Leading cosmetics and personal care ingredients show in-cosmetics Global celebrated diversity as it welcomed more than 12,000 visitors through its doors when it made a return to its spiritual home in Paris and launched the inaugural Global Beauty Day in April.
Global Beauty Day
This initiative move aims to celebrate inclusivity and diversity in the beauty industry as changing consumer demands force R&D professionals and manufacturers to think outside the box. The show hosted three special round-table discussions that brought together industry professionals for open discussions on Lifestyle Choices – such as vegan, halal, all-natural and environmentally-friendly; LGBTQ+ identity, exploring beyond the gender boundaries; and Skin Types & Colours. Each conversation explored the way consumer choices are influencing the development of cosmetic products from the ingredients used to the marketing stories told.
A diverse mix of industry experts joined forces to discuss these impacting factors, from Jessica Blackler, Founder and Managing Director of unisex beauty brand Jecca Blac; sustainable brand Beauty Kitchen; Rob Forgione and Denis Kovalyov, Co-founders of My. Haircare, the cruelty-free, vegan haircare range; and Chantal Amalric, Beauty Care Strategic Marketing Manager at SEPPIC – Air Liquide Healthcare Specialty Ingredients. The trends in each of the three areas were brought to the discussion by media partners Mintel, Peclers Paris and GlobalData.
Following the success of Global Beauty Day, it will return on the second day of the show every year, to get under the skin of the topical issues of the moment with the industry’s leading, forward-thinking players.
Also on 3 April, ABIHPEC (Brazilian Association of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Industry) hosted a meeting in partnership with the Brazilian Embassy for 50 companies from around the world. The event shone a light on the most relevant aspects of Brazil’s law on access to biodiversity.
Key to in-cosmetics Global, as always, was the opportunity for R&D professionals to source the latest ingredients innovations and to glean insights from experts about the key trends influencing the industry both right now and in the months ahead.
Demand for beauty products continues to grow despite economic instability. The global cosmetics market is expected to garner $429.8 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period 2016-2022, according to Allied Market Research[1]. Mintel lists the key trends driving growth as personalisation, digital, naturals, and marketing campaigns that draw on a brand’s “personality”.
in-cosmetics Global offered the perfect platform to inform and inspire R&D professionals around these trends with a packed itinerary of must-attend sessions and show areas.
Taking the Indie Trail
This year put the spotlight firmly on the pioneering indie brands that have become increasingly influential. This sector of the market saw a 659% increase in retail volume in 2017, illustrating its popularity and importance.
To help indie developers connect with suppliers willing to provide smaller ingredient quantities to suit production up to 100kg, this year’s in-cosmetics produced the
Indie Trail Guide. The time-saving guide helped small brands navigate the show to forge important connections with relevant exhibitors. Mireia Perez Bauza, Communications Manager at Vytrus Biotech, said: “We were incredibly busy – non-stop! The Indie Trail is a brilliant concept and brought people to us to find out more.”
Discovery on the R&D Tours
Aimed specifically at R&D professionals and led by leading technical consultant and cosmetic chemist, Rouah Al-Wakeel, the R&D Tours took in major show features such as the Innovation Zone and Sensory Bar. They were centered around three specific topics: Protection, sponsored by IMCD; Healthy Ageing, sponsored by Mibelle Biochemistry Group; and Preservation, sponsored by Symrise. Each tour introduced formulators to select exhibitor stands relevant to the tour topic.
Innovation Zone
Innovation is at the heart of the beauty industry, making the Innovation Zone one of the most popular and vibrant areas of the show. This year, sponsored by Ashland, this interactive area gave exclusive insight into latest product developments and offered the opportunity – via the Formulation Displays – to put products through their paces to explain their key properties and efficacy to visitors. Additionally, the beauty and personal care team from Mintel hosted live demonstrations, offering visitors the chance to interact and test innovative finished products.
Sustainability Corner
With sustainability ranking so high in consumer thinking – and likewise feeding into R&D – the Sustainability Corner, sponsored by Cargill, featured 20 pods containing sustainable ingredients, or supply chain projects, that have had a positive effect on the environment.
The interactive space focused on the industry’s progress on this important issue and offered attendees the chance to understand how businesses are changing their procedures to reduce their environmental impact, hear expert insights from leading brands and debate major issues surrounding the topic.
Toshihiko Shimoda, Technology Scout, R&D at Bieresdorf, said: “Sustainability is the most important part of the cosmetics industry and so I was a big fan of the Sustainability Corner. I liked the layout and concept as a whole. It is great that in-cosmetics is addressing the issue of sustainability so clearly.”
