We’ve just come back from two days at the Society of Cosmetic Scientists Annual Conference in Liverpool, and it was well worth the trip across from Daresbury.
If there was one theme running through the programme, it was this: the industry is getting more rigorous, more creative, and more ambitious about how it generates and uses scientific data to support product claims. For a lab that spends its days doing exactly that, it was encouraging to be in a room where claims testing wasn’t a side topic. It had its own dedicated sessions.
Claims testing front and centre
The Breakthrough Claims Testing Methods sessions on day two were a highlight. Presentations covered everything from measuring the psychological wellbeing effects of cosmetics to standardised whiteness methodology for oral care and the effects of water temperature on skin barrier function. What came through clearly was the breadth of what “claims testing” now means. It’s no longer just about whether a product does what the label says. It’s about understanding the mechanisms, the sensory experience, and the measurable impact on skin biology.
That aligns closely with how we think about claims testing at XCellR8. Our tiered approach is built around giving brands the depth of data that matches their claims, whether that’s a quick ingredient screen or a full mechanistic study using reconstructed human tissue models.
Skin science driving innovation
The skin science sessions on day one were particularly relevant to us. Prof. David Moore’s talk on skin barrier function and the role of stratum corneum lipid composition spoke directly to the kind of work we support with our barrier protection testing. Neelam Sagoo’s presentation on collagen banking using exosomes and bioactive peptides was fascinating, and it’s clear that collagen remains one of the most commercially important endpoints in cosmetic science. That’s exactly why we’ve recently launched two complementary collagen boosting tests, one measuring gene expression via qPCR and another quantifying actual collagen protein secretion via the Sirius Red method.
The pigmentation talk from Greentech on melanocyte behaviour and lipofuscin was another reminder of how the science behind cosmetic claims is becoming more sophisticated. Brands aren’t just claiming “brightening” anymore. They want to understand the cellular mechanisms, and they need data to match. XCellR8 offers animal-free means of assessing skin pigmentation, providing mechanistic and human-relevant data using our MelanoDermTM method. This provides a quick and cost-effective pre-screen, prior to human volunteer studies, driving key decisions in formulation development.
In vitro methods gaining ground
It was also notable how many presentations featured in vitro approaches. The Best Paper Award from the International Journal of Cosmetic Science went to a study on a new in vitro method for determining water resistance of sunscreen products, validated by a blinded ring test. That kind of recognition signals where the field is heading. In vitro isn’t the alternative anymore. For many applications it’s becoming the method of choice.
As the only fully animal-product-free testing laboratory in the world, that shift is something we welcome. Our methods use human-relevant culture conditions throughout, which means the data we generate reflects what happens on human skin rather than in the presence of animal-derived components. As consumer demand for cruelty-free and vegan products continues to grow, the alignment between what the science can deliver and what the market wants has never been stronger.
A word on the venue
Being in Liverpool, just down the road from our lab at Sci-Tech Daresbury, made this conference particularly easy for us to attend. We’d love to see the SCS continue to bring events to the North West. There’s a growing hub of cosmetic science expertise in the region and it deserves the visibility.
If we met you at the conference and you’d like to continue the conversation, or if you weren’t there but any of these topics are relevant to your work, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch at info@x-cellr8.com.
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