It has long been difficult to analyze the variety of pastes, serums, gels and powder formulas which then must be able to be dispersed or dispensed effectively from their packaging. Such high-end research and development has always been slow and labour-intensive which means that it has also been expensive. However, the recent advances in modular instrumentation, low-cost sensors, optical recognition and online monitoring are now offering much higher information content, allowing more detailed analysis of formulation properties and characteristics. Being able to formulate and test at scale and faster is facilitating more cost-effective development of new products. This provides the cosmetics company with the dual advantages of getting information rich, reliable research results that they couldn’t do before and allowing them to explore new possibilities. Many multinational companies have embraced these alternative test methods, which have the added advantage of reducing and in some cases eliminating their dependence on animal testing. Sensory acceptability reflects a complex set of parameters which all have to be tested to predict the consumer appeal of a formulation alongside its technological performance.

In a world where the science behind efficacy is becoming more acceptable to consumers, but goes hand-in-hand with demand for more benefits and more value for money from their Personal Care & Beauty products, technological developments in testing are providing the modern cosmetics company with better data with which to substantiate the claims it makes about its products, and are also helping to reduce costs and speed up testing. This increases both the product’s value in the marketplace and will help give rise to a disruptive next generation of products.