The sea is a rich source of cosmetic ingredients. But there are not just algae, sand, sludge, salt, or water in the marine world! Invertebrates, a family of species which gathers most animal organisms living in this environment, might represent a new solution for cosmetic applications, especially in the perfume, sun care, or anti-aging sectors. Let’s immerse ourselves into a bone-free, but not futureless world!
Annelida, bryozoa, echinoderms, hemichordata, porifera, and other molluscs… With almost two million species already listed, marine invertebrates are said to constitute the largest part of the terrestrial biodiversity. And if many of these tiny animals are still little-known, they present such a potential that they are currently under study and have gained the interest of most distinguished researchers.
To Jean-Michel Kornprobst, a Professor emeritus at Université de Nantes, France, the cosmetic applications of marine invertebrates, which are an abundant, accessible, and rather cheap resource, are worth being explored. As an expert in the study of marine natural substances, he presented the main avenues to explore on the day of conferences held in Guingamp, last March 12, 2015, as part of the 6
th
edition of U’Cosmetics. And they concern three particular fields: perfumes, UV-filters, and anti-aging.
Perfumes, Calone, and benzodioxepinone
Benzodioxepinone is an artificial aromatic molecule created and patented by Pfizer in 1966 under the designation, Calone 1951®, and later modified by Givaudan and Firmenich.
To Jean-Michel Kornprobst, it is the ‘
standard of marine fragrance’
, as it is present in great juices still on the market, like
Escape for Her
(Calvin Klein),
L’Eau d’Issey pour Homme
(Issey Miyake), …
