World’s leading personal care ingredients event organiser brings marketing and science together to great acclaim during in-cosmetics North America

October 25, 2017 – A hugely successful second edition of in-cosmetics North America drew to a close earlier this month, with the region’s cosmetic industry full of praise for an event that provided a raft of exciting opportunities to learn about new ingredients and the hottest trends from around the world.

An impressive 2,519 marketing and R&D professionals from across the region travelled to the event’s new home at the Javits Center in New York, looking to find inspiration for a new generation of beauty products. And they were not disappointed, with unique new areas designed to help brands navigate the show and identify exceptional marketing stories to enthuse consumers.

The visitor number represented a 13% increase on the inaugural show and among those in attendance were representatives from Colgate-Palmolive, Coty, L Brands, Unilever, Estée Lauder, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal, Shiseido and many other industry leaders, as well as some of the region’s top contract manufacturers including Columbia Cosmetics, Mana Products, COSMAX, Conair and Kolmar Labs. Coupled with support from ICMAD, the Personal Care Products Council and industry charity Look Good, Feel Better, in-cosmetics North America has become a must-attend event for the region’s cosmetics industry.

Javier Dominguez, CEO of Merx International, said: “The Marketing Trends sessions were excellent – helpful and informative – and the Sensory Bar and other interactive areas were great for getting a sense of the touch and feel of some products. I saw a lot of my suppliers and the exhibitor mix was brilliant for seeking out inspiration and ideas.”

Interactivity at its heart

The event delivered on its promise to be the region’s most interactive personal care ingredients event, with a wealth of opportunities to get hands-on with innovative products. And with marketing professionals playing a key role in product development, the organisers launched numerous new activities to help identify the story behind some of the science on display.

Leveraging its unique experience of running personal care ingredients events around the globe, in-cosmetics brought a number of its exciting feature areas to New York City. Novel ways to tease consumers’ senses were displayed in the interactive Sensory Bar, while cosmetic manufacturers were given the chance to see innovative colour cosmetics at the new Make-Up Bar. Products showcased in this area included Natura-Tec’s Cherry Plumping Lipstick with Natura-Tec Plantsil, a highly stable transparent natural emollient which is soft, light and leaves an elegant dry after-feel on the skin, and Croda’s Crodafos™ CES emulsion mascara featuring Widelash™, which delivers long, luscious lashes.

With many other ingredients shows highlighting scientific advancements, in-cosmetics North America, in partnership with BeautyEdge LLC, revealed a new programme targeted at brand specialists – who may not have as much knowledge of the science behind formulations. As part of the ‘Focus on Marketing: The Story Behind The Science’ programme, participants were taken on show tours to delve into some of the unique technologies and textures on display, enabling them to come away with the right information to create an impactful marketing story for future products.

Amandine Morel of Cosmo International, said: “I really enjoyed the Focus on Marketing: The Story Behind The Science tour – it is such a good idea and there was lots to see. I also attended a lot of the Marketing Trends sessions and got a lot of information out of the presentations.”

One of the many highlights of this year’s in-cosmetics North America was the Formulation Challenge that took part within the event’s specially constructed Formulation Lab. In a battle of the titans, Colgate-Palmolive fought off competition from Estée Lauder, Shiseido and Unilever to create a brand-new anti-pollution product using innovative ingredients provided by some of the show’s exhibitors. The winning formulation will be available on the in-cosmetics North America website.

Speaking after receiving the award from Pamela Busiek of ICMAD, Ewelina Lesniak from Colgate-Palmolive said: “We are so happy to have won and proud of the teamwork we exhibited. The challenge was so much fun – if a little bit stressful! The atmosphere was brilliant and we can’t wait to defend our title next year.”

A place where innovation succeeds

Many of the exhibitors at in-cosmetics North America had never showcased their ingredients in the region before, with suppliers from Brazil and India in particular attracting a lot of attention. They were joined by industry giants such as Croda, Ashland, Solvay, Lonza, Momentive, DSM, Shin-Etsu, Wacker and Stepan.

