Innovation is a subject I enjoy learning about, so I read as much about it as I can. Recently, I finished The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson. It was a great read and filled with practical information that any cosmetic chemist / inventor can use to help inspire new ideas.

Here is a basic summary of the key information from the book. I encourage you to get a copy and read it, but this should get you started.

Medici Effect book summary

I. The Intersection

In the first part, Johansson explains what he means by the Medici Effect. This is a phenomenon of extraordinary creativity created by the intersection of ideas from different fields. This effect is the source for the most revolutionary and innovative ideas.

He also explains that there are three factors that have led to an increase in the potential for revolutionary ideas including

a. The movement of people & blending of cultures
b. The convergence of different fields of science
c. The increase in computing power

Bottom line for cosmetic chemists –

If you want to create innovative ideas you need to combine fields that are not obviously related. (e.g To make a better cosmetic, go learn about pet biology, classical music, or fishing)

II. Creating the Medici effect

This part of the book explains the practical ways to go about creating the Medici Effect and generating a bunch of revolutionary ideas. The steps seem easy enough. First, break down the mental barriers that keep you stuck in your field. This can be done in a variety of ways including.

• Expose yourself to new fields, people, and cultures.
• Learn in a different way (be as self-taught in an area as you can)
• Reverse assumptions – Think about all the assumptions about your current product and imagine what would happen if the opposite was true.
• Randomly combine subjects

The book gives other ways for a team to create a Medici effect including

• Work with teams of diverse occupation backgrounds
• Work with teams of diverse ethnic / gender backgrounds

Bottom line for cosmetic chemists

To come up with the most innovative ideas, study subjects unrelated to cosmetic science, work with people a diverse group of people, and brainstorm frequently to come up with ideas. Quantity of ideas is much more important than Quality.

III. Making Intersectional ideas happen

The final section of the book is about how you can turn innovative ideas into actual products. You first have to realize that you are going to fail much more frequently than you succeed. Most of your ideas will be bad. But you have to learn from your failures, don’t be afraid of them, and don’t waste all your money/resources on one idea. Revolutionary ideas are risky but the payoff is worth the risk.

To make a revolutionary idea happen, you’ll also have to break out of your typical network of people. Your current network is set up to maintain the status quo. Most people will scoff at anything that is really innovative. To make it happen, connect with new suppliers, marketing partners and others that are not associated with your current network.

Bottom line for cosmetic chemists

Don’t expect your marketing group to love the innovative new idea you came up with. If it’s not something they can easily sell to Walmart or any of their other current customers, they aren’t likely to pay much attention to it. If you really believe in your idea, you are going to have to find a new way to make it happen. I think the Internet is a great place to test new ideas.

The Medici Effect is a good book but I would’ve liked some more step-by-step tips on actually generating ideas. The author references another book I just got called the Innovator’s Dilemma. That one is next up on my innovation book reading list.

Have you read a book about innovation that you thought was particularly good? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Kelly alerted me to this interesting article about some of the more unusual cosmetics launched in 2009.

In it they highlight the following products as examples of what cosmetic companies are doing to create “innovative” products.

1. Soap from a lingerie company
2. Men’s cologne in a bottle shaped like a #1
3. Nanotechnology skin care cream
4. 3D anti-ageing skin mask

The thing I find most interesting is that at least 2 of these products do not require any new cosmetic formulation (the soap & cologne). And the other 2 could also be done without any difficult formulation work.

The basic problem with these new products is that they aren’t solving any consumer problems in a superior way. The new package may make you stand out on the shelf but it is still cologne. Soap from a lingerie company is still soap.

I have no idea what a 3-D face mask but it’s not a stretch to imagine it is just another name for a typical face mask.

The only product that could have some technological innovation is the one based on nanotechnology. Unfortunately, there are no claims given and you could easily make the product by creating a standard skin lotion with added, non-functional nanotechnology.

Solve Consumer Problems

If cosmetic companies really wanted to set their products apart from the competition, they need to create formulas that solve consumer problems in some superior way. Consumers don’t care about how their products work (say nanotechnology), they care about the end results.

So, while you enter the new year and are thinking about projects to work on, start with figuring out which consumer problem you want to solve.

Don’t know what they problems are? We’ve previously written about them.

