a vintage “rag house” to source and repurpose branded merchandise rather than produce new fast-fashion items. It highlights the environmental impact of typical merch and shows Saie’s alternative: turnkey reuse and circular thinking.

Ep. 2 “Coral Crisis”

This episode goes behind the scenes of Saie’s packaging and recycling efforts in collaboration with Pact Collective. It shows how finished beauty-product empties are collected, sorted, shredded, melted, and remolded into new packaging. The episode highlights the complexity of cosmetic waste recycling and the educational gap for consumers and brands.

Ep. 3 “Renewable Resource”

This episode follows the team as they travel to Connecticut and go beneath the surface of what it takes to create truly recyclable beauty packaging. It spotlights Saie’s partnership with Curtis Packaging and the journey of a single Lilac Saie carton. Viewers are taken onto the manufacturing floor, witness the steps required to certify a packaging material as “100% recyclable,” and learn how sourcing renewable resources isn’t just about what’s inside the box.

Ep. 4 “Planet VS. Plastic”

In this episode, the Saie team heads to Goa, India, to collaborate with rePurpose Global and witness firsthand how plastic pollution is being tackled at the source. Viewers are shown the scale and severity of plastic waste challenges in coastal and island-adjacent communities. It then transitions into how Saie and rePurpose have partnered to recover, sort, and repurpose plastic waste, turning what was discarded into actionable climate solutions.

Ep. 5 “Circular Beauty”

This episode shows the partnership between the Saie team and Pact Collective. Together, they tackle one of beauty’s toughest sustainability challenges: closing the loop on hard-to-recycle packaging. Pact collects empties that would otherwise end up in landfills, and Saie wants to give consumers a tangible, trackable way to recycle beauty products. It’s a reminder that conscious consumption doesn’t stop at checkout.

Ep. 6 “Zero-Waste on Display”

In this episode, the team at Saie turns the spotlight onto a less-obvious corner of the beauty world: retail displays and in-store merchandising. While most sustainability conversations focus on formulas or packaging, this episode shows how physical store fixtures also carry a climate footprint. The journey traces how the branded display materials are sourced from recycled or repurposed feeds, built to be dismantled and reused, and finally, how they may return to material loops at the end of life.

Ep. 7 “New Cycle”

This episode follows how Saie turns its lens to the rising possibility of transforming plastic waste into meaningful infrastructure. Working through the brand’s climate initiative, the story follows how discarded plastics can be processed and reshaped into durable building materials. The journey highlights the science behind material conversion, the local communities impacted by plastic pollution, and the ripple effect of design-for-reuse: when waste becomes home, what does that mean for industries, ecosystems, and people?

Ep. 8 “Whale’s Paradise”

In this latest episode of the series, the Saie team travels to the vast blue of marine ecosystems to explore how the survival of majestic humpback whales ties into our planet’s climate resilience. The story follows how whales help regulate ocean carbon absorption and support biodiversity, and how Saie’s climate initiative partners with marine conservation groups to protect critical whale breeding grounds. It highlights why guardianship of these “titans of the blue world” is fundamental to both wildlife protection and broader climate strategy.

The docuseries is ongoing, and Saie plans to continue creating and highlighting more episodes, always bringing consumers along. Saie believes that true climate leadership isn’t just about what a brand sells, but what it stands for. The theme throughout each episode is how the Saie brand transforms abstract sustainability goals into tangible stories. What emerges is a portrait of a beauty brand that is unafraid to show the work—the imperfections, the progress, and the purpose behind every formula and initiative. In an industry that often hides behind glossy promises, Saie stands out for inviting us behind the curtain, reminding us that true beauty starts with accountability and that the future looks brighter when we build it—sustainably—together.

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Visit SaieHello.com to learn more or shop beauty products, and visit the @saiehello channel on YouTube to view The Saie Way docuseries!