Clariant unveils digital tool for natural formulation development

Clariant has launched a personal care tool, BeautyForward 6, that uses ISO 16128 methodology to calculate percentage formulation naturality; in other words, how much of a personal care product is natural in quality or character.

ISO 16128 is an industry-standardised framework used to define and quantify criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and formulations. ISO 16128-1:2016​ gives guidelines on definitions for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients, while ISO 16128-2:2017​ details the approaches to calculate natural, natural origin, organic and organic origin indexes that apply to these ingredient categories.

Giving an insight into the drivers behind the launch of BeautyForward 6, Hermann Bach, Global Head of Strategic Marketing and Innovation at Clariant, said: “There is evident increasing consumer preference for natural, specifically plant-based ingredients, as well as a growing expectation for brands to understand and communicate on naturality with transparency.”​

“Our calculator equips them to do this by providing the necessary personal care ingredient data in an intuitive, digital format,” ​he added.

Identifying natural content​

With an eye on the industry’s increasing spotlight on lower-impact beauty, Clariant has set out to develop a new way to standardise, quantify and share the naturality of personal care ingredients. It hopes the new tool will reframe the understanding of natural ingredients in relation to formulations by supporting manufacturers and brands with ingredient research and selection.  

The digital tool uses standardised data to quantify the naturality of Clariant and non-Clariant personal care ingredients. Based on data of over 800 Clariant and non-Clariant ingredients for personal care products housed in the Renewable Carbon/Natural Origin indices, brands can generate information about an ingredient’s naturality. At present, Clariant has included over 300 ingredients from its personal care portfolio on the platform.

Formulators and brands can access the tool and calculate the percentage of natural content contained within any formulation listed on the platform. In a bid to help manufacturers and marketers explore the potential of ingredients for future product development, the tool also aims to provide insights on the specific impact of singular ingredient choices on formulation naturality.

Research ingredient naturality​

Following the ISO 16128 methodology, the digital tool has been designed to offer two research pathways for brands to follow:

1. Create a new natural formulation​

Personal care users can choose to conceptualise their own new natural product by selecting ingredients and building their formulations in their desired quantities by searching for either their INCI name (International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient) or trade name.

The digital tool will detail each individual ingredient’s naturality. It will adhere to the Renewable Carbon Index (RCI) for carbon-based ingredients and the Natural Origin Index (NOI) if non-carbon-based. Once the user has designed their formulation, BeautyForward 6 will then calculate how natural the overall personal care product is based on the naturality of each ingredient contained in the product.

1. Guided skincare and haircare suggestions​

Manufacturers and brands can also utilise recommendations to steer the development of their products. The tool contains customisable skin and hair care formulations of up to 99% naturality, Clariant shares. Users can modify the suggested formulations by swapping different ingredients in and out to create their desired effectiveness, overall appeal and meet any natural content targets they are seeking to attain.