Turning ingredients into experiences: Roquette Beauté talks creativity and connection in a crowded market

Roquette Beauté is encouraging brands to rethink cosmetics to stand out in an increasingly “overstimulating” beauty market. The company says that in an era of oversaturation, being seen is no longer enough — the real challenge is resonating with consumers. 

The plant-based cosmetics ingredients manufacturer is engaging consumers with experiences and interactive sessions that build trust and connection on a personal level. Last month, the company held the sixth edition of its Expert Days under the theme “Overstimulated World, Boost for Creativity or Trigger for Authenticity?”

According to Roquette Beauté, authenticity and creativity are emerging as two powerful levers for cosmetic brands. It says one answers the search for coherence and meaning and the other fuels emotion, desirability, and new forms of innovation.

Personal Care Insights caught up with Ophélie Bourgon, global marketing manager at Roquette Beauté, following the event. She tells us more about the growing phenomenon of “overstimulation” in modern consumers, and its impact on skin care and beauty product preferences.

“Searches for ‘overstimulated’ are up 250%, and searches for ‘how to help with overstimulation’ are up 190% over the past five years — this isn’t a niche concern anymore, it’s mainstream,” she says. 

Overwhelmed and overstimulated 

According to Bourgon, retail stores are increasingly perceived as overstimulating due to overlapping scents, noises, and crowds in beauty specifically.

“One in four consumers say they feel overwhelmed by daily decisions, and we’re seeing behaviors like Gen Z ‘flaking’ on plans as a symptom of that fatigue,” she says.

“That’s pushing preference toward products and experiences built around calm, focus, and regulation rather than noise — what we called ‘Augmented Attention’ and ‘Sensory Re-Enchantment’ during the session: minimalist, single-product focus, and embodied, real-world multisensory pleasure rather than digital overload.”

Bourgon tells us that overstimulation is directly changing what consumers look for in skin care and beauty products, in three concrete ways: “First, it’s driving a preference for simplicity over accumulation. Second, it’s fueling a search for sensory calm rather than sensory excess. Third, it’s increasing the value of authenticity and transparency.”

Designing for the right consumer 

Bourgon believes the consumer exhaustion “isn’t universal,” and some consumers are energized by novelty rather than fatigued by it. 

“So the real shift isn’t that every consumer wants ‘less,’ it’s that beauty brands now need to understand and design preferences accordingly, whether that means calm and reassurance, or discovery and sensory delight.”

According to Roquette Beauté, roughly 15–30% of the population has high sensory processing sensitivity. Within that group, some are what researchers call “vantaged,” meaning they thrive on rich, novel stimuli, thus creativity and sensorial experiences drive their choices. 

“But most consumers, including many highly sensitive ones, need positive, regulated environments rather than overstimulating ones. For them, authenticity and calm win over novelty every time,” says Bourgon.

Brands do not need to choose between authenticity and creativity, but should focus on knowing which consumer they are designing for, she explains. 

“The same campaign, the same texture, the same in-store experience can feel like a creative boost to one person and a trigger for overwhelm to another. That’s why we don’t see this as a choice between authenticity and creativity — it’s about listening closely enough to your audience to bring meaning to both.”

Balancing nature and technology

For Bourgon, sensory benefits are essential to beauty rituals because they transform cosmetic products into holistic, pleasurable experiences. At the same time, she notes that consumers need to feel safe, so they’re looking for products that strike the right balance between nature and technology. 

“This is how we approach plant-based innovation at Roquette Beauté. Authenticity comes from our over 90 years of plant-based expertise and French cosmetics heritage, while creativity comes from translating that expertise into genuinely new sensory experiences.”

The company aimed to demonstrate this balance during its Expert Days through the Texture Bar. It organized formulations by four consumer-inspired stations, each answering a different emotional need identified regarding overstimulation.

The Reassure Me concept showcased simplicity and comfort for consumers seeking essential, uncomplicated beauty. Surprise Me brought playful, sensorial textures to life for those energized by novelty and emotional engagement. Prove It to Me focused on performance and science-driven efficacy, for consumers who want proof before they trust. Finally, Feel Good highlighted transparency and natural inspiration for those prioritizing authenticity.

“By splitting our innovation into these four groups, we made visible what we believe is the real answer to overstimulation: plant-based ingredients aren’t a single story, they’re a flexible foundation we can shape into reassurance, discovery, proof, or authenticity, depending on what each consumer truly needs from their beauty ritual,” adds Bourgon. 

Building strong consumer connections 

During the Roquette Beauté Expert Days, the company brought together specialists to question how cosmetics brands can turn shifts in the industry into real opportunities. The company also held interactive workshops, where visitors could experience the sensoriality of its plant-based ingredients.

The event also featured a roundtable of speakers, who brought together a variety of perspectives: consumer trends, the mechanisms of hypersensitivity, brand and business experience, and the voice of a beauty community influencer.

Commenting on how interactive sessions like this can help shape a consumer’s sense of connection with a brand, Bourgon says it was one of the central ideas that came from the session. 

“Our panel identified five pillars for building stronger consumer experiences, and two of them speak directly to this question: ‘Depth’ — giving consumers space to slow down and reflect, for example, through intimate, exclusive formats with direct access to founders or experts — and ‘Sensory Re-Enchantment’ — favoring real, embodied, multisensory pleasure over purely digital stimulation.”

She explains that when a brand lets consumers physically engage with an ingredient’s story instead of just communicating it, the connection becomes personal and memorable, not just informational.