IECSC: Escaping A Wrinkle In Time, MARCH, 2018

BE attended the International Esthetics, Cosmetics and Spa Conference (IECSC) held at the Javits Center in New York City on March 5, 2018. One of four held nationally, IECSC conferences reveal the latest treatment products and provide a first-hand education on spa, wellness and medi-spa techniques.

Sifting through hundreds of booths, educational seminars and presentations, BE found hidden themes and trends that were essential takeaways. The three major themes we saw are listed below. 

We hope you enjoy these discoveries as much as we did! Feel free to let us know your thoughts at info@beautyedgeinc.com


Top Treatment Craze


Microblading: Sparse eyebrows need some flair? Similar but less invasive than cosmetic tattooing, microblading is semi-permanent tattooing specific to the eyebrows. The pigment is applied manually, in strokes, instead of with a machine. Hair-like strokes are deposited within the natural existing brow to enhance and fill in. Why not toss the brow powder, pencil, and gel for a while and make the move to microblading?

Derma Planning: Jonesing for skin as smooth as a baby’s bottom? This physical exfoliation procedure uses a sterile surgical scalpel to gently shave the skin's surface, removing dead cells along with fine vellus hair (aka peach fuzz). If done properly, expect to see instant improvement in skin smoothness, tone and texture. Why go for derma planning? Procedures like this not only smooth everything over but also claim to help skin care ingredients and technologies perform better.


 TheWrinklesEdge: Healthy looking skin

Want to smooth the happy lines and crinkles from a crazy late night? Or, maybe natural aging, sun damage, gravity and side sleeping have added some undesirable creases to your delicate facial silhouette? Brands like SILC SKIN and SioBeauty are growing in popularity with quick, easy and safe ways to reduce lines and wrinkles on the face, neck and décolleté -- with no downtime. The magic is in the high-grade medical silicone pads used to treat areas overnight. These high-tech pads create an occlusive environment and a collagen producing action that plumps and irons over rippled skin, both immediately and over time.     

SioBeauty left image.                                                                                                                                                         SILC SKIN right image.

Bonus claims from SioBeauty: Clinical and consumer testing showed measurable results in smoothing and revitalizing treated areas. 

SioBeauty Claims:
·       Clinically proven to smooth wrinkles overnight and over time.
·       Overnight - Nearly 90% of women tested felt their skin was smoother and softer the next morning.
·       Overnight - 84% of women tested said their skin felt renewed and refreshed in the morning. 


Looking for advanced skin treatments? Explore LED light therapy.

DSC_0054 (2).JPG

Another approach to skin enhancement and overall increased well-being that has been gaining traction is LED light therapy or color light therapy. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode.  The light waves emitted aren’t exactly ‘magical,’ but they do have the potential to heal the body and produce healthy skin.

The good news is that these treatments are pain-free, non-invasive and can be completed in as little as 30 minutes, depending on your skincare needs. We recommended that you always consult with your physician before beginning any LED treatment.

Color and wavelength information below referenced directly from LIGHTWAVE LED Therapy website:

Red light (wavelength 625nm-660nm) penetrates human tissue superficially, with approximately 80% of the energy being absorbed in the first 2cm. Red light energy has a significant effect on mitochondrial stimulation, which increases the production of ATP and in turn boosts fibroblast activity. This leads to an increase in cellular turnover, superficial circulation, and an anti-inflammatory emission.

Blue light (wavelength 405nm-450nm) provides a very superficial penetration even with a high- intensity narrowband light source. It is primarily absorbed by the epidermis of the skin. Once it is absorbed, blue light targets P. acnes by stimulating porphyrins which then produce intracellular singlet oxygen and thus inducing bacterial death.

Infrared (IR) light (wavelength 800nm – 900nm) energy penetrates tissue at a greater depth than the blue and red light. Approximately 50% penetrates to 8cm and decreases to less than 1% at 20cm (NASA study). Infrared energy is known to heat tissue and its effects are well documented for therapeutic pain management. For cosmetic applications, IR stimulates the NaK+ pump which increases cell membrane permeability; facilitating equilibrium of cellular pH, while increasing nutritional absorption and elimination of waste byproducts.

LED Treatment options:
>  Lines and wrinkles
>  Pigmentation
>  Scars
>  Inflammation/Rosacea
>  Loose skin on specific areas of the body like abdomen, neck or upper chest.
>  Acne, mild to moderate.
>  Psoriasis/Eczema
>  Therapeutic pain management

Another treatment new to the category is TLI (Topical Light Infusion) from the company LIGHTWAVE LED Therapy. TLI differs from LED because it safely allows topicals to be applied to the skin during treatment. TLI’s active facial infusion systems are designed to combine colors of light and photo energy with topicals to directly improve the skin.

That’s it for now! Keep a lookout for our next EdgeNotes review and feel free to share this post.

 If you’re looking for more inspiration on creating products influenced from the spa arena, contact Cherie@beautyedgeinc.com Feel free to explore further product development ideas on our website www.beautyedginc.com

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - FIRST TO MARKET

Product Development – How a Setback Became a First to Market Product

first to market concealer
first to market concealer

Speed to market, first to market … to market, to market, to market … how fast can we get there, and can we get there first?! 

A number of years ago, I was working with a third party lab on an under eye concealer project - one texture and five shades. While this type of out-of house development was unusual for my employing company at that time, the brand I worked on opened doors to collaboration with outside manufacturers. 

Mid-development, a financial issue arose between the vendor and the corporate company. Long story short, I was blocked from doing any further development work with the vendor.  My dilemma: I still needed to deliver a product to meet the calendar dates for Marketing - five skus for 4th quarter.  The products were scheduled in the calendar, they were in the budget, and development started—there was no time to rework the product calendar at this point. What to do?