The Make-Up Bar
New formulations were put through their paces, and visitors were able to experience the latest eye, skin, nail and lip formulations at the Make-Up Bar, sponsored by BASF. Designed to help attendees discover the latest solutions, formulations and vibrant colours all in one place, exhibitors included Interpolymer, Biesterfeld and Lubrizol showcased how the beauty industry continues to create new, functional ingredients and technologies.
Formulation Lab
The education programme included interactive sessions in the Formulation Lab, this year sponsored by Brenntag. It provides R&D professionals with a unique opportunity to learn the secrets behind designing winning formulations and has deservedly become one of the most popular areas of the show for the invaluable practical experience it delivers.
Sessions took place in a purpose-built laboratory, offering R&D professionals a rare and hands-on experience to learn invaluable and practical insights into formulation training from the industry’s leading experts. Some of the key suppliers that took sessions at the Formulation Lab over the three days included Evonik, BASF, DSM and Sensient.
Heidi Christensen, R&D Lab Technician at Riemann, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the session I attended and learned a lot about new ingredients, new formulations and which ways to mix. It was a very educational experience, with everything very clearly explained and very well organised. I am thinking about how to incorporate some of my learnings into my business.”
Rising to the Challenge
One of the standout events over the three days was the Formulation Challenge, sponsored by Lonza, which saw four cosmetic and contract manufacturers go head-to-head in a race to create a cosmetics or personal care product from a box of mystery ingredients in just 90 minutes.
The aim this year, set by official in-cosmetics Global technical advisor Lorna Radford, was to create a shelf-ready sleeping product backed by a credible marketing story.
The Nuxe team walked away with the trophy after creating a trio of night treatments for scalp and hair. The set of Active Scalp Night Treatments were created for normal, greasy and dry scalps aimed at millennial consumers. Alexandra Mignot, Formulation Project Leader JR, said: “It is really exciting to win and all down to great teamwork. The last 30 minutes were a little stressful as we raced to complete our formulations and we can’t wait to take our trophy back to our company!”
Also competing were Alpol Cosmetique, Hormeta and defending champion Natur’Alps, with Hormeta coming in as runner up with a Y.O.G.A Dreaming Therapy Elixir skincare treatment designed to balance sleep and happiness.
More from the education programme
As always, the show’s highly-acclaimed education programme provided a valuable opportunity for all cosmetics and personal care professionals to get an exclusive insight into current and coming trends, as well as latest new developments and technologies. Industry experts shared research and insights on a range of subjects, including regulatory changes and new product development.
The free-to-attend programme included Technical Seminars and Marketing Trends presentations, Workshops and Live Demonstrations.
Running across the first two days of the show, the paid-for workshops addressed some of the most important challenges currently faced by personal care professionals. Experts speakers included those from Ecovia Intelligence, presenting ‘Developing certified green cosmetics’. The session covered the key formulation issues when opting for popular ethical labelling schemes, including organic, natural and vegan. Additionally, Dr Theresa M. Callaghan from Callaghan Consulting International hosted ‘Developing EU compliant claims – objectives and updates’. It was divided into four parts to provide attendees with an understanding of the EU cosmetics claims legislation pertinent to 2019 frameworks.
Across all three days were free-to-attend Marketing Trends sessions, hosted by leading research companies, consultancies and brands, presenting insights into the newest industry trends, data and market analysis.
Presentations included ‘Personal care ingredients: blurring the boundary between food and beauty’, delivered by Ioannis Efthymiopoulos, Ingredients Analyst at Euromonitor International and ‘Teenage personal care – the gender agenda’ by Samuel Farmer, owner of the eponymous company. His talk addressed the changing ways in which young people identify with sexuality and gender as a way to define themselves and how the personal care industry can develop a trusted, meaningful relationship with adolescents. For the first time, smart badging enabled visitors to download the presentations of interest, facilitating the sharing of information.
Feeding the senses
This year, the Fragrance Zone took visitors on a journey of new scents and fragrance trends. Key fragrance houses, producers and distributors of extracts and ingredients presented their products and gave attendees expert advice on latest fragrance innovations and developments.
The Sensory Bar offered an interactive area where visitors could try formulations – testing the feel, smell and taste of the products.
Other no less inspirational and important show features included the Testing and Regulation Zone and the Country Pavilions. The latter allowed visitors to discover country-specific ingredients and source niche suppliers from places such as Tunisia, Peru and South Korea.
Exhibition Manager Roziani Zulkifli said: “It was fantastic to return to Paris this year and to welcome so many industry visitors. The cosmetics industry is going through a period of unprecedented change as numerous factors influence how it develops – from embracing diversity in all its forms, to implementing sustainable practices and understanding consumer demand for ever-more effective products.
“in-cosmetics Global 2019 had it all and we’re delighted with the response we’ve received this year from show exhibitors and visitors alike.”
The show will run from 31 March to 2 April in Barcelona 2020.