Protection trend: sun care & nail care

Find the companion article to this piece here​, which covers the preservative crisis, anti-pollution and microbiome trends.

Sun care​

With the summer months approaching, sun care once again comes into central focus for the industry in Europe.

The category grew 5.1% last year (year on year) in Eastern Europe, and 1.3% in Western Europe.

When it comes to ingredients suppliers in sun care, we are seeing them developing ingredients capable of playing multiple different roles in the formulation.

These span from UV, light and pollution protection to anti-ageing, skin conditioning and benefiting agents​.

DSM is one ingredient player leading in this space: the company recently launched an online simulation tool​ intended for use by sun protection formulators, in order to develop new products and optimize existing ones before going to in vivo testing.

Protection: down to nails​

According to recent research from Mintel, a market research firm, anti-pollution, anti-ageing and sun protection are all elements that consumers are now starting to look for in their nail care products.

“As explored in Mintel’s 2017 Beauty Trend Damsels in De-Stress, beauty consumers are becoming increasingly concerned over the negative effects of environmental stressors on their appearance​​,​” the firm explains in a recent blog.​​

“Protecting claims such as anti-pollution and UV protection are expected to increase in 2017. In 2016, Nails Inc has already released a range of nail polishes formulated with charcoal to protect nails against pollutants​.”​

Editor’s analysis​

Protection is the leading claim in the megatrend for skin care that promotes healthy skin beyond all other claims. Wellbeing, wellness and health are the leading consumer concerns driving this trend, which is an evolution of the demand for natural and organic beauty solutions.

Health and maintenance of skin is truly in focus, so much so that consumers are displaying an appetite even to turn away from whole traditional models of skin care, and instead try new and developing science related to the microbiome of the skin.

How far this appetite for new models of skin care will go remains to be seen, but with manufacturers including Mibelle, DSM and Evonik launching ingredients in this space, it looks set to lead the industry agenda for the coming period.