As we look ahead to 5 skin care trends for 2019, we can’t help but get excited. Like many of you, we often visualize a new year as an opportunity for a new beginning, and as skin care is never far from our minds, we want to highlight a few of the skin care trends that will be making waves this coming year:
- Skin Care Gets More Holistic: There’s more than one way to achieve healthy skin. While topical treatments are still the most efficient way for skin to absorb beneficial active ingredients, the importance of a good diet cannot be overstated. While the essentials of a sunscreen, a free radical-fighting antioxidant and a retinoid are, in our opinion absolutely non-negotiable, skin care gets more holistic in 2019 with the addition of beauty supplements. From collagen to biotin to hyaluronic acid, supplements that target healthy skin and hair are gaining in popularity as the wellness movement grows. Oral vitamins cannot replace healthy lifestyle and dietary choices, but if you’re looking to fill the gaps, there’s never been a better time to give beauty supplements a try.
- More Independent Brands: As the world shrinks thanks to the internet, social media and beauty bloggers, it’s increasingly easy to discover products that fit your personal wants and needs. Global conglomerate companies are no longer the only option when it comes to personal care products. Whether you want to go green, local, natural or “free from”, independent brands (like our very own Apothekari Dermaceuticals, a Scientific Skin Care line designed to cut the confusion when it comes to skin care) are hitting their stride and finding a foothold in the global market. This trend dovetails perfectly with the increase of inclusivity seen in the past few years with cosmetics – more colors, more shades and more selection to suit every imaginable skin tone and need.
- More Active Ingredients: Whether it’s a case of people wanting more bang for their buck or becoming increasingly pressed for time, consumers are looking for products that perform more than ever. Single-purpose skin care products still have their place, but more of us are reaching for multi-taskers that are chock-a-block full of enough actives to make a difference with more than just an ineffective “fairy dusting” of an ingredient. As intriguing as the 10-step Korean skin care routine sounds, many of us simply want to do more with less. Even within our skin care holy trinity of sunscreen, antioxidant and retinoid, we’ll see more actives in each to maximize benefits.
- Water-free: We’ve discussed the use of water in cosmetics and skin care products in the past, and for many formulations, the inclusion of water is essential for dissolving active ingredients, affecting the texture and weight of the product and helping to replenish moisture to the skin. But water-less formulations have quietly been making headway, led by the geniuses in the ever-innovative Korean skin care industry. Water contributes to the growth of bacteria and can shorten a product’s shelf life so going water-free means using less preservatives. We don’t think skin can or should avoid water based products but there’s a growing range of option if you decide that’s the right move for you.
- Skin Healing Goes Mainstream: As consumers become more demanding and discerning with what goes on their skin, healing the skin will become as important a step as feeding the skin. Redness, sensitivity and extreme dryness all need to be addressed before active ingredients can be properly absorbed to work their magic. 2019 will see a surge in products that heal, such as Avene Cicacalfate Cream, La Roche Posay Cicaplast Mains Hand Cream and French cult beauty product Boiron Cicadermine. It’s no coincidence that all those products have the prefix “cica” in their names as the word comes from the Latin for “scar”. In fact, cicatrisation literally means to heal.
What really struck us about these upcoming skin care trends is that they fall right in line with our own philosophy and driving principles when it comes to skin care products: We want clinically proven ingredients to deliver results, without the hype. We can’t wait to see what the new year brings.
