Sustainable cosmetic ingredient alternatives to replace conventional ingredients: Case studies in moisturizers and lipsticks.

Objective: Over the last two decades, consumers have been calling for greater transparency for ingredient sourcing and manufacturing practices; therefore, more sustainable alternatives need to be evaluated to meet industry demands. While many organizations give standards for 'clean', 'organic' and 'natural' cosmetic products, sustainable formulations lack standardization and harmonization globally. This study aimed to formulate sustainable lipsticks and moisturizers using resources and standards currently available in the cosmetic industry and compare select sustainable alternatives to a conventional control product.

Methods: After thoroughly screening ingredients for each product type, five different lipsticks and five batches of moisturizers were formulated and tested for quality, performance and stability characteristics.

Results: Pay-off and friction were the most different among the lipsticks, with M4, the lipstick containing sustainable ingredients, having the highest average friction and pay-off at Week 1. As for the moisturizers, spreadability had the largest differences, mostly due to the different emulsifier systems, as expected.

Conclusion: Incorporating sustainable ingredients can be challenging, but having quality products while being more environmentally friendly is possible. These case studies are meant to serve as examples for formulation chemists.