Beauty Products in Focus
All for Beauty
By Kiki Tan
PUBLISHED: JUNE 2009

ONE OF THE first feedbacks that Godiva Inc. received, right after opening its online store in 2001, was from an African-American customer, who, having satisfactorily used some of the company’s products, asked if a product can be developed to help lighten the color of the lips.  This led the company to developing a one-of-a-kind balm that, yes, whitens the lips - though, going further, also to whiten the nipples. Suffice it to say, the same customer, after using the product, expressed satisfaction, this time blogging her comments in the company’s online store - and so came the first satisfied-client promotion of the product that was, eventually, named the Godiva Lightening Lip Gloss was born.

This development is nothing new in the cosmetic and toiletry industry, actually - for it to be able to survive, it has to be responsive to the demands (not just assumed needs) of its clients, and would-be markets. This is the only way for them not just to survive, but thrive in an industry worth billions globally.

Figures gathered from the National Statistics Office (NSO) revealed that the cosmetic and toiletry industry of the Philippines grew by 36%, from $35 million in 2003 to $131 million in 2004 (See Table 1).  Most of the products currently in the market are imported from Thailand (40% market share in 2004, with a market value of $53 million) and Malaysia ($29 million).  US is third, with $10 million.

Table 1: Philippine cosmetic and toiletry industries (in US$ millions)

*Estimated
Source: National Statistics Office

With 26 million (30%) of the country’s estimated 86 million people gainfully employed and with disposable income, various companies are outrunning themselves to come up with newer products not only to get a share of the market, but create their own niche.

Zest Magazine looks at these newer – and somewhat peculiar – products already widely available in the Philippines, with some even locally made.

Godiva Lightening Lip Gloss
The product is predominantly made of licorice (with Vitamin C added to “hurry the lightening process”), a plant native to parts of Europe and China, mainly used as tea and as flavoring.  In the early '90s, Japanese scientists isolated certain compounds in licorice useful for skin care – among these is glabridin, a skin whitening ingredient10 times more powerful than Vitamin C (PMG), 16 times more effective than hydroquinone, and 30 times more active than melawhite and kojic acid (See Table 2).

Table 2: Comparative activity of various skin whiteners
(Based on 50% inhibition concentration of whitening ingredients)

Source: Godiva Inc.

Godiva Inc. uses purified licorice with the highest glabridin content (40%), so that clinical trials by independent teams of dermatologists (Double-Blind Controlled Clinical Trial of Licorice in Whitening Skin among Filipinos, 1996; and Double-Blind Clinical Trial Comparing the Effect of Purified Licorice to 4% Hydroquinone in the Treatment of Melasma, 2002) showed that there is noticeable skin lightening in as early as seven days in 55% of the Filipino subjects, compared with the three to four weeks of other skin whiteners.

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