All participants showed proof of vaccination and donned facial coverings as safety precautions amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
On Nov. 10, Spate co-founder Yarden Horwitz moderated a presentation which featured talks from Nagase, Bitop, Coptis, Applechem and McKinley Resources. She said a newfound sophistication in the beauty space is emerging among consumers who are seeking relief from various skin conditions such as hyperpigmentation and psoriasis. There is also increasing demand for retinol in an effort to achieve radiant skin.
Manette Epright, technical manager at Nagase, explained autophagy, or cell degradation of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components and touched on Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi’s Nobel Prize-winning discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy. Nagase’s ExtremOsio Novel Skincare Solution safely activates autophagy and naturally promotes skin beautification with its containment of Trehalose loaded liposomes. Trehalose is a natural non-reducing disaccharide commonly existing in plants and organisms with cytoprotection through proteome stabilization.
An accumulation of high intracellular levels of Trehalose, she said, enables organisms to survive in severe conditions. In an in-vitro study, Extremosio was shown to significantly protect keratinocytes from UV-induced damage reducing wrinkles, improving hydration and color homogeneity in a 45-day study involving 10 Caucasian women who averaged 44 years old who applied a cream containing 5% Extremosio twice daily.
Anne Schrotter, global sales and marketing manager, Bitop, said there’s been an uptick in skin irritation from inflammation in the form of “angry” red rashes and clusters of papules around the nose and mouth from facial coverings. She cited comments Adam Friedman, a professor of dermatology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, who blamed the increase on the pandemic. She also cited the widespread use of home offices which result in additional screen time with Zoom meetings and other increased virtual interactions. Consumers obviously don’t like what they see.
Given these findings, consumers are seeking skin care products in the form of meaningful beauty that are safe and sustainable per data from Sonar in addition to blue light protection and a mindful minimalist approach to finding them: a quarter of British women have reduced the number of facial skin care products, according to a 2020 study by Mintel.
Extoin Natural, Bitop’s latest innovation, is scientifically proven to shield skin from blue light damage, and can also be used on babies to treat eczema.
Extremolytes, or stress protection molecules, are highly adapted bacteria. The so-called extremophilic microorganisms, she said, produce special stress protection molecules to adapt to their hostile habitats.
Ectoin Natural protects these extremophilic beings from harmful environmental influences.
On Nov. 11, a Clean and Natural Beauty Panel was presented by the New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ Advisory Committee and hosted by chair-elect Dr. Giorgio Dell’Acqua.
Fast/Easy/Clean Formulating with pH-Responsive Thickening Surfactant Systems
Severine Jeulin, director of new product development personal care, Ele Corporation said “responsible is the new clean” and spoke about self-thickening surfactant concentrates using surfactant blends, which she said brings additional benefits to further streamline the manufacturing process.
“The future of cleansing products will be Water – and plastic-free,” she said, adding that there is a dramatic reduction in water consumption and plastic waste on the horizon.
Benefits of concentrates, she said, include the speed of formulating less trials and testing; the speed of production (fewer ingredients to add); product stability; smaller chemical inventory; reduced cost; and less documentation.
For formulators interested in obtaining a better understanding of how pH-controlled viscosity works, she explained that in a mixed micelle containing anionic and amphoteric surfactants, as the pH is lowered, the amphoteric surfactant begins losing some of its negative charge, going from a net neutral species, to a cationic molecule. This leads to a dramatic decrease in the repulsion between the headgroups in the micelle, resulting in an increase in the packing parameter and corresponding increase in viscosity.
Green and Clean Retinoids
Marcie Natale, global market development at Eastman Chemical Company, lectured on the rise in demand for retinoids in the past five years.
Anne Schrotter, global sales and marketing manager, Bitop
Retinoid usage in formulations have been used from 1996 to 2015. Retinol and retinyl palmitate are the primary retinoids used in the personal care from category introduction until 2015. Retinol accounts for 13% and retinyl palmitate 87% of the total retinoid usage with 1,295 products a year.
There are many challenges in derivatizing retinol. These include manufacturing and temperature and atmospheric conditions, which can degrade reactants, color and byproducts.
Natale noted that retinol is unstable during traditional manufacturing and can be very challenging to manipulate during an industrial reaction at high temperatures and non-optimal atmospheric conditions. A traditional esterification of retinol can degrade the retinol and potentially produce unwanted by-products and additional color.
“Retinol is UV and oxidatively unstable, which means if you are a formulator or working in manufacturing, you have to handle retinol very carefully to ensure that it doesn’t degrade during production. In formulation, retinol must remain oxidatively stable at the time of consumer purchase,” explained Natale.
Eastman GEM Retinyl Sunflowerate is a naturally-derived pro-retinol composed of retinol and sunflower Fatty acids . It is biobased, formulation stable, easy-to-handle and a nonirritating antiaging ingredient. It is free of solvent, diluents and carriers. Cosmetic uses include lips, eyes and face.
Its companion, Eastman GEM Retinyl Linoleate, is composed of linoleic acid from safflower oil.
Scientifically-Based Natural Preservation for Clean Beauty
Israel Weisser, head of sales and marketing for Sharon Laboratories, discussed preservation trends and clean beauty claims. He said consumers are willing to pay more for safety and transparency. Lower contamination risk conditions, pH of formulation outside the range of 3 to 10, Alcohol content greater than 20% and closed packaging (aerosols, airless containers) are less likely in natural formulations. The following are possible in natural formulations: water activity of a formulation less than 0.75 and very high levels of essential oils.
Twenty-five to 30% of European Union young consumers show interest in waterless products. These include facial cleansing bars, dry shampoos, and non-rinse conditions. A high-efficacy solution is SharoSense Plus 181, with natural and natural-like preservation systems, is pending a patent. Components include natural maltol, plant-derived polyquatemium-80.
Natural and Synthetic Ingredients in Beauty – Efficacy, safety and sustainability
Dr. Nitasha Buldeo, founder, Organic Apoteke, spoke about natural versus synthetic ingredients. Approximately 25-30% of the personal care and cosmetics market is comprised of natural ingredients while 70-75% are synthetic ingredients.
“Buzzwords are aimed at convincing consumers of the advantages of natural over synthetic ingredients and often devalue synthetic ingredients, but these buzzwords often cause consumer confusion,” she said.
Polymers are a class of cosmetic raw materials essential in the production of high-performance products. They are classified as synthetic, semi-synthetic, or natural. Synthetic and semi synthetic polymers can be tailored for specific applications, are cheaper than natural polymers, can be produced on a large scale with uniformity and have a long shelf life. They also have thermal and chemo sensitive properties, enable nanoparticle delivery, modify fragrance release and reduce the risk of evaporation.
Natural polymers In cosmetics are biocompatible with skin, safer, eco-friendly in character, highly attractive and marketable to consumers. Chemicals in cosmetics can interact with one another and with other chemical compounds on the skin. Due to reaction with body enzymes, which result in beneficial or detrimental effects, pre-formulation analysis and testing is paramount to ensure the safety of the selected ingredients in cosmetic formulations.
According to data from Grandview Research, the US organic personal care ingredients market size by product – which started at $2.04 billion in 2016 is expected to post steady gains through 2027 with natural surfactants, emollients, active ingredients, sugar polymers and natural preservatives among the star ingredients.