Suppliers and distributors featuring naturally derived or inspired ingredients, bio-based ingredients, and alternatives to petroleum-based and conventional inputs are to be expected at the trade show, which caters to the more stringently regulated and green-minded beauty industry that exists in the California region. Of course, not only are visiting brands and attendees local to California, many of the exhibitors are based in the area as well.
Accordingly, many of the trends and launches that appeared at the show fall under the cleaner, greener beauty umbrella. Fragrance maker Sozio, for instance was showing mini concept scents based on coconut and rose, because, as Julie Movessian, that company’s marketing director, tells Cosmetics Design, today “consumers want earthy things and natural ingredients.”
Plants and soil
Numerous natural plant, fruit, seed, and nut oils were on exhibit. Among the most distinctive such oils were sandalwood seed and sandalwood essential oils from DownUnder Enterprises. Interestingly, as Dee-Ann Prather, the company’s president tells this publication, DownUnder is also processing the inner shell of sandalwood seeds as well as tea tree leaves into natural exfoliants (alternatives to the plastic micro beads that have fallen out of favor as of late).
Oils of Aloha was showing expeller pressed Macadamia Oil, Kukui Oil, and Certified Organic SOLaleur (a version of Kukui Oil stabilized with the antioxidant D-Aplha Tocopherol). That company calls its Maca Nut oil “Hawaii’s natural emollient,” according to marketing materials that Melanie K.S. Hatchie, operations and quality assurance manager at Oils of Aloha, shared with Cosmetics Design.
A Canadian glacial clay, soon to be on the market, was on display at the California SCC event too. Through a business arrangement with the Heiltsuk people, Kisameet clay is being mined and will be sold for use in the cosmetics and personal care industry. Company representatives Cosmetics Design spoke with at the show asked not to be quoted; but the company site describes the ingredient as a “mineral clay [that] is ethically harvested on an island near the central coast of British Columbia. Sourced from a shallow granite basin that is 400-feet inland and lies above sea level, Kisameet Glacial Clay is pristine – free from contaminants and untainted by marine waste and environmental pollutants.”
Natural fragrance
Many fragrance suppliers were exhibiting at this year’s California SCC Suppliers’ Day show. Among them, St. Louis, Missouri – based Chemia Fragrance & Flavors. That company’s vice president of innovation and sustainability, Thomas A. Meyer, tells Cosmetics Design that smart fragrance suppliers today are looking to the indie beauty market for inspiration. “Small customers,” he says, “are more trendy than big customers…[because] brands with primary distribution on Amazon are trying harder to satisfy consumers that bigger consumers, which are more focused on satisfying retail.”
And hands down one of the most cutting-edge fragrance suppliers at the tradeshow was Palette Naturals, a new company launched by industry veteran Miriam Vareldzis. Palette Naturals supplies startups and affordable personal care and fragrance brands with all natural accords. Each accord is developed as a starting point for perfumers or product formulators; and perhaps most importantly, each come with a completely transparent ingredient list. (Read more about Palette Naturals on Cosmetics Design here.)
New ingredient launches
This was the first industry tradeshow where the new active delivery mechanism known as nanofiber tech was available. Laura M. Frazier, director of Nanofiber Technology LLC was on hand at Suppliers’ Day talking interested attendees through her poster presentation about the material. The new technology is essentially an ingredient solution dissolved into polymer fibers and then spun into a simple cloth, as Frazier tells Cosmetics Design. When applied topically, the actives release.
Evonik was showing its new TEGO Feel C 10 (cellulose) ingredient. Anne Mu, applied technology manager of rinse off personal care for Evonik’s North America business, explains that the micro plastic replacement ingredient has a “smooth feel,” that prototype products formulated with TEGO Feel C 10 have a “light, silky after feel,…absorb sebum, and help reduce the glossy look of excessive oil.”