The landscape is changing for the European natural and organic beauty products market. No longer can the category be considered secondary to mainstream cosmetics and toiletries; it is right up there in terms of innovation and consumer acceptance. The European natural and organic cosmetics category is big business, valued at more than $4 billion by Organic Monitor in 2015.


The research firm finds consumers asking more questions about the products they buy, such as ingredient composition, production methods and absence of synthetic chemicals.
“Green issues are part of this discerning consumer behavior whereby they want to know the product does not have an adverse impact on their health and the environment,” explained Amarjit Sahota, CEO of Organic Monitor, London.


Research carried out a couple of years ago in the UK found that the primary motive of 90% of buyers of natural and organic cosmetics was concerns about synthetic chemicals, with similar findings in other European countries and the US.


“Environmental and ethical concerns are important; however, health concerns remain the number one reason for consumers to buy natural and organic cosmetics,” affirmed Sahota.


Clean & Green


Driving the change toward acceptability has been the trend towards “cleaner” and “greener” products, which has been gathering momentum. Consumers keen on adopting a “clean eating” lifestyle are turning their attention to “clean beauty” and demanding products containing purely natural or organic ingredients that respect the environment and the people who produce them.


Canadean confirmed these positive perceptions of natural beauty products in its Q4 global consumer survey 2015 in which 61% of Europeans said that natural ingredients would increase their trust in a personal care product. In comparison, less than half of North Americans felt the same.


“The lines are blurring between health and beauty as consumers seek to achieve optimum wellness both inside and out,” said Jamie Mills, analyst, Canadean. “The concept of ‘eating clean’ is now synonymous with healthy lifestyles…examples include eating a diet free from processed foods, raw diets, incorporating nutrient dense ingredients such as superfoods, excluding certain foods, such as meat and gluten, and juicing.”


The opportunity lies in beauty and personal care brands’ ability to capitalize on this trend by endowing their products with similar principles that align products with health-conscious consumers.


The market is awash with new launches that fit into the “clean beauty” category, including a natural beauty line from the British clean eating advocate and author Ella Woodward, whose cookbook “Deliciously Ella” is a must for young urban professionals.


Canadean identified the following beauty launches that capitalize on different aspects of the clean eating trend:


Raw beauty: Ole Henriksen’s Truth Sugar Glow Polishing Mask features raw sugar and pomegranate seeds to polish the skin and lift dead skin cells.


Juice-inspired: Ambre Botanicals uses cold pressing to extract oils and butters from plants.


Nutrient dense: BareMinerals Lash Domination Ink Liner features superfood quinoa extract to nourish lashes at the roots.


Free-from: Arrow Revive Cooling Cheek Tint claims to be vegan, as well as paraben-, cruelty- and gluten-free.


Certain ingredients are proving popular in European natural and organic launches, including argan, rosehip, coconut and açai. According to Mintel, all these ingredients are associated with an organic claim, while 24% of beauty products launched with a rosehip ingredient also carry an all-natural claim. Clay is another up-and-coming natural/organic ingredient, particularly in the fast-emerging face mask category.


From the Land of Ice & Snow


“Scandi” beauty is another sub-trend that is capturing European consumers’ imagination. Sóley is a certified organic luxury range of skin care products from Iceland formulated with handpicked wild and healing Icelandic herbs all produced using renewable energy. Ingredients include pure Icelandic water from Kaldbakur Mountain, yarrow for its calming and anti-aging properties, antioxidant-rich bearberry, and birch, which is to reduce the symptoms of eczema due to its compound betulin.


Another ecoluxury Scandi brand is Björk & Berries, which uses traditional Swedish skin care and perfumery traditions to transform raw, indigenous ingredients, such as birch leaves and bark, into natural and organic skin care blends. The range includes perfume, facial and body skin care and hair care products and contains 95-99% natural ingredients.


Estelle & Thild Stockholm is an Ecocert-certified organic skin care brand that incorporates natural ingredients such as marine microalgae, which is said to be 14-times more effective than vitamin E, and Nordic Superberry Complex, which is rich in powerful antioxidants and vitamins, and is used for its healing and anti-aging benefits. 


Waste Not, Want Not


According to Sahota, a major trend in sustainability is that there is a recognition that the industry must be more efficient in the use of resources and more investment is expected in creating new ingredients from food waste.


“There is a growing realization that food waste, including byproducts of food production, are a valuable source of nutrients,” he explained. “The EU is financing research projects in which these waste nutrients can be used for new applications.”


Biorice and Apropos are two such projects: the former involves biotechnology to recover peptides from rice production to find applications for these proteins in cosmetic, food and nutraceutical applications. The Apropos project involves producing ingredients from salmon fish discards and rapeseed.


The concept of using food waste to create new ingredients for the cosmetics industry is not entirely new and is already used in natural personal care products in the form of grape waste. UK retailer Marks & Spencer uses resveratrol from grape waste in its Super Grape skin care products. Meanwhile, French company Caudalie has built its entire range on grapevine-based and grapeseed ingredients, such as resveratrol and polyphenols. According to Organic Monitor, Caudalie leads the French natural cosmetics market and its products are sold in more than 30 countries.


Consumers’ association with fresh and natural products as being better for you is likely to drive future growth in sales of natural and organic beauty products. Most innovation is coming from visionary small and start-up brands. It remains to be seen if mainstream beauty brands decide to channel this trend into developing similarly themed products.

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Imogen Matthews
Headington, Oxford UK
Tel: +44 1865 764918

Imogen Matthews is a respected consultant, journalist and researcher focusing on trends in the beauty industry. She regularly contributes to many of the world’s foremost beauty trade titles. Every year in April, she publishes The Premium Market Report, focusing on trends in the UK premium beauty markets.
www.thepremiummarketreport.com