Top 6 trendy emotive cosmetic ingredients for 2023

How to enjoy forest bathing while stuck inside?

In 2023, cosmetics can offer a holistic approach to beauty, promoting contentment, connection, and inner calm. It’s part of the Soul Space macrotrend that WGSN has pointed out.

The search for balance, fulfilment, the thirst for meaning and comfort are at the heart of this emotional trend, where the consumer is looking for a retreat. And what could be better than a hideaway finding its inspiration in forest bathing?

Have you ever heard about forest bathing, or sylvotherapy?

This mindful practice is a physiological and psychological exercise, born in Japan in the 1980s, and consist in walking and taking time in any natural environment, and consciously connecting with what’s around you. It has a twofold purpose: it acts as a natural antidote to any burn-out from the invasive technology in our lives, and as an inspiration to reconnect with nature, and with yourself.

Time spent immersed in nature is good for us, for physical and mental health, we know it. But how can we do it when we spend so much time at home or at work, like we did during containment periods?

Cosmetic products that contain tree extracts and promote wellness, self-care and ritualised routines will be particularly relevant in this case. Take for example Crodarom® Beech,  launched in 2022. According to Laurence Monce [1], author of a great book about sylvotherapy, beech is one of the most recommended trees for sylvotherapy, providing new-found freedom. When bathing in a beech forest, she says anxiety vanishes, the beech transmits its energy and shows you how to be self-sufficient.  

Providing the best of what forest bathing offers, our beech bark extract contains polyphenols, acting by biomimicry to protect your skin, just as bark ensures its vital protection role to the tree, and its helps to reinforce skin barrier for a radiant complexion. It can be a great ingredient for a shied serum against environmental aggressions or a soothing body balm. 

This ingredient is inspired from sylvotherapy. As forest gives us so much, we should not have an impact on them, so we decided that Crodarom® Beech should show great sustainability credentials. It is thus produced from upcycled beech bark, sourced only 40km away from Crodarom production premises. Its supply chain has been evaluated as “Responsibly Sourced” by the UEBT (88.2/100 score). The extract also obtained a Gold label according to the Eco-Responsible Ingredient evaluation (ERI 360 - click here to learn more). Eco-conscious consumers can only enjoy the great transparency of this extract!

The supply chain for Crodarom® Beech is one of the ethical partnerships we highlighted on our movie.

Should we be lazy when it comes to beauty?

Forget the 6+ steps morning routine, let’s admit it’s easier when quick effortless beauty boosts throughout the day are enough!

Enter: Beauty Snacking. According to Premium Beauty News [2], it emerged during the 2020 lockdown, and became a key trend since then. Beauty Snacking is a short moment of self-care between two video calls or two reports, offering yourself cocooning sessions. It’s all about an invigorating and energizing beauty break and break the monotony of social distancing.

This micro beauty moments did not disappear as we all head back to the office. Using more discreet products between two meetings can boost your skin and your moral throughout the day. Now the beauty routine can be as simple, fast and reinforcing as a good cup of tea between two meeting during a busy day! Flash rituals are the natural evolution of beauty snacking, and targets specific short times of the day to provide an effective and relaxing beauty break.

Alban Muller’s Glucohyami™ GL in your formulas will do the perfect job for beauty snacking! This high-performance active ingredient owns its hydrating, firming and anti-wrinkle properties to its natural content of glucosamine, a natural booster of hyaluronic acid. It acts as an excellent booster for both skin and mind. Indeed, the chicory’s nickname is “bride of the sun” and is a great alternative to tea and coffee, you really cannot do better for a hero ingredient that will brighten up your day!

Glucohyami™ GL is also a great ingredient for another trend: the Lazy Beauty, in which we reduce our beauty routines:

• To save time and only focus on the essentials. As WGSN mentioned, millennials just desire to slow down and have new, mindful way of lives [3].
• And to protect the planet with lesser consumption, in an ever-present approach to sustainability.

Lazy Beauty is in the continuity of skinimalism, in which less is more. Consumers minimise the quantity of products to the essentials, to allow their skin to show through and let their natural complexion and features define their signature look. As highlighted by Vogue [4], to make sure they get high efficacy from their reduced routine, they must use multitasking cosmetics products, and ultimately sustainable products. And that exactly what Glucohyami™ GL is.

