Author’s Note:
It’s been said that ingredient makers are the prevailing source of product innovation in the cosmetics and personal care industry. And it’s also true that adjacent consumer sectors like, food, beverage, pharma, and fashion influence beauty ingredient trends. Along with all of that, beauty brands themselves can be a terrific resource for anyone looking to find inspiration, innovation, and (dare I say) the incantations that are motivating consumers’ demand for ingredients. This is the reason why the following brands and ingredient stories stood out to me at this year’s Cosmoprof North America Miami tradeshow.
Newly Popular Polyphenols for Skincare
The skincare brand Vegetology formulates all six of the skincare products in its portfolio with viniferin—INCI Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Flower Cell Extract.
Your likely familiar with viniferin as the resveratrol dimer made popular by the French brand Caudalie. However, Vegetology (launched in early 2023) sources and processes its viniferin in a unique way. As the INCI makes plain, the polymer is extracted from the grape flower cells rather than from grape vines. And the cell culture tech used to produce viniferin at scale in this case does not rely on microorganisms such as bacteria or fugi, but instead uses bioconversion technology, which makes use of “low-cost raw materials called precursors using plant cells,” according to the iNGR site.
Korea-based ingredient maker iNGR owns the Vegetology brand (as a sort of proof-of-concept venture), has commercialized 10 biotech ingredients to date, and counts more than 100 plant varieties in their plant cell bank, as Jaeho Pyee, a Professor of plant molecular biology and CEO of both Vegetology and iNGR, told me in Miami. He also told me that iNGR uses molecular switch technology and a distinctive cell culture tech that involves not only induced secretion of viniferin but also “dissolution technology that…simplifies the extraction process by eliminating the process of breaking the cell and extracting [viniferin] with an organic solvent, and helps maintain the activity of the effective ingredient,” according to the iNGR site.
The key benefits of viniferin are skin brightening, dark spot reduction, and radiance boosting. And thus far, the Vegetology brand is sold in 19 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America.
Another class of polyphenol that seems to be picking up in the consumer skincare market are tannins. And a key detail here is that they’re being highlighted and marketed as tannins (and the source is secondary). Witch-hazel, a classic toning ingredient in Western skincare, is a common source of tannins. And it’s the first ingredient in One-Day’s You Help Me! Pore-T Pad product, part of the Korea-based brand’s line of Pore & AC Care. The products in this line are formulated with what the brand calls the AC Tannin Factor, a blend of witch hazel water and eight other tannin-rich plant extracts.
And the Returnu brand, also out of Korea, has a line of Pore Shooter skincare products all formulated with “Korean persimmon leaf ingredients and tannin,” according to materials the brand shared with me. The claim linked to the tannin in these products (a cleaning balm, a toner, and an ampule) is that it “decreases overflow sebum.”
Cleaner Carotenoids for Anti-Aging Skincare
About 5 years ago, Maria Burrittieri launched the Dolcepura Cosmetics brand. The hero ingredient here is lycopene; but of course not just any lycopene.
Dolcepura Cosmetics is based in Italy. And their lycopene is sourced from certified-organic tomatoes grown in that country and comes from a supplier using patented CO2 supercritical extraction technology. According to Burrittieri, this lycopene is remarkably more potent and bioavailable than what she calls “natural, traditionally extracted lycopene.”
The potency is thanks to the CO2 supercritical extraction tech. And the brand has third-party, academic research data showing antioxidant activity at as much as 100 times higher than conventionally extracted lycopene. The bioavailability is attributed to a built-in ingredient delivery mechanism. The lycopene in Dolcepura skincare is basically encapsulated in lipids from wheat. According to the ingredient supplier’s site, these “Lycocerasomes are ‘cementing’ nanostructures…very similar in structure to skin ceramides….These nanostructures represent a true carrier that facilitates penetration of the active ingredient through the skin.”
Microbes and the Waters Where They Live
Late last year the K-Beauty brand Treeannsea launched its new Arctic line of skincare products.
And the two most exciting ingredients here are Arctic glacier water and Polar Biome™ Bio Golden Oil. There are currently three products in the line: a serum, a toner, and a gel cleanser. As Eunjung Kim, the brand’s Sales Planning Team Manager, tells me, each of these products is formulated with Arctic glacier water, low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, and the Polar Biome™ Bio Golden Oil, which is produced by “extremophilic microorganisms” that the brand sources from the Artic.
Is Beef Tallow the USA’s answer to Horse Oil?
A new California-based skincare and body care brand is betting on upcycled, grass-fed beef tallow as an promising clean, luxury ingredient.
The sister and brother team of Miranda and Brian Robertson launched Moo Elixir in December of 2024. So far there are seven SKUs: an oil cleanser, a hydrating facial cream, and a body butter formulated with Moo Elixir’s signature animal fat as well as four other facial care items in the collection that promise to complement those hero products.
Among the benefits claim Moo Elixir is making, the body butter and hydrating facial cream both “can calm inflammatory skin conditions (eczema, psoriasis, etc.),” according to materials the brand shared with me.
In our conversation at Cosmoprof North America Miami, Brian Robertson emphasized the brand’s clean and ethical positioning of their hero ingredient, pointing to the fact that the tallow comes from grass-fed beef cattle raised on a ranch in Colorado. These details presumably show that the animals are well cared for, fed a clean diet, raised using humane ranching practices; and that the tallow isn’t the primary commodity, that the cattle are being raised for food, are not being killed solely for a skincare ingredient, and that upcycling the tallow means less of the animal goes to waste.
Deanna Utroske
As a regular contributor to this publication, Deanna writes the Global Perspectives column, covering cosmetic and personal care product formulation trends, emerging ingredient science, and ingredient marketing trends impacting the future of beauty around the world.
