If you’re celebrating because the world finally seems to be coming back to life after two years of cancellations and postponements, we’re right there with you. This August, we were thrilled to resume hosting our HQ Innovation Summit, an immersive brand experience in the San Francisco Bay Area where we give editors and creators an inside look at Biossance and a sneak peek at our most innovative product yet. (Coming soon!)
In celebration of the first HQ Summit in 3 years, we thought we’d share some highlights with you. Read on to join 12 of our favorite editors, dermatologists, and Sephora team members in the three-day insider experience of a lifetime.
Biossance Facials At 1 Hotel SF
A return to normalcy also means a return to air travel. Fortunately, we have just the thing to soothe and rehydrate travel-fatigued skin: our superhero ingredient squalane. Our sugarcane derived squalane - which we add to all of our products - replenishes moisture loss to maintain hydration and calm irritation. It also delivers up to 40 times more active skincare ingredients by helping them penetrate the skin more deeply and effectively.
We chose to host our guests at the LEED-Certified 1 Hotel SF, an industry leader in sustainability. After checking in, our guests migrated to the spa, where our Global Education team was waiting to give them customized Biossance facials tailored to their individual skincare concerns. Our guests emerged refreshed and glowing, ready to dive into the science behind our sustainable skincare.
Learn how to give yourself a DIY Biossance facial
A Biossance Lab Tour
The next day found our guests refreshed and revitalized as they headed across the bay to our Berkeley headquarters to don lab coats and goggles for an inside look at our labs. Our Director of Global Education, McKenzie Rose, greeted our guests and kicked off the day with a deep dive into Biossance products and our hero ingredient, squalane.
We use squalane in every product. Why? Because it’s just that powerful. Not only is it your body’s perfect moisturizer and bioidentical to the moisture found in human skin, but it also helps the ingredients we pair it with work even better. It does this by helping them to penetrate more deeply into the skin, enhancing their efficacy.
Even more importantly, sugarcane derived squalane is the cruelty-free replacement for squalene, a moisturizing ingredient the cosmetics industries previously sourced by harvesting shark livers. By creating sugarcane-derived squalane, our scientists save 2 million sharks a year, helping to preserve precious marine ecosystems.
It was important to us to share this biotech breakthrough with our guests, so we took them into our fermentation room to see how our scientists transform natural sugarcane into squalane using our unique fermentation process. This was a real aha moment, as our guests saw firsthand how we harnessed the power of biotechnology to reshape the beauty industry in a sustainable way.
A Round Table On Sustainability And Squalane
We followed our lab tour with a luncheon and roundtable discussion led by our Global President, Catherine Gore. Together, we discussed innovation, sustainability, and the state of the beauty industry.
One key takeaway: we don’t just use squalane in our own products, we share our sugcarcane based squalane breakthrough with other companies to help maximize its sustainability impact.
“Today I learned that the Biossance squalane is used in over 20,000 products worldwide,” said facial plastic surgeon Dr. Prem Tripathi.
Squalane is just one example of how our scientists are innovating sustainable, cruelty-free replacements for ingredients that don’t represent responsible use of our natural resources.
Christine Tusher
Author
As a lifestyle writer and journalist, I’m excited to bring my passion for storytelling to Biossance as an Engagement Content Writer. Two things you should know about me: I have a deep love of the ocean (especially sharks) and I’m obsessed with clean beauty. My bathroom cabinet is literally overflowing with my many-layered sustainable skincare routine. This combo is what led me to buy my first bottle of Vitamin C Rose Oil. I was so impressed by the way it improved my skin that I wanted to shout this brand from the rooftops. Three years later, and here I am doing just that. I’m excited to be on this journey of clean beauty innovation with Biossance, and to share it with you here on the blog.