FEATURE ARTICLES

The skin around the eyes is perceived as an essential feature of facial beauty as it immediately reflects fatigue. It appears as the first visible area to express aging such as dark under-eye circles, ‘bagging’ or loss of elasticity, ‘crow’s feet’ or wrinkling and loss of opacity of the under-eye skin.

The demand for greener cosmetic products has been steadily growing for the past decade. However, modern consumers are posing new challenges to the industry. They want products that make extensive use of natural, vegetable-derived ingredients, but they rightly expect the formulae to be highly effective and esthetically pleasing as well.

The sun protection market develops circa. £3 billion sales worldwide, and due to increased consumer awareness and concerns over damage caused by UV exposure, has been growing at a rate up to 5% annually.

Given the expansion of masculine products for facial skin care on the shelves around the world, eye contour ranges are in the spotlight as they can help reduce unwanted bags, dark circles and fatigue signs, offering excellent improvements in facial appearance.

Personal care products have become an important part of consumers’ daily routines across the globe. As a result, the market size for personal care products, currently estimated at over USD 400 billion, is growing rapidly due to the increasing population, rising awareness of health and hygiene, and advancing income levels, especially in developing countries.

The New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ (NYSCC) 40th Annual Suppliers’ Day came to a successful conclusion at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.

Testing is a vital aspect of our industry, not only for finished products, but also for the individual ingredients themselves. Testing services and devices enable the evaluation of ingredients to show their efficacy, safety and stability.

Next to GENENCARE® OSMS BA (Betaine), DuPont Industrial Biosciences has now added GENENCARE® OSMS MI (INCI name: Inositol also known as myo-inositol) to the family of all-natural osmolytes. Like betaine, myo-Inositol, is highly purified and suitable for many skin care applications. It is extracted from non-GM sugar beet, 100% biobased and Cosmos and Natrue certified.

The texture of a cosmetic product is paramount, alongside fragrance and colour. You could even say that texture is more important than efficacy when it comes to the first point of sale; how a product feels on application could make or break a sale. So what exactly is texture and how can we quantify it?

BASF is sourcing the raw materials for three new highly effective natural skin and hair care ingredients from two of Vietnam’s first organic-certified rambutan gardens.

Technology is an essential part of every industry, and the personal care sector is no different.

Autophagy is a cellular mechanism which preserves cell health by recycling long-lived proteins and damaged organelles.

One might well call Angelica archangelica, the herbaceous plant from northern Europe that is particularly suited to lower temperatures “magical angelica”.

Glycolic acid is a well-known active ingredient in skin care products. The ahydroxy acid exfoliates skin by reacting with the upper layer of the epidermis, the strateum corneum, and weakening the lipid bonds that hold the outer dead skin cells together.

Hair styling products are an essential part of the personal care industry and give consumers a highly visible and dramatic way to express themselves as individuals.

For many years the UK has been a centre of excellence in the formulation and supply of personal care products. SCS Formulate reflects the contribution to innovation, development and production that the UK makes in this important market.

As consumers favour natural essential oils over synthetic alternatives, the price of essential oil escalates, mainly due to expensive production costs. By Haley Gershon - Beta Analytic, US.

Before a cosmetic product is offered on the market, final tests are obligatory for the manufacturer to prove its safety and to substantiate the various claims on the products, e.g. reduces wrinkles up to 20%, increases skin hydration for 24 h.

It is said that we only have three seconds to make a positive first impression and we rarely have a second chance. Considering that the first thing we look at is the eyes of another person, it is no wonder that one of the principal aesthetic concerns is the eye contour.

Cosmetic products are often primarily judged by their sensorial properties, as these can be evaluated right away, even before purchase. These properties, which include appearance, texture and scent, are an essential aspect when differentiating products, regardless of active ingredients.