66 SPC February 2018

presented a whole range of new Whamisalaunches. The new Organic Carrot Baby & Kidsrange, for example, is based on carrot and oatkernel extract, and offers eight skus.

Whamisa’s regular skin care range wasextended with products including PeelingFinger Mitts, slip-on covers for the fingertipsthat are saturated in an exfoliating liquid.

Emu Tracks from Australia specialises incosmetics with an unusual ingredient: emu oil.The vitamin-rich emu oil is harvested from theadipose tissue of the emu bird and is said tohave strong anti-inflammatory properties. EmuTracks is one of the biggest emu oil productsmanufacturers in Australia, with a wide range ofsupplements, pure oils and personal careproducts formulated with emu oil.

Although organic Polish beauty brandD’Alchemy was only launched in November2017, the company has already signed adistribution deal with the Polish subsidiary ofFrench perfumery chain Sephora. TheWarsaw-based niche beauty brand offers

The 22nd edition of Asia Pacific’smost important C&T trade showwas bigger and busier than ever.According to organisersBolognaFiere and UBM Asia,

Cosmoprof Asia 2017 attracted 83,793 visitorsfrom 135 countries, an increase of 9% comparedwith the 2016 fair. Exhibitor numbers grew 7%to 2,877 companies from 54 countries, whiletotal exhibition space was expanded to108,600sqm (+11%).

Cosmoprof Asia 2017 continued the ‘one fair,two venues’ concept, successfully introduced atthe 2016 show.

Since the trade show’s launch in 1995,Cosmoprof Asia has grown so much thatBolognaFiere and UBM Asia decided to split theevent into two sections: raw materials,ingredients, packaging, manufacturing andOEM were relocated to Asiaworld Expo (AWE),near the city’s airport, while finished cosmeticsand salon beauty remained at the Hong KongConvention & Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).

In order to allow visitors enough time toattend both sections of the event, the AWE partof the trade show – now rebranded CosmopackAsia – begins one day earlier than HKCEC’sCosmoprof Asia. In 2017, the exhibition dateswere 14-16 November for Cosmopack and15-17 November for Cosmoprof.

As always, Cosmoprof Asia was divided intodifferent sections: Cosmetics & Toiletries,Beauty Salon & Spa, Nail Accessories and HairSalon Products, as well as the trade show’sspecial featured areas: Discover Trends, Natural& Organic and Wellness & Spa. There were 25country and group pavilions, and the ‘countryof honour’ was Korea.

ECO BY NATUREThe most exciting of the new features added toCosmoprof 2017 highlighted a major beautytrend in Asia Pacific C&T: green beauty.

Over 100 international natural beauty brandsexhibited at Cosmoprof Asia’s new Natural &Organic showcase, including companies fromEurope, the US, Australia, Japan and Korea.

Natural & Organic featured an interestingmixture of companies reflecting the diversity oftoday’s international organic beauty market:there were certified organic beauty brands butalso near-natural cosmetics and a few‘greenwashed’ labels, while premium nichebrands had their booths right next towell-established mass market labels and indienewcomers.

ENS Korea is one of the bona fide organicbeauty exhibitors. The Korean C&T group isthe manufacturer of COSMOS/BDIH-certifiedKorean beauty brand Whamisa, which has beentrending strongly on international K-beauty andgreen beauty blogs.

At Cosmoprof Asia 2017, ENS Korea

A WORLDOF BEAUTYFrom global natural movers and shakers toKorea’s newest mask concepts, the 2017 editionof Cosmoprof Asia was the event’s mostinternational to date. Annemarie Kruse reports

event report cosmoprof asia

CosmoprofAsia, visitorstatisticsOverseas visitors61,031+14.3%

Local visitors22,762-2.6%

072-074_SPC_FEB_Cosmoprof_SDJWAK.qxp_Layout 1 25/01/2018 11:05 Page 72

Key beauty productcategories exhibitedat Cosmoprof Asia2017 included masks –primarily from South Korea – andnatural/organicranges

19 products based on organic plant oils, herbalextracts and plant waters.