Glucohyami™ GL shows great transparency credentials. It is extracted from chicory that is grown with a strong traditional know-how in Northern France, its historic production area, only a couple hundred kilometres away from our extraction plant, by a renowned and engaged partner of Alban Muller.

Why are food and cosmetics so closely tied?

Climate change, supply chain issues and rising costs of ingredient will put the focus on the modest foodstuffs. A great inspiration for new scientific research in the cosmetic industry, cereals and root vegetables (such as rice or sweet potatoes) are an affordable source of plant-based actives.

At the crossing of cosmetics and food, Cosmetofood is still a thing. But it’s not the only way you can benefit from what is commonly found in our kitchen pantries! As Premium Beauty News [5] explained, cereals have become an important part of the cosmetics industry due to their many beneficial properties for skin and hair. Rice, oat, corn, barley, sesame and wheat, among others, are must-have at mealtimes, but hence also do a great job in cosmetics formulas inspired from our grandmother’s recipes and make their entry into our bathrooms to treat wrinkles, redness and irritations, or to care for sensitive and dehydrated skin. Perceived as safe for the skin and the planet, they do a great job in well-being-oriented creams or body milk for example.

Among Croda’s Botanical Alliance ranges, we love Lipidami™ Oat as the hero ingredient for such formula. With its high content in fatty acids & vitamin E, oat deeply nourishes the skin. An excellent source of energy, oat has been used for more than a century as an ingredient in care products to regenerate the body and to fight fatigue. It was also used in poultices to soothe itches, acne and eczema.

This oat bran extract offers the nourishing and revitalising qualities of oats. It's perfect for giving your skin what a big bowl of porridge is to your breakfast and starting the day full of energy and nutrition!

Since it is formulated in organic sunflower oil, it’s also ideal for waterless beauty.

What is the trendiest fruit for cosmetics in 2023?

We eat fruits for their many nutritional benefits, but their high content of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals is also of great benefits in cosmetics for our skin and hair. The winter cherry is among the most popular fruits in the cosmetic industry right now. This is hardly surprising when you take a closer look at its composition: the small orange fruit is packed up with organic chemical compounds beneficial to our well-being and balance such as minerals, trace elements and vitamins C, A and B. Proportionally, it contains 2.5 times more antioxidants than cranberries, twice as much potassium as bananas, and 2.5 times more fibre than cranberries, twice as much potassium as a banana, and 2.5 times more fibre than a plum!

According to Glimpse [6], its popularity grew by 85% over the past year, with as much as 54k searches in January 2023 and is particularly popular on Tiktok, the social media praised by youth. The Trendalytics blog also ranked it as the number one ingredient to dominate in 2023 [7], as they noted a volume of 3K average weekly searches.

A far cousin on tomatoes, this small fruit has long been used in traditional French medicine, for its many virtues: depurative, diuretic, relaxing, antimicrobial, recalcifying, or against coughing, kidney & asthma issues. Its berries were believed to be more effective than spa treatments.

Cosme-Phytami™ Physalis is offering the best of this superfruit, thanks to an exclusive and eco-designed process for an optimised extraction. It provides the organic acids content of the physalis, to help to protect the skin from the harmful effects of the sun. An ideal ingredient for skin care claiming regenerating and anti-ageing properties, with a strong well-being approach, as winter cherries symbolise love, as highlighted by their French nickname “Love in a cage”.

Are marine cosmetic ingredients still trendy?

Already in 2013, the GCI magazine [8] already mentioned marine ingredients as great ingredients to improve many skin conditions and qualified them as the future of skin care, especially micro- and macro-algae that grow in areas with large tidal fluctuations.

Ten years later, the trend is still going strong. The overall market value for microalgae is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.2% for 2021-31, to reach US£ 76.50 Mn by 2031, pushed by the demand for vegan cosmetic products, transparency and the many benefits marine ingredients bring to personal care [9]. Just a few weeks before the issue of this article, GCI magazine was telling its readers that the beauty industry is still impacted by movements like blue beauty and ocean conservation, with a rise of oceanic botanicals [10].

