(CNN) — Mihwa Kim loved makeup so much that she became a host on a beauty home shopping show in South Korea — comparing, testing and promoting dozens of products on television. Then in 2013, her career was upended when a devastating car accident left severe wounds on her face and neck requiring more than 60 stitches. Her confidence took a huge hit. For six months she shut herself away at home and avoided sunlight as much as possible while she attempted to recover both physically and emotionally.
As she was undergoing various scar treatments, she discovered medical-grade hydrogel patches which are widely used for wound healing. The water-rich, flexible gel made from biotech fascinated her. “It did more than cover the injured area. It helped create an optimal environment in which the skin could support its own natural recovery process,” said Kim.
The injury completely changed her perspective on beauty. “I realized that healthy skin doesn’t come from applying more products or forcing dramatic changes,” she said. Kim also saw a gap in the beauty market. Medical-grade products were effective but not convenient for daily use and many of the cosmetics brands were easy to use but didn’t deliver results, she explained, so in 2021 founded her Seoul-based skincare brand, Biodance.
The rise of biotech in beauty
Biodance is one of many emerging beauty brands making products with biotechnology: a process that uses living microorganisms like yeast and bacteria to create “cleaner,” more targeted formulas without relying on harsh chemicals.
More than just a passing trend, it marks a significant shift in how beauty products are created, according to US-based cosmetic chemist Ginger King. “Biotech usually means taking natural ingredients and going through some sort of biological reaction, such as fermentation. Through doing so, you create a product that is more consistent, quality-wise.” At one point, many people sought out natural beauty products, King said. But natural ingredients “may not have the performance levels you’re looking for,” because they vary in concentration due to factors like weather, soil, and harvest time, she explained. “Biotech allows for better control.”
According to King, Korean beauty brands were among the early purveyors of biotech. As Asian foods like kimchi became more popular globally, with people appreciating its bold flavors and gut-friendly probiotics, the same could be said of beauty innovations from the region, she said. “People are understanding the benefits of fermentation in food. Now they’re starting to understand it in beauty.”
Today, biotech has also become much more accessible. Scientific advances once limited to bigger, established beauty conglomerates like L’Oreal and Shiseido are now more widely available and affordable for smaller, independent brands — many of which are run by women. It’s an area of beauty that consumers are also increasingly buying into with one global market research firm estimating that the biotech skincare market will grow from $5.8 billion in 2025 to $8.6 billion by 2032.
What biotech does differently
Using biotechnology to create ingredients that rival synthetic alternatives has been core to Emma Lewisham’s mission since she launched her namesake skincare brand in New Zealand in 2019.
Lewisham had a renewed focus on health following the loss of her mother to cancer and while trying to get pregnant. Her doctor advised her to stop clinical hyperpigmentation treatments for her dark spots and uneven skin tone as some ingredients could be unsafe to use while trying to conceive or during pregnancy. But the doctor couldn’t recommend a natural alternative that delivered the same results. For Lewisham, who completed her postgraduate studies in physiology and biochemistry at Harvard University, the experience made her quit her job at a multinational Japanese technology company and start her own line of products.
Lewisham focuses heavily on skin physiology, using multiple naturally derived ingredients that work together – an approach made possible through biotech. By producing pure, highly concentrated molecules that mimic the skin’s natural functions, Lewisham claims her products are more consistent, precise and sustainable. Nobel Prize winning physician and molecular biologist Peter Agre recently remarked on her “genuine commitment to scientific thinking and dedication to sustainable practices” in a press release issued by Lewisham’s company.
The British beauty editor-turned-entrepreneur Joanna Ellner’s path in biotech also stemmed from a turning point in her life. After 16 years working in media, Ellner changed gears and pursued a degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) at the University of Westminster in London. It was an experience that thrust her into “a world with trainee doctors and would-be general practitioners,” said Ellner.
In recent years, beauty consumers have had “a hyper weird fixation with clean,” Ellner added — an unregulated term that generally refers to the absence of ingredients that are harmful to human health and the environment.
Many shoppers focused on singular ingredients, either seeking them out or demonizing them, she observes. There has also been “an excess of products” as people embraced a 10 to 15 step skincare routine and, in some cases, were “overusing synthetic actives,” Ellner said. “We were applying too much stuff, but then our skin wouldn’t be in a great state because we were overtreating it.” Her TCM degree, however, offered “a different lens on life, one which is about seeking harmony and equilibrium.” And so, she was inspired to launch her skincare brand, Reome, in 2023.
Instead of relying solely on natural extracts, Reome works with biotech labs to recreate botanical molecules through processes like fermentation or plant cell cultures. It solves the problem of sourcing from nature, where “an ingredient we know to be good is incredibly hard to source, or the volume of it is so minimal that we could never produce it at scale,” Ellner said. Biotech beauty can also be engineered for better skin absorption, she explained — a claim that has been supported by multiple independent studies. “Your skin recognizes these ingredients as natural, so you have this compatible, biomimetic exchange.”
For Kim of Biodance, this encapsulates biotech’s greatest potential. “Even the most powerful ingredients cannot fully deliver their benefits if they are not effectively delivered to the skin,” she said.
Good skincare “comes from a well-designed formula where the ingredients, formulation and process work together in balance,” she added. “For me, bioscience is not about creating technology that replaces what the skin does naturally, but more about using technology to help the skin function at its healthiest state.”
How to shop well
As more skincare brands come to market, Kim says shoppers should be wary of the ones that place too much importance on the inclusion or omission of certain ingredients. Lewisham agrees, advising customers to look past aesthetic packaging and viral trends. Rather than those promising quick fixes, “look at brands that prioritize your skin biology,” she said. “You will find that in their language or description of a product. They will talk about working at multiple points of the skin to resolve, say, hyperpigmentation and use 20 ingredients for a coordinated effect, versus focusing on a specific ingredient, like vitamin A.”
One of the biggest remaining challenges when buying skincare is that “there is a lot that is not revealed to customers,” said Ellner. The molecular weight of an ingredient “really defines everything: Is the product going to stay on the upper layers of the skin…or will it pass through the epidermis?” The latter’s effect is desired by skincare companies like Reome, as they believe the product can then penetrate the skin’s primary barrier and work more effectively or have longer lasting benefits. Yet oftentimes this isn’t disclosed by brands. “They may have an amazing active ingredient, but if they’re not using it at a clinically proven dosage, it’s irrelevant,” said Ellner.
She recommends that shoppers conduct their own research and understand their skin type and what it needs before buying anything. For the former beauty editor, her biotech brand is “a reaction to two decades of writing about skincare that oftentimes would fall short on those promises.
“I want to do right in this category, where there’s been a lot of wrong that’s been done.”
The-CNN-Wire
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