5 big things we learned for beauty and personal care at in-cosmetics global 2018

Here, we round up five of Cosmetics Design Europe’s highlights from the show, including trends to watch and formats to follow.

1. Healthy living: healthy ageing​

Euromonitor International was a key voice saying that anti-ageing has well and truly shifted focus, and brands and suppliers must now engage fully with the message of ‘healthy ageing’.

The firm believes that the trend is being driven by four key elements: technology, environmental pressures, population change, and changing values.

The trend is expressed in various ways by brands, Euromonitor suggests. Some focus on nutritional habits, some on physical form, and others on internal balance - or a combination of some or all of these elements.

2. Driven by premium​

In keeping with growth patterns we saw last year, this year sees premium outstripping the wider market once more.

Beauty market growth remains steady across the board on a global scale, but we’re seeing premium enjoying 7% growth, against the overall global growth of 5% for beauty.

Euromonitor figures point to a USD 85 per capita spend on premium in North America.

3. R&D tours​

Two R&D tours were conducted by an industry consultant across the show during in-cosmetics Global: one on biotechnology actives, and one on healthy ageing.

The tours were a fantastic opportunity for formulation experts to really get under the skin of some of the defining trends on the showfloor, offering an engaging format to access a deeper level insight on the leading innovations.

A lively and engaging addition to the in-cosmetics Global offering, editor Lucy Whitehouse took part in the biotechnology actives tour, sponsored by Mibelle Biochemistry. It was a great way to discover the science behind the headlines.

4. Formulation Challenge​

Featuring six teams from across major and smaller players alike, this year saw a Formulation Challenge take place live on the showfloor, and sponsored by Croda.

Teams competed against the clock and each other to create a new formulation from a box of mystery ingredients in just 90 minutes.

Competitors included teams from Johnson & Johnson, Sabon/Yves Rocher, Flores, Herrco Cosmetics and Delarange, but ultimately, it was the team from Swiss company Naturalps that won.

“We really wanted to compete with other labs, just to see where we are and if our formulation strength was at the level of the competition​,” explained the team. “We are really proud of winning​.”

5. Microbiome​

And finally, the potential of the skin’s microbiome moved straight to the top of the industry agenda at in-cosmetics Global.

We’re publishing a full overview of the key highlights in the microbiome trend from in-cosmetics Global next week, so come back to Cosmetics Design then to get the full scoop.

From our pick of leading ingredients launches in the space, to exclusive expert insights, our feature will cover all the need-to-know detail from the show.