What are nutricosmetics, and why should you consider creating one?
Ever wished you could just pop a pill and clear up pimples, reverse wrinkles, or even out your skin tone? Sadly, it’s not that simple – and it probably never will be – but that’s not to say that you can’t derive cosmetic benefits from oral supplements. These are known as ingestible beauty products, and they form a rapidly growing subsector of the beauty industry – one that, for brands, could be the key to breaking into the beauty industry or staying ahead of the curve.
What is ingestible beauty?
Ingestible beauty products are dietary supplements designed to address hair, skin, and general wellbeing concerns from the inside-out, instead of solely at surface level. While they’re a relatively new concept, ingestible beauty products are predicated on the age-old idea that with the right nutrients present in the body, our external appearances can thrive.
These products are also known by many other names, including nutricosmetics, functional beauty, oral cosmetics, and beauty foods. Chances are you’ve encountered one of these products before, perhaps on the shelf at your local supermarket or tagged by your favourite health and beauty creators on social media. They take lots of different forms, including powders, capsules, liquids, and more recently, oral serums.
What can ingestible cosmetics do?
Edible beauty products boast a broad array of benefits that are all dependent on their hero ingredients. Some common ones in nutricosmetic products include collagen, biotin, antioxidants, and pro- and prebiotics, each of which will deliver different results to the hair and skin. Where collagen is usually marketed to increase skin elasticity and smooth fine lines and wrinkles, biotin will fortify the hair and nails, antioxidants fight against the damage caused by free radicals, and pro- and prebiotic-based formulas balance the microbiome for abundant health and wellness benefits.
Simply put, there’s no one claim that all nutricosmetics can make, but there are a variety of potential benefits for the body in terms of both health and aesthetics.
Unpacking the benefits of nutricosmetics
Nutricosmetics have shot up in popularity over the last five years, according to a study by Mintel, which saw product launches with functional beauty claims increase by 78% between January 2017 and December 2021. Brands like OPTY.NC, The Beauty Chef, WelleCo, and Vida Glow have built multi-million-dollar empires off their unique and effective beauty supplements, with no signs of slowing down.
So, what exactly is the appeal for consumers?
Holistic health trends
A one-size-fits-all approach to beauty and wellness no longer has a place in the market. Instead, we’re ushering in a new age of holistic health, wherein conscious consumers pair traditional skincare and haircare products with inner health supplements. Our collective understanding of the correlation between inner and outer beauty is stronger than ever, so it’s only natural that alongside traditional wellness practices, consumers are integrating functional beauty supplements into their routines.
Easy-to-take formats
For those of us who don’t have time for a 15-step skincare routine, ingestible beauty products offer a quick and convenient way to deliver the right nutrients to the body. They’re available in a range of formats that can be taken in seconds: alongside your breakfast, dropped into your water or smoothie, or combined with your daily vitamins.
Better efficacy
Edible beauty products can deliver their benefits to the body much faster and more effectively than traditional skincare and haircare, especially if you’re piling on the topical products. Most ingestible formulas include active ingredients that are already broken down for easy digestion, which means they can infiltrate our cells quickly and begin to work their magic. Topical skincare products also have an absorption ‘limit’, so there eventually comes a point where, if you’re layering actives, they will no longer sink into the skin effectively.
Addresses the microbiome
Some nutricosmetics include pre-, pro- and postbiotics with the potential to balance dysbiosis in the microbiome. Dysbiosis is a disrupted microbiome, and can be caused by a variety of factors including our diets, alcohol consumption, medication, activity levels, sun exposure, stress, inflammation, and smoking. Pre-, pro-, and postbiotics are vital to restoring balance to the microbiome as they help increase the presence and diversity of good gut bacteria.
Why create an ingestible beauty product?
This one’s for the bold brands looking to redefine skincare… with the way current market trends are headed, nutricosmetics may just be the next frontier of beauty. A recent report showed that in 2022, the ingestible beauty industry was worth around 3.5 billion USD, and is projected to reach close to 10 billion USD in the next decade. So, if you’re looking for a reason to tap into this growing market… well, we’ve got 10 billion of them!
Another reason to capitalise on nutricosmetics now is that while they’re already trending amongst consumers, there is still space to create a unique product. By incorporating a microbiome-friendly element into your formula, such as pre-, pro- or postbiotics, you’ll be helping your customers improve their gut health and increase the presence of good bacteria in their guts. At BiomeCentric, we bring extensive knowledge and experience using genomics-based insights to formulate microbiome-led products that truly address customer needs.
Learn more about the end-to-end process of developing and manufacturing an ingestible beauty product with BiomeCentric. We’d love to work together to create something that will change the game in ingestible beauty – get in touch with us today, and let’s see how we can help bring your product vision to market.