In-cosmetics Global 2026: Gattefossé explores climate-adaptive skin care and sensory expertise
04 May 2026 | Gattefossé
At In-cosmetics, Gattefossé spotlighted Silkaress, a new bioactive designed to help skin adapt to environmental stress. Product marketing leader Laurie Canel and global applications manager Vincent Hubiche discussed its cellular-level benefits, from improved cohesion to hydration balance. We also spoke about how Gattefossé’s three decades of sensory expertise is shaping future climate-adaptive, experience-driven formulations.
This is Sabina Waldeck for Personal care Insights at In Cosmetics Global 2026, joined by Laurie Canel, products marketing leader for Actives, and Vincent Rubi, global applications manager at Gatosse.
Welcome.
At So you have launched Silkcade here at In Cosmetics.
What inspired the development of the ingredient and how does the bioactive help skin adapt and stay resilient amid environmental changes?
Actually at Gat we are inspired about what is surrounding us for the development of silkere.
It's a story of bio inspiration, actually.
This ingredient is helping the skin to adapt to what is around us in the environment, and we have been looking at living systems that have this ability to adapt themselves and to protect themselves against the threats that are surrounding them in the environment.
More particularly, we have been Very interested by the silkworms, which has this ability to produce a very robust but intriguing material which is the silk, and this production of silk is made possible by the feeding of these insects through a unique food material which is the white mulberry leaves.
And our idea with that was to imagine how much the white mulberry leaves could be used as a benefit for the skin to kind of mirror these protective properties of the silk cocoon, the same protective properties it has for the silkworm, but for the skin.
And can you explain howuccare works at the cellular level to enhance skin cohesion, hydration, eiformity, and overall comfort compared to conventional actives?
This is the 2nd level of bio inspiration.
We have been questioning what kind of inherent and natural adaptation mechanism we possess, our skin cells possess, and one of them is called phosphorylation.
It's one of the most powerful adaptation systems that we have all in our skin cells.
This phosphorylation is a kind of molecular switch within which the proteins will be activated or deactivated in terms of synthesis depending on.
The environment and what are the threats within this environment.
So working and playing on modulating this phosphorylation, we thought we would be able to provide an active ingredient with adaptive capacities.
And more particularly at the level of the epidemis, this phosphorylation is all the more important because the epidermis is a very challenging layers, a layer in our skin.
This is our direct barrier between the body and the environment, and this epidemis is already equipped with this phosphoridation and adaptive mechanism.
So playing on this phosphoridation, more particularly within the epidemis.
Silky helps to modulate and monitor closely the adaptation of this layer towards environmental changes and threats.
Gat Fosse is celebrating 30 years of sensory analysis.
How has integrating structured sensory evaluation shaped the way you design and position ingredients like silk dust?
Yes, so today we celebrate this year we celebrate 30 years of sensory expertise at Gatosis.
So we have a sensory expert panel inside our team that evaluate ingredients and formulation to highlight the sensory benefits.
So we do that in order to be able to develop nice and adapted formulation for all consumers.
And in the case of silk eyes, the idea was to go a bit outside our internal expertise.
And what we did in linked to sensory analysis is to use, for instance, during our clinical study to use a very nice tool named Touchy finger in order to evaluate the softness of the skin precisely with this device.
We have also performed a clinical study on -being.
So the idea was to look more about, to know more about emotions.
Behavior, let's say, to really measure all the panelists that have used a formulation containing seed guys during one month, how they behave better in terms of -being, in terms of emotions.
And then in a market focused on climate adaptive beauty and differentiated sensory experiences, how do you see your sensory expertise influencing formulation trends over the next decade?
So climate adaptation is a topic we worked on since, I would say more than 10 years maybe.
We pay attention on this point because we saw that cosmetics.
Developed in Europe are not adapted, for instance, to consumers in South America.
The reason is climate.
Climate is different everywhere in the world and we have changed during during all the years.
And so we have made some evaluation already to compare all the sensory properties of a product can change from a temperate to a more humid and hot climate.
And we find strategies in terms of formulation, in terms of ingredient choices to adapt the formulation to be more flexible and adaptable for a different climate.
In the in the future, I believe that such expertise, such, I would say formulation design is key for formulators, for, for brands to have to develop products that will be adaptable and flexible in terms of consumers and countries.
Perfect.
And thank you for joining Personal Care Insights.
Thank you.
