Stevia is widely known as a natural sweetener in food and beverage, but HOWTIAN is demonstrating a new role for the ingredient in personal care. Following the successful introduction of SoPure™ DENTIVIA for oral care — which improves freshness and masks off-notes in toothpastes and mouthwashes — the company is now extending its SoPure™ platform into lip care applications.
The new solutions introduce plant-derived sensory ingredients designed to improve taste transfer, mask bitterness, and support clean-label positioning in lipsticks, lip balms, glosses, and other lip products.
The launch comes as the personal care industry continues shifting toward plant-derived ingredients and cleaner formulations. Global Growth Insights data shows that around 70% of consumers prefer personal care products made with natural ingredients, while more than 60% actively check ingredient labels and seek greater transparency. At the same time, plant-based claims in beauty products have increased significantly in recent years as brands respond to growing demand for sustainable and botanical ingredients.
For formulators, however, replacing synthetic components with natural alternatives without compromising performance remains a technical challenge — particularly in lip care products, where taste, comfort, and overall sensory balance are critical to the consumer experience.
The Hidden Sensory Challenge in Lip Products
While consumers increasingly demand natural and organic ingredients, achieving a premium sensory experience with botanical bases remains a persistent technical challenge for formulators. Taste transfer is an often-overlooked factor in lip care formulation. Bitter notes from botanical extracts, waxes, and functional actives can negatively affect product perception, while some masking approaches introduce lingering aftertastes or sensory imbalance.
SoPure™ stevia extracts offer a multifunctional approach, helping formulators solve technical hurdles while meeting clean-label demands:
- Natural Sweetness: Provides a pleasant taste transfer for lip balms, glosses, and lipsticks upon contact with the mouth.
- Effective Masking: Neutralizes bitter or unpleasant off-notes from waxes, vitamins, pigments, and botanical extracts.
- Skin-Soothing Properties: Offers antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits that help reduce irritation and support sensitive lips.
- Clean-Label Appeal: A 100% plant-based, vegan-friendly ingredient that aligns with the growing consumer demand for transparency and simple formulations.
- Gentle Profile: Features a low irritation risk; it is generally safe for topical use and is non-comedogenic.
- Superior Oil Dispersion: Disperses uniformly in oil systems without the crystallization issues common with saccharin or other artificial sweeteners.
“In lip care, even subtle bitterness or irritation can shape how consumers perceive a product,” said Summer Song, Senior Research Scientist, Home & Personal Care at HOWTIAN. “Our goal with SoPure is to help formulators improve taste, comfort, and ingredient transparency all at the same time.”
From Sweetener to Sensory Tool: Designed for Formulators
HOWTIAN developed SoPure lip care solutions to integrate easily into common formulation systems. Compatibility with typical lip care ingredients allows straightforward inclusion in lipsticks, balms, and hybrid cosmetic formats.
For R&D teams, the focus is not only on sweetness but on overall sensory engineering — improving taste perception, reducing bitterness, and enhancing consumer comfort on application.
To further evaluate sensory performance, HOWTIAN conducted comparative panel testing on lipstick formulations with and without SoPure™ Reb A 97. The results show that the inclusion of 0.2% SoPure™ Reb A 97 helps improve several sensory attributes relevant to lip care formulations, including moisturizing perception, fragrance balance, and overall sensory harmony.
The results illustrate how stevia extracts can influence multiple sensory dimensions in lip formulations, helping formulators improve taste balance and overall user experience while maintaining desirable texture and spreadability.
Building a Broader Role for Stevia in Personal Care
The lip care announcement follows the recent introduction of SoPure™ DENTIVIA for oral care, which demonstrated how stevia can improve freshness, mouthfeel, and off-note masking in toothpaste and mouthwash formulations. Together, these launches highlight stevia’s emerging role as a functional sensory ingredient across multiple personal care categories.
Availability
SoPure stevia extracts for lip care applications are available globally. HOWTIAN provides technical guidance, formulation support, and sample kits to manufacturers interested in evaluating the technology. For more information or to request samples, contact HOWTIAN today.