Talk about ending the year on an upbeat note! The 72nd Annual Meeting of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists attracted 1,400 cosmetic chemists and beauty executives who were in New York City to hear presentations on a variety of topics. Sessions were devoted to the future of cosmetic science, creating impactful claims, advances in cosmetic dermatology, pollution and environmental stressors, regulations, and designing and developing cosmetic ingredients. In addition, the meeting included nearly 70 tabletops with suppliers showcasing their latest advances.


SCC President Perry Romanowski noted that the Society accomplished a number of goals related to the Society’s mission of the advancement of cosmetic science and furthering the interests of cosmetic scientists everywhere. Some of these highlights included:

• Hosting more than 80 educational meetings featuring experts discussing the latest developments in cosmetic science.
• Co-hosting the 2nd annual International Personal Care Excellence conference which brought together scientists from Italy, Japan and North America. This conference featured 35 speakers over the course of two days.
• Chapters around the country hosted successful suppliers’ days in New York, Chicago, and Dallas.
• Fifteen all-day continuing education courses were conducted during the year.
• A half dozen online webinars were run.
• Significantly grew both its overall membership and student membership.

“Fourteen hundred people attended our annual scientific symposium which is one of the largest shows we’ve had in more than five years,” noted Romanowski, Element 44 Inc. “People were attracted to the top notch scientific talks and our move to a new venue. We look forward to an even bigger conference next year.”


The Society is making a concerted effort to attract younger formulators, via its NextGen program. The annual meeting included a NextGen conference track designed to help young professionals and students further their education to attain successful and rewarding careers. That effort was on display last month as a student poster presentation featured posters from Manhattan College, Trent University and the University of Cincinnati.


President-elect Kelly Dobos of Sun Chemical pointed out that as the Society approaches its 75th anniversary, it attained some significant milestones, including reaching 5,300 members.


“The SCC plans to continue growing our educational offerings on the national and chapter levels in the years ahead and is looking at new ways to provide benefits to our membership,” said Dobos. “I also hope to strengthen the perception of cosmetic science  by increasing the visibility of the Society and our contributions to the public.”


The annual meeting opened with the Frontiers of Science Lecture, which was delivered by Charles Spence, Oxford University. His topic, neuroscience-inspired multisensory design in the cosmetics sector, focused on how sensory dominance colors one’s reality.


“Our brains are limited in their capacity; we can’t do it all,” he explained. “If you give test subjects white wine and color it red, they will taste and smell red wine.”


Sensory dominance isn’t limited to sight and taste. The McGurk Effect is a perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception. The illusion occurs when the auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, leading to the perception of a third sound. What one sees overrides what one hears. Interestingly, the effect works even when one is aware of it.


“Vision dominates what we hear,” Spence noted. “How does it affect the cosmetics industry?”


What Does Scent Sound Like?

There are also connections between scent and sound. Musk, as one might suspect, corresponds to lower auditory notes, while apricot is connected to higher notes. For 20 years, Spence and his team have  worked with personal care companies to help produce more congruent, multi-sensory experiences. During this work, researchers discovered that sound can impact skin feel. And in research for Lynx, a male body fragrance, Spence discovered that a rose scent makes men more appealing to women. Further, Takasago’s research found that certain scents make people look younger to others.


For decades, fragrance companies have relied on the weight of glass packaging to give their scents a luxurious feel. But in an era of lightweighting, more companies can’t afford the luxury of glass. To maintain that feeling of exclusivity, Spence suggested that designers keep their glass stoppers, but use lighter weight materials for the rest of the package. This form of synesthesia marketing can help formulators design more appealing products.


Valerie George, VP-R&D, John Paul Mitchell Systems, moderated the opening “advanced” podium session, which was devoted to the future of cosmetic science. Jennifer Cookson of Mother Dirt noted that the emergence of probiotic skin care is leading to new opportunities and issues in product formulation. She explained how hurdle technology can be used to create a self-preserving system that allows for probiotic compatible and consumer safe products. Important microbial control methods in food preservation include pH, water activity, and ultra-high-temperature processing.


For example, Cookson said the optimal pH for bacterial growth is 5.5-8.5; yeast and mold between 4.0-6.0. Therefore, product pH can be used as both a means of growth inhibition, targeting ranges outside of optimal ranges; and as a method of destroying existing pathogens—many microorganisms will be destroyed if held at a low pH for a significant amount of time. Cookson also pointed out that simply reducing the amount of water in a product can result in longer microbial generation time or reduced metabolic activity. With that in mind, many formulas are oil-based, though the speaker noted that every fluid has the ability to hold a certain amount of dissolved water.


Another speaker, Ilya Raskin, Rutgers University, reviewed novel phytochemicals for skin. The Screen-to-Nature (STN) screening process is an inexpensive way to bring the laboratory to the field to expand the search for effective, natural materials.


“It is an efficient, low cost ($300), low impact, high-throughput process,” she explained.


The STN method requires just two grams of tissue for testing and the process is completed in minutes. Rutgers relied on the procedure to identify Chicoryn, a chicory extract that has demonstrated powerful anti-aging properties.