Top Hair Care consumer problems
Top Skin Care consumer problems

Creating products to solve problems like these is definitely more difficult than package or color/fragrance changes. But ultimately, the products that will be successful are ones that cosmetic chemists create focused on solving real consumer problems.

Happy formulating.

One of the missions of Chemists Corner is to teach and inspire scientists in the cosmetic industry to become more innovative. The personal care and cosmetic products of today have changed only slightly in the last 20 years. This is primarily because new product development is led by Marketing and Market Research groups rather than by cosmetic chemists. New stories drive innovation rather than new technologies.

But cosmetic chemists and R&D departments can change this. They can take responsibility for innovation and focus on solving real problems in new ways. Changing color, fragrance and packaging may be innovative to Marketing departments but it is not the kind of innovation that solves cosmetic problems. This type of “real” innovation can only come from people who know cosmetic science.

Unfortunately, innovation is not a topic that is part of most undergraduate science programs. You’ll need to study the subject on your own to get better at it. One way to do that is to keep up on innovation blogs, read books, and attend continuing education courses. However, ultimately the way to be innovative is to DO SOMETHING. Identify problems you want to solve, generate ideas, conduct experiments, and play in the lab. No doubt you are “too busy”, everyone is. Make it a priority and you’ll find the time.

For some innovation inspiration, the Heart of Innovation blog put up this article about 50 ways to make your culture more innovative. Here are a few that are most relevant to a cosmetic chemist.

3. Have more fun. If you’re not having fun (or at least enjoying the process) something is off.

4. Always question authority, especially the authority of your own longstanding beliefs.

9. Ask questions about everything. After asking questions, ask different questions. After asking different questions, ask them in a different way.

18. Encourage people to get out of their offices and silos. Encourage people to meet informally, one-on-one, and in small groups.

27. Make customers your innovation partners, while realizing that customers are often limited to incremental innovations, not breakthrough ones.

35. A great source of new ideas are people that are new to the company. Get new hires together and tap their brainpower and imagination.

What have you done to make yourself more innovative? Leave a comment below and let us know.

I read this interesting interview over at the Harvard Business blog. Some university types conducted a 6-year study of 3000 “creative” executives and came to the following conclusions about what innovative people have that non-innovative people lack.

Basically, there are 5 skills that they have developed. We outline the skills below and suggests some exercises that can help you build them.  This should be useful in your cosmetic science career.

1. Associating

This is the ability to make mental connections between seemingly unrelated ideas and problems. For example, the guy who made Velcro was inspired by the way burrs stuck to his dog’s fur.

Exercise 1 – Mash-up exercise. Think of 2 different kinds of products, one personal care product & one non-personal care product.   For example, skin lotion and a mop. Spend 5 minutes trying to come up with inventions that would combine characteristics of both products.  Here are just two quick examples.

• A mop you use to apply skin lotion (for your back?)
• An additive to your mop solution that softens & moisturizes your floors

Don’t worry whether the ideas are good or not.  The point is to train your brain to start thinking this way.

2. Questioning

Innovative people are inquisitive people. They constantly ask questions like “what if” and “Why?” This can make them look stupid because the answers seem simple but it can also shake up your brain and get you to a new way of thinking.

Exercise 2 – Questioning. Ask basic questions about the product you are working on. For example, “What if you couldn’t use water to take showers? How would products be different?”. “What if none of your consumers could see color or smell fragrances? How would your products be different?”

3. Closely observe details

Scientists are well suited for this skill. When you are trying to develop innovative products the first thing you should do is observe someone using the current product and see if you can find any points where you can improve the process.

Exercise 3 – Video observations. Go to YouTube and search for people doing demonstrations on using the type of products you are developing. You can find people applying cosmetics, makeup, washing their hair, washing their face, etc. Watch the process and see if you can figure out a way to make it easier.

4. Experiment

Here’s another skill your training as a scientist will help. If you are able to come up with a hypothesis and test it, you are well on your way to developing your new idea into an innovative product.

Exercise 4 – Be an inventor. Get a book like ‘How to make sneaky things out of everyday objects’ and just tinker. To be an inventor, you have to invent. Practicing the inventions of other people is a great way to get started.

5. Good at networking

In today’s world, the “lone inventor” rarely exists any more. To get things accomplished you need a good network. You need to know people who can help you get things done.

