The global beauty industry is undergoing a transformative shift as consumers increasingly prioritize transparency, sustainability, and ethical practices. Clean beauty, a term encompassing natural, non-toxic, and eco-conscious cosmetic products, reflects a growing end users’ desire to minimize their environmental footprint. Clean beauty is not merely about avoiding harmful or non-sustainable ingredients; it is rooted in holistic well-being. Brands adopting clean beauty principles emphasize the use of ethically sourced, biodegradable, and sustainable ingredients. Furthermore, packaging innovations such as refillable containers and the use of recycled materials have reinforced the alignment of clean beauty with broader sustainability goals.
The trend resonates particularly with younger generations, such as Millennials and Gen Z, who are more likely to scrutinize ingredient lists and demand accountability from manufacturers. Europe has emerged as a leader in the clean beauty market, driven by robust regulatory frameworks, informed consumers, and a rich heritage of botanical-based products. The European Union’s stringent regulations on cosmetic ingredients, outlined in Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, have created an environment conducive to clean beauty innovation. The European market for clean beauty is expected to grow significantly, with countries like France, Germany, and the Nordic nations at the forefront. However, challenges remain. The lack of a universally accepted definition of clean beauty has led to inconsistencies and potential greenwashing.
A collaborative project
Since the very beginning of the Skinobs platform project in 2014, testing laboratories as wall as skin and hair analysis manufacturers have been involved in the first reflections on the essential information to be made available to clinical evaluation professionals.
Beyond the many exchanges carried out with the evaluation managers of active ingredient and cosmetics brands, we wanted to collect the information sharing need of testing actors in France and abroad. They are the ones who, based on a database of information that we entrusted to them, supplemented, commented on and shared with us their wise recommendations on the important search criteria.
First, the manufacturers of measuring devices allowed us to associate each of their instrumentation with product claims, thus making it easier to search by claim. The CROs, for their part, collaborated by specifying for each center, which devices were used all over the world.
Shared trust
This work of setting up the database took more than a year, and then collecting the initial information for another year. This collection of information started in 2016 and has never been interrupted since, allowing the qualification of exhaustive information and a continuous updating of new Products, whether they are new claims, new devices or new laboratories. It should be noted that the referencing of a device or a laboratory does not require any subscription, that compliance with the Referencing process is the only requirement we have. Financial contribution remains an option.
From the first year of the launch of Skinobs, device manufacturers and test laboratories joined the circle of our partners, privileged customers that we were keen to highlight both on the platform with a preferential Ranking in the list of search Results, their logos in dedicated spaces and a complete company file as well as in the various media of Skinobs.
Valuable sharing
These informative publications with evaluation managers on test trends and innovations is a valuable and unique sharing, varied in its frequency, its means of dissemination and in its content. Skinobs’ circle of partners thus communicates their konw-how of clinical and preclinical studies to a privileged target via:
The Cosmetics Testing News, a blog in 2015 that has become a weekly newsletter in English and a monthly newsletter in French with more than 7,000 subscribers and more than 5,500 articles read per month.
The ZOOM is a digital and printed magazine, twice a year, in which are gathered articles on a theme or on the news of each of the partners.
The FOCUS is a bi-annual newsletter, which brings together in long articles expert opinions on a particular test theme: anti-aging, tolerance, hair Products, etc.
Post-show webinars when Skinobs summarizes the trends related to a salon around the world whether in Europe, USA, Asia or Latin America.
Cosmetotest, the scientific symposium dedicated to preclinical and clinical tests, organized since 2021 in collaboration with the scientific association Cosmet’in Lyon.
A unique collaborative model
The circle of Skinobs partners has grown year after year, French, European, North American, South American, Asian, and is growing serenely. These Skinobs partners are the main support for the development of the platform, its continuous updating.
Without any commission after the contact between the test managers and the laboratories, it is these commercial and media collaborations that allow free access to all users of the platform worldwide.
In 2023, there are more than 6,600 Skinobs users from 84 countries.