Development of a Natural Anti-Age Ingredient Based on Quercus pubescens Willd. Leaves Extract—A Case Study

Consumers pay more and more attention not just to the safety and health aspects of ingredients entering their cosmetics’ formulations, but also to their potency, origin, processing, ethical value and environmental footprint. Sustainability of the supply chain, preservation of biodiversity, as well as greener extraction techniques are hence very popular with consumers. Consumers are primarily concerned by the efficacy of the cosmetic products they use and continuously scrutinize product labels, so marketing arguments need to be based on rigorous testing and reliable results to support claims (anti-age, anti-pollution, etc.) displayed on the product’s packaging. As a result, the increasing demand for natural ingredients with assessed bioactivities has profoundly modified the strategies adopted by cosmetic professionals to innovate in terms of actives. Sourcing and developing new natural cosmetic actives is a long-term procedure that is thoroughly described in the present paper, via the example of the design of both liquid and solid ingredients based on Quercus pubescens Willd. leaves extract, for which anti-age properties were assessed by a combination of in vitro assays