Powder and pills
Ingestible skin care products often contain trending ingredients such as marine collagen, probiotics, prebiotics and maqui berry.
These are formulated into a wide range of powders and in tablet form to offer beauty lovers a convenient and high-performance product that supports health and wellness considerations.
'Normal' beauty activity
After asking 480 consumers in both the UK and France, Lycored revealed that two-thirds of those surveyed perceived skin care supplements as a normal element of beauty regimes.
Of those asked, 66% agreed that "the idea of taking a supplement for skin health or beauty is normal" and 14% of respondents revealed that the idea of taking these supplements was "not normal".
Millennials are core consumers
For brands looking to appeal to specific target age groups, Millennials are proving a primary demographic, with the survey revealing that a higher number of Millennials are more likely to have used an ingestible skin care item than older age groups.
Millennial consumers — defined as those aged between 18 to 35 year olds — are keen on oral products that benefit their skin health, with 43% of respondents using oral items. Of those aged between 36 to 49 years old, 39% had used oral products. In addition, 23% of users are aged 50 to 69 years, with 14% aged 70 years or older.
Mass marketing
There are still barriers, however, affecting brands promotional campaigns to encourage consumers to use skin care supplements. The survey found that for the 46% of respondents who refused to use ingestible nutricosmetics, the primary reason for not doing so was that “it seems to make more sense to apply a product to skin”.
Second to this, 32% of respondents stated that they were not aware they “could achieve the same skin care benefits by taking a pill or capsule” — presenting a valuable opportunity to marketers and brands looking to develop the profile of ingestible skin care items.
The #rethinkbeautiful campaign, created by Lycored, aims to make the ingestible skin care category mainstream by answering common perceptions and challenges relating to nutricosmetics.
"Ingestible skin care—once seen as a niche category—is rapidly heading for the mainstream. Consumers, particularly those under the age of 35, are increasingly recognising the benefits of supplementation for healthy, resilient skin,” noted Zev Ziegler, Head of Global Brand and Marketing Health at Lycored.
“There's a very clear generational shift in favor of ingestible skin care, and with further work to inform consumers we can achieve even more," Ziegler added.