For MakeUp in Los Angeles 2024, Cosmetics IC hosted a series of four Beauty Talks to highlight the agency’s predictions for the year ahead. We will be highlighting the key talking points from some of our sessions and sharing a snapshot of the interviews that took place with a panel of top industry players, here on the Cosmetic Seeds blog. A full summary of all four talks, including in-depth interviews, key products and takeaways, is available now.
Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation - Leila Rochet / Capsum - Sébastien Bardon / Haus Labs by Lady Gaga - Gloria Ryu
The Beauty Talk: Higher Futures - The transformative impact of a science-centric approach to beauty
Exploring the axis of artistry and science, performance and sensation, Higher Futures represents the agency’s analysis of the transformative power of a science-centric approach to beauty. The arrival of new technologies presents brands with bold opportunities to innovate and meet the rising expectations for exceptional solutions and elevated experiences.
“There is a growing demand for very emotionally compelling and liberating physical experiences. Consumers are looking for groundbreaking experiences, groundbreaking innovation, extraordinary performance levels. It is beyond what they were looking for in the past, especially in the performance arena, but also in sensoriality.” Leila Rochet, Chief Inspiration Officer, Cosmetics IC
This desire for elevated experiences has been building since COVID, and in today’s polycrisis era, it has become an even more essential facet of the beauty routine. Consumers’ need for enhanced performance inspired a refocus of Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs in 2020, as the brand switched to a science-led innovation strategy. Critically, Haus Lab’s shift also introduced a new level of sensoriality into the beauty experience. This is a key facet of the work of Capsum - a contract manufacturer that specializes in microfluidic encapsulation technology, which makes it possible to assemble ingredients in a radically new way, controlling stability and heightening the sensory effect. Joining Leila to discuss how a science-centric approach is transforming the world of beauty was Sebastien Bardon, CEO and co-founder of Capsum and Gloria Ryu, Chief Product Officer at Haus Labs By Lady Gaga.
Read on for a snapshot of Leila’s wide-ranging interview with Sebastien and Gloria from February 2024:
Leïla Rochet: Gloria, can you tell us about the decision to relaunch Haus Labs with a scientific approach?
Gloria Ryu: Our patented Fermented Arnica was born while experimenting with one of our R&D partners. Sarah Tanno, who is our Global Artistry Director, Lady Gaga, and the rest of the team were in the lab brainstorming on what we could do from a material perspective, and how to build products from the inside out - very much starting from the raw material phase. With our foundation, it's been marketed that we spent 10,000 hours in the lab, developing that product, an insane number of hours! It's very interesting because our pillars are artistry, science, and inclusivity and for us, it's about the intersection of those three.
Leïla: Sébastien, you introduced microfluidic technology to the Beauty industry. Can you explain what that is?
Sébastien Bardon: When you develop custom products you use between 10 and 50 ingredients, and as you do in your kitchen, you mix them all together, right? But what we do is that we separate them into different phases, which can be up to five different phases, and then we produce the product one drop at a time. So we're making millimeter-sized drops of oil, containing the perfume and actives, that are going to be dropped into the hydrophilic formula.
The reason we decided to apply microfluidics to Beauty is because you can bring multiple benefits. I think the simplest benefit is the visual aspect - we create products that are beautiful, and that helps brands differentiate one from the other.
Leïla: Gloria, how do you see the skinification shift in relation to Haus Labs?
Gloria: I love the fact that our consumers and our community are so much more savvy, and really push brands to elevate from a higher standard of quality, execution, and performance. So it challenges us to push our partners to figure out that delicate balance between artistry, and performance.
Leïla: And what does skinification mean to Capsum?
Sébastien: It is obviously about adding active ingredients to your makeup, but it's also about bringing a new skin feel to makeup. We have achieved this with some brands, making makeup products that have a really nice skin feel, and freshness. They also speak for themselves because they have encapsulated pigments, and as a consumer, you understand very clearly this product is going to give you a makeup effect.
Leïla: Gloria, as head of PD, can you tell us a little more about the challenges in creating makeup that is both artistic and skincare-driven?
Gloria: Lady Gaga is an incredible futurist and visionary and her team has such a high standard of excellence in terms of performance. It’s got to withstand her dancing and performing two hours on stage, and when she takes it off her skin shouldn’t be red or irritated. It's a very fluid approach, it's the art and science synergy.
The CIC Take
Haus Labs and Capsum demonstrate how science and technology can be applied beyond performance to elevate the artistry and sensoriality of a product, placing innovation at the heart of product storytelling. A science-centric approach is now an essential strategy for brands to meet consumers’ ever-evolving expectations for sustainability, performance and sensoriality.
Contact the team today for a full summary and transcript of our session with Gloria and Sebastian, and all of the Beauty Talks presented exclusively at MakeUp in Los Angeles, available as one comprehensive report. Our 2024 trend white book, The Age of Thrill, is also available now.