It’s time to experience the new glow up with better, sustainable products
“It’s a new dawn, a new day and a new life” for you, and you’re feeling good! Welcome to a renewed age of self-love and positivity, and the arrival of a healthier, soaring, beautiful spirit called YOU as you reconnect with the world.
Now that spring’s bold revival awakened our senses to new experiences within reach, today is when we dare to move forward reclaiming and healing ourselves from the inside out. Shedding the daily stressors of life, liberating our minds from worry over our changing environment: these acts of mindfulness have us turning inward to find our beauty from within.
In this new dawn, it’s all about radiating with optimism and nurturing our best selves. With popular culture’s increasing focus on self-care, an opportunity awaits. Brands are poised to seize new opportunities to refresh formulas and elevate products, bringing self-empowerment and freedom of expression to the forefront. As we enter a phase of recovery and rediscovery as individuals, uncovering what uplifts and helps us liberate our authentic selves, the challenge beckons. Now is the time to take better care of ourselves and the planet.
A renewed, terrific, powerful, confident, irresistible, clever YOU
Embracing who you are is about knowing your self-worth. It’s about making better choices to protect the only self and planet you’ve got. It’s about choosing conscientious and sustainable beauty. Nurturing our greater sense of purpose and defining our own identity – what keeps us loving and caring for our authentic selves – means choosing products that do less harm, sustain our world and minimize our impact on the environment (Keep reading: What is beauty with a clean slate?). Self-care is as essential to our cosmetic, skincare and haircare routines as it is for our overall health and wellness.
Like the brave voice rising to a crescendo in the classic ‘60s hit “Feeling Good,” a new day has emerged to bring us renewed versions of ourselves. We are singing loudly and getting ready to take flight into a better future. As we celebrate that freedom of self – through movement, creative expression and adventures to come – we are seeking new sights, sounds and sensations. And when we finally soar to new heights, we will realize the full potential of our unique selves. Harnessing that power, we’ll seek better products that make us feel good in the resilient and radiant skin we are in while embracing and celebrating the natural texture of our hair type (Keep reading:Curl Power – Every hair type needs a hero).
If “beauty is truth and truth beauty,” at the heart of that journey is you.
The 18th century Romantics started a modern movement dedicated to harnessing the creative self, seeking beauty in the sublime powers of nature, tapping into our imagination and emotions to empower our individualism. Today is all about you, the modern-day Romantic, the visionary, the one who has emerged victorious and ready to create a better existence through your own self-expression. To live better, to walk in beauty, led by a good feeling knowing you are taking on a new day, better than before – this is the spirit of YOU.
In this new pioneering era, we are ready to escape from the isolation of physical separation. As we ease back into social gatherings, plan for the fall and winter festivities and consider what the journey ahead of us looks like, consumers have a digital world of options to experiment, minimize and reinvent their look. Will they choose a minimal, natural glow that exudes a healthier lifestyle? Or make a bolder statement with a lip color that helps them stand out in the crowd? In any situation, it takes a strong and empowered self to take the leap. And in that spirit of celebrating our freedom, self-expression and identity, we’re feeling good.
Collectively consumers are also demanding that brands be ‘better.’ Representation matters. Mintel’s global consumer trend data shows that beauty and personal care buyers increasingly want more access to products with custom formulas that cater to the nourishment needs of diverse and varying skin, body and hair types. That means boosting confidence through a better range of products designed with each consumer’s unique self – what defines you – at the center of their beauty and personal care choices.
Beauty that’s better for YOU, better for the planet
That also means taking better care of the communities around us so that we can all heal and thrive. How are we meeting this moment as individuals and together on the same journey to doing better and living better?
YOU by Univar Solutions is the latest innovation kit developed by the technical teams in our Global Solution Centers to inspire consumers to soar with a renewed spirit of optimism and individualism. Building on our Clean by Design Clean Beauty principles and commitment to bringing better, more sustainable ingredients to beauty segments, these six formulas focus on the latest consumer desires for ultra-sensory, self-service and individualized self-care experiences. They are essential and modern, ageless and genderless, and inclusive of a variety of individual needs. Our kit highlights innovative ingredients from world-class suppliers who are leading and elevating in the sustainability space to help meet global milestones.
