Bénédicte Courel is General Manager for the Cosmetics Business at Roquette.
SOFW gave her the opportunity to share about the ambition of Roquette to be recognized as an expert in plant-based cosmetic ingredients and company's great assets to achieve this ambition.
Find out more by reading this interview.
How do you strive to reach this ambition?
Roquette is determined to become one of the leading suppliers of 100% plantbased ingredients and the vegetal expert for the cosmetics market. We have decided to join this market with a dedicated high performing plant-based offering, this is a key objective. Thanks to our unique sourcing position, our strong expertise and our roots in the French ecosystem, we will bring innovative and high-performance ingredients that our customers and consumers will value.
Can you tell us more about some of your plant-based functional ingredients?
Only one year after a successful launch, three new plant-based and high-performing ingredients designed for Roquette Beauté as well as two actives co-developed with Sytheon* have been presented at the In-Cosmetics trade show 2019 in Paris.
Our new ingredients unveil unique textures and enhanced performance with:
- A new starch texturizer, which enables the creation of unique textures such as a high cushion effect, and demonstrates excellent sensory attributes with a silky feel.
- A new pea starch, a great film-forming agent which creates a flexible, smooth and lasting protection on both hair and skin.
- A new plant-based polyol, showing scientifically proven effects on oral microbiota, inhibiting the development of microorganisms responsible of halitosis.
- Two actives, co-developed with Sytheon, offering moisturizing properties and skin barrier repair.
These innovations complete the 2018 Beauté by Roquette® range of ingredients which already offered a wide range of combined functionalities:
- Texture and sensory enhancement: brand-new innovative systems.
- Sensorial benefits such as softness, and safe alternatives to mineral powders (starches).
- Skin moisturising, and the ability to keep the mouth healthy: extra-pure sugar alcohols
- Enhancement of the active ingredient’s efficiency, or making perfumes last longer (cyclodextrins).
- Anti-ageing & anti-acne properties: a plant-based polyhydroxyacid (PHA).
What does your slogan: “Sustainable beauty is all about skin health and nutrition” mean?
“Sustainable beauty is all about skin health and nutrition” is coming from our foundation. The launch of Roquette Beauté was a natural development milestone for the Roquette group. Because we have an over 80-year expertise in plant-based raw materials for health and nutrition markets, because we have a caring family-company culture where we are heading for long-term sustainable growth with clear commitments and indicators for 2025 and because we are deeply rooted in the French cosmetics ecosystem, we have the unique ability to bring sustainable, high performing innovation to the Beauty market.
Where do you see the key consumer trends?
At Roquette Beauté, we are looking at trends to fuel our innovation pipeline.
There are 4 macro trends here to stay: the sustainability approach looking at new eco-friendly sourcing, methods and solutions. Also, the digitalization with the emergence of multiple apps to offer technological solutions to answer all consumers’ questions and needs. The new social models are focusing on optimism and bold self-expression and talking about inclusivity and diversity for younger generations and about positive ageing. Finally yet importantly, the power of what science can bring to consumers who are more and more aware and looking for proven benefits with the emergence of a disruptive category like the microbiome.
Consumers are conscious and informed and we need to be there to help them to keep track to reach their goals of wellness, to reduce their impact on the planet and create new experimentation. Nature’s wonder can offer solutions to the cosmetics business. Roquette Beauté is looking to be part of this solution, helping customers on their way to sustainable beauty by expressing, experimenting and enhancing themselves with transparency and authenticity.
What are your goals for the future?
We are setting bold goals. Indeed, within five years, 50% of our product portfolio for the cosmetics market will be made up of new ingredients and solutions that do not yet exist. In terms of innovation speed, Roquette will launch between 1 and 3 new products per year.
Since July 2017, Roquette has filed 10 patents. Our goal is to double this figure between 2019 and 2020 and to maintain this goal every year, to support an important patent-filing dynamic. We will also open a center of expertise with an experimental laboratory and a collaborative space in the Paris region in 2020 to support future partnerships and collaborations.
* Sytheon is a USA-based specialty ingredient company for the cosmetic industry. Roquette and Sytheon have been working together to develop a patented HydraSynol™ product line.