Premium Beauty News - How did you get the idea to work on the theme of home cosmetics?
Lorraine Denois - Our role as a supplier of cosmetic ingredients is to help our customers decipher current trends and propose formulation concepts and ingredients that meet current and future market demands.
During the pandemic, we observed a renewed interest in the homemade trend, especially in cosmetics with a wellness dimension.
Blend It Yourself, or BIY, consists in letting the consumer mix ingredients provided by brands with precise instructions, tips and precautions for use, to create a product that perfectly reflects their own needs. That’s the ideal solution for those who want to personalize their beauty care but lack the time or knowledge to make their own beauty recipes. It’s seductive also by its image both ecological and "transparent": the BlY has become a mode of consumption.
Premium Beauty News - How does Seppic help its customers to respond to the Blend it yourself trend?
Lorraine Denois - In response, Seppic launched, during in-cosmetics Global in early April 2022, a duo of formulas called COSMETIC MIXOLOGY. The marketing and innovation teams have pooled their expertise to come up with a "Blend it yourself" concept that is safe and fun for consumers. With these two bases, Seppic offers a simplified and safer customization solution for consumers who are not always aware about the risks and constraints of home-made cosmetic formulation.
These two formula bases can be customized with active ingredients that are easy to find at home to meet various applications (face care, hair care, body care). To ensure the robustness of the final formulas, the two chassis were tested with ten home-made active ingredients with different profiles (viscosity, pH, presence of electrolytes, solubility). Among them: lemon juice for a radiance face mask, coffee grounds for a body scrub and pomegranate vinegar for an all-in-one hair care.
In addition to responding to a current market trend, our two formulas have been designed taking into account the need of consumers for minimalist formulas and their requirements for high naturalness and safety for human health.
Premium Beauty News - Can you tell us more about these two bases?
Lorraine Denois - COSMETIC MIXOLOGY includes two formulas with different sensory characteristics:
A creamy base to customize: a strong emulsion base combining softness and creaminess. Emulsion stability and robustness are provided by an emulsifier MONTANOV™ 202 and two polymers, SOLAGUM™AX & SEPIMAX ZEN™, to enhance the formula’s resistance to electrolyte-rich actives. This minimalist formula also contains EMOGREEN™ L15, an emollient for sensory comfort and AQUAXYL™, an essential sugar-based moisturizing agent.
A gel-cream base to customize: a solid pebble to rehydrate forming a fresh gel with a light touch. The SOLAGUM™TARA & SEPIMAX ZEN™ polymer pairing forms a fresh, watery gel-cream and strengthens the formula’s resistance to electrolyte-rich actives. Three additional ingredients have been added: EMOGREEN™ L19, an emollient for sensory comfort, SEPIFINE™ BB, a texturizing agent to provide softness and AQUAXYL™, an essential sugar-based moisturizing agent.
These two formulas allow our customers to offer the final consumer two different experiences in terms of sensoriality and customization.
Premium Beauty News - Do you think this trend will continue in the coming years?
Lorraine Denois - This trend toward active consumer participation is becoming increasingly digital. Some companies rely on personalized online questionnaires to develop formulas and beauty programs with the help of artificial intelligence, while others allow the individual to take control of the mixing process. Applications, connected machines, mini cosmetic formulation laboratories, are multiplying, allowing to customize cosmetic care according to one’s desires or needs. This customization goes as far as the packaging. Consumers can express their own personality and create their own designs on the packaging.
It is likely that this type of service will continue to develop with the evolution of increasingly intuitive and complete internet interfaces that will seduce consumers looking for personalization and unique solutions. Home blending, cosmetic devices, digital beauty analysis, packaging customization ... are clearly an important part of the future of personalized beauty, focused on inclusiveness, precision and sustainability.