Valorization of Wine-Making By-Products’ Extracts in Cosmetics

The increased demand for conscious, sustainable and beneficial products by the consumers has pushed researchers from both industries and universities worldwide to search for smart strategies capable of reducing the environmental footprint, especially the ones connected with industrial wastes. Among various by-products, generally considered as waste, those obtained by winemaking industries have attracted the attention of a wide variety of companies, other than the vineries. In particular, grape pomaces are considered of interest due to their high content in bioactive molecules, especially phenolic compounds. The latter can be recovered from grape pomace and used as active ingredients in easily marketable cosmetic products. Indeed, phenolic compounds are well known for their remarkable beneficial properties at the skin level, such as antioxidant, antiaging, anti-hyperpigmentation and photoprotective effects. The exploitation of the bioactives contained in grape pomaces to obtain high value cosmetics may support the growing of innovative start-ups and expand the value chain of grapes. This review aims to describe the strategies for recovery of polyphenols from grape pomace, to highlight the beneficial potential of these extracts, both in vitro and in vivo, and their potential utilization as active ingredients in cosmetic products.