Plants Used in Cosmetics

Dear Colleagues,

Vegetal extracts and herbs have been used for cosmetic purposes by many civilizations since time immemorial, and plants were, for centuries, the only way to obtain colorants, fragrances and products for soothing and protecting skin. In more recent times, with the development of chemistry and petrochemistry, synthetic raw materials of interest to the cosmetic industry became available in huge quantities and at low price and largely replaced natural extracts and compounds. However, in the last few decades cosmetic ingredients based on plants or plants derivatives have made a powerful comeback, and claims referring to “plant origin”, “natural origin” and “naturally derived”—to name just a few—have become a major trend in the field of beauty. This trend reversal is largely consumer-driven and depends on several reasons; they include the increasing aversion for animal-derived products, ecological concerns and—probably the most important—the large number of myths about the safety of some controversial cosmetic ingredients that in recent times pervaded the media and the net. These health-related allegations involve specific chemicals (being parabens the most debated), and, although there is no conclusive scientific evidence of health risk for these compounds, a rising number of consumers are concerned about them and demand their replacement with natural alternatives, perceived as safer than synthetic products. As a consequence, plant ingredients in cosmetics are continually gaining popularity. Today, it is widely contended that the plant kingdom represents an enormous reservoir of biologically active chemicals, which are widely employed in medicine to treat all kind of illnesses and can also act as functional substances in cosmetic formulations. Products of plant origin used in cosmetics include vegetable oils and other lipids, essential oils used as fragrances or for their antimicrobial activities, ingredients for skincare and hair care, and antioxidants, to name just a few. Nowadays, plant material used to produce cosmetic ingredients comes from a variety of sources, which include not only conventional horticultural production (in field or greenhouse), but also wild harvest in developing countries and biotechnological methods (e.g., tissue cultures, hydroponic systems, fermentation of genetically modified organisms, microalgae cultures). The multiplicity of sources of plant cosmetic ingredients poses many different ethical and scientific issues previously not considered or underestimated, such as sustainability of the supply chain, preservation of biodiversity, improved isolation and extraction techniques, the evaluation of safety of new raw materials, and, finally, the development of innovative formulations.

This Special Issue is dedicated to plants used for the development of cosmetics (both botanical species of traditional use and exotic plants introduced in cosmetics to fulfil market demand), innovative plant-based cosmetic ingredients, and potential cosmetic use of plants traditionally intended for other purposes.

Original research articles and reviews are welcomed and encouraged.

Dr. Claudia Juliano
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cosmetics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Plants
• Cosmetics
• Natural ingredients
• Herbal products