Microalgae targets oily and sensitive skin

Cosmetics Design Asia caught up with Rachel Kwon, Technical Support Manager at In2Bio to explore what consumers are looking for when it comes to active ingredient selection.

Premium, active, cultural​

Launched in 2010, Korean manufacturer and supplier, In2Bio provides bespoke high-quality solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and multinational businesses.

Placing a strong emphasis on research and development (R&D) through its own affiliated laboratory-institute, along with technical sales, In2Bio has built up a reputation for providing premium ingredients, particularly preservatives.

Based in Gyeonggido, South Korea, Kwon explains that a selection of its ingredients are only available from the country’s largest island, Jeju. The South Korean golden flower and ginseng are collected from Jeju island. These botanical ingredients are popular for their unique attributes, namely their anti-ageing properties and multifunctional benefits.

“The main cosmetics ingredients we supply are preservatives. This correlates directly with consumers strong interest in skin and natural ingredients,”​ shared Rachel Kwon Technical Support Manager at In2Bio.

Multifunctional demands​

Increasingly, one single product now needs to contain more ingredients as consumers demand multifunctional items. “Consumers also associate premium products with those that are able to support efforts in anti-ageing, anti-pollution and anti-stress,”​ Kwon went on to say.

To appeal, products are now focusing on natural and sustainable ingredients and stories to target specific skin types. Global supplier of fragrances, flavourings, raw materials and active ingredients for cosmetics and perfumes, Symrise, has released SymControl Care, formulated from microalgae to help oily and sensitive skin.

Oily and sensitive skin​

With its latest active ingredient for skin care, the German-headquartered company aims to address sensitive and oily skin by improving the skin barrier and lowering the sebum surface percentage — an oily, waxy substance released from the sebaceous glands.

Symrise’s internal consumer research found that approximately 61% of consumers with oily skin said that they also experience skin irritations.

Formulated from sustainably-produced Mediterranean microalgae, SymControl Care is designed to overcome the mechanics located at the true origin of oily skin and inflammation.

Developer Symrise emphasises the close relationship between inflammation and sebum production, and how this sea ingredient specifically seeks to target the mechanism responsible for skin sensitivity and sebum production.

The SymControl Care active ingredient has been approved by both COSMOS and Ecocert raw material.

Biotechnology process​

“Symrise produces the active ingredient used in SymControl Care from the microalgae Tetraselmis suecica using a blue biotechnology process. This green algae is a natural and sustainable raw material from the Mediterranean,”​ noted Marielle Le Maire, Global Category Director Actives in the Cosmetic Ingredients Division.

Commenting on how this supports its environmental initiatives, Le Maire added: “The cosmetic ingredient thus adheres to Symrise’s sustainability objective that all strategically important raw materials should be derived from sustainable sources by 2020. We thus offer our customers and consumers a sustainable solution for a common skin type.”​