The end of the fiscal year is fast approaching,
How is everyone doing?

We have welcomed beauty writers to our 4th ampule Boosters Lunch Meeting, a trend information exchange event!

The theme of this year’s meeting was “Ask Mr. Takeoka, a skincare ingredient hunter, about trendy ingredients that will be hot in 2025! Here is a report on the 4th meeting.

This 4th meeting, we invited a special guest, Mr. Atsushi Takeoka, a skincare ingredient hunter, to talk about “Ingredients to Watch in 2025,
He talked about “Ingredients to Watch in 2025.

The content was so rich that all participants wrote down so much information that their notes turned black,
We hope you will join us to the end of the session.

The job of a “skin care ingredient hunter” involves the discovery and application of ingredients. As the name suggests, the main task is to search for beauty ingredients from all over the world and find technologies and ingredients to be utilized in cosmetics.

For example, we apply technologies used in fields completely different from the cosmetics industry, such as the food and chemical industries, to beauty and skin care, or we discover dormant ingredients and find ways to utilize their efficacy.

Multiple manufacturers may adopt similar technologies (ingredients) at the same time, and this is often related to the movement of skin care ingredient hunters in the background. Skincare ingredient hunters are responsible for creating a system for finding and utilizing such technologies (ingredients), thereby contributing to innovation in the beauty industry.

In fact, there are times when the market is driven by entities like us.
Under Japan’s Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, it is difficult to directly promote the effectiveness of cosmetics, so in recent years, a technique called “technology marketing” has been attracting attention. This is a strategy of freely communicating information by disclosing the technology used in a product ahead of time, before the product is announced, and then transmitting the message, “We have such an amazing technology.

For example, a certain beauty care manufacturer promotes the technology itself, leading to a subsequent product announcement. However, if the manufacturer itself introduces the technology, it becomes more of an advertisement, so a third party (a developer or researcher of beauty ingredients or technology) such as Skin Care Ingredient Hunter transmits the information, which serves to provide objectivity and credibility.

The work of skincare ingredient hunters involves not only finding new ingredients, but also changing the structure of the entire industry. We are involved in a wide range of activities from research and development to marketing, bridging new technologies from the perspective of “bringing Japanese technology to the world and the world’s technology to Japan.

We will continue to take on the challenge of finding new technologies and ingredients to pioneer the future of the beauty industry!

Changes in the skin care industry are accelerating, and products containing azelaic acid, glutathione, and PDRN (polydeoxyribonucleotides) have recently gained attention. Items utilizing these ingredients are beginning to appear on the market in the spring and fall of 2024.

In addition, the B vitamins (especially panthenol) are gaining popularity and are being used in many skincare products for spring and summer as an ingredient that is expected to have antioxidant and sebum suppression effects. In Korea, products containing panthenol are already on the rise, and its introduction in the Japanese market is expected to continue. Dexpanthenol” and other products have also been introduced, and their effects of promoting skin metabolism and inhibiting melanin are attracting attention.

In addition, fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamin D are becoming increasingly important in the field of cosmetic medicine, and their intake through diet and supplements is recommended from the perspective of molecular nutrition.

The peeling market is also evolving, with the emergence of “leave-on” types using skin-friendly PHA and LHA, rather than the traditional wipe-off type. This type is easy to use even for sensitive skin and is attracting attention as a future trend.
(*L’Oreal exclusively sells products containing LHA, while other brands are developing products based on PHA.)

In summary, the five ingredients to watch for in the future are as follows
Peptides: effective for skin regeneration and anti-aging care
Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA): promote skin repair and regeneration
Azelaic acids: improve skin tone and reduce inflammation
Vitamins (especially B and C): Antioxidant and skin health maintenance
Peeling ingredients (PHA and LHA): gentle skin exfoliation
These ingredients are expected to have a significant impact on the skin care market in the future!

One skin care product that has recently caught my attention is Dr. 365’s Pre-Essence. It features a perfect balance of extracts, vitamin C, and peptides, and is designed for easy use by both men and women.
We are also interested in skincare technologies related to immunology and cellular aging, as we feel that certain major cosmetics manufacturers are aggressive in their research and dissemination of such technologies.

In particular, Ultimune, to be launched in March 2024, is an advanced skincare product focusing on cellular aging. Behind this is the “Senolytics” technology, which became a global sensation last year. This technology is aimed at eliminating aging cells, and since it was announced by a certain major cosmetics manufacturer, it is spreading to other major companies as well. In addition, a new technology called “Senomorphics” has emerged, which is expected to provide a new approach to controlling inflammatory cytokines (SASPs) in aging cells.

In the field of aesthetic medicine, the removal of aging cells using “medical devices such as micro RF” is progressing, and the boundary between skin care and aesthetic medicine is becoming blurred. Molecular nutrition” is also evolving as an approach from within the body. Until now, the mainstream approach has been to supplement nutritional deficiencies, but now that the root causes of aging have been clarified, ingredients such as vitamin D, NMN, quercetin, and sulforaphane are attracting attention.

Japan and Korea have different approaches to skincare ingredient development. Japan tends to focus on basic research to elucidate the mechanisms of aging, blemishes, and wrinkles, and then apply vitamins, natural plant extracts, and fermented extracts with a long history of safety assurance based on this research. On the other hand, South Korea tends to apply the latest chemical ingredients and peptides quickly, and the speed of development is extremely fast.

In particular, CICA ingredients have been attracting attention in Korea, and many skincare products derived from thunbergia, including active ingredients such as asiaticoside and madecassoside, have been developed. These ingredients were originally developed by the Swiss pharmaceutical company La Roche and are sometimes used as medicines in Korea. The concentration of tsujoksa from Madagascar is said to be particularly high.

Korea is the world leader in peptide technology, with an excellent balance between cost and technology. China has yet to catch up in terms of technology. In the U.S., the number of peptide-related companies is increasing and there are currently about 3,000 companies. In Japan, about 700 companies are registered, and further growth is expected in the future.

Another advantage is that Korea’s relatively loose patent system allows for the immediate introduction and inexpensive commercialization of foreign technologies. This has enabled the company to quickly deploy peptides and CICA ingredients in the market and increase its international competitiveness.

Recently, sulforaphane (from broccoli sprouts) and sulfinyl (from horseradish) have been attracting attention, and these ancient ingredients are being reevaluated anew. In the future, skincare development in Japan and Korea will continue to evolve in different directions.

How was everyone’s experience?
The ampule editorial staff who attended the event also learned a lot of eye-opening information, making it a very informative event!
It seems that there are things that we can put into practice tomorrow and things that we can incorporate into our skincare choices as knowledge!

Please take a look at them for reference.