Natural skin-care sales soar, what's driving growth?Natural skin-care sales soar, what's driving growth?

After another year of stellar sales growth, skin care continues to be natural beauty’s most important category, accounting for more than one-third of the $9.6 billion natural and organic personal care industry, according to Nutrition Business Journal. What’s driving growth? To start, skin care products’ high margins lead to significant profits. But when it comes to natural skin care, innovation is another key to success. As long as customers seek purity, simple products made from just a few ingredients (especially those featuring time-tested and sustainably sourced ingredients and “from-the-kitchen” influences) will remain central to health and beauty departments. But the category’s targeted, high-performance formulations, such as those aimed at brightening sunspots and filling deep wrinkles, are really starting to shine. Natural brands are investing in research-backed ingredients and even clinically supported finished products to gain consumer confidence and compete with mass-market skin care.

The latest and greatest in natural skin care

DermaEarth
EnLighten Cell Brightening Serum
Fine lines and wrinkles aren’t the only signs of aging. Skin discolorations (often caused by UV rays) are also common signs of time. DermaEarth’s plant-based skin-brightening ingredients replace common synthetic additives such as hydroquinone, which the Environmental Working Group dubbed one of the most dangerous ingredients. 
SRP: $60, 15 ml.; $110, 30 ml.

John Masters Organics
Mandarin Maximum Moisture
Potato-derived glycoprotein and moisturizing sugar xylitylglucoside increase the skin’s water content and stimulate cell growth, while mandarin extract has been clinically proven to combat age spots. Plus, this moisturizer contains 10 certified-organic ingredients and a new natural preservative, aspen bark. 
SRP: $48.00

Desert Essence
Age Reversal Revitalizing Eye Serum
Here’s a trusted brand stepping up its game with new SKUs and even an entire line. Desert Essence’s new Age Reversal collection features a targeted eye serum that uses research-backed peptides found to reduce dark circles and puffiness, plus skin-tightening and toning caffeine and black crowberry juice.  SRP: $24.99; Booth 4218

Andalou Naturals
Deep Wrinkle Dermal Filler
In this deeply restorative treatment (not unlike a putty used to fill in noticeable lines) Andalou pairs its signature fruit stem cell blend (including Swiss apple and grape) with its eight-berry complex that features cupuaçu, an Amazonian “chocolate” rich in B vitamins, antioxidants and fatty acids. SRP: $19.95; Booth 3714

NOW Solutions
Clarify and Illuminate Age Transformation Facial Cleansing Gel
Aimed at firming and brightening aging skin, this rejuvenating cleanser features a clinically backed form of concentrated brown algae called Mitostime, which has also been proven to help the skin take in more oxygen. Other key ingredients in the refreshing wash: antioxidant vitamins C and E, along with açaí, gotu kola and aloe vera.  SRP: $14.99; Booths 1817, 5820

Lumavera
Oxygenating Masque
With an über-reparative blend of active ingredients, including argan stem cells and algae, mushroom and cactus extracts, this mask requires application two to three times a week (which will help sustain the $70 bottle). Its ingredients help the skin absorb oxygen from the environment—a process that’s important for cell turnover and wrinkle prevention, but that happens less and less as we age. SRP: $70.00