While a lot has been buzzed about J beauty (Japan)---it's the bio based ingredients-with 'natural' sustainably sourced-that really stood out for us.
via GIPHY
Evonik -a fav destination at these cosmetic-skincare-haircare supplier shows-with the coolest samples of new ingredient loaded products...is really branching out in an interesting way. They should launch their own direct to consumer company.
WHAT:
"The fusion of ancient wisdom and advanced technology" is their MO-for the newish Evonik Advanced Botanicals division.
"In-vitro-cultivation"-inspired by traditional Ayurvedic medicine-inspired the types of plants grown in controlled (indoor) environments in France-that reminded us of urban farming at its best-no pesticides, herbicides, or GMO anything, needed. Or deforestation-aka social exploitation.
The first product form Evonik Advanced Botanicals is NeoPlanta® Withania-an urban pollution fighter-balancing skin serum-that's vegan, gluten + preservative free. It's hero radical scavenging plant is the Withania somnifera-that's typically grown in the Himalayan Mountains.
Other bio-based science-which conjures up the vast wisdom of ancient healers in multiple cultures....starts with vegan friendly botanics-plants + fruits like gobi berry, coffee berry, stevia leaf, carotene(veggies-vitamins!!!), red maple, lichens, turmeric, grapes, hardy alpine and sunflowers, Amazon rainforest's nut+fruit trees=oils -and marine-ocean growing red algae, Chinese herbs, CHARCOAL (still huge) and exotic clays (masks)- were featured in new skincare ingredients by many many companies.
We didn't see any animal based products-highlighted at all except for Wellman Lanolin-moisturizing lanolin the company says is cruelty-free sourced from wool of USA-New Zealand sheep. A good thing. We doubt dead animals are a selling point-let alone the ethics(lack of).
Not trending at all...are ingredients for topical application- that contain bio-identical hormones-like hyaluronic acid + collagen boosting estrogen. Widely available from compounding pharmacies and OTC available on AMAZON (of course)-these anti-aging skin products are not as common in the USA -using some kind of plant sourced estriol (a natural estrogen)-estradiol, estrone, estriol-and/or brightness booster progesterone (from yams, black cohosh)- like in Europe.
We are not referencing toxic ingredients that are hormone disrupters (parabens, phthalates, oxybenzone etc). "Free From" is in fact a label stand-by though the EU is outlawing that soon.