Interview with Jasmine Shah

Customer Experience and Trends Leader at
Clariant

Clariant launched BEAUTYFORWARD® NO. 5 INSPIRATION FOR THE ‘NEW NORMAL’ recently. What is the purpose?

BeautyForward is Clariant’s trend guide, bridging market trends, formulations, and innovative scientific ingredients. To create BeautyForward no.5, we conducted market research and collaborated with various parties to identify the core trends driving consumers, and in so doing, anticipating brand and consumer needs. With these in mind, we were able to craft formulations that truly address these needs. The formulations enable us to focus our ingredients within the context of consumer demand. 

Ultimately, the purpose of BeautyForward is to inspire, by creating exemplary formulations that address consumer needs while also diving into the ingredients that enable each need to be addressed. What makes this year especially interesting is that we are still in the process of establishing a ‘New Normal’ and so we see particularly prominent trends stemming from new personal desires, brought on by the experiences and changes in lifestyle that occurred over the last year. 

You have identified three key trends in Personal Care.:  Ubuntu, Hygiene Beauty and Beauty Unwrapped. In brief -what do they stand for?

Ubuntu is all about ‘Togetherness’. Translated from Zulu, the word ‘Ubuntu’ means ‘I am because we  are.’ It reflects the fundamental human need for togetherness, to feel we are accepted, and part of a community. While demand for togetherness has always been around, social restrictions faced over the course of the last year have made it more challenging to achieve. Resultantly, activities and products instilling this sense of togetherness are increasingly sought out and valued more highly. Consumers increasingly focus on commonalities with others, striving to feel senses of unity and belonging. As the world starts to open up again, albeit at different rates in different countries, we see consumers across regions prioritizing sense of togetherness with friends and family, and this becoming one of the strongest drivers for consumer behavior. So for us, this became one of the leading trends to address this year. 

Hygiene Beauty is about the intersection of the hygiene sector with the beauty sector. With higher weighted importance on hand hygiene in particular, and growing sales of hand cleansing products, an increasing variety of brands is now involved in their supply and launch. This has given rise to impressive innovation and expansion of the domain, with hand sanitizers and cleansers are becoming increasingly luxurious and technologically advanced. For us, this meant that consumers start to expect products that adhere to a higher user standard, as well as more luxurious experiences. 

Finally, Beauty Unwrapped is about reducing the amount of plastic packaging surrounding beauty products. Plastic pollution is widely viewed as one of the most pressing environmental issues, and so, the packaging of cosmetic and personal care products is under increasing scrutiny. With the responsibility to package products sustainably placed on brands, solid formulations are becoming one of the most viable enablers for reducing plastic, as they open the door to alternative packaging choices such as cardboard, or cork.

How do you match solid concentrate formulations, sustainability and green chemistry?

Solid concentrate formulations are a real enabler for reducing the amount of packaging required, and, plastic packaging. As concentrates, they provide more use for a given volume than their liquid format alternatives. So ultimately, for the same use of product, solid concentrate formulations have a lower volume and automatically require less packaging, while also being strong contenders for packaging-free or non-plastic packaging choices. Ultimately, this means solid formats bring with them a reduction or elimination of packaging waste. In addition to this, solid concentrate formulations tend to contain little to no water. Intuitively, this entails a reduction in water wastage, but also means that solid products can provide the option of less preservative being required in formulation. Overall, the creation of solid formulation paves the way for waste prevention and use of safer ingredients. 

In detergents many years ago, concentrates were heavily promoted. Yet, consumers tended to stick with large packages and fillers for a long time. Why do you think it is different with personal care products now?

Solid concentrates bring about a new dimension of convenience for consumers. They are practical to travel with, easily fitting into gym bags, or carry-on luggage, something that’s especially important now that people are increasingly resuming activity and travel. With consumers becoming increasingly ingredient-savvy and conscious of their impact on the environment, solid concentrates in particular gain more attention, due to the benefits they provide. Coupled with more choice of sleek, solid concentrates, this makes for a an increase in the uptake of the format.