In the era of Skinmalism, transparency around performative skincare is paramount. Learn why we’re putting Efficacy Panels front & center on every box—and driving the need for enhanced product transparency.

Consumers are allowing their skin to take center stage in 2021. With streamlined routines and “hero” ingredients remaining the focus, the need for hard-working, performative, and sustainable skincare has never been more critical according to Pinterest Predicts.

At Codex Beauty Labs, we’ve always made a case for transparency in beauty. Recognizing that enhanced efficacy claims are fundamental to skin health, we’re displaying quantifiable beauty data in easy-to-understand Efficacy Labels on our packaging—starting with the debut of The Antü Collection, and updating our Bia Collection.

As noted in Glossy, our Efficacy Labels mirror the modern nutrition label, and each label is displayed prominently on every Antü and Bia exterior package. Our focus is to drive consumer confidence by allowing everyone direct access to results attained through granular usage data from clinical trial studies.    

We use state-of-art measurement techniques to quantitatively measure specific performance parameters of our products on the skin on human subjects. This methodology (also called in vivo testing) is crucial to scientifically substantiate our product claims.  In fact, we have created a matrix to map the language in our claims to specific skin parameters measurements and equipment used, then translate this for the consumer into skin benefits they can relate to.  In this way, we can also correlate the feedback from subjects in the clinical trial to actual measurements.

The table below presents a summary of each skin parameter in the efficacy panel and its corresponding measurement method.  In some cases, the measurement method is indirect, but is widely accepted by the dermatological community as representative of the skin parameter.

We conduct efficacy on every single product to prove its performance.  This testing is carried out at a third-party clinical facility under the supervision of a dermatologist and toxicologist.  The technicians use instrumentation that is accepted by the dermatological community for evaluating specific skin parameters to produce quantitative measurements. 

A baseline data set is collected on day zero of the efficacy trial, usually after a week-long washout period.  The product is then applied by the subjects according to a protocol, and the measurement is repeated after at least one full skin turnover cycle, namely 28 days (products that are considered “touch up” or “instantaneous” are still measured over 14 days).  A statistically meaningful subject population (at least 30 subjects) is used to generate data for each skin parameter.  This dataset is then analyzed by a statistician for clinical relevance, i.e., does the product produce a statistically meaningful effect on the skin parameter being evaluated to support the product claim hypothesis.

Our goal is to clearly communicate these quantitative results to the consumer in an easy-to-read format.  An efficacy panel for two Antu products and one Bia product are shown below.  The year of the study and the population used is summarized.  Each skin parameter (and potential sub-parameter) and its measurement method is listed.  The results as measured (e.g., changes on Day 28 and Day 56 as referenced to Day 0) are presented.  If no statistical change was observed, this is recorded.  If a parameter is not relevant to product claims, this is noted as “not applicable”.  With this approach, not only positive results are shown, but also test results where no statistically meaningful result was achieved, or where a result was only temporary.  Essentially, the panel provides a transparent snapshot of product performance.