And then—that aha! moment.  I thought outside of the normal color cosmetic development process and re-evaluated an anti-aging skin care formula that I helped develop a few years earlier.  It contained an encapsulated retinol release technology.  

My questions were:

 1.)  Can I use the skin care bulk as a concealer base? 
2.)  The bulk was white.  Will it hold enough pigment/color without drastically changing the texture?  
3.) Would the retinol technology in the skin care bulk still perform if pigment was added to the bulk? 
 4.) Could the product maintain anti-aging skin care claims and deliver color performance? 
 5.) Could this be first to market???  

With time tight and preliminary stability testing on its way, the R&D team bought into the idea immediately and started testing the product with pigment. And voilà!  We had a remarkable product to deliver that was better than the first concealer concept originally slated on the calendar! 

The final product was innovative, with skin care performance claims and color payoff.  The legal team confirmed that there was no other product on the market at that time with this type of performance.  You could say it was a CC under eye concealer way before its time!  

Are you looking for innovation?  Think about ways you can turn your current product development projects around to make them something even greater than your original concepts!

If you liked this post, keep an eye out for future posts on first to market product development. 

Missed the last update?  Check out what we’re up to at www.beautyedgeinc.com - click on the InnerEdge tab.   

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - THE FIRST WIN!

Product Development – The First Win!

Winning a CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women) product award is like winning an Oscar in the beauty industry.  It’s a big deal!  One thing to understand about product development is that the win is the result of a team effort.  When the product wins, all teams win.

First Win Cream
First Win Cream

How to get a winning product? Easy question—not so easy to answer.

My best recommendation is that when starting with the concept, think of ways that might give the product an edge, that makes the product first to the market in its performance, something that no other product has addressed: a new technology, a new texture, a new way to fit into today’s lifestyle, a unique color, a new way of dispensing, a nuance that might be a slight change, prompting someone to say “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Luminosity (Avon) was one of those award winning products. I joined the marketing team at the mid-development point.  My contribution included working with teams to complete the aesthetic development and texture, product performance, claims development, training and copy development. 

The story doesn’t end here.  In an upcoming post, I’ll share my experience about attending a first production run on this product.

NY NOW, Let's Get Happy!

BeautyEdge visited the NY NOW show in New York City's Jacob Javits Center.

Some of you may be asking, “What is NY NOW?”  From our point of view, it is a tremendous collection of U.S. and global-based manufacturers, exhibitors, and distributors with commercialized products that range from personal care to baby clothes, stationary to home goods. The exhibitors provide “first look” exposure to new launches along with their full brand line-ups that are available for retail sales in various selling channels.

Key Trends:

>>Though living green and sustainability are becoming more of a lifestyle than a trend, we continue discovering new ways to use our resources wisely and safely.

>>Strong evidence in men’s luxury personal care was apparent, along with the need and clear message to love others and ourselves, to celebrate, to indulge in the little things and enjoy happiness.

While many trends themed throughout the show, we chose happiness as a grounding point.  We won’t claim to know the answer to everlasting happiness at BeautyEdge, but we do know that as humans we seek an experience, whether inside or outside of ourselves, to which we can say, ”That makes me happy!”

Take a look at what we saw at NY NOW!

 

TheHappyEdge: fun products

eco-kids®  launched 2008

Although they have been around since 2008, Kip and Cammie Weeks continue to bring fun, creativity, and a breath of fresh air to a lineup of 13 eco-kid products, including molding dough, crayons, finger paints, and egg-coloring kits. The company began with a recipe for molding dough that Cammie Weeks’ mom made for her as a child. After incorporating natural ingredients into the recipe, the dough was named eco-dough. With the slogan “creative play the natural way,” eco-kids’ products are developed with non-toxic natural ingredients and packaged with environmentally friendly supplies from around the United States.

Bead Bottle™ launching Spring 2014

Beach

Beach

Sentiment

Sentiment

Bead Bottle is a distinctive and creative product that was designed to honor important memories and milestones in life. From family vacations to special friendships to personal mantras, Peyote Bird has developed numerous stores that appeal to a wide range of customers. Each bead bottle contains various semi-precious stones, as well as metal charms, glass beads, and leather cording, accompanied by two lobster closures to make one necklace and one bracelet.  A story card with simple instructions is provided with each purchase and includes a QR-code to YouTube videos for additional information.

Buff-Her House of Exfoliation launched May 2013

The time spent with these three sisters and founders—Regina, Cheryl, and Stephanie—was delightful. They are all experts in natural skin remedies, and two of the sisters are aestheticians. We’re happy to hear that, because it is particularly important to understand how a product works on skin and what to look for performance-wise during and after use. Buff Her House of Exfoliation is a collection of exfoliating facial scrubs made from organic and naturally grown fruits and vegetables. According to the company, these gentle exfoliants will restore your skin’s natural and radiant beauty with nature’s help! Their goal is to provide women with a natural way to exfoliate by using all-natural and organic foods. Each shaker is claimed to provide two hundred exfoliating applications, and can be used mixed with water, or added to your favorite cleanser!

Final thoughts: As colleagues in marketing, product development, and trend seekers, explore with us these new ideas!  Let's use these infusions of inspiration as stepping stones creating happiness for our consumers while designing a better world of products.  

Need help creating a Happy or Experiential beauty care product or brand with an edge?  Connect with BeautyEdge LLC at Info@beautyedgeinc.com   We’re also available for category analysis to identify the white space for your new product or brand.

NYSCC - Presentation: The Science Behind Beauty, - Why We Spa!