Exercise 5 – Cosmetic Science Networking. Attend your local SCC or ACS meeting and start connecting with people in your industry and area. Also, start building your profile and connections on LinkedIn. This is a great place to find people who can help you accomplish whatever you desire. If you want to start with someone, feel free to connect with Perry and Kelly.

To become an innovator, you have to practice. Doing some of these exercises on a regular basis will help you get better. Hopefully, it will help lead you to that great new innovation that the cosmetic industry desperately needs.

Do you have any innovation exercises that can help lead to new product ideas? Leave a comment below.

At some point in your chemist career, you are going to have an idea that you think would make a great product. You might even think the idea is so incredible that once it’s developed it will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams! (or at least make you wealthy). This is good. You should continually be thinking up ideas like this.

If you are like most people, you won’t know what to do next. For cosmetic chemists who work for companies, the next step is typically to share your idea with your boss and do what you can to push the idea up to people who can make it happen. Sadly, this is rarely effective & the direct financial gain realized by you isn’t much.

But if you are on your own and feel a bit entrepreneurial, you might start thinking about how you can get the idea created on your own.

Idea sharing fears

One of the most common things I’ve heard is that people don’t want to share their ideas with anyone because they are afraid the ideas might get stolen. If this is you, read this article about ideas. I know it’s about software but it’s relevant to cosmetics too.

The bottom line is that even if your idea is incredible you don’t have to worry about it being stolen because

1. Most people won’t care
2. More people won’t understand it
3. People care more about their own ideas

What to do with your new idea

The best thing you can do with a new idea is tell everyone you know about it. Ask them for their input and ways that you can make it happen or make it better.

Remember, ideas are practically worthless. It’s what you do with your ideas that makes them valuable to you and your chemist career. This is especially true in the cosmetic industry. A new product in your head is no good to anyone.

Ideas are worthless. Execution of ideas is valuable.

Incidentally, this is why I freely share any idea that I have. I’d rather see my idea realized (even if it’s not by me) than to take it to my grave. Ideas locked up in your head are lost forever.

Got an idea you haven’t been able to get developed? Leave it below and set it free in the world. Someone might provide just the right feedback that will help you actually do something to make the idea happen.

Everywhere you look, companies are saying they need to innovate to remain competitive. You’ll hear a lot of executives say they need to “focus on innovation” or “prioritize innovation”. Have you ever asked yourself what they mean by innovation?  Companies define innovation differently, or not at all. One of the most important things you can do before having an innovation initiative is to define it.

Defining Innovation

I know what you’re thinking, “Great, another piece of corporate jargon that I have to memorize”. You’ve already struggled to learn your company’s mission statement that probably sounds something very similar to this one I created from the automated Corporate Mission Statement Generator…

Our business is dedicated to helping the full range of our personal gain from dedication to personal goals at all levels

Don’t worry, the process of defining innovation will actually be much more useful than any Corporate Mission Statement. Innovation definition doesn’t have to be difficult, but it can really set up what you’re going to get out of it. Your definition might be:

Innovation = an idea turned into a product

You can see that you might not be creating groundbreaking products with this definition. It could be a bad idea turned into a product, or a just an OK idea turned into a product. If you don’t have a definition of innovation at all, this can become the de facto definition. Compare that definition with the following:

Innovation = Creating a new to the market/new to the world products that not only beats the best in class, but makes them irrelevant.

Having the above definition will set you up for discovery that’s not merely incremental innovation. Your 30% faster doesn’t become 40% faster with this definition. It becomes instantaneous. Your 50% stronger doesn’t become 60% stronger. It becomes unbreakable. Your 20% less doesn’t become 30% less. It becomes zero.

Next Step to Innovate

Once you have a definition for innovation, make sure the entire organization from top to bottom understands it. Misalignment can cause problems. If the top of the organization thinks it’s the first definition and R&D thinks it’s the second definition, they aren’t going to be ready for a big innovation when it gets discovered because it will sound too “out there”. If the top thinks it’s the second definition and R&D thinks it’s the first, they are going to wonder why they are spending money on innovation when all that’s delivered are things 1% or 5% better than last year.

If you’re serious about innovating, define it, align it, and then design it. And when you do it, be sure to let me know how you change the world!

