With new beauty products rolling out every week, what will the next truly innovative product look like?

Dr Shekhar Mitra, member of the Procter & Gamble Global Leadership Council; Dr Donald Bissett, research fellow at Procter & Gamble; and Ms Rameet Kaur, managing director of Skin Inc USA and Canada, give their take.

The Beauty Gazette (TBG): Encapsulation technology is increasingly gaining popularity in beauty formulas. Why is the encapsulation of active ingredients so important in a skincare product?

The encapsulation of actives in skincare is important as it ensures the stability, purity and potency of the ingredients.

Vitamins and other antioxidants can degrade when exposed to light. 

Certain ingredients provide benefits to the skin when used individually. But when they are added into a formula with multiple other ingredients, the various components may react with each other and lose their efficacy.

The protective encapsulation layer maintains the efficacy of the individual ingredients before they are delivered into the skin.

The encapsulation of single ingredients also allow for easy customisations of formulas to suit individual skin types. 

Last but not the least, natural-based encapsulation materials, such as the seaweed alginates used in Skin Inc formulations, provide an additional source of moisturisation and enhanced delivery of the actives into skin. 

TBG: What are the characteristics of a disruptive skincare product?

A truly disruptive skin care product has three key characteristics. 

First, the design of the package and the product inside must convey the message that this is something different, something unique, something that will make a difference for the skin. 

 Second, the first experience of the product on the skin must delight the user. It must be quickly absorbed without leaving any stickiness behind. The skin must feel smooth, velvety and moisturised immediately after application. This is so that consumers will continue to use the product to achieve longer-term benefits.

And third, the skincare ingredients in the product must provide long-term noticeable changes to the skin – reduced appearance of lines and wrinkles, luminescent skin, healthier-looking skin –  within a period of two to four weeks of regular usage.

So holistic design, the immediate positive effects on skin upon usage, and long-term benefits are hallmarks of truly disruptive skin care products.

TBG: What is the future of cosmetics going to look like? What are some of the trends that we can expect?
We are seeing a number of changes and global trends which will shape innovation in personal beauty care; specifically skin care.  

One’s skin condition is dependent on their genetics, environmental exposure, and nutritional habits. This, along with a strong growing desire for individual expression and the “selfie” trend, will drive brands to personalise and customise their products to meet the needs of discriminating global consumers. 

Second, consumers will demand a lot more of the professional and spa-like experiences and benefits from their products, along with the flexibility to use them at home. 

This will drive the use of home beauty devices to complement daily beauty rituals that include skin care serums, lotions, and masks to nourish and protect the skin.  

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