One of the Botanical Alliance greatest emotive marine ingredients is undoubtedly Crodarom® Green Caviar! Easily identifiable with its with small shining and translucent pearls, this algae is said to be one of the secrets of the long life span of the inhabitants of the Okinawa archipelago in Japan, known as the “longevity island” because of the very high percentage of centenarians still highly active there! Green Caviar is part of their diet and is greatly appreciated for its taste and nutritional qualities (great source of vitamins, polysaccharides, proteins, fibres and minerals).

Produced with Crodarom’s Eco-sound technology for a soft, ecological and efficient extraction to Crodarom® Green Caviar offers an outstanding wave of iodine freshness, with a proven hydrating effect that lasts 24 hours! This is the perfect algae for revitalising and smoothing cosmetics, thanks to its minerals and polysaccharides.

The green caviar supply chain to produce this extract relies on one of Crodarom’s best ethical sourcing project in Southeast Asia. The transparent and reasoned culture of this algae takes place in the Philippines, on Bohol Island, on coastal zones under a mangrove preservation program. The supply chain is built on a win-win partnership with local farmers, with strong ethical, social and environmental commitments. Crodarom® Green Caviar is COSMOS Approved and obtained the Silver Label at the ERI360 evaluation.

Why not break the beauty norms with dragons?

As we highlighted in our 2023 trend report, the Full Spectrum macrotrend lets creativity and bold beauty take the lead after a time of restrictions. Within this movement, you can find the Kidult Kosmetics concept: the desire for carefree pleasures and childhood nostalgia inspires playful and colourful cosmetic products.

Originality, flashy colours and food-inspired fragrance are the 3 essentials to build a great Kidults concept. One of Alban Muller’s ideal products for this concept is an extract of Dragon fruit, also called pitaya. Legends say that dragon fruit was created thousands of years ago from fire blown by fighting dragons. Since then, dragon fruit is said to give anyone who eats it the strength and ferocity of a dragon!

This fruit of a Mexican cactus is shaped like the head of a dragon and shows a very intense pink colour. Cosme-Phytami™ Dragon Fruit is eco-designed to awaken your inner child and make you put on your best magical creature costume. This slightly quirky extract also brings an offbeat touch to personal care with its powerful pink colour. It hence fits very well the concept of “no to normal” beauty, seeking uniqueness and inclusivity.

Cosme-Phytami™ Dragon Fruit is produced with the Zeodration eco-friendly process and quantified in organic acids. It is ideal for anti-dark spots or complexion radiance care and anti-fatigue and protective products, thanks to its antioxidant, keratolytic and moisturising action.

Speaking of dragons, The Botanical Alliance has another plant related to this magical creature to fit the Full Spectrum macro-trend. Crodarom proposes an extract that will draw on oddities to offer offbeat and creative products to customers in search of extravagance and experimentation with an unconventional approach to beauty!

Crodarom® Dragon’s Blood EC is one beautifully bizarre ingredient, a sap extract from a South American tree. This strange, rare and unconventional ingredient responds entirely to 2023 renewed interest in the bizarre. Exceptional and quirky, this blood-red liquid is obtained by incising the trunk of Croton lechleri from Amazonia to collect its sap. No doubt its difference will please those who want to experiment and cross the line of political correctness in cosmetics.

This unusual ingredient is traditionally applied to the skin by indigenous Amazonian tribes to for a protective film against bites, stings, or cuts. Rich in polyphenols and taspine, this liquid has antibacterial and antioxidant properties and accelerates tissue healing by stimulating collagen production. Crodarom^® Dragon's Blood EC is the perfect ingredient for repairing, after sun and soothing skin care.

In 2023, cosmetics will be all about optimism. Reconnection with nature and with yourself, redefinition of creativity with a certain boldness, inclusivity, trust in ancient wisdoms will be part of the process. We can be sure that with these few Botanical Alliance emotive ingredients, customers will envoy a wave of well-being from what plants, whether they are common or very strange, have best to offer! And if you wish to engage into another trend than those highlighted in this article, reach out here to us to discuss in more details the appropriate emotive or performance ingredient of our wide range of botanical extracts!

Before that, you can also get inspiration from our emotive botanical ranges: the Crodarom® range, the Cosme-Phytami™ range and the Lipidami™ range.

Stay connected with the Botanical Alliance to be among the first to benefit from insights about our botanical extracts!

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