LCF MSc Cosmetic Science Industry Day: This is what professionals do

The MSc Cosmetic Science Industry Day 2022 took place on Wednesday 16 March in the RHS space at London College of Fashion, UAL’s John Prince’s Street site. Third year MSc Cosmetic Science students were asked to present what they did during their one-year industry placement programme; introducing themselves and their placement company to fellow students, alumni and industry guests, explaining how it has contributed to their professional and personal growth.

The aim of the event is to celebrate the collaboration between MSc Cosmetic Science and the cosmetic industry in creating new and amazing cosmetic scientists for the future. The event looks to also celebrate the success of the students that have completed industry placements and how the opportunity has contributed so positively to their personal and professional development as cosmetic scientists. This is also a time to celebrate the community and cosmetic science education at LCF. We spoke to this year’s student speakers to find out more about their placement and how the course helped prepare them for it.

Industry professionals were in attendance from companies like L'Oréal (UK and Ireland team), Meiyume, Superdrug, The Formulation Studio, Amelia Knight, Bleach London, Deciem, and Arthur Edward. Also in attendance were Sam Farmer (President of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists), representatives from the CTPA (Cosmetics, Toiletries, and Perfumes Association) and Summit Events, and multi award winning beauty journalist, influencer, broadcaster, and diversity advocate Dr Ateh Jewel herself.

The event celebrated the students’ professional and personal growth and gave a chance for the industry experts to learn more about the students with the perspective to hire them in the future. The 3^rd Year students began their presentations by introducing themselves and spoke about their projects and achievements whilst operating in a professional setting.

Christian Oliver

Started placement in New Product Development (NPD) intern at By Dr Vali and LMS Wellness and later took the role of a Beauty PR Intern at Aisle 8, where he worked with Boy Smells, Typology, Solawave, Jo Loves and Sloane Street.

Placement project – Conducting a user trial of By Dr Vali’s Cutis, a micro-contouring tool, to confirm whether it worked to improve facial aesthetics, such as improving radiance and depuffing.

Sofia Nuzzo

Worked at L’Oréal head offices at Hammersmith as part of the Scientific and Regulatory team where she assisted in looking after 5 brands using the ASA Environmental Claims Tracker​ and New Claims review Processes.

Placement project – The impact of cosmetics on the skin’s microbiome by comparing the impact of skin cleansers, makeup, and moisturisers via secondary research.

Alex Salt

Had the role of Junior Technologist at The Formulation Studio where she worked on formulations, running stability testing​, ingredient research, Product Information Files (PIFs​) and networking at Trade Shows​.

Placement project – Creating hair conditioners for African type hair by experimenting with different conditioning ingredients and ensuring the products were stable.

Alessandro Scordari

Travelled to Milan, Italy where he did his placements at B2B companies, Ancorotti Cosmetics and Pinkfrogs. In both companies he was a skincare and haircare innovation research & development intern, and also worked in Quality Control, stability and compatibility​, researching new ingredients (organic/natural certified)​, raw material supplies and product evaluation.

Placement project – Assessing the sensorial performance of Phenyl Trimethicone ​in W/Si Liquid Foundations ​and Anhydrous Foundation Sticks, by testing the following sensory properties: spreadability, thickness, stickiness, glossiness, and residue.

Katarzyna Chlebowicz

Technical Intern at Superdrug in Croydon, her role consisted of working on new product development​, technical and ethical audits​, user trials​, product information files​, panel testing, claim substantiation and customer complaints and queries​.​ ​

Placement project – Working on the rebranding and extension of the Solait Bronzing range​ Dihydroxyacetone​-based self-tan products, by adding Betaine​ and other actives​, changing the label design​, and include information on Post-Consumer Recycled​ (PCR) plastic​. The extension included a Solait self-tan sleep mask with added collagen for hydrated and plumped skin appearance​, and a self-tan serum to include hyaluronic acid for improved skin texture and overall improvement of the facial skin appearance​.

Ellie Richardson

Worked at Amelia Knight, a family run business that develop and manufacture products for brands and retailers worldwide like Primark, Illamasqua and Glow Hub. Ellie’s responsibilities included creating, updating, and sending out colour charts for the China team, create new formulations, making colour matching samples, producing customer and stability samples.

Placement project – Exploring Retroreflective Microspheres and how they can be used in colour cosmetics​. This was done through by interviewing target consumers, comparing the effects of microbead size, sensory evaluation of perceived retroreflectivity and stability tests, with the aim to the create eye/body paints.

Petra Hunorova

Had a lab-based role in the Chemistry Research and Development team in hygiene, home, and personal care at ARXADA, a Swiss Company. Petra worked with formulations for internal and external testing and the development of hand disinfection prototypes with different actives, thickeners or sensory enhancing ingredients,​ as well as performance evaluations based on stability, cleaning, sensory panel, and antimicrobial efficacy tests.

Placement project – The influence of surfactants on biocidal performance in hygiene and personal care applications to better understand the effects of solution environment on the behaviour of biocidal surfactants, including their antimicrobial efficacy,​ and relate these properties to hygiene and personal care applications.

Anh Vu Thi Ngoc

Moved to Liverpool to work for Innospec, a chemical supplier for Unilever, Henkel, P&G and many others. The position allowed Anh the chance to help promote science as a career​ by attending the STEAM festival at a museum​ and an industry day at a high school​. Anh’s day to day tasks included formulating, bottling, and labelling samples​, stability and foam testing​ as well as panel testing with hair tresses​.

Placement project – Working on a new line of shampoo and body wash concentrate that can be diluted using water which in turn uses less plastic packaging​ which can be reused and is easier to transport, which reduces carbon footprint.

After the presentations the audience were given the chance to vote on their favourite speakers who were then selected for CTPA awards alongside others who were also granted a bursary for writing excellent reports or being top of the class. These awards were presented by Professor Danka Tamburic.

CTPA Award winners

Best Year 1 (2021/22) Students (£1,200 per student)

Natalia Chovanakova

Katelyn Hamilton

Best Year 2 (2021/22) Students (£1,200 per student)

Kinga Siedlik

Elisa Ladrech

Best Industry Placement Report (2021/22) (£400 per student)

Cintia Gomes Cintra

Petra Hunorova

Best Industry Day Presentation

Alex Salt

2^nd and 3^rd Best Industry Day Presentation winners

Alessandro Scordari and Anh Vu Thi Ngoc

The 3 best Industry Day presenters will present again at the Society of Cosmetic Scientists evening lecture in January.

Summit Events Award (attendance to the Anti-ageing Skin Care Conference in 2023) which was awarded by Dr Katerina Stevenson to the Year 3 (2021/22) student Joyce Lemmer for her outstanding personal and professional development throughout the course.

The evening closed with a panel discussion with 3 alumni who spoke about their personal journeys and professional goals since leaving LCF.

Joe Basham, finished the MSc Cosmetic Science in 2019. He had a spectacular A+ in his MSc Project oral presentation on the skin microbiome. He now works for Deciem, where he's worked since graduating, as a Science Communications Manager.

Samita Verma, finished the MSc Cosmetic Science in 2021. She joined the course to be a formulator, which she is doing now. She's a Haircare Formulation Chemist at Meiyume, a contract manufacturer for many brands.

Amber Duke-Cohen, finished the MSc Cosmetic Science in 2020. After a very successful placement year at Superdrug, she went to work for them part-time during her Master's year and soon became a Quality Assurance Manager, not just for cosmetics, but also for medical devices.