Chris Boone is a forward thinking cosmetic chemist (and zymurgist) who is focused on innovation. You can connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.

To advance in your cosmetic chemistry career you have to come up with good, unique ideas. If all your company needed from you was color and fragrance changes to formulas, they could’ve saved a lot of money by hiring a technician rather than a formulating chemist.

Chemists who can come up with and implement ideas are the ones who will be most valuable to any company.

Of course, coming up with and implementing ideas was not a subject you’re likely to have learned in any college science course. Some people seem born with the ability to generate ideas. And maybe they were. But generating new, unique ideas is something that everyone can do. You just need to use some proven brainstorming tools. One of these tools is the SCAMPER technique. Let’s look at what it is and how you might use it

SCAMPER Idea Generation

First, SCAMPER is an acronym that stands for…

• Substitute
• Combine
• Adapt
• Modify
• Put to other Purposes
• Eliminate
• Rearrange

It uses a set of directed questions to come up with new product/process ideas.

Generating New Product Ideas

While we’ll go through an example of generating new product ideas, the SCAMPER technique could be used for any challenge or problem you face. Some of the categories won’t fit exactly so you’ll have to adapt it to your needs. To start this process, get a pen and paper so you can start writing your ideas down. Using a computer is fine but I’ve found actually writing things improves the ideas I generate.

Suppose you work on Body Wash formulations. Here is how you would use the SCAMPER technique to come up with new ideas.

Substitute

Substitute means thinking about your product and trying to make substitutions to come up with something else. Ask yourself a question like ‘What can I substitute to change the product?’ For a formula like Body Wash you might try substituting ingredients like the primary and secondary surfactants. The key is to not think critically about your ideas. Forget what you “know” and try any idea you can. Could you make a body wash substituting the Water for Alcohol? Maybe.

Combine

The idea behind combining is that you take multiple aspects of your product and combine them. This is the kind of thinking that led to multifunctional products like 2-in-1 shampoos. Could you combine skin lotion and body wash to make a 2-in-1 body wash? How about combining the body wash with the poof to create a foaming wash cloth? You could even create a body wash that does everything from washing, to conditioning, to prepping your skin for shaving.

Adapt

Adapt means thinking about some aspect of the product and adapting it for some other purpose. For example, could you find a surfactant for your body wash that also doubles as a fragrance or colorant or preservative?

Modify

Modify means changing or distorting the product in some way to come up with something different. Ask yourself a question like ‘What would happen if I exaggerated a feature of the product?’ So for a body wash you might try to make it small and concentrated or really big and diluted. Could you have a body wash where the consumer puts a single drop on their poof and it cleans their entire body?

Put to other Purposes

This concept refers to using your product for another purpose. For example, you have a body wash already. Could you sell the same formula to pet owners to wash their animals? Could the body wash be used to wash hair, or dishes, or bathrooms, etc.?

Eliminate

When you think of eliminating things from your product you can often come up with interesting new ideas. Ask ‘What would the product look like if I removed some component’? In our body wash example, what kind of product would you get if you removed the water? How about removing the surfactant (or 80% of the surfactant)? Or removing foam? By eliminating ingredients or characteristics you might come up with a completely new and interesting product.

Rearrange

This part of the exercise asks what happens if your product is designed to do the reverse of what it normally does. So, could you make a body wash that deposits things on the skin rather than removing them? Could you use a cationic surfactant instead of an anionic? What can you rearrange or reverse about your product and how would that lead to a new product?

Give yourself an idea quota

Your success in your career will be directly related to the number of independent ideas you generate and implement. If you can create more unique ideas you will be more likely to make them happen and this will be great for your career.

Spend at least 10 minutes a day coming up with new ideas. Challenge yourself to come up with at least 50 new ideas a week. Write them down and review them once a month to determine which you would like to pursue.

We’re all born with the ability to come up with new & unique ideas. Frequently exercise your mind by generating ideas so you don’t lose it.  Doing so will certainly help your chemist career.

Since we already reviewed the 10 unsolved problems in hair care, it makes sense to look at the problems that need to be solved in skin care. Here are the top unsolved skin care problems which, if you can solve them, you can make a lot of money as a formulator.

