Next generation marine ingredients analysed

 a trend intensified by the rapid growth of sectors such as spa products and organics that lend themselves to oceanic influences. High profile marine products include La Prairie’s Advanced Marine Biology range, Estée Lauder’s Resilience Lift and its Crème de la Mer range. While products drawing on these sources have often achieved dramatic market success, cosmetic formulators have been slower to capitalise on the vast and largely untapped potential of the marine microbiome, i.e. the ecosystem of marine micro-organisms, including micro-algae, bacteria and fungi. Cosmetic ingredients drawing on this source, particularly those derived from bacteria and fungi, promise to not only deliver demonstrably novel and innovative cosmetic benefits to consumers but also to satisfy their increasing demands for affordable, natural and sustainable personal care products. This article considers the potential opportunities for such ingredients and will highlight some of the first cosmetic ingredients that have emerged from marine microbes as well as showcasing some of those that have the potential to breakthrough in the near future.

The limitations of ‘first generation’ marine ingredients

There has been a long-standing interest in marine inspired cosmetic products and a variety of marine derived ingredients from many different types of marine organisms have been investigated for cosmetic application, including terpenoids, polysaccharides, carotenes, phenolic compounds, chitin, and chitosan. However, marine derived cosmetic ingredients currently constitute just a small component of the total ~£2.45 bn cosmetic active ingredients market (of the overall global personal care ingredient market of ~£8.4 bn)1 and remain only a small component of the wider global market for marine biotechnology products currently estimated at e2.8 bn (2010).2 It could be that, although often innovative in their own right, these traditional marine ingredients that largely draw on macerated seaweed extracts, muds and sea-water do not always appear to have the credentials to satisfy more recent consumer demands for consistent performance and/or sustainability. Product lifecycles for those containing these marine ingredients are no different to those containing less ‘exotic’ ingredients forcing developers to constantly seek new sources and formulations to entice customers to continue to buy their products. A sizeable opportunity therefore exists for ingredients that can meet consumers’ twin demands for products that can deliver proven cosmetic effects and sustainable natural sourcing; one that marine microbederived ingredients are now looking to fill.