The beauty market is shifting and this shift is heavily influencing formulations and requirements for ingredients. Eric Leroy, Global Marketing Director at Syensqo, talks about meeting new demands and outstanding formulations.
Interview
Eric Leroy
Global Marketing Director Beauty Care market, Syensqo, Belgium, www.syensqo.com
COSSMA: How did the beauty market change recently? What new requirements / customer demands are there for formulations?
Eric Leroy: Over the past few years, consumers have become significantly more aware and knowledgeable about beauty product ingredients. This awareness has driven a shift towards sustainable and bio-based solutions, with a growing preference for simple, effective, and well-established active ingredients such as ceramides, vitamins, hyaluronic acid, and proteins. These include options to answer to different trends as dermo-protection, skin barrier integrity, and sulfate-free products and others. Regional variations in market trends also exist. In China, the beauty care market remains relatively soft, with brands striving to differentiate themselves through green claims. In European countries, there is a renewed interest in palm-free solutions, spurred by deforestation legislation. Overall, environmental care remains a strong priority for consumers and a key commitment for brands, many of which are pledging to achieve “Net Zero” and are formulating products with biodegradable ingredients.
What innovations can we expect in formulations?
As formulations will continue to get more sustainable, we anticipate these formulations to be salt-free / low salt, in order to deliver the function and performance consumers expect. Similarly, with the increasing demand for bio-based and biodegradable ingredients, new textures and sensorial signatures will be developed/are expected as formulators move away from silicones and synthetic polymers.
What’s your most groundbreaking formulation, why?
One of our shampoo formulas, the Minimalist Gentle Shampoo, is a sulfate-free shampoo made with only 7 ingredients that are easy to transport and easy to handle during manufacture, while still delivering the level of performance expected for normal to moderately damaged Caucasian hair, in terms of foaming, conditioning and hair feel. This formula taps into the responsible beauty and self-care trends.
What could a revolution in the beauty market look like?
Having fully replaced silicones and synthetic polymers is indeed a revolution for the beauty care industry which relies heavily on these technologies to deliver the performance and the sensorial experience expected by consumers.