The technical barriers to cosmetic raw material innovation will become higher and higher.
"China Cosmetics" magazine Sun XiaoxiaoWith the introduction of favorable policies, the rise of technological maturity, and the outbreak of market demand in subdivided fields, the filing rate of new raw materials has soared rapidly, and the competition pattern of the raw material market is accelerating.
In 2024, cosmetic raw materials will be innovated, where will the wind blow?
Wind direction 1: Algae components stand upwind
Looking back at the raw material market in the past year, algae components are favored by capital. This autotrophic plant, which is widely distributed on land and in the sea, has attracted the attention of the cosmetics industry because of its good development prospects.
In 2023, domestic companies such as Zhongke Lanzhi, Dehe Biotechnology, and Yuanyu Biology will successively complete strategic financing, all based on algae biotechnology, and further promote the development of related products, large-scale mass production and algae project construction.
At the same time, international leading companies are also making frequent moves in terms of algae ingredients. In March 2023, DSM, a raw material manufacturer, launched a new ingredient Pepha-tight CB for micrococcus extract, after DSM had successively announced a series of microalgae extracts. In July, Shiseido invested 1 billion yen in the microalgae project "Matsuri".
Microalgae grown industrially have higher photosynthesis efficiency, faster growth rates, and biomass production rates than traditional plants. Because of its abundant population resources, the consumption of algae production capacity is low, which will promote the long-term effect of algae raw materials in terms of environmental sustainability.
Xiao Yibo, the founder of Yuanyu Biology, also publicly said: "Microalgae is one of the oldest organisms on the earth, and the use of carbon dioxide or simple organic carbon sources can synthesize more valuable products, which is the most environmentally friendly and the ideal chassis cell with the lowest limit cost." ”
With the deepening influence of the concept of sustainability in the cosmetics industry, algae ingredients with inherent advantages are undoubtedly the "sweet and sweet" in the upstream raw material market in the future.
Wind direction 2: The heat of plant extracts is not reduced
With the "raw material filing tide" set off in China, major enterprises and brands are vying to enter the game or increase the raw material track. Among them, the filing rate of plant raw materials continues to increase.
The most obvious feature is that the R&D and innovation of plant raw materials with Chinese characteristics are also accelerating.
The relevant person in charge of the R&D department of Yunnan Bethany Biotechnology Group Co., Ltd. told China Cosmetics magazine that in the past year, Bethany has obtained the record of two new biotechnology raw materials, "Candida bee glucose flat kernel wood oil fermentation product" and "Bee Candida yeast glucose coconut oil flat kernel wood oil fermentation product", both of which have excellent soothing and barrier repair effects.
These extensive and in-depth studies can better promote the application of Yunnan's characteristic plants in the field of skin care products, and then drive the better development of the Chinese characteristic plant industry. ”
According to the relevant statistics of Markets and Markets, it is expected that by 2025, the global plant extract market will reach 59.4 billion US dollars (about 426.4 billion yuan).
Under the scale of 100 billion, international raw material suppliers are also paying more attention to plant raw materials, and international raw material suppliers such as IFF, Mibelle, and Integrity Ingredients have launched a large number of plant ingredients to replace traditional raw materials and formulas.
From this point of view, the growth momentum of plant ingredients in the cosmetics industry is still obvious at home and abroad, but local brands and enterprises still have opportunities to overtake with the advantages of "Chinese characteristics".
Wind direction 3: peptide raw materials are more subdivided
Peptide raw materials with higher compatibility and wider application range may stir up greater waves with the rise of the effective skin care market.
Liu Zijian, R&D director of Shenzhen Weiqi Technology Co., Ltd., told China Cosmetics magazine that the future development of peptides will be roughly focused on four aspects: "research and development of high-tech peptide raw materials", "combination with resources with Chinese characteristics", "application of carrier technology" and "green and sustainable".
"Peptide" is a bioactive substance that can regulate cell function, and the active ingredient is the core "active ingredient" in skin care products. According to the type and function, peptides include signal peptides, neurotransmitter inhibitory peptides, carrier peptides, etc., which are used as cosmetic raw materials in products to have the effects of "anti-wrinkle, firming, repairing, and brightening".
As consumers become more rational, more high-tech, strong efficacy, and innovative peptides will appear on the upstream raw material side to meet the skin care needs of consumers in different scenarios and more subdivided. Liu Zijian said.
Based on the huge market prospect and developable space of peptides, the problem that peptide raw materials need to face in the cosmetics industry in the next stage is the upgrading of technical means. Taking Vicky Technology's PEP-FLISP carrier delivery technology as an example, this innovative technology can greatly increase the bioavailability of peptide components in the body and effectively improve the efficacy of the active ingredient.
According to a report by Kline&Co, China's peptide raw material market will grow faster than specialty actives and plant-derived ingredients in the next five years. On the one hand, the expansion of the local cosmetics industry in terms of subdivision efficacy is still accelerating, and peptides have great potential as multi-functional ingredients. On the other hand, the premiumization effect of Chinese brands is beginning to appear, which also promotes the use of active ingredients as a whole.
The research and application of peptides in the domestic cosmetics industry has gradually entered the fast lane, and relying on the development of biotechnology, the "diversity" of peptide raw materials is worth looking forward to.
Wind direction 4: The technical barriers to fermentation continue to rise
Fermentation technology, which originated from the food processing industry, has been gradually applied in the field of cosmetics in recent years. In recent years, fermented skin care products have given birth to the concept of "cosmetics and food homology" in the market.
Biological fermentation technology is the mainstream production technology of cosmetic raw materials in recent years, which uses the growth characteristics of cells and biocatalytic system to combine with organic substrates to react to obtain target active products in a directional manner.
For example, Pitera, the core ingredient of SK-II, Miraclebroth ingredient of Lamer, and Himoine of Nature Hall are all raw materials produced through fermentation technology.
Wu Jianming, head of product release in the R&D center of Naturetang Group, shared with us: "In the production process of Ximeine, in order to overcome the instability of the fermentation process, explore more refined fermentation process conditions, and maximize the enrichment and stable generation of active ingredients, we chose the whole process of 4 low-temperature non-preservative downstream process, which realized the 'self-possession of excellent strains, independent process technology, and localization of production', and retained the activity of polar yeast to the greatest extent. ”
In fact, fermentation technology has been iterating for a long time. In the initial stage of fermentation technology, a series of problems such as low success rate, long fermentation time, and low yield all restrict this technology. After that, it went through the stage of "chemical engineering", the stage of microbiology application, the stage of synthetic biology fermentation, and developed to the fifth generation of intelligent fermentation stage around 2015.
It is understood that the polar yeast Himmeine is a representative product of the 5th generation fermentation technology. At this stage, hot spots in interdisciplinary fields such as artificial intelligence, computational informatics, and bioinformatics have been introduced into fermentation engineering, which also makes the mechanism of action of technology clearer and the product utilization more efficient.
With the integration of cutting-edge technology, the application of fermentation technology in the cosmetics industry in the future is highly anticipated, and there is still more room for exploration of this technology for the development of raw materials and the promotion of skin care efficacy.