Winners announced for the 2016 Cosmetics Design “Best Ingredient Made from Recycled Materials Award”

The judging panel for the Cosmetic Design award included Valerie George, a senior chemist at a leading salon brand, who’s currently focused on hair care and hair color. George is the 2016 Chair of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists and a newly appointed member of the Committee on Scientific Affairs for the National Society of Cosmetic Chemists. She is also an advising board member of the College of Arts & Sciences at Kent State University in Ohio.

Sustainable ingredient distributor Gay Timmons of Oh, Oh Organics served on the panel as well. For over 15 years Timmons' company has been committed to developing and supplying certified, compliant organic ingredients to cosmetic manufacturers.  

The judging panel also included Cosmetics Design Senior Editor Simon Pitman and myself, Deanna Utroske, Senior Correspondent for Cosmetics Design.

Final five​

The finalists for the first ever Cosmetics Design “Best Ingredient Made from Recycled Materials Award” are:

• Alban Muller for Borealine Expert, an anti-aging ingredient made from the bark of red maple trees
• Amyris for Neossance Hemisqualane​, an ingredient made through fermentation, that's a sustainable alternative to isohexadecane, cyclomethicone, and low molecular weight dimethicones
• Lipotec for Actiguard, an ingredient, extracted from the bran of sorghum, meant to soothe sensitive skin
• Active Concepts for AMTicide, a preservative enhancing ingredient made by fermenting fractionated coconut oil
• Amedeo Brasca for Olifeel, an ingredient made with olive oil byproducts (specifically, high purification of fractions of Olea Europaea) that rebalances the skin’s protective barrier

Top marks​

Amedeo Brasca was the runner up with Olifeel. After scoring against the award criteria, judges noted that Olifeel ‘made particularly smart use of biomass or a food waste product that would otherwise be trash’​ and that the ‘product line is comprehensive, applies to many applications, and as such serves as a good tool for formulators.’​

Amyris for Neossance Hemisqualane​ is the winner of the Cosmetics Design 2016 “Best Ingredient Made from Recycled Materials Award.”

Judges called Neossance Hemisqualane ​‘a wonderfully sustainable and scientifically advanced product with high efficacy and interesting applications,’ ​pointing out that ‘it also uses very advanced green chemistry practices.’ ​ The judges also remarked on it being ‘continuously renewable because of the fermentation  process,’​ noting that the supplier is able to ‘make as much or as little as needed with no concern about harvesting.’​

Next-generation sourcing ​

As I mentioned in my remarks at the award presentation last week, the team at Cosmetics Design created this award to honor the work that ingredient developers are doing to help make cosmetics and personal care products more ecologically responsible.

And that’s an objective the companies listed above all share. This year’s winner, Amyris believes that ingredient makers “don’t need to compromise performance or cost to put forward a sustainable alternative,” ​Ro Oteri, global business director for the Neossance portfolio at Amyris, tells Cosmetics Design.

This article was updated on 14-Sept-2016 to more accurately list the uses of ​Hemisqualane.​