The cosmetics and consumer market is undergoing a rapid evolution, and the beauty industry is being redefined by health, technology, biotechnology, sustainability and novel sensory experiences.  Rapid advances in AI enabled products, biotech derived ingredients and clinically validated performance are re-defining the product design and formulation science of novel cosmetic products.

In this talk, I will discuss the new frontiers of formulation science—where novel materials, biotechnology, and AI are converging to redefine how we design products that exhibit superior functional and sensory benefits and where the innovation and product design process is significantly accelerated.  I’ll start by talking about emerging material/microstructural toolkits (smart polymers, responsive gels and hydrogels, smart nanoemulsions) that let us program texture, stability, active release, and sensory experience rather than just “mix and hope.” I will extend these novel engineered microstructure concepts to integrate biotechnology approaches both in materials used (biopolymers, biosurfactants, bio-based surfactants) and novel biotech actives incorporated (exosomes, epidermal growth factors)  to bring about superior functional performance. The approach will highlight how these new product design approaches can make sustainability compatible with superior biotechnology-based functional and sensory performance.

Finally, I will  highlight how AI is turning formulation into a data-driven discipline—linking experiments, mechanistic insight, and high-throughput testing to predict stability, rheology, and performance; accelerate iteration cycles; and build explainable, practical decision tools that help teams innovate faster with fewer trials, less waste and lower cost.

The outer externally facing stratum of human epidermis, the stratum corneum (SC), provides a robust and effective permeability barrier which, by regulating water loss, makes human life on earth possible. Over 1200 ceramide species have been identified in human SC, complementing our understanding of the composition of free fatty acids and cholesterol derivatives, which together constitute the SC’s lipid matrix. The permeability barrier function of skin ultimately derives from the inter- and intra-molecular organisation of SC lipids. Recent studies have reported changes in SC lipid composition and molecular organisation associated with skin diseases, environment stresses, lifestyle, and life-stage. Our own studies have shown differences in skin barrier organisation with body site and skin depth. Whilst orthorhombic packing of SC lipids is critical to healthy skin barrier function, we do not observe such lipid packing in the much thinner SC of face skin. No doubt, this is one contributing factor to the reduced barrier function of face skin.  Regardless of body site, a robust fast recovery of barrier function is essential to skin health. As such, the skin’s response to external chemical or physical stresses is one important measure of healthy skin. For example, a characteristic of older skin is a delayed or incomplete barrier recovery following external stress. In recent work we have quantitatively measured the restoration of inter- and intramolecular SC lipid organisation following thermal perturbations equivalent to those encountered in skin cleansing. Our results indicate lipid organisation remains perturbed for over 24 hours following a thermal stress. In addition to an overview of our current understanding of SC lipid composition and organisation, this presentation will describe some results from our own studies illustrating the importance of SC lipid organisation to healthy skin.

This talk will cover data collected from consumers with a range of damage levels and how this correlates with their perception of hair health.  Techniques used include TEM to understand the protein & lipid structure changes and SEM to understand the surface changes.  Also measured are single fiber properties including wet & dry tensile and fatigue, moisture uptake, and uptake of metals.  Potential solutions to prevent this damage will be presented.

Consumers no longer see the pursuit of beauty and that psychological wellbeing as independent of each other. In consumers’ minds, both have become deeply interconnected, with wellbeing representing both a route to, but also a consequence of, feeling beautiful.

Psychological wellbeing is the result of a complex interplay of three distinct but interrelated domains. An important aspect of psychological wellbeing is Domain 1 – Subjective Feeling (i.e., conscious reflection upon one’s own state of wellbeing). Yet, affective processes that are key to wellbeing can also occur in the absence of conscious experience. Therefore, in order to capture psychological wellbeing fully, one also needs to include Domain 2 – Physiology (i.e., peripheral and brain measures) and Domain 3 – Behaviour (i.e., implicit) measures.

Practitioners have found that measures of psychological wellbeing developed in academic and clinical contexts often fail to capture the nuance and extent of wellbeing impacts of cosmetic benefits in healthy consumers. To be appropriate in the cosmetic context, measures need to a) focus on aspects of wellbeing that are relevant, b) be sensitive enough to quantify the small but meaningful fluctuations in psychological wellbeing that we observe in (healthy) consumers, and c) focus on issues which consumers aim, and are able, to address via cosmetic products.

Recent developments in the measurement of psychological wellbeing in the cosmetic context will be presented that span the three domains of Subjective Feelings, Physiology and Behaviour. These advances enable a more relevant and holistic quantification of the psychological wellbeing benefits provided by cosmetic products, supporting both scientific understanding and consumer-centric innovation.