Immunity and beauty: The science, trends and future promise for growth

CosmeticsDesign has rallied together leading experts in beauty, science and regulation for its upcoming free-to-attend 90-minute webinar Immunity & Beauty​​ on May 25^th​​ – part of our sister site NutraIngredients’ Immunity Broadcast Series 2021​​ – to dig into the opportunities and challenges ahead for this nascent yet growing field.

Health and beauty boom – ‘the rising importance of personal care’​

Health and beauty had long worked hand-in-hand, but as COVID-19 continued to create seismic shifts in consumer needs and expectations, the demand for personal care items – topical and ingestible – that de-stress, soothe and protect as part of wider holistic wellbeing had surged. And within the burgeoning wellbeing trend, immunity had started to be more closely considered.

But were the scientific grounds for beauty to start actively participating in the immunity space strong enough? And what segments or product formats offered the most obvious way in?

This upcoming webinar will be led by CosmeticsDesign-Europe editor Kacey Culliney who will put these important questions to the high-level industry panel. The goal – to answer the question on everyone’s lips: Can beauty carve out a place in the immunity space?

“Interest in immunity has skyrocketed in the wake of COVID-19. And whilst a large amount of the focus has, of course, been on the dietary supplement and functional nutrition space, we cannot forget the rising importance of personal care products during this pandemic,”​ said Culliney.

In times of uncertainty and isolation, consumers in their masses had turned to self-care and beauty rituals to boost mood and improve skin, hair and body health, she said. Luxurious baths and potent face care serums had become the norm, and active ingredients now a must, she said.

“The beauty consumer is now highly engaged in active beauty. L’Oréal – the world’s biggest beauty player – has seen an incredible surge in its active beauty business during this pandemic, fuelled by consumers purchasing more derma skin care products packed with an active ingredient punch and interest in skin health increasing. And these consumers know a lot more than they did before, about beauty formulations and the ingredients inside, so the opportunity to engage with these consumers and offer immunity-boosting offerings is potentially huge.”​

The issue, Culliney said, would lie in the science of these topicals and ingestibles. And the secret may be in combining these two categories to create a super-beauty space dedicated to whole body health and wellbeing, she said.

High-level event: L’Oréal, AveSeena, Mintel and more​

Our panel of esteemed industry experts and sponsor representatives bring decades of collective experience and knowledge in the field of immunity and beauty innovation.

Andrew McDougall, associate director of global beauty and personal care at Mintel​, will kickstart the event with a Keynote presentation outlining consumer beauty trends behind immunity interest and spotlight some of the new product development in the topical and ingestible space so far.

Karin Hermoni, head of science at Lycored​ – an event sponsor, will then present clinical findings and insight on the 

potential of specific ingredients in the beauty-from-within space that target immunity, considering whole-body wellness versus skin wellness. Hermoni will also participate in the expert panel discussion.

Audrey Gueniche PharmD PhD, expert claim activator at L’Oréal Research & Innovation, ​will then participate in the expert panel to share her extensive knowledge immunology and cosmetics, discussing promise and opportunity in both topical and ingestible formats and how brands can consider building claims in the space.

Ebru Karpuzoglu PhD, molecular immunologist and skin care expert at AveSeena, ​will also participate in the panel to 

bring her expert insight on immunology and discuss how this can translate into beauty product offerings – what she had worked hard on in building up her AveSeena skin care brand.

Luca Bucchini, managing director of Hylobates Consulting, ​will be speaking on the panel to bring forward the global regulatory picture for beauty firms looking to edge into the immunity space, discussing some of the clear hurdles and gaps industry must consider.

Isabel Gómez, global marketing manager for nutraceutical ingredients at Lubrizol Life Science​ – an

event sponsor, will also participate in the panel to bring forward insight on the challenges and opportunities when building out marketing plans in this field and spotlight key learnings industry can consider, from formulation to shelf.

Beauty experts and scientific innovators – a conversation not to miss​

The Immunity & Beauty webinar will be a “deep dive into the past, present and future of immunity and beauty”,​ said Culliney.

“We’ve got a fantastic panel of leading global experts ready to openly engage on this fascinating and exciting topic. I’m thrilled to be hosting such an important and timely event at a time when the beauty industry, along with the rest of the world, looks to developing operations in a post-COVID world.”​

“It’s not every day you get such a deep and knowledgeable voice on a nascent but promising field,” ​she said.

Register today​ ​to get your spot and chance to put your questions to our experts in immunity and beauty.