What is Minimalist Skincare?

Recently, while chatting with industry colleagues, we discussed the debate between minimalist skincare and “cocktail-style” skincare philosophies. In an online world saturated with marketing hype, which approach is superior, and how should consumers choose?First, let’s briefly compare the two concepts:

Minimalist Skincare, sometimes referred to more trendily as “Clean Beauty,” generally means products with very simple formulations or a minimal number of active ingredients. The core idea is to achieve skincare results using simple ingredients and simple formulas. It’s typically marketed as having a minimalist formulation that reduces the burden on the skin.
Cocktail-Style Skincare doesn’t have a strict definition. Simply understood, it refers to the many products we often see with complex formulations packed with numerous active ingredients, frequently including a wide variety of plant extracts. Under a main marketing claim or efficacy promise, these products are said to offer multiple benefits and actions. Proponents of each method have their valid arguments. In recent years, with shifting consumer awareness, the minimalist skincare philosophy seems to have gained some ground.

Here is my personal perspective:

From a scientific standpoint, both approaches inherently have their own advantages and disadvantages; neither is inherently superior. For consumers, choosing the right product for their skin is the most important thing.
While minimalist skincare simplifies the formula, the concentration of individual ingredients is necessarily higher. Based on toxicological principles, toxicity is often dose-related. Higher concentrations of a single ingredient could potentially lead to side effects.
For cocktail-style skincare, the multitude of ingredients – many possibly unnecessary for the skin – can indeed create some burden. However, the concentration of each individual ingredient is usually much lower, which from a toxicological dose perspective, offers a certain advantage.

Therefore, I believe that when designing products, it’s essential to define which skin conditions are suited for minimalist formulas and which are better addressed by cocktail-style formulas. Furthermore, in product marketing and promotion, companies should clearly communicate the specific skin conditions and problems the product targets. Instead of making blind, extreme claims that “minimalist is better” or “cocktail-style is better,” the focus should be on clarity. This way, consumers can make informed choices based on their specific skin concerns or condition.