Premium Beauty News - It seems beauty is being redefined, and well-being and vitality are playing an increasingly significant role in determining what is desirable and sexy.
Leila Rochet-Podvin - Today, more than ever, beauty is a passport in contemporary life, as shown with the more and more narcissistic development of society, where self-image gets shared online, in particular among “digital natives”. However, good looks are now intimately linked with well-being. Beauty is no longer only superficial, it is transcended. The new Grail is the naturally beautiful, healthy beauty, which is becoming the new definition of glamour. This can be seen with the boom of “wellness gurus” (Chico Shigeta in Japan, Henri Chenot in Italy, Dr Howard Murad in the United States) and new rising icons, the “healthy stars” that are now very regularly followed on social networks (Erin Heatherton, a yoga enthusiast, Jessica Alba, creator of The Honest Company, Gwyneth Paltrow, author of “All is good” and blogger for Goop, Elle Macpherson, creator of the new Super Elixir, a wellness supplement…).
Béatrice de Reynal - More and more women and men know that what they eat, live, move… can be read on their skins and faces, but also in the way they move and are. Beauty is becoming holistic. It is the synthesis of a nutritional balance, a certain quality of life, food, skincare, and physical, intellectual, and spiritual activity…
Beauty is the living part of our bodies: it can be seen, worked on, modulated, magnified.
Premium Beauty News - You have identified no less than six trends categorized under three main themes: anti-industry, neo-industry, supra-industry. Is this the relationship with industrial modernity that best defines new consumption attitudes?
Leila Rochet-Podvin – It is the age of hyperconnection and uncertainty about our (economic and global) world. Former (vertical, rigid, standardized) consumption patterns are changing. Consumers are turning more evanescent, polymorphous, and paradoxical – they have been revolutionizing the way they consume. So, we have defined three main trends to classify the changes in our industrial model, which are common to the food and beauty worlds: 1/ ANTI-INDUSTRY (by contrast with the mass model: it corresponds to a reinvention of the world around purity, nostalgia, and frugality) 2/NEO-INDUSTRY (which draws from the advantages of modern society to offer us more, for a more nomadic, YOLO – You Only Live Once – consumption model) and 3/ SUPRA-INDUSTRY (a more scientific, predictive, or even integrative trend, thanks to the power of new technologies, which also makes room for human beings).
Béatrice de Reynal - However, paradoxically, nutrition and skincare are gradually becoming hypertechnical, ultra-sophisticated, extremely powerful, and all modern technologies like connector or scientific technologies, genetics, metabolomics, electronics and others are used to preserve and display the naturalness in each and every one of us.
Premium Beauty News - You have wished to emphasize the synergies between nutrition and cosmetics in particular. This can be seen with active ingredients, but what about finished products?
Leila Rochet-Podvin - Today, beauty, health, and well-being are intimately related, and we feed our bodies the same way we feed our skins. When a young woman is asked what is most important to have a beautiful skin, she answers “drink water!” first.
Béatrice de Reynal - Our skin mirrors our health: it is an open book on our health, but also our personality, doubts and moods… Nourishing our beauty from the inside is an art that requires instinct, but also know-how.
Premium Beauty News - On the contrary, the boundaries between the various universes are more rigid at the regulatory level. There is no legal definition of cosmeto-food, for example. What are the consequences?
Katia Merten-Lentz - Law is quite “rigid” by nature. It evolves slowly, once professionals are already well-advanced on innovations and have set the tone for a new current. No doubt this is what will happen with cosmeto-food, if the trend gets confirmed.
To this day, there is no legal definition of cosmeto-food: it is a bit like ten years ago, when we started talking about functional foodstuffs. However, the sector is regulated by the food’s legal framework (labelling, advertising, and claims). And yet, significant areas of uncertainty remain as regards the way the EFSA reacted to the first marketing authorization applications for cosmeto claims… scientific demonstrations are going to have to be VERY solid!
Premium Beauty News - Within this context, you are encouraging brands to be bold and give meaning to their products.
Leila Rochet-Podvin - First, we invite brands to view things from a wider perspective, rather than just consider their own market and competitive sphere. Consumers are not split up like our industry. We should not stay stuck in our own worlds! What is occurring in the food sector has strong implications in the beauty world and should no longer be ignored. Besides, we are living in a great era, where anything is possible. In addition to ethical values, consumers have never left as much room for boldness and creativity. The road is wide open for innovation!
Béatrice de Reynal - Our stomachs are getting smaller shares. People eat less, but want to eat better: better for health, for beauty, for pleasure. Cosmeto-foods have now become reality, and we should not miss this opportunity to satisfy demanding consumers who want to have it all: beauty, good taste, and pleasure.
