Natural, organic, green, sustainable - these are buzzwords we are bombarded with every day as consumers, marketeers and scientists. However, many of these words hide a world of confusion and discussion within the cosmetic industry.
What constitutes a natural product formulation? How do we define ‘naturally derived’ and what does green chemistry bring to the party? Great renewable, functional ingredients and high performing natural actives (at reasonable prices of course!) are what we as scientists, formulators, brand owners or marketeers often aspire to use within our products, but how easy is it to achieve commercial natural products in reality?
According to research & consulting group Organic Monitor, the global market for natural & organic cosmetics was valued at USD 12.6 billion in 2015. Sales revenues have doubled since 2007. A natural brand positioning or ingredient story sells even if the whole product may not be 100% naturally derived by one or another of the various industry definitions.
The importance and attention this sector now garners, led the UK Society of Cosmetic Scientists (SCS) to launch its inaugural Naturals in Cosmetic Science Conference in 2013. This has become a successful bi-annual event, now heading for its 3rd edition in 2017. The growing importance of sustainability and the amazing new technology in natural ingredientproduction led to us decide that there is still much that is innovative and exciting to discuss.We are interested in getting to the science behind the ingredients. At last we seem to be making inroads into knowing why and how the ingredients work and what the exciting developments the future will offer.
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