Last month, South Korea start-up THE APRILAB debuted in the South East Asian markets of Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines with three products.
These products are aimed at anti-wrinkle, skin moisturising, skin brightening, and acne prevention effects. Ingredients such as marine collagen and milk ceramides are used for the anti-wrinkle and moisturisation product known as ‘Time Blast’, while glutathione and vitamin C are used for the skin brightening product ‘Ultraboost’.
Three probiotics strains, lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus casei and lactobacillus paracasei, and the prebiotic fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are used in the product for acne prevention known as ‘Super Balance’.
In the same month, India firm Adroit Biomed launched an upgraded version of its L-glutathione product for skin lightening effect.
The upgraded product, known as Glutone MD, is presented in the form of a sublingual tablet and contains a small amount of L-glutathione at 100mg, as the sublingual format can help enhance the absorption of L-glutathione, and hence, a lesser amount is needed.
Tackling the problem of pigmentation, two Singapore companies Doki Doki and IDS have each launched a new product for anti-pigmentation purpose.
For Doki Doki, its new product Strawberry Acerola GLOW + Anti-Photoageing Collagen, is a juice puree containing type I hydrolysed marine collagen and galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS).
The company said the latter has been shown to reduce hyperpigmentation as seen from existing studies.
As for IDS, the brand by veteran dermatologist Dr SK Tan, has launched Lyco White Ultra, a tablet product for overall skin health and anti-pigmentation.
It contains 1,500mg of white tomato extract, 1,000mg of polypodium leucotomos, and 100mg of pine bark extract.
On the other hand, Japanese firm Q’sai has launched a Foods with Function Claims (FFC) containing glucosylceramide for alleviating dry skin.
Lastly, Nestle Health Science introduced Vital Proteins – a peptide collagen brand which it acquired last year – into China in end May, while The Wellbeing Co – an Australian start-up co-founded by an ex-Unilever exec – has debuted with nine SKUs containing bovine collagen and inulin as prebiotic.