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Innovating Through Science

Our R&I model: scientifically and responsibly invented

Science, the driver of innovation in cosmetics

For over a century, we have built our development on a conviction: only strong research can create cosmetic products that are capable of generating real results. Our Research & Innovation model, unique in the cosmetics industry, is organized around three major entities:

   

Advanced Research, tasked with continuously enriching scientific knowledge about skin and hair around the world, and discovering new active ingredients.

   

Applied Research, which develops formulation systems, which are then played out in the different families of products.

   

Development, which provides the brands with innovative formulas adapted to their identities and to consumer expectations around the world.

Assets for innovation

To stay ahead of the game and make major cosmetic innovations available to everyone, we rely on three major assets:

  • A unique collection of proprietary active ingredients, which Advanced Research enriches each year with new elements, molecules or ingredients...

  • Expertise in formulation. This decisive phase that makes it possible to transition from the molecule to the finished product. Every year, thousands of formulas are developed by the teams at L'Oréal.

  • One final asset is our expertise in evaluation, which is essential for bringing new products to market and for demonstrating their safety and effectiveness in a rigorously scientific way.

The pillars of responsible innovation

We have founded our innovation strategy on a platform of fundamental values, shared by all our teams around the world:


  • An absolute priority: product safety

  • Respect for the environment 

  • Science and ethics advance together

  • A move toward fairer procurement

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Be Inspired Pushing the Boundaries

Thanks to our unique collection of proprietary active ingredients, L’Oréal’s Research & Innovation teams are developing cutting-edge innovations in the formulation process. Our priority is to ensure the quality and sustainability of our ingredients in order to preserve global biodiversity and guarantee our customers’ safety.

Science, Nature & Technology – the perfect combination for reinventing beauty


At L’Oréal, we have always drawn inspiration from nature. Understanding nature’s mechanisms enables us to develop more environmentally-friendly production processes. We create formulas based on natural ingredients or ingredients of natural origin, and that in either case respect the environment. To meet these challenges, we have developed a recognized expertise based on a pact between science and nature, Green Sciences.

Learn more about Green Sciences

 

Green Sciences allow us to innovate permanently, and at every stage of a product’s life cycle:

  • Production of natural raw materials through innovative techniques (permaculture, agroforestry and biodynamics).

  • Production of effective natural ingredients or ingredients of natural origin using biotechnology (plant cell culture, bacterial fermentation and enzyme catalysis), environmentally-friendly transformation, extraction or fermentation processes, and green chemistry.

  • Green formulation by combining ingredients to produce formulas which deliver a unique technical performance and sensory experience in the eyes of our consumers. The use of natural ingredients and ingredients of natural origin, produced by green cultivation and green transformation, is fundamental to green formulation.

Technology is another limitless source of inspiration and has profoundly changed the way we interact with Beauty and cosmetics. This is why, at L’Oréal, we fully embrace innovations that push the boundaries of science and reinvent beauty and cosmetic rituals. With the help of Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence and data processing, we can now tailor Beauty experiences to every one of our customer’s needs, offering a wide range of creative solutions. Thanks to these advances, ideas are becoming a reality and we’re proud to be such a leading voice in this beauty revolution.

 



We believe nature is the future of beauty

We act to shape the future of beauty by leveraging the best of science and technology, increasingly inspired by nature. 

 

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