Top 5 most-read stories August 2020: Titanium dioxide safety, Olay refill pods and L’Oréal innovation

A round-up of CosmeticsDesign-Europe’s most-read news from August 2020 shows high engagement around the preliminary EU opinion on titanium dioxide safety and lots of interest in big brand sustainability and innovation efforts.

A close eye on regulatory change​

The European beauty industry has been closely monitoring titanium dioxide (TiO2) for some time, following the European Commission’s recent classification of nano form TiO2 as a category-2 carcinogen by inhalation.

So, inevitably interest sparked when the Scientific Committee for Consumer Safety (SSCS) issued its preliminary opinion on use of the ingredient in beauty and personal care. It opened up a comment period, set to close September 7.

Big beauty in a sustainable race to the top​

Procter & Gamble kickstarted its refill pod trial under Olay, creating plenty of buzz as many sustainable beauty packaging stories do. The roll-out of the refill pods was being conducted across the UK via Amazon.

Analysis of L’Oréal’s 10-year ‘For the Future’ sustainability plan, announced earlier this year, also gained lots of clicks. Chris Sherwin, director of reboot innovation, said there was “much to admire”​ in what was a very comprehensive sustainable business plan.

Financial updates and horizon innovation​

With Q2 2020 coming to an end, all the big brands announced their financial results and L’Oréal like many others posted worldwide sales declines, particularly in Europe – a region it said had been heavily impacted by COVID-19 lockdown measures.

As always, there was also plenty of horizon innovation interest, with a mass of clicks on the news that L’Oréal had filed a patent on an antioxidant-rich sunscreen that used carnauba wax to protect the formula from oxidation and sensory degradation.

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