Both Botaneco and Ashland used the IFSCC event as a platform to introduce new personal care and cosmetic ingredients to the hundreds upon hundreds of cosmetic chemists in attendance.
New sun care
Botaneco, an Alberta, Canada – based ingredient maker, debuted CapSol at this year’s IFSCC event. It’s essectially an encapsulation technology made from oleosomes. For now Bontaneco is selling the organic UV filtering ingredient as an empty shell, Joe Matt, sales leader for Botaneco, tells Cosmetics Design. Going forward however, he says, CapSol will be offered as a custom-filled or preloaded sun care ingredient.
The company is new to the scene, having launched just three years back. Yet, Botanteco is growing—no surprise really, given the prevalence of sun care and naturals in the current beauty marketplace. At IFSCC, Matt told this publication that the company is seeking a location for a US formulation lab; and, that once such a site is identified, Botaneco will be hiring formulators and application chemists to staff the facility.
New anti-aging
Ashland’s new anti-aging skin care ingredient is one that has as its starting point “the whole living [Sacred Lotus, or Nelumbo nucifera] plant - the leaves, flowers and roots,” according to a press release from the company.
Harmoniance is a multifunction anti-aging ingredient made with the company’s proprietary biotech process, known as Zeta Fraction. And apparently the new ingredient acts on “hydration, barrier integrity, skin elasticity, contouring, and tone” which are what Joel Mantelin, vice president of business development for the biofunctionals at Ashland calls “some of the most important aspects of beautiful, alluring skin.”
Biotech is all the rage when it comes to beauty product ingredients these days. And Ashland boasts that their specialized biotech process “generates novel, highly reproducible ingredients capable of targeting multiple biological pathways, and improves their safety by providing the ability to remove contaminants of concern.”
New tech
Ingredients weren’t the only innovation on display in the supplier exhibition area at IFSCC. A couple of booths featured Virtual Reality experiences, meant to attract and inspire formulators though digital media.
Cosmetics Design senior correspondent Deanna Utroske gave the two VR episodes, from Givaudan and Lubrizol, a test drive. As a novelty or sort of new-age diversion from the tradeshow routine, both drew the attention of IFSCC attendees.
Whether as a sales tool, an in-lab resource for formulators, an educational platform, or a new system to streamline the supply chain, the potential uses for VR and AR in the cosmetics industry “seem endless,” as Karen Alexander, a strategic management consultant with the creative tech non-profit Denver Arts and Technology tells Cosmetics Design.