1. Dry, itchy skin

It’s a fact of life that in some climates, skin just won’t stay moisturized. When it dries out it becomes flaky, itchy and just generally feels bad. Tens of thousands of lotions have been made to alleviate the problem but nothing is long lasting. Cosmetic formulators need to push the envelop and make moisturizers that will better relieve dry skin, last longer, and even prevent it from occurring. The company that does will slide their way to the top of the skin product market.

2. Wrinkles

Everyone gets wrinkles and it seems that everyone has an idea of how to get rid of them. In truth, the only topical treatment that has had moderate success is Retinol. Finding new compounds and strategies for smoothing out wrinkles is the Holy Grail of skincare. Right now, the industry has many stories but few working solutions.

3. Acne

If you do nothing to the little blotches on your face and skin, they usually clear up in a week. Use a treatment and it will take 7 days. Seriously, people continue to seek better, faster ways to treat and prevent acne. There is still room for a cosmetic chemist to help formulate longer lasting, more effective treatments.

4. Sagging skin

Gravity, age, and a reduction in collagen production all conspire to make our skin droop to the ground. Cosmetic chemists have tried forever to make products that fight this condition by tightening the skin. Unfortunately, nothing works nearly as well as cosmetic surgery. But that doesn’t mean an invention isn’t out there waiting to be discovered.

5. Age spots

These are black, brown, or gray spots that pepper the skin of older people. They are caused by sun exposure and are treated with skin bleaching products. The ultimate cosmetic would be one that prevents these marks of age from ever forming in the first place.

6. Skin Lightening

While not necessarily a problem, many people around the world desire to have their darker skin lightened. Hydroquinone is generally the prescription of dermatologists. Other treatments like Kojic Acid with Glycolic acid have been used too. None of these treatments are satisfactorily safe and effective so there is room for development of something better.

7. Tattoo Removal

One of the most common problems people have are tattoos that they want to get rid of. What seemed like a good idea in college, now looks like an ugly blotch in the real world. Chemical peels have been sold to rid the skin of the tattoos, but no suitable solution (short of surgery) has been proven highly effective.

8. Eczema / Dermatitis

These are skin diseases characterized by redness, inflammation, itching, and even more extreme conditions. The problem should be treated by a doctor, but cosmetic scientists can help to alleviate the symptoms through the creation of moisturizing creams and safe soaps.

9. Psoriasis

This is another chronic skin condition and is characterized by red scaly patches. It is an autoimmune disease and, as such, is more in the realm of doctors than cosmetic chemists. However, topical treatments are one way to relieve the symptoms. If you can make a treatment that is more effective and longer lasting, you could dominate the market.

10. Unwanted Hair

The only thing worse than not having hair is growing hair in the wrong places. Since those wrong places are typically on the body in places other than the head, it makes unwanted hair removal one of the top problems in skin care. Right now solutions focus on hair removal through harsh chemicals. Creating a gentler way to get rid of unwanted hair would be a great invention.

Honorable mentions….

Stretch Marks
Cellulite
Cold Sores

In a future post, we’ll go more into the various strategies people have used to solve these and why they haven’t worked.

Have you worked on any of these skin problems? Was there anything we missed? Leave a comment and let us know.

As a cosmetic scientist your job will often involve coming up with a formula that satisfies the desires of your Marketing department. Fortunately, or unfortunately, those desires are usually satisfied by taking existing formulas, adding small amounts of ingredients to support the marketing story, and testing the formulas to make sure they are stable.

I say unfortunately, because this isn’t a very creative activity. You really aren’t fully using your skills as a chemist or inventor. If you limit yourself to these types of projects and activities, you’re going to get bored.

Fortunately, there are still unsolved problems in many areas of cosmetics. Many problems will require more than just tweaking existing formulas with story ingredients. Here are the top 10 unsolved problems in the area of hair care.

1. Hair Loss

It’s a fact of life that people lose hair. Much of this is through natural shedding which is replaced in the normal hair growth cycle. But as people get older, hair loss becomes permanent. If you can figure out how to stop hair loss or to make it start growing again, you’ll be rich.

2. Unwanted hair growth

This is the opposite problem of the first but not any less important. Nearly everyone has hair in places where they wished it wouldn’t grow. Solutions like depilatories or shaving provide short-term, temporary relief. If you can figure out how to stop hair growth you may become famous.

