SCS Summer Festival 2019

Society of Cosmetic Scientists Networking & Charity Summer Festival

Clean Beauty & the EU Cosmetics Regulation

 

On Tuesday 11^th June the Arthur Edward team headed to Leigh Court in Bristol for the 2019 SCS Summer Festival. Taking a break from beauty recruitment and undaunted by the very British summer weather (chilly and rainy) we thoroughly enjoyed this annual event’s mixture of business and pleasure!

Opening the Festival we heard from two speakers on the hot topic of Clean Beauty.

Topic 1: CLEAN BEAUTY

Speaker: Lorraine Dallmeier, Formula Botanica

E-learning company Formula Botanica was founded in 2012, and Lorraine took over as Director/Owner in 2014. With over 1 million digital visits a month, Formula Botanica is the world’s largest online formulation school. It offers training and support for start-ups and indie brands around the world, winning awards along the way.

Lorraine discussed Formula Botanica’s perspective on ‘Clean Beauty’, a widely used phrase that lacks definition and has a host of different meanings amongst formulators, brands and consumers. Highlighting the potential for confusion, she presented some of the terms commonly referenced in and by the personal care and cosmetics industry, such as Clean, Green, Natural and Cruelty-free Beauty.

Formula Botanica teaches people to formulate using ingredients of natural and organic origin. They separate ‘Natural Beauty’ into three sectors:

• Natural products – made with natural ingredients and only physical processing
• Naturally derived – made with natural ingredients with some chemical processing
• Nature identical – lab synthesized, but identical to the same compounds found in nature

Lorraine pointed out that, for an Indie brand, the communication chain between R&D and the consumer is very short. This gives clean beauty Indie brands an advantage in communicating directly with their current and potential customers.

Topic 2: EU REGULATION TECHNICAL DOCUMENT ON COSMETIC PRODUCT CLAIMS – ARE YOU READY FOR THE JULY DEADLINE?

Speaker: Francesca Rapolla, CTPA

Francesca is Regulatory Affairs Manager at the CTPA (Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association). She helps members understand borderline contexts and best practice for cosmetic product claims and claims substantiation.  She responds to all enquiries on EU Regulations, REACH and Brexit; which is no doubt keeping her very busy!

The European Commission’s Technical Document on cosmetic claims comes into force soon, providing best practice guidelines on the use of ‘free from’ claims. Francesca stressed the need for brands to move away from negative messages about avoiding ‘nasties’ or ‘toxic ingredients’ and instead communicate positively about the fantastic ingredients and benefits of their products. She also recommended cosmetic brands take a more proactive stance in educating consumers to help them recognise perceived issues that are not genuine, such as the animal testing ban in the EU and the importance of preservatives.

The CTPA has published information on ‘Free from’ claims to help companies understand the impact of the new Technical Document.  Companies can also visit www.thefactsabout.co.uk for consumer facing educational information, especially in the section Confidence in Cosmetics.  More information is available for CTPA members in the ‘Free From’ Claims Reference zone.

Business over, we moved onto lunch and a variety of fun activities arranged by the RDG Wales and West Committee, the SCS and our MD Heidi, to raise money for our sponsored charity, Look Good Feel Better.  Wellie wanging was rained off, but the crazy golf moved indoors, alongside the ‘higher or lower’ card game, hook the duck competition and the pinball tournament (which I won, thanks to my misspent youth).  I’ll be sure to keep my hand in for next year’s Festival.

Looking for a new role in cosmetics, perfumery or personal care? Contact us now on +44 (0)207 052 1038 or visit Arthur Edward .