Weekly Roundup: Firmenich opens olfactive space in China, Clariant unveils Rootness Mood+

17 Mar 2023 --- This week in personal care news, Firmenich partnered with Xun Laboratory to launch a fragrance co-creation space in China while Brenntag announced the official licensing and start of full commercial operations at its new site in China. Additionally, Clariant Actives & Natural Origins launched Rootness Mood+, an active ingredient, enhancing sunlight benefits, improving mood and equalizing the skin tone.

Business news
BASF implemented measures to reach its Net Zero 2050 goals. The Çayırova, Turkey production site, has obtained the International Renewable Energy Certificate, confirming that the electricity consumed is generated from 100% renewable resources. Additionally, other European production sites for the personal care sector are also working to contribute to environmental protection. The production site in Zona Franca, Spain, has signed a Power Purchase Agreement with a green power supplier. The electricity is provided by onshore wind farms in various locations throughout Spain. Another example is Pulnoy, France – a manufacturing site for high-end active ingredients for the personal care business – where the company has implemented a new steam production unit enabling the site to save approximately 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared with the replaced system. Moreover, the UV-filter Competence Center in Grenzach, Germany, received an approved investment that will allow the site to decrease its CO2 emissions by approximately 20% after start-up in 2025 through a new drying process with improved energy efficiency developed by BASF.Brenntag began commercial operation at a new site in China.

Firmenich opened a creative space, dubbed Villa Harmony, housed in the Jin Ze Art Centre, China, in partnership with Xun Laboratory, to connect tradition with modernity and create an avenue for customers to embrace ancestral Chinese culture and techniques. Villa Harmony aims to help clients enhance authentic storytelling to reflect the rich olfactive history in China while introducing winning fragrances behind Designed-for-China-by-China products sought after by local and global brands. It will provide a unifying platform that promotes research and technical exchanges and will organize mini exhibitions and forum sessions for exchanges, bringing customers additional co-creation opportunities. They will benefit from a customer journey backed by research-based expertise from Xun Laboratory on Chinese Perfumery and data-driven insights into local market preferences and consumer behavior by Firmenich.

Amorepacific’s Sulwhasoo appointed actress Tilda Swinton as the new global ambassador. The brand is launching a campaign called “#SulwhasooRebloom” to re-establish its identity as a brand that brings beauty based on heritage and the artist’s spirit. To deliver this brand mission to the world, Tilda Swinton was selected to represent Sulwhasoo due to her unique features, distinctive aura and reputation for taking challenges in experimental roles that transcend all genres and domains. With Tilda Swinton getting on board following the K-Pop icon, Blackpink’s Rose’ as the ambassador, Sulwhasoo is expected to accelerate its global market expansion, scaling beyond Korea.

Brenntag announced the official licensing and start of full commercial operations at a new site in China, located in the Yangzijiang Chemical Industrial Park of Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, in the Yangtze River Delta, one of the most dynamic economic areas of China, close to many international customers and suppliers with local presence in the chemical park. The new site occupies 62,000 square meters and holds 20 storage tanks of various sizes and expands Brenntag’s operations and reduces the current complexity of moving products among several external warehouses, strengthening the ongoing supply chain optimization efforts.Actress Tilda Swinton was signed as the brand ambassador for Sulwhasoo.

Aptar updated its scope 1 and 2 science-based targets, setting an emissions reduction goal consistent with requirements to limit global temperature rise to 1.5° Celsius by 2030. The company commits to reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 82% by 2030 from a 2019 base year. It aims to reduce Scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services, upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations and downstream transportation and distribution by 14% by 2030 from a 2019 base year. It also commits to increasing the annual sourcing of renewable electricity from 57% in 2019 to 100% by 2030. Aptar’s carbon transition plan also includes actions that align with climate science and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Dove called upon its global community to “#TurnYourBack” on a viral social media filter called Bold Glamour as a part of its commitment to #NoDigitalDistortion. During the Oscars after-party, American actress Gabrielle Union joined Dove’s movement. She turned her back to the “toxic Bold Glamour filter” on the carpet, taking a stand against unrealistic beauty standards. According to research commissioned by the Dove Self-Esteem Project, 38% of girls say they can’t live up to the beauty standards that influencers project on social media, and 80% say they have already applied a filter or used a retouching app to change the way they look in their photos by age 13.

Guerlain launched Women for Bees initiative in Mexico.Launches and releases
Clariant Actives & Natural Origins launched Rootness Mood+, an advanced skincare active ingredient. Rootness Mood+ can enhance sunlight benefits, improving mood and equalizing skin tone. It reactivates the skin’s natural radiance and improves skin complexion by triggering skin photoreceptors, the opsins. It can also help increase the effectiveness of vitamin D in the skin by upregulating downstream pathways. Rootness Mood+ comes from the roots of Sanguisorba officinalis, a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine. Commonly known as great burnet, the plant develops at the sight of the sun and is cultivated in aeroponic conditions through patented and eco-responsible Plant Milking technology. This new active ingredient is also “highly” sustainable.

Sentient introduced the Sentient Sculpt to the US. It is the “first” non-invasive professional electromagnetic wave and microwave treatment for cellulite reduction that produces results on all skin types. Successfully utilized in Europe over the past four years under a different trade name, it is being offered in the US exclusively by Sentient. The technology behind Sentient Sculpt has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration. It is a patented all-in-one cellulite reduction device that uses 2.45 gigahertz energy – two thousand times more powerful than other cellulite reduction modalities.

Mane developed Freshplex, a fragrance solution that makes hair smell fresh. The ingredient has been tested and approved to fight unpleasant odors and help hair smell fresh and fragrant by up to 80%. Mane’s hair care sensory tests show that the solution can reduce sweat odor by 64%, cooking smell by 54% and the whiff of cigarette smoke by 52%. Freshplex can be used at a specific dosage to create customized fragrances applicable for a wide range of leave-on or rinse-off products.Actress Gabrielle Union at Oscars after-party in support of Dove campaign against social media filters.

Guerlain continued to expand the Women for Bees program with an initiative in Mexico to mark International Women’s Day. The latest initiative in the Yucatán Peninsula supports beekeeping traditions among Mayan women and addresses threats to the endangered local bee species Melipona beecheii – a stingless bee native to Central America and figures among the world’s most endangered bee species. Angelina Jolie, Guerlain ambassador, is helping to launch this new chapter. The program is being conducted in close partnership with UNESCO and, more recently, through independent iterations led by local non-governmental organizations, including the Fundación Selva Maya in Mexico.

Awards and recognition
Shiseido received the Best Portfolio Performance Improvement award at the Sustainable Procurement Leadership Awards 2023 held by EcoVadis, headquartered in France, recognizing its efforts to improve sustainability standards among its suppliers.

The Ethisphere Institute, a US-based think-tank, has named the Kao Corporation one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. Kao is reportedly the only Asian company to have made the list yearly since Ethisphere began its ranking in 2007.

By Radhika Sikaria