The Clean Beauty movement
The Clean Beauty personal care market size is projected to have an annual growth rate of 9.4% by 2025 (GlobalData). #cleanbeauty mentions on social media grew 623% in the US between 2016 and 2019 (Mintel). These statistics reveal a clear demand for clean products and a diversified offer driven by indie brands.
The Clean Beauty movement continues to shape the beauty and personal care industry for a number of reasons, principally perceptions of safety, and increased awareness of health and environmental sustainability. Consumers have become more conscientious, they understand more, they have a sense of responsibility to purchase products which not only work and are good for their skin but are ethical and respectful to the environment.
Clean Beauty does not yet have an exact or official definition or official label. Consumers are divided over the meaning of Clean Beauty, with multiple definitions popping up, including "cleaner", more "respectful", more "responsible" and “reliable”. The watchwords are safety, transparency, efficacy, ethical and sustainability.
This set of standards aspires to a new vision of cosmetics. On the one hand, it’s crucial to protect the skin by respecting and ensuring skin health, particularly the integrity of the skin barrier and balance of the microbiome (also applicable to hair and scalp areas). On the other hand, Clean Beauty considers the environment, the planet and aims for more environmentally friendly products.
What’s good for the consumer and the environment are merging to fuel a movement towards safer and more thoughtful products. This movement is impacting several product categories, and inspiring scientific breakthroughs and innovation.
Focus on must-haves: safety, health, hygiene and environment
A growing number of brands are adopting Clean Beauty standards, affecting such beauty categories as sun care, skin care, hair care and colour cosmetics. The industry has seen an incredible rise in demand for safe, hygienic, healthy, and environmental friendly beauty and personal care items.
Today's emphasis on safety and efficacy requires the entire supply chain to control and acknowledge ingredients and their effects, the compliance of ingredients, recyclable, reusable or refillable packaging, as well as specific products for skin protection and sensitive skin.
In the wake of COVID-19, product integrity and cleanliness has become even more important to consumers when it comes to accepting ingredients and packaging. For many, it is essential that brands provide evidence of efficacy and safety, both from a health and environmental perspective. They scrutinise ingredient safety and prioritise a product based on efficacy, making it increasingly important for brands to link ingredient safety with function. Brands are facing more pressure to educate consumers and convey the safety, efficacy and integrity of their products.
Consumers will reward brands that demonstrate their dependability, transparency and willingness to take action to ensure product safety and efficacy.
Eurofins’ offer for long-term goals
With increasing demand from consumers for clean beauty products, brands face new challenges including the sourcing and design of innovative raw materials and active ingredients, development of new packaging from diversified materials, development of new marketing claims… all whilst respecting the regulations applicable to cosmetics and personal care products. To achieve this, Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care supports customers at every key stage of the product development process, including:
- Consulting and Regulatory & Toxicology services (including toxicological profile of ingredients, regulatory compliance files, MSDS, labelling validation, developing a suitable analytical testing and safety assessment plan, literature search for new ingredients without INCI, support on pre-evaluation and pre-expertise, COSMOS folder, naturalness index calculations)
- Physico-chemical analyses (including heavy metals, allergens, residual solvents, pesticides, protein assays, impurities, furocoumarin, vitamins, stability testing)
- Microbiology testing
- Ecotoxicity, biodegradability, compostability, microplastics and packaging testing
- In vitro studies (including skin/eye irritation, sensitising potential, phototoxicity, genotoxicity, endocrine disruptors and transcutaneous/percutaneous passage)
- Clinical tolerance assessment and clinical efficacy (including skin regeneration, moisturization, soothing, microbiome analysis, hand care, sensitive skin, resurgence of allergies/acne and irritations, skin sensitised by external factors, e.g. pollution, stress, sun)
- Audit and certification (including vegan certification)
Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care’s precise approach has been established in order to surround brands with a coherent and complete vision of Clean Beauty.
