A Day At The P&G Singapore Innovation Center

Last March, I had the privilege to visit P&G Singapore Innovation Center and had an exclusive access to Olay Regenerist Miracle Duo before it even landed the Philippine shores. I had first dibs so after the trip, I was able to try the Miracle Duo for myself and I wrote a quick review of it HERE.  My verdict? Let’s just say I’m now a pre-essence kinda girl. 😉

The Procter & Gamble Singapore Innovation Center is the largest private research facility in Biopolis- the center of Singapore’s world-class research hub.

David Khoo, P&G senior scientific communications specialist opened the floor and discussed how P&G is committed in doing everything they can to provide consumers the right products- backed by science & years of extensive research- they need.

David zeroed in on P&G’s new product- Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence. Extensive research was put through this product and by extensive, they mean ten years of research conducted by hundred experts & researchers from four countries with thousands of clinical testing hours clocked in.

Slow energy leads to slow energy renewal and skin absorption. This concern was the reason why Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence was formulated– to re-energize skin through Niacinamide (which boosts cell metabolism) and to overcome the barrier to absorption.

All eyes and attention to Olay Miracle Duo.

We also had a peek on how P&G uses different technologies to measure skin at their measurement lab.

Translating consumer language to technical language for measure. This is where the skin measurement lab steps in. Researcher Dr. Akira Matsubara with David Khoo, lead us through the lab where different machines are housed. Machines such as the confocal microscope is used to view different layers of the skin.

Consumers are at the core Olay’s innovations. Product development begins with them and ends with them.

“Consumer is our boss”, according to Sujatha Logou, senior scientist and head of consumer home. Consumer home is dedicated in engaging with different types of consumers so they freely open up to provide valuable insights. The consumer home is designed from a Singapore home & is literally a mock of a home, with different areas- living room, bedroom, and bath (with shower to boot). This is where they conclude a 1 on 1 interview & panel based discussion to know what’s working and what’s not, so they can translate these concerns and ideas to products that would benefit the consumer.

Dr. Marie Landram, the chief formulator welcomed us to the Formulations Lab, where we were able to DIY a face cream. Did you know that moisturizing creams have larger molecules thus, they don’t penetrate the skin? They simply act as a protective barrier. Thus, essences and serums are more effective in penetrating the base layer of the epidermis. Olay Pre-Essence is light, fast-absorbing, 2x more penetration and has skin energizing technology.

 We felt like we were scientists ourselves! It’s so cool to see our cream come to life!

Glycerin, oil, emulsifier, polymer and water make up an unprocessed cream. The consistency? It’s thick, greasy, creamy and heavy. While it may seem easy to create your own face cream. It takes the right ingredients and combination to make a good face cream. The Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence has Pal-KTTKS, a key ingredient that triggers collagen production. It costs more than gold if we’re talking gram per gram but a little is needed in each bottle, only 5 grams to a million.

Here I was with Trina Epilepsia, Beauty Editor of MEGA and Cai Subijano of Preen.

Thanks for this paparazzi shot. Look at how careful I was as I go down the flight of stairs. At the back of my mind I was like “don’t slip, don’t fall, come on!” or else, Philippines will be remembered as the team with a representative who fell down the stairs. 😀

Masae Nogami is P&G in-house fragrance designer. Her nose literally is an investment as she spent years training her sense of smell. She memorized 700 scent/fragrance ingredients. I honestly don’t have a strong sense of smell so when we had a little exercise where we had to guess what fragrance is what, I was in a bit of a struggle. When it smells good, I’m good!

Smelling, smelling and more smelling. Isn’t it obvious that I’m bad at naming scents?!

Apple, lavender, vanilla, pineapple, musk, and so much more. These are just some of the fragrance we tried guessing. Nogami’s role is to formulate the right scent for each P&G product. “Delighting consumers with scents is her focus. It takes about 100 trials to create a perfect fragrance. Wow! Scent is a serious business for Nogami and when she feel she’s about to go down with flu, she takes a day off since there’s really no point going to work with a stuffy nose for a fragrance designer like her.

I was intently listening to Masae as she describes how a fragrance can complete a product, especially skin care.

The packaging lab is where design concept is screened. Notice how the O of Olay is present in all of it’s facial cream packaging? Dali, check your Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream and Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence to see the big O. I only figured it out after taking a closer look.

From virtually designing a packaging to 3D model. It takes a few virutual prototypes before printing a physical one using a 3D printer. After evaluating the physical protoype, they proceed to making a model to simulate- conducting stress simulation to check id the product packaging is robust. Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence has a patented dropper mechanism that pops up once you twist it open, dispensing just the right amount of serum to cover the entire face, even leaves a little amount for the neck.

After touring the different laboratories and knowing each of their purpose, we had our skin consultation using the VISIA.

VISIA captures facial images and provides complete data set to inform one of his/her problem areas & skin concerns- spots, wrinkles, texture, pores, UV spots, brown spots, red areas and porphyrins.

I was a bit scared to see my skin up close because hello, for the past 20 years of my life, I don’t really have a skin care regimen, so I was expecting the worse.

Bungisngis galore! Haha. Pretty surprised when the doctors said that overall my skin looks good. I just need to focus on moisturizing and hydrating my skin. Also, I must be careful with the skin under my eyes because that part of my face has premature signs of ageing- fine lines and a bit of wrinkles. When they asked how I clean my face, I told them I tend to rub my eyes, every time I remove my eye make up. Kids, don’t copy me! I was advised to gently wipe off make up instead of putting too much pressure so as not to develop more lines & wrinkles. Yikes! Scarybelles! Duly noted on this. I now refrain from putting so much force when removing my make up and even when I’m doing my skin care routine.

We capped off our P&G Singapore Innovation Center visit with an interview with David Khoo.

It was really easy to talk to David. I admit, at first I was a little apprehensive ‘coz I didn’t have any questions since he was very thorough as he lead us through P&G SGIC.

Trina asked David what’s his favorite part about his work and he said it’s the insights that excites him.

“The sciences that helps to support the insights.”

“The idea of skin being unresponsive either to age or environmental causes is an ever increasing concern.”

David also did a little demonstration when it comes to applying  Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence. He also recommends to use two full pumps of Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence to generously cover the face and décolletage. We were all smiles because of how candid our supposedly formal interview with David turned out. Thanks David for being as candid as we are!

Representatives from Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines all smiles as we were warmly welcomed at the P&G Singapore Innovation Center. There’s never a dull moment with these group- nonstop talking about food, beauty and fashion. So nice to have met these wonderful people.

Philippines represent. Baus Rufo, Account Manager of Campaigns & Grey, Trina Epilepsia, Beauty Editor of Mega Magazine, Cai Subijano, Editor-in-chief of Hinge Inquirer Publication and yours truly.

Thank you P&G for opportunity to see what goes around your SGIC. It was such a wonderful and insightful tour of the P&G Singapore Innovation Center. Hoping to be back!