London – While most consumers don't know what niacinamide or mica is, the Skinthusiasts beauty tribe do.
They represent a growing consumer mindset, a curiosity and a determination to research the scientific terms in a list of ingredients to understand what they do. In the US, more than half of women (55%) and nearly nearly two-thirds of Millennials (62%) admit to reading beauty product ingredient labels in order to avoid specific ingredients, according Kari Gran’s 2016 Green Beauty Barometer survey, and Mintel notes that UK consumers respond particularly well to natural claims such as ‘formulated without parabens’.
While parabens and sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) have become watchwords in beauty formulations, the Skinthusiasts investigate their ingredients more thoroughly.
In our tribe, we meet three Skinthusiasts who bring a different perspective to their rigorous and science-backed beauty approach from Ashley, a dentist who uses devices combined with a regimented routine to achieve the results she wants, to Leeds-based Cheryl is a chemist-turned-skincare blogger who now showcases the science behind products on her blog Honesty For Your Skin.
The Big Picture
- More consumers are demanding both transparency and efficacy from their beauty products, a phenomenon explored in our Honest Products microtrend
- But an early adopter mindset amongst a group of Skinthusiasts sees them trawling the internet to investigate ingredients and debunk marketing myths