No7 Beauty Company leading the way in Dark Circles

We at No7 Beauty Company are experts in products and science. We believe in making products that really work; inclusive by design and rigorously tested, we translate insight into products that help our consumers be more confident. We are also committed to helping the industry and our consumers understand what goes into beauty products, how they should use them and why they work. 

When Dr Mark O’Mahony, No7 Beauty Company Research Scientist told us about a scientific paper he wrote, which has subsequently been peer-reviewed and published, we were keen to interview him to hear more! 

Newsroom: Hi Mark! Thanks so much for doing this Q&A with us. Firstly, please can you summarise the work that has been done?

Mark: No problem – thanks for having me! Yes, so back in in 2019, No7 Beauty Company published a scientific paper looking at the key physiological factors behind dark circles. Since then, we have done lots of additional research, and in partnership with a Clinical Research Organisation in the US, SGS Stephens Inc, developed a new method for clinically assessing dark circle severity and product efficacy using a novel photonumeric grading scale. We are thrilled that this second paper was published earlier this year in a leading cosmetic science journal. This was a real cross-functional team effort involving colleagues across the No7 Beauty Company from Research, Product Delivery, Product Testing and Claims.

Newsroom: It’s amazing to hear that the work our team members are doing is contributing to real innovation in the beauty space. So when you say ‘developing a new method’, are we saying this is an industry first?!  

Mark: We are! To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully validated photonumeric scale for visually assessing dark circles. This will be an excellent tool for clinicians and researchers in this field and provides them with an easy-to-use and sensitive measure of dark circle severity, without the need for tricky instruments!   

Newsroom: And what does it mean for us? 

Mark: Well, importantly for No7, it supports the clinical benefits of its No7 Laboratories Dark Circle Corrector, which was tested in a randomised controlled single blinded trial on 58 women, and clinically proven to reduce the appearance of dark circles. Having validated clinical proof meant that, for the first time, No7 could make a clinically proven dark circles claim on UK TV – which was a pretty big deal! 

Newsroom: OK, so come on – in layman’s terms – tell us how it works…

Mark: OK, labs coats on for this… The scale consists of a series of photographs and descriptors of increasing dark circles severity and provides an objective and clinically relevant tool for evaluating this concern and the efficacy of treatment products. Approximately three thousand photographs from a database of facial images were reviewed to create the grading scale, so we believe the scale is a good representation of the prevalence of dark circles in the general population. For maximum applicability and inclusivity, individuals with diverse skin tones were included in the validation and product efficacy assessments using this scale. 

As already mentioned, the product tested in the study was the No7 Laboratories Dark Circle Corrector, where Fifty-eight women applied the product twice daily to one eye area only for 8 weeks, with clinical assessments and images taken throughout this period.  After 8 weeks, a significant clinical improvement, as assessed using the new grading scale, could be measured on the product treated side. 

Newsroom: Thanks so much for your time Mark! This publication is a real game-changer for the beauty industry and goes a long way to help cement No7 Beauty Company and No7’s place as experts in the science of dark circles. We usually like to end on a fun question so:  If you could setup a food truck, what would you sell? 

Mark: Definitely, Pizza – proper wood fired pizza. Simply, because I love Pizza! And have great memories of eating authentic pizza in Italy. It’s always my first choice for a take-away. 

The full paper is published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science and is available to view on the Wiley Online Library website.

No7 Laboratories Dark Circle Corrector is available to buy on No7Beauty.