Coffee for skincare: Givaudan launches Koffee’Up hydration elixir

22 Jun 2020 --- Givaudan Active Beauty, the cosmetic arm of Givaudan, has unveiled Koffee’Up, a science-backed premium coffee oil, crafted using upcycling techniques. The ingredient is hailed as the “new argan oil” for the beauty industry, due to its “myriad of facial skin care benefits” such as hydration, protection and anti-aging. The elixir has been developed in collaboration with Danish start-up company Kaffe Bueno and is touted as being all-natural. Furthermore, Givaudan highlights the product’s eco-conscious profile as it is the result of upcycled coffee grounds.

“We are excited about this collaboration with Kaffe Bueno and eager to start using the new product in creative solutions for customers. The high-quality, traceable and upcycled ingredients used in Koffee’Up showcase a prosperous new avenue for using sustainable coffee in the world of beauty. This is a big achievement and opportunity, and we’re looking forward to presenting this beauty elixir to customers,” says Laurent Bourdeau, Head of Active Beauty. 

“The balance of Koffee’Up between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids helps the oil to quickly penetrate the skin layers. It supports the skin in its hydration role and strengthens the skin barrier against external aggressors. The oil also has a high concentration of tocopherol (natural Vitamin E), very famous for its antioxidant properties. Koffee’Up is the first coffee oil with demonstrated results on skin repair, and improvement of antioxidant defense,” Melanie Duprat, Category Manager at Givaudan Active Beauty, tells NutritionInsight.

The company says that “like argan oil, Koffee’Up is a natural product that nourishes and protects skin.” It can be used to create a wide variety of effective and eco-conscious beauty products, from night and day creams, to eye creams – helping to meet the growing consumer demand for sustainable skincare solutions. 

“Our company’s purpose and sustainability approach are at the core of our business and the launch of Koffee’Up fits perfectly with creating happier, healthier lives with love for nature. The innovation surrounding upcycling in the cosmetics industry today is a crucial point for the evolution of sustainable business and we’re thrilled to partner with a young start-up company, which values the same sustainable practices we do,” underscores Maurizio Volpi, President of Givaudan Fragrances.

To support the launch, Duprat says the company generated an internal study. It showed that 69 percent of the consumers globally show interest on beauty products containing recycled or upcycled ingredients, while 38 percent of the consumers globally have used beauty products containing recycled or upcycled ingredients. Moreover, 38 percent of the consumers globally have used beauty products containing coffee extracts or caffeine and 50 percent non-users show interest in trying. This concept demonstrated a strong business potential with 77 percent of consumers ready to buy it, she adds.

Upcycling coffee
Givaudan is a founding partner of MassChallenge Switzerland, a distinguished start-up accelerator, in which Kaffe Bueno was a winner in 2019. The pioneering beauty product is the first collaboration to result from working with one of the start-ups based in the incubator. 

The ingredient is hailed as the “new argan oil” for the beauty industry, due to its “myriad of facial skin care benefits” such as hydration, protection and anti-aging.Kaffe Bueno is a biotech start-up focusing on upcycling spent coffee grounds or other coffee waste from hotels, offices and cafés into active and functional ingredients for cosmetics to bring health and skin benefits to consumers.

Globally, 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day, producing a vast amount of coffee waste that currently often ends up in landfill, Kaffe Bueno says. The yearly impact of this waste decomposing is equivalent to the emissions from 9 million cars. But coffee grounds actually contain many health-enhancing compounds, which Kaffe Bueno is able to preserve and re-use through a state-of-the-art upcycling process.

The sustainable mission of the start-up is in line with Givaudan’s approach to sustainability, adding value by using upcycling, or by-products from side streams, to enrich its portfolio with products that are also good for the planet, the latter says.

Koffee’Up follows the launch of Vetivyne, a fully natural and sustainable cosmetic active ingredient launched in 2018 that is crafted from upcycled vetiver roots from leftover fragrance raw materials.

Mounting innovation
Spearheading collaborative launches in the beauty segment, Givaudan Active Beauty recently unveiled two active ingredients crafted by “green biotechnology,” after a year into its partnership with South Korean plant cell culture company, BIO-FD&C. Earlier this year, Givaudan also unveiled Sensory Crush, a collection of three naturally colored face masks that are touted as meeting the beauty expectations of Gen Z consumers. The masks were “specially designed for the ‘skintellectual’ generation” and tap into the trend for natural ingredients, especially in the colorings and dyes sector.

In March, Givaudan Active Beauty released yet another “breakthrough innovation” in skin care. Synchronight is an active cosmetic ingredient derived from gardenia fruit extract designed to protect the skin from so-called “digital stress.”

Another of the company’s significant innovation includes what is touted as the “world’s first” instant microbiome analysis and profiling system, coined i-MAPS. The technology allows Givaudan’s customers to expand their product offerings to include skincare products that are tailored to the unique microbiome of their consumers. 

By Kristiana Lalou