Weekly Roundup: Azelis expands Southeast Asia reach, Bumble and bumble partners with Brittany O’Grady

29 Jul 2022 --- This week in personal care news, Azelis expanded its personal care presence in Southeast Asia through a distribution arrangement with Green Mountain Biotech. For its latest campaign, hair care company Bumble and bumble partnered with actress Brittany O’Grady to promote the company’s Bb. Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Primer product. Meanwhile, Perfect Corp. introduced the AI Personality Finder solution that matches consumers’ individual personality traits with product recommendations.

Business news
Green Mountain Biotech, a supplier of active botanical blends for the personal care and cosmetic sectors, has inked a new distribution agreement with Azelis, a service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industries. Azelis will start distributing Green Mountain Biotech’s range of plant extracts throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The variety of natural active ingredients and extracts offered by Green Mountain Biotech for the personal care sector results from extensive scientific investigation and clinical testing over many years. Green Mountain Biotech created environmentally friendly herbal compositions that help alleviate dermatological complaints and enhance overall skin health. Green Mountain Biotech’s complete portfolio of cutting-edge and environmentally friendly products was added to Azelis’s distribution, further strengthening Azelis’ personal care offering in Southeast Asia.

Perfect Corp.’s AI Personality Finder solution matches consumers’ individual personality traits with product recommendations.Actress Brittany O’Grady will be featured in a new commercial by Bumble and bumble to promote its Bb.Invisible Hairdresser’s Oil Heat or UV protective primer product. The multipurpose primer was demonstrated to rapidly reduce frizz by 50% compared to untreated hair and maintain that level of reduction throughout the day, even in high humidity. The product is a multipurpose leave-in treatment for all hair types formulated with a six-oil blend. It also features UV filters to help protect hair from the drying effects of the sun. It is pegged as providing the hair with hydration, heat protection up to 450°F or 232°C and it helps to prevent color fading for up to 16 washes. It also detangles to help prevent breaking, smoothes, softens and adds shine.

Gelita established a biotechnology hub in Frankfurt, Germany, where biologists and biotechnologists will collaborate to create proteins for use in nutrition, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and medical products. The investment in the new facility is deemed a significant step for Gelita toward building a more extensive and environmentally sustainable product line. The laboratory is strategically located within Frankfurt’s Höchst Industrial Park, which is in proximity to the biotech-based industrial and research landscape of the Main metropolis. In recent years, collagen peptides made from animal materials have rapidly increased. The company also intends to gradually improve its knowledge in the field of biotechnology in the clinical research and creation of particular bioactive collagen peptides.

Launches and releases
Augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions provider Perfect Corp. introduced its AI Personality Finder. With the support of Perfect Corp.’s AgileFace technology, this solution offers customers a more personalized product matching experience. The AI Personality Finder combines AI-powered facial feature mapping with psychological data to uncover essential personality traits and offer customers personalized fragrance, fashion and beauty product suggestions. The Big Five Personality Traits, which include extroversion, conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness and neuroticism, are the foundation of Perfect Corp.’s AI Personality Finder. The AI engine classifies face traits and can identify up to 65 different sorts of distinctive facial characteristics.

Gimme Drops promote the health and vitality of the hair and feature a combination of vitamins and minerals.Following their first strategic collaboration in 2021, Sigma Beauty and Sephora released two products – the Sigma X Sephora SigMagic Brushampoo and Brush Cleaning Mat – both of which are only available in-store and on the company’s website. The proprietary SigMagic liquid formula is used in the Sigma X Sephora SigMagic Brushampoo to clean the brushes thoroughly. The seven textures of the Sigma X Sephora Brush Cleaning Mat allow for makeup buildup and residue to be removed while conditioning brushes for improved performance. Additionally, Sigma extended its partnership with Amazon and the company will open online stores in France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and the UK.

Gimme Beauty, a hair care solutions provider, recently entered the market for hair supplements with the introduction of its Gimme Drops. The original Gimme Beauty range of dry shampoo is also included in this package. To promote the health and vitality of the hair, the product offers a combination of vitamins and minerals.

Research and studies
Researchers from the US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a biodegradable system based on silk to replace the microplastics used in paints, cosmetics and agricultural products. The microplastics widely used in industrial products generally protect some specific active ingredient (or ingredients) from being degraded by air or moisture exposure until they are needed. The researchers created a biodegradable silk-based microencapsulation method for the slow release of soluble and insoluble payloads in water. By manipulating several parameters – such as the make-up of the feed suspension and processing techniques – this technology controls the surface shape and structure of microcapsules, which can be used for nutricosmetic formulations.

By Nicole Kerr