3. Hair going gray

Everyone goes gray and there are only two ways to handle it. Artificial hair color that has to be constantly re-applied or just let it go gray. If you can invent a way to restart natural hair color or apply color in a constant and convenient way, you could make millions or billions.

4. Hair color changes

People spend tons of money on changing their hair color but unfortunately, it changes quickly. Make a way to keep the color in people’s hair and you’ll have a product that will out-sell all competitors.

5. Bad Hair condition (feel)

?The only solution to this problem is the repeated application of condition. But if you could figure out a way to give people long lasting conditioning / excellent feeling hair you would radically change the hair care market.

6. Unruly hair – Frizzy, uncooperative

Conditioners help but they don’t stop hair from fizzing up during days of high humidity. There is still room to develop a product that really stops frizz but leaves hair feeling natural.

7. Thinning hair

Hair loss is one problem but hair thinning also happens as people get older. The thinning comes both in the thickness of the hair fibers and the number of them. Figure out how to keep hair full and your wallet will get thicker too.

8. Lack volume

A high percentage of people complain that their hair has no “volume”. These people have naturally straight hair that lays flat on their head. Figure out a way to give them more permanent volume without resorting to damaging chemical treatments like perms and waves.

9. Shine

Everyone claims they can give it to you but in reality, no product delivers a significant improvement in hair shine. Find a way to make hair shine so much it sparkles like a diamond. This would be a truly innovative product.

10. Time to Style

Last but not least is time. Some people take over an hour to get their hair into the style and shape they want. This is primarily caused by their lack of styling skill and the speed at which the hair dries. You may not be able to teach them to style faster but a scientist certainly should be able to figure out how to get hair to dry more quickly.

In a future post, we’ll go into the various strategies people have used to solve these and why they haven’t worked.

Have you worked on any of these hair problems? Was there anything we missed? Leave a comment and let us know.

As formulation chemist, it can be fairly easy to spend your days executing projects your marketing & sales people think are worthwhile.  This will usually involve taking a formula that already exists and tweaking it with color & fragrance changes or adding some “magic” ingredient to help make a better story.

It’s easy to do this because to the people on the business side of things, this is complicated work.  They appreciate you and your brilliance for being able to get it done.

In fact, this kind of formulation can be challenging.  But there will be times when you’ll find yourself wondering stuff like “I made it through P. Chem and Advanced Inorganic so I could change the dye in a formula?”

Innovation is up to You

Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. Yes, you’ll have to work on a lot of less-than-meaningful projects but you should also be coming up with your own innovations/formulas. Your boss or marketing department are not going to give you great projects. You’ve got to make them yourself. Start doing a daily review of the following innovation resources to help you come up with the next big idea that will change the cosmetic industry.

Marketing people can come up with new stories. Only scientists and cosmetic chemists can come up with new products that will actually bring new benefits to consumers. Remember, you are the future of the cosmetic industry.

Favorite Innovation Online Resources

Blue Ocean Strategy – An extension of the excellent book Blue Ocean Strategy. Gives practical tips and techniques for generating & developing breakthrough ideas.

Innovation Tools – One of the best resources for all things innovation. The Innovation Blog keeps you connected with all the latest thinking in innovation & idea development.

Innovators Digest – Site that helps you learn innovation techniques and connect with other innovators.

Killer Innovations – The BEST innovation podcast anywhere. Phil McKinny provides practical advice about innovating at companies both big and small. He also re-blogs lots of the best innovation information being published.

Seth’s Blog – The blog of Seth Godin. He is one of the clearest innovation thinkers of our time. Author of bestselling marketing books The Purple Cow and The Dip. Speaks in a practical way that even chemists can understand. Extremely useful ideas.

The Heart of Innovation – Dedicated to inspiring and nurturing the spirit of innovation. You’ll find some useful information here.

Unusual Business Ideas that Work – A source for wacky inventions and stories about how they were developed. Great way to inspire yourself to think more creatively and get going on developing your own ideas.

Inventor Spot – Interesting inventions, innovations and weird/inspiring ideas. An excellent resource for inventors.

Ted Talks – You need inspiration to go change the world? Look no further than Ted Talks. Some of the best minds in the world talk about great ideas. You could get lost for days listening to these important talks.

Certainly, there are more but this is the list of innovation websites that are currently on my RSS feed.

Do you have a favorite that we missed? Leave a comment below and let us know.