“For the 2019 edition of the renowned in-Cosmetics Formulation Summit, I wanted to bring aspects of formulation back to the very core of the Summit.

It seems to me that for the past few years the industry has been taking a bit too much of a futuristic approach, at times even detached from what the day-to-day reality of the formulation lab is. Genetics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are all great tools, but in the end, formulation of successful beauty products is that sort of magic blend of science (a lot of it!) and art that is still conducted by human beings – mostly in white coats!

With this in mind, I have started to think about the big topics that we face on a daily basis in our lives – such as climate, health, stress – and how they can affect our industry. I realised that it is all about the damages that modern life can cause on our planet, our bodies and our minds. It seems we do not understand how interconnected all these things are. In a nutshell, we have lost the sense of holism that the ancient people knew thousands of years ago.

This is why I shaped the Summit’s scientific programme around three main themes, which are so simple yet so important: “good for…” the planet, the body and the mind.  What else do we humans need? And what else do we, professionals of the beauty industry, need to take care of modern consumers?

Consumers are becoming more and more conscious about the planet, the human body and mind, and about the interconnection between them all. As a scientist, I believe we should not overlook the power of a more basic and holistic approach as the way forward.

This is the vision behind this year’s scientific programme. The choice of topics and speakers has followed the same principles thus enabling me to build a programme full of sessions that I, myself, am looking forward to attending and learning from.

I think the takeaways will be varied, but more importantly, I hope it will be all about providing the audience with new ideas to use when back in their labs so that they can progress cosmetic science to eventually achieve a more holistic way in our industry.

More practically, amongst other topics we will learn about the use of waste materials as the new way to produce cosmetic ingredients through Green Chemistry; we will see how to use biodegradable and even compostable packaging or even how we could go unpackaged; and we will hear how fellow formulators are tackling such trends as water-free, minimalistic cosmetics, natural yet efficacious products, less-is-more and neuro and emotional cosmetics.

We will listen to case studies on the formulation of microbiota-friendly products and be faced with the pragmatic reality of possibly disrupting our skin’s microbiota through the legally compulsory practice of preserving cosmetic products.

We will be provoked in realising that natural products are not necessarily also sustainable, sometimes quite the opposite!

We will learn about healthy skin and the regulatory challenges around this terminology.

All in all, attendees at this year’s Formulation Summit will learn about the new science behind a more caring and holistic approach to the beauty industry.

R&D professionals in the personal care and beauty industry can book their places at this year’s in-cosmetics Formulation Summit here: https://summit.in-cosmetics.com/book-your-place. Early bird rate – saving delegates £100 – closes on 11 October.