Still room for innovation in natural cosmetics and personal care ingredients

18-Mar-2020 - Last updated on 19-Mar-2020 at 13:40 GMT

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It’s 2020 and natural beauty products are no longer niche or novel, but there is a long way to go before they are the new normal. Here, Cosmetics Design looks at recent industry developments in the natural and botanical space.

Indie brands are expediting the industry shift to naturals

Before the CoronaVirus upset this year’s beauty industry tradeshow calendar, in-cosmetics Global and the online education platform Formula Botanica announced a partnership. Formula Botanica is helping the show organizers expand on the Indie Trail feature and add more programing for indie beauty brand leaders.

But more importantly here is Formula Botanica’s approach to personal care and beauty product formulation. The course work from Formula Botanica focuses on natural and organic skin care science and formulating. And the fact that so many indie brands are innovators and early adopters of natural ingredient technologies and that indie brands are now undeniably a key segment of the industry highlights the growth potential of the natural ingredient market.

Every new ingredient is an opportunity for further ingredient innovation

As natural and botanical beauty ingredients gain popularity, the need for natural preservatives is also on the rise: “Increasing demand for natural skincare and personal hygiene products has resulted in new research opportunities for organic and natural preservatives,” Raghu Tantry, Principal Consultant in the Chemicals and Materials division at Frost & Sullivan, tells the press in an announcement about the market research and consulting firm’s new report: Growth Opportunities for the Global Personal Care and Cosmetic Preservatives Market, Forecast to 2023.

Even the most common of natural inputs can be significant

Earlier this year when CosmeticsDesign.com asked Is Beauty Going Bananas? Anecdotal responses trickled in suggesting that R&D pros and formulators are quite cynical about the prospects of a banana scent / ingredient trend. But the number of banana products on the market and the research behind innovative brands like Kadalys—"the first brand of organic, natural and vegan cosmetics with banana active ingredients”—suggests otherwise.

CBD from cultivated plants or biotech production falls into the naturals category

Even if there were no other natural or botanical ingredients on the market, cannabinoids would create a botanical boom on their own.

Ingredient suppliers like Gelest and Amyris are working to innovate in the cannabinoid beauty space. Just this week CosmeticsDesign.com reported on new Amyris data and tech that promises to make CBD more available both in formulation and in the ingredient marketplace.

And the longstanding natural skin care brand MyChelle Dermaceuticals just launched a CDB skin care line. It’s quite telling that a naturals brand with some 20 years in the business sees real potential in what is still a fairly new natural ingredient.

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Deanna Utroske is a leading voice in the cosmetics and personal care industry as well as in the indie beauty movement. As Editor of CosmeticsDesign.com, she writes daily news about the business of beauty in the Americas region and regularly produces video interviews with cosmetics, fragrance, personal care, and packaging experts as well as with indie brand founders.