“We are building a botanical preservative database using our STN technology,” said Raskin.


Christin Koch, PhD of Symrise used a human axillary microbiome model to develop deodorant ingredients. It combines the advantages of in vitro and in vivo studies complementing the evaluation criteria sensory performance with data from analytical and microbiome analyses. Symrise researchers added 0.1% triclosan and found it was a good malodor inhibitor.


“The model represents a human axillary microbiome and is perfectly applicable for the development of new deodorant actives with different modes of action,” Koch concluded.


Advances in Cosmetic Dermatology

Smitha Rao, chief technology officer, High Ridge Brands, moderated the afternoon session, which focused on advances in cosmetic dermatology. The opening speaker was Unilever’s Jason Harcup, PhD, who explained how lifestyle interventions can ameliorate epigenetic changes. First, air purifiers were proven to significantly protect skin from pollution-induced epigenetic changes. Second, Unilever researchers demonstrated that five months of incidental sun-exposure leads to epigenetic drift and is significantly reduced with regular SPF product use.


“These results reinforce the importance of personalized daily anti-aging regimes,” said Harcup.


Qian Zheng, PhD and MD, L’Oréal Research and Innovation, noted that aging is a complex process that involves intrinsic and extrinsic factors.


“Consumers are aware that UV exposure, pollutants, stress and behavior impact their skin, but there is a gap between their know-ledge and their actions,” said Zheng. “This is a great opportunity to increase their education about sunscreen use.”


She reminded attendees that three-quarters of the world population can be classified as skin of color, and that 90% of the world’s population is 3 or higher on the Fitzpatrick skin chart.


“We have such diverse needs, so we rely of a four-dimensional design to find new anti-aging ingredients,” explained Zheng.


By using a variety of techniques, including reflective confocal microscopy, L’Oréal researchers evaluated the efficacy of tetrahydro jasmonic acid. This nature-inspired, synthetic molecule helps retexturize skin, and Zheng said its anti-wrinkle efficacy is similar to prescription-strength retinoic acid.


When the right product is applied properly at the correct use level, amazing results are possible, according to Bob Bianchini, PhD, Rodan + Fields.


“We can clear acne in 24 hours if it is done correctly,” he told the audience.


Bianchini noted that skin care research is surging as the market climbs higher; according to Euromonitor International data, global skin care sales will top $200 billion by 2040. It’s a dynamic category and skin is a dynamic organ, with new skin cells created in the dermis every 28-40 days. He detailed the benefits of 3D3P-IPN, which in a consumer test, reduced the appearance of wrinkles in 92% of subjects in one week.


UV light is the bane of skin care product formulators and dermatologists everywhere. Experts bemoan that consumers spend too much time in the sun and either don’t use enough sunscreen or don’t reapply it often enough. But Johnson & Johnson’s Ali Fassih took a different tack, singing the praises and listing the benefits of sunlight in his presentation, “Delivering skin care benefits from light and light therapy.”


He pointed out that UV light has microbial kill and heal-response effects. It boosts mood and controls sleep cycles, and has applications in treating depression, pain, trauma, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and even hair loss. Light treatment mitigates acne-causing factors in vitro: 640nm red light inhibits oleic acid-induced inflammation and hyperkeratinization.


Ingredients Under Review

Last year, the US Congress began debating bills that would further regulate cosmetics beyond Food and Drug Administration oversight. The industry self-regulates itself, too, via the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR). The CIR was established in 1976 by the industry trade association the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, now known as the Personal Care Products Council.


CIR director Bart Heldreth, PhD provided insight into the three to four year review process, noting that chemicals can be classified as safe as used, unsafe or insufficient data, by an unbiased panel of voting members that includes MDs and PhDs. Heldreth noted that, as a matter of practice, CIR does not usually review fragrances, colors or flavors. Over the year, CIR has assessed the safety of more than 5,000 ingredients, and experts estimate that, in the US, the current number of cosmetic ingredients is closer to 6,500.


“(But) CIR’s work will never be done, because we re-review ingredients every 15 years and the INCI directory has 20,000 names,” he explained.


But there’s much more to certifications than CIR. Alejandra Camacho, PhD of Croda Inc, reviewed organic and natural claims from Cosmos, NSF/ANSI 305-2016 and ISO 16128 parts 1 and 2. According to Camacho, they have several commonalities:

• They provide similar lists of allowed chemical processes and materials as well as manufacturing guidelines and practices (except for the ISO standard);
• Safety and quality compliance are out of the scope of all of these standards;
• Compliance is voluntary (not mandated by any government agency); and
• They provide specific rules to quantify organic content.But despite the similarities, Camacho admitted that this alphabet soup of certifications is very confusing—and they aren’t interchangeable.

“If you get Cosmos-approved ingredients from your supplier, you can’t mix and match them with ingredients approved under ISO,” she warned.


Both Cosmos and NSF/ANSI 305 allow for the certification of products via authorized organizations that perform a documentary review and an on-site audit. One of the biggest differences between them and ISO, is that the later does not address labeling of the product, it only provides a way to quantify the amount of each type of ingredient.