As consumers continue to transform their thinking toward what’s better for them and better for the planet, they will seek beauty products that meet higher ethical sourcing, renewable packaging and other eco-friendly standards. YOU formulas were designed with high-performing ingredients to enhance all hair and skin types and include innovations for both color cosmetics and toiletries. Made to elevate one’s ‘spirit of you,’ this kit will help brands formulate for the conscientious consumer who wants to make a statement about owning who they are while also making sustainable differences.
Each prototype brings a unique performance to meet the individual needs of a diverse and inclusive range of consumers. Ingredients have all been carefully and purposefully selected so that we can achieve as many benefits as possible, such as different textures, sensations and desired results.
4 ways this kit contributes to good vibes and a more circular economy:
1- Circular, reusable packaging. We are committed to progress and proud to be a sustainability leader in the beauty and personal care space with circularity in our packaging. To promote more sustainable solutions for a better world in line with our key supplier initiatives and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development goals, our kit comes with eco-friendlier materials, including glass packaging (used whenever possible) and a jute tote bag you can upcycle for multiple uses, helping to reduce the amount of unnecessary landfill waste entering our oceans (Keep reading: Univar Solutions’ Sustainability Goals to 2025).
2- Using silicones sustainably. Did you know silicone is the second most abundant element on the planet after oxygen? Silicone ingredients are derived from the silica found in natural sources such as sand, stone quartz, oxygen and certain plant husks. Their properties offer unique benefits for hair and skincare products, including heat protection, a smooth and soft feel for detangling and nourishing locks, and helping to protect skin from UV rays and pollution particles. Though they are produced using synthetic processes, silicones are expected to ultimately be broken down in the environment through natural processes like hydrolysis and photolysis back to natural substances (silicic acid, silica and carbon dioxide). It doesn’t stop there, silicone-made finished products are also a sustainable option when considering long-term use (think easy-to-clean-and-sanitize silicone cosmetic bags made to last).
3- Bio-based, natural products. Bioscience shows us that the microbiome and bio-based natural ingredients are powerful allies for healthy skin. To help formulators adapt their skincare formulas to the growing trend of using more biodegradable formats that perform effectively while also delivering positive feel-good results, our kit includes bio-based, natural ingredients that support a healthy glow for diverse skin types. Formulators also have an opportunity to explore microbiome technology to customize their self-care and beauty product lines using nutraceutical ingredients that support overall health and wellness.
4- Greener, cleaner routines. Our technical specialists developed innovative formulas that help consumers consider ways to conserve natural resources with each use, such as the Terrific powder galenic facial cleanser that transforms textures based on the amount of water used and the Clever concentrated body paste that helps keep excess water off the shelves. These simple, yet clever hack style formats enable consumers to personalize their products, adding a conscientious amount of water to activate the ingredients and use only the necessary amount needed to moisturize the skin. Controlling how much or how little is used each time creates a more sustainable approach to help minimize wasted product or resource. In addition, our Renewed makeup remover also eliminates the need to use cotton pads with a more effective cleansing formula.
Formulating for the Zoomer generation: Personalizing YOU
Beauty choices often reflect a state of mind. That’s especially true of Generation Z, the digital natives who represent the largest, most diverse and best educated generation yet and who are fuelling rapid growth in the beauty market. As online consumers, Gen Z makes value-driven purchase decisions based on their own research into how products perform and are influenced by a steady stream of social media demos on Instagram and TikTok. According to Kyra Media, 1 in 5 Gen Z consumers add new products to their routine because they want to try something new, with more than half of them paying close attention to what their skin needs and how it responds to their routine.
Experimentation through digital tools and social media demos are not only contributing to keeping consumers safe, but they are also a sustainable and more personalized self-service approach to trying products. Our latest innovation kit meets formulators and consumers at the intersection of technology and sustainability, with ingredients and products made to support self-care, protect from the elements and promote one’s authentic style while benefiting the planet.
YOU is about individualism, connection with a brand, product, texture and gesture, and preparing the new you to reconnect with the world. It’s a collision of our changing scene and the need to both protect and celebrate the human spirit in digital and natural environments. It’s escapism and togetherness, personalization and connectedness, at-home self-care and wellness outside the home, all in one sustainable package.
So, whether you are an indie brand looking for a partner to animate your bold idea or a big brand expanding your line for the next generation shopper buying your products online, our Global Solution Centers are formulating for you.
(Kyra Media, Gen Z State of Beauty Report, 2021)
Access your SDS now through your account. New customers can request one here.
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