Personalisation increasing

Consumers are increasingly rejecting one-size-fits-all,and want products created especially for them: according to Mintel1, over one third of UK facial skincare users are interested in using skincare formulas that are personalised to their needs.

Personalised beauty products and packaging, customisable formulas and DIY beauty kits are going to have appeal as consumers seek to treat their specific beauty needs. Beauty by life stage is also going to gain traction as people want solutions better targeted to them, and we’ve already seen mass-market players tap into menopausal beauty.

Self-made?

Brands today offer various ways to let the customer actively participate in the creation of their cosmetic product by customising it. There is the trend of ‘home-made’ cosmetics, where consumers make their own beauty products with the help of boxes of ingredients provided by the brands. But there are also more conventional cosmetic formulated products.

The first one is waterless beauty with concentrated products to rehydrate like a kind of BIY (Blend It Yourself) cosmetic. Then devices and blenders offer answers to specific skin needs or various make-up tints depending on what the consumer wants. Devices are the new trend of blend it yourself and custom beauty.

The future of beauty will allow consumers to fully customise their moisturisers, serums, and colour cosmetics for a truly bespoke experience. Finally, powder or liquid boosters are a good opportunity to have easily adapted and personalised products to customise consumer classical routine and products.

Customisation

In the future, the big challenge for manufacturers will be to make hyper-customisation the new mass model in cosmetics, which will imply profound changes in their production and logistics systems. The current constraints are the delivery times in order not to frustrate the customers but also the sometimes-complex regulatory framework which imposes the brands to make a lot of tests to ban any possibility of toxic combination of ingredients.

Blend It Yourself (BIY) consists of letting the consumer mix ingredients provided by brands with instructions, tips, and precautions for use, to create a product that perfectly reflects their own needs. The ideal solution for those who want to personalise their beauty care but lack the time or knowledge to make their own beauty recipes.

The past few years of the pandemic and containment have seen the return of this ‘homemade’ trend. With more time at home, consumers have had to keep busy at home and have found themselves faced with store closures. Seductive also by its image both ecological and ‘transparent’, the BlY has become a mode of consumption.

Two bases

For example, one way to help brands to address this trend and inspire them is a duo of special formulas. These two chassis to be customised with home-made active ingredients (honey, olive oil, activated char-coal, ...) offer a simplified and safer customisation solution for consumers who are not always aware of the risks and constraints of home-made cosmetic formulation. Here, only two bases are needed for multiple possibilities of application from skincare to body care and hair care.

The first formula is a soft white cream. Emulsion stability and robustness are provided by Arachidyl Alcohol and Behenyl Alcohol and Arachidyl Glucoside emulsifier² and two polymers, Acacia Senegal Gum, and Xanthan Gum³ as well as Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6⁴, to enhance the formula’s resistance to electrolyte-rich actives. This minimalist formula also contains C15-19 Alkane⁵, an emollient for sensory comfort and Xylitylglucoside and Anhydroxylitol and Xylitol⁶, a patented essential moisturising complex based on sugars.

The second formula is a solid pebble to rehydrate that forms a fresh, light-touch gel-cream. The polymer pairing of Caesalpinia Spinosa Gum⁷ and Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6⁸ forms a fresh, watery gel-cream and enhances the formula’s resistance to electrolyte-rich actives. Three additional ingredients have been added: C15-19 Alkane⁹, an emollient for sensory comfort, Amylopectin¹⁰, a texturising agent to provide softness and Xylitylglucoside and Anhydroxylitol and Xylitol¹¹.

Individual solutions

This trend towards active consumer participation is becoming increasingly digital. Some companies rely on personalised online questionnaires to develop formulas and beauty programs with the help of artificial intelligence, while others allow the individual to take control of the mixing process.

Applications, connected machines, and mini cosmetic formulation laboratories are multiplying, allowing to customise cosmetic care according to one’s desires or needs. This customisation goes as far as the packaging. Consumers can express their own personality and create their own designs on the packaging. Some luxury brands are already using data to produce tailor-made products on a large scale with small machines. These products are then available in some stores or via online trade.

Conclusion

It is likely that this type of service will continue to develop with the evolu-tion of increasingly intuitive and com-plete internet interfaces that will seduce consumers looking for personalisation and unique solutions.

Home blending, cosmetic devices, digital beauty analysis, and packag-ing customisation are clearly an im-portant part of the future of personalised beauty, focused on inclusiveness, precision, and sustainability.

References:

1 Kantar Profiles/Mintel, September 2021

2 Montanov 202

3 Solagum AX

4 Sepimax Zen

5 Emogreen L15

6 Aquaxyl

7 Solagum Tara

8 Sepimax Zen

9 Emogreen L19

10 Sepifine BB

11 Aquaxyl