4 must-know beauty trends spotted at IBE LA

Nearly 200 brands exhibited at this year’s IBE event in LA; and there was a lot going on there for every brand, in every category, and every niche in the marketplace. Indeed, the 4 trends highlighted here span ingredients, formulation strategies, packaging materials, and the conscious supply chain.

Wood​

With the rise of green beauty, woodgrain packaging material (real and simulated) became very popular. Now, skin care brands are sourcing ingredients from wood and bark.

The Lyfestyle Co began as a fragrance brand and recently expanded into skin care. The brand’s new crystal-infused Clearing Toner is formulated with organic white willow bark extract. The ingredient promises “to fight acne”​ and act as “an all natural, gentle exfoliant,”​ according to the product page.

Forest Rhapsody Skincare, a brand out of Singapore incorporates willow bark for similar benefits. The brand’s Dew Drops Enzymatic Cleansing Gel is made with willow bark extract, which as brand founder CJ Zhan tells Cosmetics Design, is “a natural source of salicylic acid.”​

And brands like Pure Mana Hawaii, led by Kollette Stith and Sue Mandini, are formulating with sandal wood oil. Both the Soul Serum and Vitality C Eye Renewal Serum from Pure Mana include the ingredient, known for its anti-inflammatory and aromatherapy benefits.

Skin microbiome ​

As Cosmetics Design noted in our 2019 trends video​ item, brands formulating to accommodate the skin microbiome are poised to be the future of personal care.

At IBE LA, Cosmetics Design spoke with Marie Drago about her leading-edge brand Gallinée. Drago has been steadily growing the Gallinée product portfolio and brand since she founded the company in 2016.

Her brand’s cleansing bar, made using a patented manufacturing process, sells out regularly. And one of the newer items from Gallinée, a Face Vinegar, is swiftly gaining fans and helping introduce more consumers to microbiome friendly skin care.

“Vinegar is very interesting because it’s a post-biotic, so produced by good bacteria,”​ explains Drago. “With microbiome skin care you don’t have to invent everything. There’s a lot of new uses for old ingredients,”​ she says. (Watch for Cosmetics Design’s full video interview with Marie Drago of Gallinée in the coming days.)  

Several other brands at exhibiting at IBE LA this year have been making formulation choices with the skin microbiome in mind, e.g., skin care brands like Cosmetics 27 and scalp care brands like C3 (Comprehensive Cranium Care).

Register HERE ​to learn more about the skin microbiome at the Cosmetics Design Summit 2019: Skin Microbiome Innovation​, which is sponsored by DSM ​and Givaudan ​(Diamond sponsors); Solabia​, BASF​, and Sabinsa ​(Platinum sponsors); and Indena ​and Atlantia ​(Gold sponsors).       

Copper​

Metals just might be the next iteration of the mineral / crystal beauty trend. And at IBE LA this past week, copper stood out.

Shaffali Miglani just repackaged her portfolio of Ayurvedic skin care to better reflect the quality and sensibility of her brand, as she explains to Cosmetics Design. And copper figures prominently in the new packaging. Now, the Shaffali cleanser, exfoliant, mask, mist, moisturizer, and body products are capped with copper. And the color is repeated in design elements of new product marketing and informational materials.

Product on display at IBE LA from luxury skin care brand Eighth Day also features copper-tone packaging. And the hair care, treatment, and styling brand Copperhed not only uses the metal color on product packaging but the metal itself as part of their hair styling tool and in the formulations of hair treatment products and in a new ingestible supplement, promising hair, lash, and brow benefits, according to co-founder Brooke Boles.

Bees​

Bee beauty is really beginning to take off. And numerous indie brands at IBE LA this year are formulating with honey, wax, propolis, and royal jelly. Plus, most brands in the bee beauty space have a philanthropic initiative to support pollinator and bee populations.

Marin Bee, founded by Debra Tomaszewski in 2017, has a full range of products made with bee-derived ingredients, sales of which help support the Planet Bee Foundation. According to the brand site, honey makes sense in skin care formulations because it functions as a humectant, contains antioxidants, and has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties.

Another brand at IBE LA is merging bee beauty and celebrity beauty. Honey Minx, the new lifestyle brand from Nicole Richie (developed in partnership with Twila True Collaborations) has a 24K Manuka Honey Facial Mask that is made with Manuka honey from the Asiatic honey bee, and of course with gold too.

It’s a product that belongs in the newly launched brand’s portfolio because “Nicole is passionate about bees,”​ Ruth Madeja of Twila True Collaborations, tells Cosmetics Design. And she says, there’s more honey-based beauty to come from the brand.

---

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.