Innovation in Action: advances in microbiome beauty

Microbiome beauty is building momentum right alongside the wellness movement. And much of the new science, brand launches, and reports circulating in the cosmetics and personal care industry now highlight this correlation.

Emerging science for microbiome beauty

An article titled, ‘Explainable AI reveals changes in skin microbiome composition linked to phenotypic differences’​, published on nature.com’s Scientific Reports site proposes that “the fusion of artificial intelligence with rich microbiome datasets can offer an improved understanding of the microbiome’s role in human health.”​

And more importantly for beauty makers, the article (authored by Anna Paola Carrieri and 17 of her international colleagues), states that “the changes in microbial composition linked to skin hydration can accelerate the development of personalized treatments for healthy skin, while those associated with age may offer insights into the skin aging process.”​

The Spain-based luxury skin care brand Ayuna Less is Beauty recently brought truly novel microbiome skin care to the consumer market with its Terra Bella Cannabic Sublimating Cream, a product that works on the skin-brain axis​.

The product is formulated with Cannabis Sativa Cell Cultures that are, according to materials shared with Cosmetics Design, “rich in a unique cocktail of terpenes and micro-lipids….This molecular cannabis cocktail integrates into the skin environment and stimulates the epidermal neuroendocrine cascade, creating an increase in oxytocin in the skin and resulting in a more attractive[self] perception [of the skin].” ​It’s a microbiome beauty innovation that may very well be the start of a whole new category—what Ayuna calls “emotional beauty.”​

Microbiome beauty brand notes and updates

Immunity is showing up in microbiome skin care. The newly launched skin care and beauty-from-within brand Layers, founded by Rachel Behm, has an Immunity Moisturizer​ in its product portfolio.

And the immunocosmetics brand AveSeena​ takes into account how the skin’s own immune defense can disrupt and alter the function of the skin microbiome, which can result in skin concerns including itchiness, dryness, redness, heightened sensitivity, and more. Read more about the potential of immunocosmetics in this recent Cosmetics Design guest expert article by Dr. Ebru Karpuzoglu.​

Another notable update in the microbiome beauty space comes from Sequential Skin, a Singapore-based biotech company that uses both genetic and skin microbiome analysis​ to recommend products and specific active ingredients. After a soft launched in 2020, which garnered some 500 test-kit users, Sequential Skin is launching in earnest this month and hopes to transform the field of skin longevity.

And many brands that aren’t even in the microbiome beauty space, like Nobel Panacea, include probiotics or prebiotic ingredients in their formulations.

The world is watching microbiome beauty unfold

As is clear from the brands and developments mentioned above, the whole world of beauty is working to innovate the future of microbiome beauty.

The Beauty Makers, a hybrid communications agency, product development lab, and beauty brand incubator, recently published a report called Mind-Body Beauty that features several brands—across categories and trends—that are (intentionally or otherwise) playing a role in the microbiome beauty movement​.

The report rightly predicts that “innovation will expand beyond skincare as we investigate other microbiome-interacting products, such as makeup, and as the gut-skin axis gains greater focus with supplements, ingestibles and ‘inside-out’ beauty.”​