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New Services at ProTec Ingredia: Market and Beauty Trend Knowledge for Cosmetics Manufacturers
Interview with Julia Keith
Market Analyst and Trend Scout at ProTec Ingredia
Connecting marketing and R&D
You are joining ProTec Ingredia as a Market Analyst and Trend Scout. Could you tell us how this came about?
Since 2010 I have been blogging about natural cosmetics, niche brands, international beauty trends and interesting active ingredients on my website beautyjagd.de. To stay up to date with the latest beauty news, I regularly visit cosmetic and raw materials fairs and do store checks in major cities such as Paris, Seoul, Tokyo or Los Angeles. I also spend a lot of time online on Instagram, TikTok and Substack, where I keep an eye out for the most exciting and innovative beauty products. Beauty trends are not just my profession, but a strong passion of mine.
The partnership with ProTec Ingredia, a distributor of high-quality cosmetic ingredients, began over five years ago: Together, we launched our unique blog project in 2019. In 50 episodes we took a look behind the scenes of the beauty industry https://beautyjagd.de/behind-the-beauty-scenes/. The articles cover the creation of beauty innovations, the challenges of developing and researching active ingredients or the sustainable commitment in the cosmetics industry.
As our areas of expertise complement each other perfectly, it was a logical step to join forces now even more: since the beginning of the year, I have been a team member at ProTec Ingredia working as a market analyst und trend scout.
How do you support ProTec Ingredia's customers?
Even before I joined ProTec Ingredia, I worked as a consultant for cosmetics companies regarding marketing and beauty trends. As I am interested in both marketing and the science behind ingredients and formulations, I see myself as a kind of translator between marketing and R&D: I love to make the science more understandable for marketing experts and at the same time bring trends and product hypes closer to R&D. This results in product concepts that are scientifically convincing and attractive for the target customer group.
So I support our customers in deciding which products would fit into their range or in creating an active ingredients concept. This also includes presenting emerging beauty trends and explaining their underlying backgrounds. Showing interesting or extremely popular products that I've come across during my trend research is also part of my service. It is particularly effective when my consultation takes place together with one of our sales managers – market expertise and scientific knowledge are then united at one table.
Do you have a few examples for us: Which beauty trends will become important over the next few years?
- Active ingredients skinfluencers love
For some years and still continuing, we have seen that skinfluencers on Instagram and TikTok have a strong impact on Gen Z and Millennials - and increasingly also on older target groups. This is why active ingredients such as retinol or niacinamides are currently experiencing a major revival. They are considered by skinfluencers to be scientifically well-researched and effective. The matching product concepts are usually focusing on 1-2 active ingredients.
By the way, currently hair influencers are the rising stars of the beauty social media scene. Their power can already be clearly seen on the drugstore shelves.
- Neurocosmetics 2.0
In the medium-term future, new neurocosmetic active ingredients that have been proven to strengthen the connection between skin and brain will gain more attention. One example of this trend is the new Neuraé brand from Sisley Group, whose products not only care for the skin but also have a specific effect on mood and psyche. - Climate Care
I certainly don't need to stress that sustainability will be the most important future trend. Climate change, which is already clearly noticeable, will have an impact on the cosmetics industry: Heat waves or floodings, for example, will affect the sourcing of (natural) raw materials. I expect that biotechnology will play an important role here in order to make the production and supply chain of raw materials as resilient as possible.
When it comes to heat waves in summer, we can take a closer look at Japanese beauty products, for example: Every summer there are launched limited edition versions of popular cosmetic products, which are able to cool the skin by several degrees.
In this context, Prada's new Augmented Skincare is also remarkable. It is based on 15 adaptogenic plants which are able to adjust to extreme weather conditions and help the skin to become more resilient.
In which countries the most interesting beauty trends are emerging?
I set up my trend research as diverse as possible, trends can emerge in the US, but also in Thailand or Latvia. In Europe, France is one of the most interesting countries because alongside the global corporations such as L'Oréal, there are many creative indie brands. So store checks in Paris are always a must for me!
Of course, I also keep a close eye on Korea. For over 15 years, K-Beauty has been spreading globally. Things are also getting more and more exciting in China: while Western brands set the trend there for a long time, young Chinese brands are now on the rise.
For over 20 years, ProTec Ingedia has been distributing innovative and sustainable raw materials and active ingredients for the cosmetics industry from its partners Mibelle Biochemistry, Codif Technologie Naturelle and Oat Cosmetics.
