Body is the new face: Gattefossé eyes potential in the APAC body care category

Maintaining a youthful appearance continues to be one of the biggest concerns among beauty consumers.

While there are many products that target facial signs of ageing such as crow’s feet or nasolabial folds, there are not many anti-ageing solutions for the body.

Anais Bonnefoy, regional marketing manager for personal care at Gattefossé told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that the firm was seeing a rise in demand for anti-ageing body care solutions.

The company believes this trend is largely driven by the body positivity movement, the fitness craze as well as social media.

“Body care is getting more and more popular all over the world, even in Asia. You can say that the body is the new face. We’re seeing that people are showing off their bodies more on Instagram or Snapchat. Because of this we see a lot of potential for body care products,” ​said Bonnefoy.

Body language​

To “ally” ​itself with this trend, the company has revisited Gatuline In-Tense MB, a naturally-derived anti-aging active by conducting new tests to prove its efficacy as a body care ingredient.

The active was shortlisted for the in-cosmetic Asia 2019 Innovation Zone Best ingredient award.

Gatuline In-Tense MB is derived from the flower of the acmella plant, also known as paracress, which is renowned for its high content in alkylamides.

“[Paracress] is commonly used as a spice. When you taste it, you can feel a tingling sensation on your tongue because it has an anaesthetic effect. This is why we thought it would be good for the skin as an anti-ageing ingredient,” ​said Bonnefoy.

Gattefossé claimed that Gatuline In-Tense MB helps to reinforce architecture of the dermis and stimulates the biochemical functions of fibroblasts to support the collagen fibre network. By doing so, the active helps to restore skin firmness and elasticity.

The new data showed that the active was also effective in firming and soothing out skin on the neck, décolletage and arms.

“One area we targeted was the neck because nowadays people are concerned about the T-line wrinkles which you get from looking down on your phone too much. We also looked into décolletage and arms because we haven’t seen many solutions on the market for those,”​ said Bonnefoy.

The firm tested a formulation containing 1% of Gatuline In-Tense MB on the neck, décolletage and arms of mature subjects.

Multiple evaluation techniques were applied to highlight the efficacy of the ingredient, including clinical scoring by dermatologists, self-evaluation by subject and 3D acquisitions.

The study showed that the active could improve the appearance of the neck in a month by reducing the ‘crinkled’ aspect of the neck by 12%.

It also saw a 19% and 22% reduction in the ‘crumpled’ aspect of the cleavage, making it appear smoother and softer.

Lastly, the study observed visible body firming properties by testing it on the underarms. According to the company, the active was proven to improve the tonicity of the skin by 16.3% while reducing skin extensibility by 12.5%.

Bonnefoy said the company sees a lot of potential for Gatuline In-Tense MB in firming and body sculpting products. Additionally, the active can also be used in colour cosmetics for firming foundations and plumping lipsticks.