Convenient body care: COSSMA

photo: B-D-S Piotr Marcinski/Shutterstock.com

Feeling good in your skin is an aspect that is increasingly important to customers. Body care plays an important role in this. New approaches to ingredients are necessary so that it is no longer perceived as a necessary evil but as an essential part of the daily care routine.

Body positivity is essential to confidence, and confidence is the key to beauty. Considering the pressures of modern life – not least the added sedentarism brought on by the pandemic – consumers are looking for more ways to look and feel confident. Effective body care products are a valuable tool in this journey to greater positivity.

Further to this, in a context where self-image is more important than ever with communications and social media at its peak, and aesthetic surgery growing globally, consumers are increasingly asking for kinder alternatives to enhance their contours.

This represents a significant opportunity for brands to generate and promote products that help consumers manage their body shape and enhance self-confidence. Combined with home exercise programs, body shaping products can be marketed as a daily action that can help relieve stress and anxiety about body image.

Further to this, consumers have many reasons for neglecting body care routines; for some, it’s merely time constraints. For instance, many cream-based products take time to sink into the skin before the user can dress. Therefore, to reignite interest in the segment, especially now that sedentary lifestyle is increasing, the beauty industry should place more emphasis on the importance of body care as an aspect of overall well-being, and from here, create innovative solutions for consumers’ convenience.

Asian concept

A new active1 that is using traditional Chinese formulas as a foundation, combines two powerful plant extracts from traditional eastern medicine that reduce the appearance of stretch marks and restore skin elasticity: Astragalus membranaceus and Codonopsis pilosula. Astragalus, a fundamental herb in Chinese medicine, has been proven to have anti-inflammatory and healing properties, limiting the destruction of pro-collagen². Equally, Codonopsis has been shown to have anti-ageing effects related to its immunological benefits, capacity to eliminate free radicals, and promotion of anti-lipid peroxidation³.

Both plants are used to improve Qi, or “the vital flow of energy,” thus combi-ning a message of well-being and tangible results. Together, these plant extracts mimic the effects of the injection of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP), activating dermal fibroblasts to encourage the secretion of various growth factors. The benefits of these ingredients were tested both in vitro and in vivo, using a cutometer skin elasticity test system. Subsequently, participants in the human study tested at a 7% elasticity increase and a 4.3% increase in firmness.

Fast-acting formulas

However, what makes these type of ingredients even more compelling is their potential for integration into fast-acting formulas. For instance, formulas with liposome-delivery molecules containing firming ingredients fulfil consumers’ demand for timesaving, absorbent products.

Equally, there is a huge gap in the market for cosmetotextiles, particularly for consumers that suffer from eczema. Alongside powerful moisturising natural ingredients, these poly-mers can directly infuse skin with healing ingredients. These technologies present exciting possibilities, as they signal the potential to break into a whole new market in textiles.

Meeting consumer demands

To respond to today’s consumer requests, it is important to consider that beauty concepts are changing. Beauty is getting more inclusive. Consumers want us to consider their individuality, so cosmetics solutions should respond offering solutions that include all kinds of beauty. Also, consumers are more demanding than ever as they are very well informed, so we should offer innovative solutions and new mechanisms of action. We are talking about so called smart beauty.

Thanks to transcriptomics, it is possible to go from classical in vitro tests that analyse for example pro-adipogenic effects on a few genes, to new RNA-sequencing possibilities that allow analysis of the pro-adipogenic effects in all genes, more than 12,000 in total. So, new cosmetic applications and multiple mechanisms of action can be identified, offering a vast new field for cosmetics body volumisers as the consumers are requesting.

And to end, today’s consumers are eco-conscious which explains the explosion of clean beauty trends and natural certifications.

The aspect of well-being

The beauty industry needs to listen to the consumer to reverse stagnation in the body care segment. Marketers should position body care as an integral part of a well-being routine, with the promotion of natural, sustainable ingredients as the keystone of this message.

For example, the trend could be a natural active ingredient that transforms fat-storing adipocytes into fat-burning cells⁴. In other words, an ingredient that can turn fat-accumulating adipose tissue into tissue that actively burns fat – as an effective solution for body shaping products.

An extract of Tisochrysis lutea, a microalga also used in aquaculture, it helps sculpt the body, enhance firmness and slim via two-way process: on the one hand, it transforms white adipocytes into beige adipocytes, and, on the other hand, it activates them so that they are able to burn  fat through thermogenesis. The result is a powerful natural active ingredient that redefines and reshapes the silhouette.

Keeping it real and convenient

Rising awareness of unrealistic beauty standards has reshaped consumers’ perception of beauty. While the increase in digital access globally has shown there is more to beauty than a single concept, there is an even stronger current that pushes consumers to embrace diversity. Driven by social media influencers that shun photo editing and filters, and encourage images of imperfect bodies, consumers are feeling more empowered. This signals a step-change for cosmetics labs, who need to re-align their formulations and messaging to match this new wave of positivity.

Ultimately, the industry needs to continuously innovate to address consumers’ need for convenience. By exploring different delivery methods, manufacturers can show consumers that body care is not an inconvenience, but an indispensable aspect of overall well-being.