At the in-cosmetics North America Innovation Zone, 15 recently-launched active and functional ingredients were showcased, with each promising to improve formulation efficacy, deliver flawless skin, increase firmness, combat the signs of ageing plus a host of other benefits.

Among the products catching the eye of the industry were Sensient Cosmetic Technologies’ PHY surface treatment for pigments – a new natural pigment surface treatment based on phytic acid extracted from rice. PHY allows the easy incorporation of pigments in O/W makeup formulations without grinding or any tedious high shear mixing.

HyWhite by Contipro a. s. was also showcased in the Innovation Zone, where visitors were keen to learn more about how it brings visible skin lightening, reduction of pigmented spots and also improves skin colour uniformity. NATURA-TEC’s effective anti-pollution active ingredient, Marine CellShield AP, was also in demand, thanks to its rapid and significant protective effect against outdoor and indoor pollution.

Signalling the growing importance of in-cosmetics North America and its affinity with industry innovation, Johnson & Johnson Innovation elected to run its new JPitch™ initiative at the event. Looking to find truly unique and new technologies in six categories – devices & diagnostics, personalisation, therapeutics solutions, outdoor care (adult & infant), sleep aids or monitoring, microbiome (adult & infant) and active naturals (adult & infant) – it invited nine start-up businesses to present their solutions to a panel of Johnson & Johnson Innovation R&D and business experts.

Repairogen – a revolutionary breakthrough in skin repair that will improve the appearance and health of your skin – scooped the top prize ahead of Constructive Research & Development, Sciadonics, USM-Nano Corp, Be U Cosmetics, NoseCleen, BuddyNSoul, ReinEsse LLC and Dermal Photonics. The company took home a $5,000 reward and obtains access to Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s industry leading experts.

Frank Borchetta, President of Repairogen, commented: “It’s so exciting to be recognised by a company like Johnson & Johnson Innovation. It’s a real feather in our cap and I didn’t expect to win. Our aim is to innovate in the skincare space and winning JPitch™ will help us achieve our goal.”

Education at the forefront

The in-cosmetics events are renowned across the world for delivering exceptional educational programmes that are relevant to the challenges faced by the industry. The North America event was no different and the packed conference theatres were evidence of the audience-drawing topics and industry leading speakers on the agenda. The impressive line-up included representatives from Mintel, PeclersParis, the Institute of Personal Care Science and Euromonitor International.

In one of the busiest Marketing Trends and Regulations seminars, Mariel Whatley-Brown, Director of Futures at SeymourPowell, looked at the consumer of 2020, explaining to marketers how behaviour is shifting and how brands can tap into this. Meanwhile, Jay Ansell, the VP of the Personal Care Products Council, examined key elements in the management practices of cosmetic products in the US, the role of independent third-party experts and the FDA’s responsibilities in oversight and enforcement.

The Marketing Trends and Regulations seminars were complemented by a series of Technical Seminars. Led by suppliers of raw materials, visitors could familiarise themselves with key personal care ingredients and listen to cosmetic experts sharing insights on innovative concepts.

Matt Malek, R&D Cosmetics at Shivalab, said: “The show was excellent and the Technical Seminars and Formulation Lab were fantastic. It is so worthwhile to be able to experiment and do some work with the manufacturer beside you. In the next few years, in-cosmetics North America will become one of the largest cosmetics and personal care events in the region.”

Returning to the Javits Center in 2018

Daniel Zanetti, Exhibition Director of in-cosmetics North America, commented: “in-cosmetics North America continues to go from strength to strength and we’re delighted to have delivered the region’s most interactive personal care ingredients event. We moved to the Javits Center to enhance the comfort of our show participants and accommodate a larger education programme and the feedback we have had from the industry has been overwhelmingly positive. “We’re looking forward to returning to New York next year, for what will be another action-packed event. We will continue to leverage our global experience to help provide new event areas that will inspire the North American industry to create even more innovative personal care products.”

in-cosmetics North America will return to New York City in 2018, running from October 17-18. To stay tuned with all the latest show developments visit http://northamerica.in-cosmetics.com/

Register your interest for 2018 and take a look at the 2017 show review.