https://www.beautyindependent.com/biggest-trends-expected-drive-beauty-manufacturing-2024/

Skin Minimalism 2.0

Skin minimalism 2.0 is a trend towards highly effective products with lean list of ingredients employing combinations of multifunctional ingredients. This trend is primarily driven by consumers who are seeking cosmetic products that produce a noticeable improvement in the appearance of their skin, be it fading dark spots, reducing the appearance of wrinkles or evening skin tone.

Consumers have become more sophisticated and discerning regarding the skincare products they purchase and use. Consumers are conducting more research on skincare ingredients and are better able to differentiate between functional ingredients and marketing ingredients.

This is quite different from the past clean beauty trend of developing formulas that focused on minimizing the number of ingredients in a product. Skin minimalism 2.0 consumers are focused not on the number of ingredients per se, but on the quality and effectiveness of ingredients and performance of the product. Just because a product has only 10 ingredients is not compelling if the product does not produce results.

Skin minimalism 2.0 will usher in products coming to market that contain lean lists of ingredients, virtually no marketing/label ingredients and multiple multifunctional ingredients such as niacinamide, lactic acid and glyceryl glucoside to stimulate aquaporin-3.

Consumers will also look for highly purified, single molecule plant-derived ingredients such as dipotassium glycyrrhizate and TECA (asiaticoside, madecassic acid, asiatic acid) instead of licorice root extract and gotu kola extract.

Skin minimalism 2.0 consumers will also look for products that contain more sophisticated ingredient delivery systems such as deformable niosomes and other lipid-based encapsulation technologies to better enable the functional cosmetic ingredients to penetrate the epidermis.

AI In Cosmetic Product Development

AI tools for cosmetic chemists, cosmetic contract manufacturers and cosmetic brands are coming to market that can dramatically enhance the productivity of stakeholders in screening formulas against regulatory and retailer standards, regulatory reporting and various other tasks performed by cosmetic chemists.

AI tools targeted to this market include Cosmex.ai, Good Face Project, Worldover.io and Novi Connect. While each has distinct features, the commonality is automating regulatory and retailer compliance standard screening and automating manual tasks cosmetic chemists and regulatory professionals perform in developing a product and preparing compliance documentation to launch the product to market.

These AI tools can save cosmetic chemists and allied professional hours spent performing these tasks. Full disclosure, I am the director of marketing and development for Cosmex.ai. AI in cosmetic chemistry includes animal-free safety substantiation of new cosmetic ingredients using sophisticated predictive chemistry models to ascertain the safety profile of new ingredients.

AI is also being used in screening large chemical datasets to identify potential new cosmetic ingredients and to guide the molecular design of new cosmetic ingredients. This technology, commonly used in pharmaceutical drug development is now being used in the cosmetics industry.

The business case for AI in cosmetic product development is compelling.  Products can be brought to market much faster, using new proprietary ingredients and in-silico test models for ingredient safety profiles.

Senescent (“Zombie Cells”) Anti-Aging Products

Senescent or zombie cells are cells that no longer divide, but also do not undergo apoptosis (cell death) and autophagy. Instead, these cells exist in a suspended state where they neither continue to divide nor die.

However, zombie cells are not inactive. They secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines that induce aging and tissue deterioration. Further, secretions from zombie cell can induce adjacent healthy cells into a state of senscence. The trigger to induce senescense in cells is thought to be DNA damage caused by free radicals.

Polyphenols and flavonoids have been shown in in-vitro models to be senolytic, thus selectively promoting cell death of senescent cells. Look for companies to introduce anti-aging topical products and companion oral supplements specifically targeted at mitigating senescence.

Senolytic anti-aging topicals may contain various combinations of naturally derived ingredients such as apigenin, quercetin, phloretin, curcumin, bergamot polyphenol fraction, genistein, glycyrrhizic acid, baicalin, mangiferin, fisetin, rhododendron ferrugineum (alpine rose) leaves extract, gingerenone A. A particularly interesting synolytic ingredient is biooptimized guava.

From a business perspective, the combination of naturally derived senolytic ingredients with strong antioxidants such as resveratrol can create an entirely new category of anti-aging cosmeceuticals and companion senolytic oral supplements.

Neurocosmetics

Neurocosmetics is a relatively new concept that topically applied cosmetic ingredients can bind with receptors triggering a positive neurological response such as the release of beta-endorphins. Neurocosmetics can range from commonly used topical ingredients such as menthol that tricks the brain into focusing on the cooling effect as menthol evaporates from the skin as opposed to pain.

CBD and copaiba oleoresin are thought to bind to cannabinoid receptors to reduce pain.  Tephrosia purpurea was observed to stimulate the release of beta-endorphin and dopamine while reducing cortisol levels.

Happybelle-PE from Mibelle Biochemistry is a phyto-endorphin complex derived from monk’s pepper thought to bind to opioid receptors causing an analgesic effect and sense of well-being. Vytrus Biotech’s Sensia Carota derived from the flowers of orange carrots is targeted towards sensitive skin, reducing erythema and transepidermal water loss.

Neurocosmetics is still in its infancy, but drives the concept of “well-aging.” Look for brands to introduce more products touting neurocosmetic ingredients in 2024 tied to a marketing message of holistic skincare and well-aging. It is too early to tell if consumers will embrace neurocosmetics and observe noticeable effects or if neurocosmetics will be the CBD of 2024.