Fermented skincare products among new natural beauty trends

Fermented beauty products, raw processing, bacteria-rich formulas and waterless application are tipped to become some of the hottest natural beauty trends.

A report by the Innovation Group, the trend forecasting arm of J Walter Thompson Intelligence, explored the cultural drivers and trends informing consumer demand for a new standard of natural and organic beauty products. It discovered that an increasing number of consumers are looking for alternatives to synthetic additives.

Lucie Greene, worldwide director of the Innovation Group, commented: “Natural products are no longer seen as niche alternatives, but are aspirational.”

More brands will develop waterless cleansing products such as micellar or floral waters, lotions, oils or balms, which contain water but don’t require a water supply to use, as shortages become more frequent throughout the world.

Beauty companies are also looking to science to develop new ways of obtaining the greatest concentration of active botanicals, using extraction techniques such as fractionating to deliver an intensely concentrated active ingredient. In this way, the report says, science can enhance and support claims about natural efficacy without turning off consumers.

In a bid to develop an alternative to controversial parabens, the report predicts that brands will adopt the Asian trend for fermented beauty products to preserve ingredients. The process of fermentation also creates probiotics, fatty acids, vitamins, antioxidants and enzymes, adding further product benefits.

This rapid increase of people wanting plant-based, non-synthetic products is also causing scepticism over whether the products actually live up to their credentials, according to the report. 70% of women and 67% of men in an accompanying survey of 1,000 UK and US consumers said they doubt the honesty behind products labelled as “natural”, with a further 75% of women saying they are more likely to question these types of claims made by beauty companies now than they would have done several years ago, suggesting brands have to work harder to win them over.

Global demand for organic personal care products, of which one third is skincare products, is expected to reach £8.75 billion by 2018.