The beauty supplement is fast becoming a convenient way to promote healthy skin without the tedious nightly routine. Your complexion is simply taken care of by swallowing a capsule or powder and left to work.
This is the future of beauty, with trend forecasters predicting that global sales of ingestible beauty will reach around £5 billion by 2020, strongly driven by a consumer market under 30 years old.
Nutricosmetics, as they are also known, are the latest innovation in skincare, aiming to nourish and rejuvenate the skin, hair and nails from the inside out, rather than topically on the surface of the skin. Two-thirds of consumers said they consider the concept of taking a beauty supplement for skin care as normal, with four in 10 millennials aged 18-35 said they have already used a beauty supplement to benefit their skin health at some point.
This demand is being led by the growing awareness and understanding among consumers that wellness and beauty require a holistic approach. The holistic approach and focus towards natural products is a trend that arguably started within the food aisles of a natural food store but has migrated into different product categories as consumers realize that health isn’t just about what foods they eat but also what products they apply and the supplements they consume. The terms natural, plant-derived, organic and non-GMO are becoming increasingly visible and more in demand when it comes to beauty supplements.
But consumer trends are simply part of the equation. Another reason for the growing beauty supplement market is that the skin health category itself has expanded and is no longer solely about anti-ageing and has broadened to focus on a multitude of issues. These include examples such as uneven skin tone, hyperpigmentation, blemishes and sun protection. A clear cornerstone within the market focuses around preventing damage from pollutants due to the pollutants the skin meets daily.
While women are usually considered to be the main consumers in the skin health nutraceutical category, outreach is widening to males. There is a growing interest among the male population, with most preferring to prevent ageing skin with supplements rather than a topical skin cream or serum.
The beauty supplement often reaches a wider audience, because unlike topical products, supplements within the beauty area have a multitude of benefits that cross categories. Collagen peptides, for example, have been proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines and help support anti-ageing from the inside out, but its benefits are not limited to the skin health category. Collagen has also been linked to joint and bone health benefits to name a few. In this case, consumers shopping within the joint aisle will be introduced to its skin health benefits also.
Similarly, new product developers are now taking skin health into account when developing products for other categories. Sports nutrition products for example are becoming an interesting platform for ingestible skin care technologies. The idea behind this innovation is that people who routinely train outside are exposed to the sun and weather and need protection from the effects.
Consumers within the beauty supplement category are willing to pay for both quality and efficacy. Products that can provide familiar terms like natural, plant-derived, organic or non-GMO will also resonate with consumers. As nutraceutical consumers are either abandoning or more likely supplementing their topical regimen with an ingestible ingredient because they are aware of the value of what they put into their bodies.
Going forward, it is predicted that whole body skin nutrition, rather than solely face and neck, will make waves in the nutraceutical category as supplements continue to provide a convenient way for consumers to get skin health and beauty support for the entire body within every day busy lifestyles.