Cosmetic chemists, beauty bloggers, and legacy brand leaders all acknowledge that lifestyle and diet affect skin health. So it’s no surprise that nutricosmetics are arriving on the market with ever increasing sophistication and advanced formulations.
Inside out skin care
Innovations in nutricosmetics have come from all over since the category became a viable part of the US beauty market about 7 years ago.
Recently Juice Generation, a New-York beverage company, began selling drinks to promote skin health. And just last month Nippi Collagen and Flex Pak teamed up on a one-dose-serving solution nutricosmetic that delivers 5 grams of TruMarine collagen in a single package.
The segment is still growing to fulfil its market potential and zooming in on who the nutricosmetics consumer is: “The Z Skin Systems consumer is educated about and actively engaged in the beauty market and is always looking for the best new products to address his or her skin concerns,” Emily Frank, president of Z Skin Systems told Cosmetics Design.
Topical too
Z Skin Systems products are formulated, packaged and sold as skin care “methods” that combine topical serums with supplements, an important innovation in the nutricosmetics category.
A given method is intended for daily use: “Each nutricosmetics packet should be taken daily, preferably with a meal. Nutri-Serum should be used either in the morning or before bed but for best results should be used both in the morning and before bed,” explains the company’s press release.
This internal / external approach to skincare is a point of pride for the St. Louis, Missouri–based company: “There are certainly a number of supplement companies selling skin care supplements and traditional cosmetic companies adding nutritional products to their product line. However, Z Skin Systems is the first to create a holistic skin nutrition system that combines the oral and topical components for healthy skin,” Frank told Cosmetics Design.
Paprika peppers
The antioxidant zeaxanthin is the central nutrient in Z Skin Systems products, which the company manufactures in the US.
“There is more and more exciting research coming out about the benefits of carotenoids for skin health and healthy aging in general,” Frank told Cosmetics Design. “Zeaxanthin is one of the strongest antioxidents in the carotenoid family….Our Zeaxanthin is sourced from a special, non-GMO, strain of paprika peppers that has a high concentration of zeaxanthin.”
Research and development
Company founder Dr. Dennis Gierhart has been formulating with zeaxanthin for decades, according to Frank. And when his attention turned to skin care, Gierhart “pulled in Paula Simpson, a nutrition and nutricosmetic expert and Dan Fryda, a skin care expert.”
The company’s first two methods, a Radiant Skin Formula and a Clear Skin Formula, “were evaluated in a 12 week placebo control study” with good results, Frank told Cosmetics Design. And going forward, additional products will address a wider range of skin concerns and complement the inaugural Z Skin Systems methods.