Top 5 Sustainable Cosmetic Formulation Trends

Belinda Carli, 30/03/2022

Sustainable products are an increasing trend for consumers in all categories, so it is little wonder they are looking for sustainable sourcing with the ingredients used in their cosmetic products. Sustainable sourcing starts from when the cosmetic formulator begins creating the product formulation – but must suit cosmetic marketing and packaging requirements as well. In this blog we’ll look at the top 5 sustainable cosmetic formulation trends impacting the cosmetic industry, and how your cosmetic brand can formulate sustainable cosmetics to meet consumer demand. 

 

Sustainable cosmetic trend #1: Waterless cosmetic formulas

The waterless cosmetic trend has been around for a few years now, and includes waterless bars for shampoo, body wash, conditioner, face cleansing and even moisturising. The concept is to use bars that are highly concentrated – essentially removing the water from the starting formulation – then mixing them with water on application.

Going waterless with cosmetic formulas helps us save one of the worlds most precious and essential resources: water. But it also saves on shipping costs. What a lot of consumers don’t realise is that most cosmetic formulas like lotions, creams, body wash, face wash, shampoo and conditioner are between 60 – 80% water, and sometimes even more. This means the weight, and even the size, of a cargo shipment of any of these types of products is mostly water.

A waterless cosmetic product, by comparison, is a concentrated form of the product. Not only does this mean you aren’t shipping a large percentage of water in each unit, it also means a consumer gets a lot more product uses out of one bar.

Formulating waterless cosmetics is not without its challenges though! The first issue you will face is getting the bar strength just right. The next waterless cosmetic formula issue is to mimic the performance of the traditional form of the product when it is mixed with water. Since a bar mixing with water is a different sensory experience to a regular cream or foaming product, it can mean a bit of an adjustment for your consumer. However, when the product is mixed with water and applied, you should try to ensure its performance and sensory experience mimics the regular form of the product as best as possible, so they are satisfied with their change to a waterless cosmetic bar.

When formulating waterless cosmetic products you will need to make sure you instruct your consumer on how to use the product properly for best results, and should remind them to let the bar dry out rather than sit in water. Make sure you consider the packaging of the bar too – no consumer wants to purchase a waterless cosmetic bar with sustainability in mind, then have to unwrap a heap of unrecyclable plastic packaging to get to it.

Make sure you check out our various waterless bar cosmetic formulation videos:

Learn how to master the waterless bar formula trend with our How to formulate waterless bar workshop series.

And consider if you can change the water in a formula with a water alternative or water replacement, by watching this video.  

 

Sustainable cosmetic trend #2: Upcycling

Upcycling is where a waste product, which would normally be thrown away, gets put to a renewed use. Common materials upcycled in cosmetic formulas are exfoliant agents – coffee grounds, shell husks, even dried plant parts! We are even starting to see the seeds of fruits used for jams being collected and crushed to extract oils.

Upcycling is an easy message to tell your consumer, and shows you are being conscious of a trend known as ‘circular beauty’. It is also a great way of finding new innovations – you never know, your upcycling awareness may lead to the next big thing in cosmetic formulation!

Watch our Using upcycled exfoliants in cosmetic products video.

 

Sustainable cosmetic trend #3: Carbon neutral ingredients

Suppliers are rising to the challenge of sustainable beauty with more carbon neutral raw materials than ever before. Using enzymatic processes for esterification, suppliers are now able to supply the cosmetics industry with a range of naturally derived esters that avoids the normally heat and energy intensive process. The result is ingredients with a much lower carbon footprint, for more carbon neutral products.

The way some plant based cosmetic ingredients are now being produced also yields far more sustainable products. For example, fermentation can be used as a means of low energy extraction to yield innovative active components with fast production rates; as is the use of wild plants as biofactories. Speak with your suppliers about their sustainable cosmetic ingredient choices, or carbon neutral options, when starting your next cosmetic formula developments.

Remember: being carbon neutral is more than just selecting a few carbon neutral ingredients – but it’s certainly a step in the right direction to use these where they now exist. Keep your eyes out for similar new sustainable options from suppliers and watch this category grow!

Watch our sustainable and carbon neutral beauty video.

 

Sustainable cosmetic trend #4: Minimise packaging/use refillable packaging/source sustainable packaging

While using recyclable packaging is the least that every brand should be doing right now, using just recyclable packaging is not going to be enough as the demand for sustainable cosmetic products grows.

The first and most obvious solution is to use less packaging – and check that at the very least, every packaging component used is recyclable and avoid outer packaging unless absolutely necessary for regulatory (label/claims) or shipping (protection) purposes.

Contrary to what many people think, glass is not a good sustainable option. Not only is it incredibly energy intensive to produce, it is also very heavy, and because of its risk of breaking, it needs extra packaging to protect it. While glass may be very recyclable, it is not very sustainable because of all the extra packaging, fuel used to ship the extra weight, and energy used to produce or recycle it.

There is such a thing as upcycled packaging now! Old fishing nets and similar items, collected from the ocean, are now converted into plastic packaging. There is also sugarcane bioplastic - a ‘natural’ plastic-like packaging that is just as versatile as regular plastic packaging.

Check out the latest in sustainable packaging innovations with our Cosmetic Packaging Innovations video. 

 

Sustainable cosmetic trend #5: Less is more beauty routines

Skinimalism is a hot and trending term that covers both minimizing the beauty routine of a consumer, as well as the number of ingredients used in each of their products.  

For a consumer, skinimalism means using fewer products that do more for you. Instead of using a cleanser + exfoliant + toner + moisturiser + serum (or similar combination), consumers are now looking for a pore refining exfoliating cleanser and then pairing that with an intensely active moisturiser. This effectively replaces the need for five different types of products and replaces it with just two. 

For a cosmetic formulator, it means making multi-functional ingredient selections in every cosmetic formulation – so instead of using between twelve to twenty ingredients in a product formulation, use multifunctional ingredients to reduce the need for different ingredients to just four to eight at the most. It is also ideal if you can use this cosmetic formulation technique over multiple product lines – so the same functional materials are used across multiple lines of product, to reduce waste from unused product and save on shipping. This means savings on sourcing from different suppliers, as well as savings on shipping and storage. The cosmetic formula must still incorporate the required actives to ensure outstanding performance – but make sure your cosmetic formulas achieve their results from the use of one multi-functional ingredient, rather than needing three or four.

Watch our videos on minimalist formulations:

 

Make sustainability your only business option

Sustainability is what your consumer wants – so make it your business culture as well as reflect it in every product. From the start of your product concept through packaging selection and even your marketing choices – make sure sustainability is your primary focus.

Encourage staff to make sustainable choices too – use less paper in the office or go paperless altogether! Eliminate unnecessary shipping and packaging steps, have recycling bins in the office and re-use and upcycle office items where possible too.

When its your business culture, it will be obvious in your finished product and company philosophy, and your consumer will notice it too.

Happy formulating! 

 

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