For a conscious consumer of personal care products, what goes on your skin and into your hair matters – and not just for how it looks and feels, but also where it comes from and how it is made.
Making its commercial debut at in-cosmetics Korea expo last month, Marble7 is the first precision-fermented lipid ingredient for the personal care market from a Swedish pioneer in sustainable alternatives.
Gothenburg-based Melt&Marble develops designer fats and lipids for food and personal care. To do so more sustainably, it avoids high-emission animal farms and deforestation crops like palm and coconut oil.
Harnessing expertise in microbial engineering and precision fermentation, the company’s revolutionary technology can produce any fat from simple feedstocks, without relying on unsustainable sources.
Sensory appeal with resilient sourcing
As beauty brands look for ingredients that combine performance, sensorial appeal and more resilient sourcing, lipid innovation is becoming an increasingly important area of formulation development.
Designed for use across personal care applications, Marble7 supports several formulation needs.
It offers a biomimetic skin lipid profile and is rich in Omega-7 and other bioactives for skin barrier-focused formulations. It also provides structure, stability, and sensorial performance, including a melt-on-contact transition to a smooth, silky skin feel and glide on multi-category applications.
Together, these attributes allow formulators to explore alternatives to conventional plant-, animal- or petrochemical-derived lipid ingredients. Importantly, they are able to do so while still maintaining the level of focus on performance, consistency and sensory appeal that is essential in a competitive market.
Circular, bio-based and scalable
Precision fermentation produces fats and lipids with targeted structural and performance characteristics. It allows for control of key aspects in production such as fatty acid profile, structure and melting behaviour.
For the first time however, the new lipid sees Melt&Marble expand beyond food applications into personal care. It marks a milestone for the company, says Thomas Cresswell, Chief Business Officer, Melt&Marble:
“Marble7 is our first commercial product for personal care and an important step in bringing precision-fermented designer lipids into real formulation use. For formulators, the opportunity is not only to replace existing lipid ingredients, but to access next-generation ingredients designed with specific performance, sensory and supply-chain needs in mind.”
Designed by Melt&Marble as a 3-in-1 bioactive lipid for use in skincare, makeup and hair-care formulations, Marble7 received the official INCI name r-Saccharomyces Butter in March this year.
Founded by the Personal Care Products Council back in 1973, the International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient (INCI) system provides a standardised nomenclature for cosmetics ingredients. INCI names have been used ever since by consumers, scientists and regulators alike.
Digital discoverability at speed and scale
Melt&Marble has also entered into collaboration with Covalo, a digital ingredient discovery platform, to expand visibility of Marble7 across the global formulation community. Supporting faster evaluation by product development teams, Covalo simplifies access to technical documentation, concepts and samples.
Working with a discovery platform can help innovative solutions to access markets at speed and scale, explains Juliana Mancini Gomiero, Head of Business Development for Personal Care at Melt&Marble:
“This collaboration with Covalo allows us to move beyond traditional availability and actively drive adoption through digital activation, product visibility, and sample accessibility.”
There is real demand out there for ingredients of this kind, concludes Covalo CEO Yann Chilvers:
“We are delighted to help the team accelerate their journey and add Marble7 to Covalo’s portfolio of ingredients. Melt&Marble’s precision fermentation ingredients answer a true need in the industry.”
Tailor-made for eco functionality
Melt&Marble is dedicated to enabling the transition towards a more sustainable future by revolutionising the production of fats designed for the alternative protein, food and personal care sectors.
At the core of the company’s pioneering technology lies precision fermentation, where yeast metabolism is rewired to convert sugars into specific fats. Underpinned by an extensive technology platform and robust IP, this process allows for both replication of existing fats and creation of new ones with custom properties.
These innovative tailor-made fat solutions offer improved sustainability, functionality, and health profile.
Further Reading:
- More about Melt&Marble; and its new designer lipid for personal care Marble7;
- More about Covalo, the digital ingredient discovery platform;
- More on the Personal Care Products Council; and its system of INCI names;
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