Sweetch Impact Beauty banner promoting bio-based ingredient technologies, featuring a woman seated among wildflowers.
Multicolor flags of BASF.

BASF confirms Evonik takeover talks as initial offer reportedly falls flat

BASF has confirmed talks over a potential takeover of its specialty chemicals competitor Evonik. The move could reshape Europe’s cosmetic ingredients supply base, consolidating two of the region’s largest suppliers of skin care actives, emollients, and surfactants.However, Evonik has reportedly already turned down BASF’s first proposal as too low. The German chemical giant offered about €22.15 (US$25.16) per share, valuing Evonik’s equity at roughly €10.3 billion (US$11.7 billion). The Financial Times (FT) called the nearly 29% premium to Evonik’s share price “sizeable.”
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“Skinimalism” and clean beauty fuel multifunctional formulation
The market for beauty products that serve multiple purposes without compromising efficacy continues to grow as budgets tighten and consumers’ ingredient list demands become more specified. The personal care industry’s technical abilities are becoming more sophisticated to meet the call. Technological sophistication is creating enhanced abilities for the industry to advance multifunctional formulations, supporting minimalism and clean beauty alongside product performance. 
Hands making cosmetics.
Evonik: What K-beauty teaches formulators about efficacy and speed
South Korean beauty principles have pushed the personal care industry away from marketing-led products toward formulation-led outcomes. K-beauty has normalized fast trend-to-product cycles, ingredient-led storytelling, and hybrid, sensorial formats. Consumers increasingly expect demonstrated efficacy, ingredient transparency, sensitive-skin compatibility, simpler routines, and inclusive design — all ground K-beauty already claims or is moving further into. 
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Sustainable beauty solutions
Innova Market Insights data indicates that new personal care launches with sustainable claims grew at a +31% CAGR from July 2021 to June 2026. While cruelty-free remains a key consumer marker of sustainable beauty, innovation is expanding into areas such as sustainable oils, 2-in-1 formats, recycled materials, and reef- and ocean-friendly solutions.
Woman in a white sleeveless top flexing her arms with a turquoise resistance band against a bright blue background featuring Ashland branding.
Who masters the art of multifunctionality? We do.
Multifunctional ingredients are transforming personal care preservation by combining microbial protection with formulation efficiency, natural-origin positioning, skin benefits, sensory enhancement and easier processing. Ashland’s recent launches illustrate how preservative strategies can deliver added value, helping formulators create safer, more transparent, consumer-relevant products with stronger performance and clearer ingredient purpose.

This Technical Paper is brought to you by Ashland.
Woman wearing glasses and a white shirt beside LENOSE scented hand soaps displayed on green tiles with bubbles.
LeNose targets Gen Z home luxury with perfumer-crafted hand soaps

LeNose CEO Caroline Valentini discusses the launch of Soap de Parfum, a five-product hand-wash range combining luxury fragrance with vegan, cruelty-free, and “endocrine-conscious” formulations. She tells us about the brand’s Gen Z and Millennial focus, accessible pricing, and why this launch was an important first step into personal care for the company.

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Kimberly-Clark advances Kenvue acquisition with debt swap and EU remedies
Kimberly-Clark logo
Kimberly-Clark has begun restructuring preparations for its planned Kenvue acquisition by offering holders of Kenvue notes an exchange for up to US$7 billion in new Kimberly-Clark debt securities and cash. The move is aimed at aligning the companies’ financing structures ahead of the merger. The arrangements mark a financial step toward Kimberly-Clark’s planned acquisition of Kenvue, with it aligning financing structures ahead of the expected merger completion.
Study links longevity “skinspan” to three-year reduction in skin age
Aging lady clear skin.
Swiss skin care brand Instytutum has reported that its complete skin care routine reduced calculated skin biological age by three years after 84 days of use. The new clinical data supports the company’s approach to biological skin aging.
Unilever expands Egypt export capacity with Sunsilk production line
Woman in Egypt holding sand.
Unilever is strengthening its manufacturing footprint in Egypt with a new Sunsilk production line at its Mashreq Personal Care (MPC) factory in 6th of October City, a satellite city of Cairo. Reports have revealed that the consumer goods company continues to position the country as a regional production and export base.
Armani prepares stake-sale talks with L’Oréal, LVMH and EssilorLuxottica
armani storefront
Armani CEO Giuseppe Marsocci ‌has stated that the Italian luxury group is open to involving multiple investors in the sale of the 15% stake highlighted in founder Giorgio Armani’s will. The company is now reportedly preparing to begin formal discussions with beauty giants LVMH, L’Oréal, and EssilorLuxottica over the sale of the minority stake.In his will, Giorgio Armani identified the three companies as preferred shareholders following his death in September 2025, while remaining open to the possibility for other investors of comparable industry positioning to make offers.
Siiiba talks age-appropriate personal care as Gen Alpha demand grows
Boy with natural deodorant.
Personal care is becoming increasingly tailored to younger consumers as children and pre-teens navigate puberty and different hygiene demands. The gap between basic children’s products and adult beauty routines is creating demand for specific and age-appropriate solutions. Siiiba, a US brand, aims to fill this gap with a deodorant lineup designed to support confidence without rushing tweens into products intended for adults.
Food Loss and Waste Awareness Day: Nutrient-dense foods lost first, driving...
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Nutrition Insight

