Mintel Watching For Mood-Enhancing Beauty, Nature/Science Fusions In 2010

Impacted by the economic recession, consumers are looking for personal-care products that offer protection and maybe even lift their spirits, Mintel suggests in its predictions for 2010.

"Makeup has long been associated with making the wearer feel better, but recent product evolution has seen actual ingredients enabling this," the market research firm says, adding: "In 2010 consumers will be able to enhance their mood through makeup and skin care."

Mintel heralds the arrival of neurocosmetics, a super-sophisticated strain of aromatherapy at the intersection of beauty and psychology.

Formulated with ingredients that act on neurotransmitters, neurocosmetics are positioned as products that "induce more positive mood," Mintel says.

The company points to Enlightenment Day Moisturizing Treatment, marketed in the U.K. under the Psy Derma brand created by celebrity psychologist Linda Papadopoulos.

In addition to "stimulat[ing] information transfer across the corpus callosum (the membrane separating the right and left brain hemispheres)," Psy Derma's Enlightenment is said to "increase nerve growth factor and boost production of neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, thus creating a feeling of well-being and stress reduction," Mintel notes.

The product, which retails for about $51, "was one of the first indicators of the new breed of neurocosmetics and the 'mood beauty' trend," the firm adds.

Mintel also highlights a new line from French brand Six , which consists of six skin-care formulas housed in sleek egg-shaped cases that address beauty's six "vital needs."

Those needs include physical needs (to be quenched, to be nourished, to breathe) and emotional needs (to laugh, to dream, to love), according to the company.

Rêver Redensifying Night Cream (to dream) contains hyaluronic acid and protective pseudoalteromonas ferment, as well as mirabilis jalapa extract, which is believed to have "possible serotoninergic actions," Mintel notes. The product costs about $68.

The idea of improved sleep quality, or better beauty sleep, is "injecting new life into the night-care subcategory," the research firm maintains.

Mintel Senior Beauty Analyst Taya Tomasello suggested during a Dec. 15 interview that the use of ingredients that stimulate neurotransmitters in cosmetics could get the attention of regulators.

With so much focus recently on "the natural side of things" - specifically, on the question of what constitutes a natural personal-care formulation and what marketing claims are and are not allowed for such items - "a lot of the scientific, more seemingly invasive medical-grade ingredients have kind of slipped by," Tomasello said.

She predicts that regulators will begin cracking down on cosmeceutical claims that encroach on drug territory and that increasingly competitors may be the ones drawing FDA's attention to product marketing and formulations that cross the line.

She cited as an example pharmaceutical firm Allergan's action in 2007 against cosmetic eyelash-enhancement products that it claimed were overstepping their bounds and infringing its patents covering the use of prostaglandins to stimulate eyelash growth (¹ (Also see "Jan Marini Ceases Eyelash Product Sales Due To Allergan Suit, FDA Threat" - HBW Insight, 14 Jan, 2008.)).

Ironically Allergan was served with an FDA "untitled" letter in September warning the manufacturer about promoting its Latisse drug - approved for treating "inadequate" eyelashes - too much like a cosmetic and understating the product's risks (² (Also see "FDA Cites Latisse Web Site For Implying Eyelash Growth Drug Is A Cosmetic" - HBW Insight, 28 Sep, 2009.)).

"Nu Natural"

The natural/organic product sector will continue to evolve in 2010, Mintel says, with less focus on certification for certification's sake and more emphasis placed on results.

"I wouldn't say that certifications are going away, but we're moving past that now. What we're saying is that certification is almost a given," Tomasello said.

At any rate, with certification growing increasingly prevalent, "manufacturers need to find another way to differentiate their products in the natural/organic/green market," the analyst asserted.

Nail artist Kiho Watanabe made efficiency a priority in creating Bakel P-LipicSerum Four Revitalizing Formula, which sells in her six Uka beauty salons in Japan as well as Colette in Paris, according to Mintel.

The brand interprets natural as meaning "zero useless substances and 100% actives."

Eliminating the "superfluous," the anti-aging face and neck serum features a short list of ingredients including aloe barbadensis gel, glycerin, panthenol and ubiquinone. It costs roughly $153.

Mintel also cites Shiseido's Future Solution LX Daytime Protective Cream SPF 15, a natural-oriented product that contains premium Uji green tea - "the highest grade of Japanese green tea found in the southern region of Kyoto," according to the company's Web site.

The product also features traditional herbal medicinal extracts ononis and angelica root, plus star fruit, okra and super yeast extracts.

Making "provenance" a selling point - with interest in local production and fair trade on the rise - the cream is scented with flowers native to Japan, such as hamanasu (rose), ume (plum) and sakura (cherry blossom), for "deep fulfillment of the spirit," Mintel notes.

But its ingredients may not all be recognizable to consumers.

"The No. 1 reason why a woman might not want to use a natural/organic product is because of the efficacy [or lack thereof] of the product," Tomasello observed. "So we're seeing a little bit of a fusion with science from that perspective [by] having active naturals that provide benefits of anti-aging, brightening/illuminating, reducing dark circles and puffiness and things like that."

Upping the potency of Shiseido's formula, Mintel notes, are super bio-hyaluronic acid, piperidinepropionic acid and the firm's Skingenecell 1P , designed "to work deep within the skin's surface and to suppress the production of Serpin b3, a negative factor found within skin that increases when skin is exposed to external aggressors."

Products offering "increasingly powerful shields against not just UV rays, but also physiological and man-made factors," represent another emerging trend ("Pro-Tech't") identified by Mintel in its beauty innovation forecast for 2010.

Offering something for everyone, sjal "integrates elements of Chinese, Tibetan, Ayurvedic, homeopathic and vibrational medicine with biotechnology, energy science and quantum physics," the market researcher says.

The brand lists Chinese herbs, silk proteins, blue lotus, copper peptide, tissue salts, gold, silver, platinum and GABA amino acid among ingredients thrown into the pot to create its Kashmir Saphir Perfecting Mask, which retails for about $150.

Generally, personal-care manufacturers are experimenting with "new ways to merge science, nature and sustainability for better results and more eco-friendly formulas and packaging," Nica Lewis, director of Mintel Beauty Innovation, notes in a Dec. 8 release.

She predicts that "in 2010, we will see more consolidation" of those imperatives.

- Ryan Nelson ( ³ [email protected] )