At this year’s In-Cosmetics trade show, BASF and Cognis – which is now part of the BASF Group – presented their latest formulation concepts and innovations for personal care products. T ogether with their cosmetic active ingredients businesses, BASF Beauty Care Solutions and Laboratoires Sérobiologiques (LS), the companies showed how their combined technical skills, market expertise and product ranges can even better help their customers meet the latest consumer demands.

“These days, consumers expect personal care products to be both high-performing and especially mild to the skin, ” says Gabriel Tanbourgi, head of BASF’s Care Chemicals division. “The key t o meeting these challenging demands lies in sustainable and innovative solutions based on an in-depth knowledge of the market. We are now best placed to help our customers respond to current and future trends.”

For example, the new “Sensitive Skin” concept presented at the show helps customers to meet the needs of consumers with sensitive skin. It offers personal care solutions for various skin care and cleansing applications, which are both high-performing and especially kind to the skin. The concept for sensitive skin also includes the latest addition to the portfolio: Cetiol RLF is a light and environmentally sound emollient that has been dermatologically tested on very sensitive skin . Cetiol RLF is made from 100 percent natural renewable feedstock, and is naturally catalyzed with enzymes.

Sun and skin care products with advanced UV protection

Modern sun and skin care products need to comply with different UV protection standards, while also combining the desired performance with light texture needed to provide the pleasant skin feel that consumers demand. BASF has one of the broadest portfolios in personal care, and is the leading supplier of UV filters. As such, the company is able to offer its customers high-performance solutions that enable them to deliver advanced protection across the entire UV spectrum. These solutions include the classic UVB filters Uvinul® T150, Uvinul MC80 and Uvinul N539T, the UVA filter Uvinul A Plus Granular, and Tinosorb® M and Tinosorb S, two broad-spectrum UV filters. Tinosorb S is also available as Tinosorb S Aqua, which can be incorporated into the water phase of an emulsion to facilitate a more even distribution of the UV filters on the skin.

During the show, a selection of new formulation concepts was presented for sun and skin care. For skin care, the focus was put on advanced photostable UVA protection as a key factor in the prevention of premature skin aging (photoaging). The formulation concept “Daily Skin Treasure with Advanced UVA Protection” is one example for a skin care lotion with optimal photostable UVA protection. Optimal protection is achieved when a formulation provides balanced protection across the entire UV spectrum reducing the intensity of sun light reaching the skin at the same time retaining its natural quality. For sun care, focus was put on highly efficient and water resistant formulations with a light and pleasant texture. Two new formulations were presented featuring SPF50+. Also on show was the BASF Sunscreen Simulator (www.basf.com/sunscreen-simulator), which has become a very popular in silico tool among the community of sunscreen developers worldwide. It enables formulators to see immediately how a given UV filter combination is likely to perform in terms of Sun Protection Factor and the various UVA metrics and criteria used in different countries and regions.

High-performance alternatives to silicone

One of the major trends in the personal care market is also the increasing demand for silicone-free formulations. As a result, manufacturers need to find efficient and innovative alternative ingredients that are just as high or even better performing and come as close as possible to the sensorial profile of silicones. Cetiol C5, for example, is an ideal emollient for face and body care formulations that provides a pleasant dry skin feel and has a similar sensorial profile to cyclomethicone . In hair care, silicone-free shampoos can provide superior conditioning with a noticeable repair effect and protection against hair breakage. Lamesoft Care is an example of a conditioning agent with precisely these benefits: it is easy to incorporate into formulations, offers a very good conditioning performance and even exhibits excellent protection against hair breakage.

Expertise in cosmetic active ingredients

Among the latest innovations on display from BASF Beauty Care Solutions was D-Stria™, an anti-stretchmark ingredient. This oily extract of serenoa serrulata reduces the tension of the striae-myofibroblasts and boosts the synthesis of elastin and collagen. A solution to stimulate epidermal renewal is Neurobiox™, anextract of achillea millefolium that also provides a unique resurfacing effect. Another new product that BASF presented was the advanced exfoliating system X-pressin™. It is made from a high-grade papain from the plant carica papaya to bring new luminosity to the skin. BASF Beauty Care Solutions also presented the results of a new study of its AMC™, a solution for dry skin. AMC™ contains Advanced Moisture Complex, a balanced blend of high-performance ingredients, including moisturizers, humectants, film formers, conditioners and water-binding agents, each of which addresses a different cause of dry skin.

In addition, Laboratoires Sérobiologiques presented its advanced technologies in molecular biology and imagery. They demonstrated how these developments help to visualize innovative concepts in major cosmetic fields such as skin aging, skin lightening, and hair growth metabolism. With its highly advanced 3D animations LS is able to create images of the skin and its structure. Visualized on a specific 3D screen these detailed insights allow to understand the skin mechanisms, thereby representing a major advantage for manufacturers as concept development processes for example can be improved.

About Care Chemicals:

BASF’s Care Chemicals division offers a broad portfolio of products for hygiene, personal care, home care, industrial & institutional cleaning as well as technical applications. Through the acquisition of Cognis, Care Chemicals has become the leading supplier to the cosmetics industry and has strengthened its number one position in products for the detergents and cleaners industry. The high quality product portfolio of the division mainly comprises surfactants, polymers, emollients, chelating agents, UV filters and biocides. The offering is completed by superabsorbents, developed for the requirements in all fields of hygiene applications. Care Chemicals operates production and development sites as well as sales offices all over the world.