A multifaceted approach combining technology, financial support, and women’s economic empowerment is required to cut food loss and waste (FLW), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the NGO Care tell Nutrition Insight.On this International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, Care calls for special attention to women’s market access and their empowerment, as several solutions fail to meet the needs of women, who play a large role in post-harvest processing. 
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Business News
L’Oréal clears Innovist deal, moving in on India’s digital...
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved L’Oréal India’s acquisition of Onesto Labs, the parent company of beauty house Innovist. The clearance confirms that the deal, which was first announced in June, is on track to close in the coming months. The move comes as India’s beauty industry undergoes rapid growth. It recently passed a US$30 billion valuation and is expected to reach US$34 billion by 2028. Rising disposable incomes, more people living in cities, and the explosive use of e-commerce and quick commerce are credited for the boom.
woman smiling in nature
Policy & regulation news
Incoming EU anti-greenwashing directive pushes beauty...
National laws implementing a new EU anti-greenwashing and consumer protection directive will come into effect on September 27 across all member states. The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (ECGT) Directive will introduce stricter guidelines related to environmental claims made about consumer products and outline clearer criteria for their substantiation and verification.Directive (EU) 2024/825 — which bans generic environmental claims without sound substantiation — has direct implications for the personal care and beauty industry, as it regulates the credibility of sustainability claims across an increasingly complex beauty value chain.
man puts sunscreen on arm
Policy & regulation news
US FDA eliminates outdated UV filters as regulatory...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is removing aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and trolamine salicylate from its over-the-counter (OTC) sunscreen monograph. The move follows the FDA’s recent addition of bemotrizinol (BEMT) as a permitted sunscreen active ingredient and forms part of a broader modernization of the US sunscreen regulatory framework.On September 10, 2026, the FDA issued a final administrative order, amending an OTC monograph. The amendment formally removes PABA and trolamine salicylate from the sunscreen active ingredients list, determining that sunscreen products containing these two ingredients as sunscreen active ingredients are not generally recognized as safe and effective (GRASE).

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Home fragrance trendsSep2026

Innova Market Insights data indicates that more than half of global consumers are motivated by scent when purchasing household fresheners. The market is responding with new product launches, with air ...

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Multifunctional marvels Sep 2026

Beauty brands are embracing multifunctionality by combining makeup, skin care, and anti-aging benefits into single products. Multi-use formats for lips, cheeks, eyes, and face are paired with active ingredients such as peptides, hyaluronic acid, retinol, and vitamin C, delivering hydration, barrier support, brightening, and wrinkle care while simplifying daily beauty routines.

Trend analysis

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Sustainable beauty solutionsSep 2026

Innova Market Insights data indicates that new personal care launches with sustainable claims grew at a +31% CAGR from July 2021 to June 2026. While cruelty-free remains a key consumer marker of sustainable beauty, innovation is expanding into areas such as sustainable oils, 2-in-1 formats, recycled materials, and reef- and ocean-friendly solutions.

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Woman wearing glasses and a white shirt beside LENOSE scented hand soaps displayed on green tiles with bubbles.
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LeNose targets Gen Z home luxury with perfumer-crafted hand soaps

LeNose CEO Caroline Valentini discusses the launch of Soap de Parfum, a five-product hand-wash range combining luxury fragrance with vegan, cruelty-free, and “endocrine-conscious” formulations. She tells us about the brand’s Gen Z and Millennial focus, accessible pricing, and why this launch was...

Vantage body care ad featuring a woman applying a body scrub, with the message “Body care meets faceification. High-performance, head to toe
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Body care meets faceification. High-performance, head to toe
Consumer Reports video thumbnail: Stylist braiding purple extensions into a client’s long black hair, with a circular professional headshot inset
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Consumer Reports: States urged to regulate braiding hair amid federal silence
 Paulo Teixeira, Melt&Marble
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Melt&Marble: Accelerating commercial readiness for personal care products with INCI milestone
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