Inolex launches new silicone alternatives

13-Mar-2018 - Last updated on 13-Mar-2018 at 18:05 GMT

Yesterday, the specialty chemical maker announced 2 new ingredients that it’s describing as next-generation silicone replacements. And in conversation with Cosmetics Design, Inolex global technical marketing manager Fana Makonnen explained why the company believes these ingredients will meet beauty makers’ formulation needs for skin care, hair care, color cosmetics, and sun care products.

Inolex will be showcasing the LexFeel WOW and LexFeel WOW DT ingredients at upcoming beauty industry events, namely the Personal Care and Home Ingredients (PCHi) tradeshow in China next week, and in April at in-cosmetics global in Amsterdam.

“For the past decade, Inolex has been ahead of the curve in providing brands and ultimately consumers with natural solutions in several major categories, including alternative preservation and silicone alternatives,” emphasizes chief scientist Rocco Burgo in a media release about LexFeel WOW.

“These latest ingredients,” he says, “build on our expertise in natural silicone alternatives and introduce a next generation of innovation that is 100% plant-based with remarkable performance and sensory characteristics.”

Better tech

Alternative ingredients aren’t always adopted quickly by formulators and brands. Which is why R&D teams and ingredient marketers are so often focusing on how these sorts of new ingredients can not only do the work of conventional ingredients, but do it better.

Inolex is foregrounding that its new LexFeel WOW and LexFeel WOW DT are 100% plant based, natural, semi-volatile alternatives to silicones that are globally approved for use in cosmetics and personal care (even in China).

New options

What promises to be most impressive about the LexFeel WOW ingredients are their sensory characteristics, which is where the name WOW comes from. As Inolex global technical marketing manager Fana Makonnen tells Cosmetics Design, “the sensory is pretty amazing.” And she describes the ingredients as having a “unique after-feel that’s rich but light.”

According to the company’s media release, “LexFeel WOW is a partially volatile, light and fast spreading emollient that absorbs quickly to provide a slight cushion with an exceptional, soft after-feel.” And, “LexFeel WOW DT delivers the same functionality in an ultra-light fluid with a cascading silky-to-powdery after-feel [and] the added functionality of an anti-whitening agent.”

Consumers and manufacturers alike are looking for “solutions that will create some sort of social impact and keep the environment in mind,” believes Makonnen. “I think the market has been looking for an ingredient like LexFeel WOW for a long time,” she says.

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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.