Belinda Carli, the director of Australia’s Institute of Personal Care Science (IPCS), reveals three cosmetic trends destined to win the hearts and dollars of your clients in the coming months.
- Sweat/wear-proof makeup: The use of film formers to enable make-up that can withstand exercise and be selfie-ready at a moment’s notice is really taking off. This trend is especially prevalent in the major growth area of colour cosmetics – Asian trend-setting women from 20 through to 35 – so we’ll see this innovation grow in a big way on Australian shores. This sector also has the highest social media use and exploration of colour cosmetics so brands should look to provide fantastic sweat/wear proof make-up to take these trend-setters from the gym through the day and into the night with interesting YouTube footage (and even an app!) to really capture their attention.
- Customisation: Consumers want products to suit them, their lifestyle, their skin, their tone, their look. When it comes to future developments, brands should be thinking about how they can customise, or provide a customisation option, for their consumers. Some ideas include:
- Customisable bases with optional actives: This concept includes a base serum, cream or crème-gel to suit specific target market aesthetic needs in a pack with concentrated ‘active’ serums to add to the base to suit their skin’s needs at any given moment. For example, skin a bit congested today? Add drops of the ‘clearing serum’ to the base. Skin feeling dry? Add drops of the ‘hydrating serum’ to the base. The base product should address key concerns such as hydration and anti-pollution in general, but provide active concentrates with easy dispensing units and clear instructions for true customisation and a happy consumer. One of the first brands to provide this innovation has, by no surprise, come from South Korea. Take a look at how ReMede by CNP (remedebycnp.com) is leading the customisable active trend.
- Customisable colour: Always exciting to play with, colour cosmetics should also be customisable. Look for multi-colour palettes or highly concentrated colourants with instructional online videos. Consumers should be able to make their lipstick pinks and reds ‘hotter’ or more ‘muted’; or have foundations (liquid and/or powder) that can be adjusted to be slightly lighter or darker to match slight changes in their skin tone depending on the season. Check out smoochstudio.com for online examples of how colour can be customised to suit individual selections.
- Signature scents: You’ll see some exciting customisation ideas in this area this year – scents that can be modified by the consumer with small additions of concentrates to adapt a base to their daily moods.
- Get the App: We’re already starting to see an explosion of apps that will enable customers to ‘try before they buy’ in a virtual reality space, and will be tailored to help self-selection of the best actives, colours and scents. Examples include the IBM and EZFaceInc ‘Virtual Mirror Kiosks’ in retail stores, which enable virtual applications of makeup by taking a selfie using the stand’s tablet and scanning product barcodes to see how product will look on the skin. L’Oréal, in Hong Kong, have also launched their app ‘MakeUp Genius’ which enable customers to test products using mobile phones or tablets as a virtual mirror for online trials without even needing to visit a store.
Belinda Carli is the director of the Institute of Personal Care Science (IPCS). IPCS provides distance training in Cosmetic Formulation, Brand Management and Regulatory Affairs. For more information email belinda@personalcarescience.com.au or visit www.personalcarescience.com.au