Catering to urban lifestyles
The complexities that the urban dweller experiences, in the face of increased ground level ozone and particulate matter, continue to escalate. As the personal care market evolves towards holistic solutions for beauty enhancement and wellbeing, brands in general are facing a market opportunity to appeal to the basic human need for safety and protection, through cleansing and repairing products for urban lifestyles. Here, we will look at four focus areas: Protection from the environment, Sustainability, Precious resource and Brand responsibility.
Protection from the environment we live in takes many forms. This can be protection from UV rays or infrared light. Pollutants including oxidants and free radicals also put greater demands on our skin. Raw materials such as RonaCare SereneShield have a “3R” effect: regulating sebum, reducing inflammation and rebalancing skin’s microflora. These have been used in the creation of two of our formulations: Skin Matrix Protection, a multifunctional cream which enables the skin to deal with daily attack and Primed & Ready, a facial primer to ready you to face the day ahead.
Sustainability - and the need to take care of our health and the environment – is another area to be explored. This focusses on the change in lifestyle choices being made; for example, vegan diets. This is reflected in the increasing number of vegan claims, targeted at customers who avoid animal ingredients for religious, ethical or health reasons. Health-food inspired formulations are also a good approach to this area. Inspired by the Japanese cake that looks like a drop of water, we have developed Water Drop Bath Jelly, a solid and translucent gel which is both fun and functional. Another new formulation is the Marine Power Mask, an anti-ageing seaweed- based gel mask which forms a peelable film when a “magic” solution is applied.
The Japanese water cake dessert served as inspiration for a solid and translucent bath jelly. >
Precious resource is all about understanding that we have limited resources, such as water, and using them responsibly. This leads into the trend for anhydrous formulations; some products use greener surfactants requiring less water to wash them off the skin. This has already been a focus for many years in the textile and fabric care industries, both industrial as well as in the home. With anhydrous formulations being a focus, there is an increasing need for oil soluble actives.
We have developed Contour Gel, an anhydrous soft massage balm to sculpt and shape the body.It incorporates RonaCare Poppy SE, a vital ingredient for improving skin firmness, radiance, elasticity and density all over the body.
Brand responsibility is becoming a key factor with manufacturers, tying into consumer awareness about the products and brands they use in daily life. Companies invest in renewable or recycled materials. An example of this is Procter & Gamble, whose 2020 goal is to have zero consumer and manufacturing waste go to landfills.
Personalisation
The all-about-me trend allows us all to be recognised as individuals. It takes many forms and can be expressed as bespoke, personal, genderless, unique and ageless. Within personal care, high-end DNA testing gives such a bespoke service but it is not mainstream and comes at a premium. This type of customisation has started to occur in Korea with products such as ReMède by CNP, who offers a selection of bases combined with specific serums to create a customised skin care regimen for the customer. Customised foundation services are now appearing within Europe through Lancôme.
There is also a much larger focus on the individual, with gender becoming almost irrelevant, so that the focus is truly on the needs of the skin. The beard revolution is turning into a skin revolution as cosmetics become more accepted. For men, it is more about the imperfection they would like to solve, but with much more subtle effects than women might seek. For this purpose, we developed Transformer, a white stick product which combines the strobing effect of Timiron Halo White with encapsulated pigments to give colour on application.
Digital Beauty
The final trend is digital beauty, where apps and smart mirrors will shape the future of how products are marketed, selected and purchased. Smart mirror technology can be used for skin analysis, simulation and personalised recommendations. Smartphone applications allow consumers to virtually try different make-up shades or hair styles. Nail art is a growing trend and here machines, or even smartphones, will allow us to print designs onto our fingernails, with endless possibilities.
AUTHOR:
Claire Summers
Research and Development
Manager Personal Care
Azelis, Hertford, UK
Written for Cossma 6, 2017. View the full article here.