Bema Cosmetici is a regular exhibitor atCosmoprof Asia. With a number of strongorganic beauty brands, including Bema Bio,Natùrys and BioEcoNatura, Bema Cosmeticihas achieved a solid distribution in its homemarket, most of Western Europe and parts ofAsia. At Cosmoprof Asia 2017, the brandpresented its newest face care range, thefive-sku Blue Defence.

All Blue Defence products are formulatedwith Bema Cosmetici’s proprietary VisiblueScreen complex based on knotgrass, lycopene,xanthophyll and antioxidant rice oil, andpromise to filter out the potentiallyskin-damaging blue light rays that are emittedby smartphone and laptop screens.

Not all organic Cosmoprof exhibitors were inthe Natural & Organic section. The Frenchpavilion traditionally includes a number ofFrench organic beauty companies, like essentialoil beauty brand Floramé, teen beauty brandAvril and mass market favourite Le Petit Olivier.

Bulgarian rose beauty brand Alteya Organics,which already has a substantial distribution inEast Asian countries like Korea, Hong Kong,Taiwan and Japan, also had its exhibition stand in the Cosmetics & Toiletries section, as did Austrian brand Styx and Swissmanufacturer Labiocos.

DISCOVERING TRENDSAdjoining the Natural & Organic Section wasDiscover Trends, a showcase featuring productsand brands from three trending productcategories in the international skin and body

cosmoprof asia event report

care market: halal beauty, electronic skin caredevices and baby care.

Although many European food productscarry halal seals, there are still comparativelyfew European beauty brands that are investinginto this kind of certification, despite the factthat the worldwide halal beauty market is worthbillions of dollars and is set to grow even furtherover the next decade.

Most of the halal beauty companies atCosmoprof Asia actually had their booths inother sections of the show. Indonesian C&Tmanufacturer Dion Farma Abadi’s exhibitionstand, for example, was located in the Wellness& Spa section, next door to Discover Trends.

The Solo-based manufacturer owns a total of15 beauty brands, but brought only nine ofthese to Cosmoprof Asia. The company’s best-known label is Natasha by Dr. Fredi Setyawan,which is one of the biggest salon beauty brandsin Indonesia.

Another Dion Farma Abadi brand isAishaderm, a range of up-scale beauty productsmarketed as ‘Truly Muslimah Cosmetics’.Aishaderm’s line-up comprises around 50 skusof anti-ageing and skin-brightening face andbody care products, as well as body cleansersand shampoos. All products contain MiddleEastern date extract.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORSThe aisles around the major country pavilions –Germany, France, Israel, Japan, Thailand,Korea and Taiwan – were packed with visitors.Italian beauty brand L’Erbolario presented twonew fragrance and body care lines: the warmfloriental Indigo and the sweeter Lilac Lilac, aswell as a new skin care range, Algadetox.

All Algadetox products contain algae extractand promise to protect skin against pollution,environmental damage and other stress factors.

Taiwanese premium face mask brandMasKingdom presented a host of new productlaunches at Cosmoprof Asia 2017. The brand isknown for its beautifully packaged sheet masks.Most of the products are formulated withTaiwanese ingredients and the packaging

February 2018 SPC 67

CosmoprofAsia vsCosmopackAsiaCosmoprof at HKCECExhibitors 2,034Countries/regions 53

Cosmopack at AWEExhibitors 843Countries/regions 23

072-074_SPC_FEB_Cosmoprof_SDJWAK.qxp_Layout 1 25/01/2018 11:05 Page 73

68 SPC February 2018

event report cosmoprof asia

features traditional Taiwanesepatterns and designs by localartists.

In 2016, MasKingdom began tointroduce its first skin care andhome fragrance products. One ofthe brand’s most recent launches isthe two-layer cotton Steam EyeMask, which contains a layer ofcharcoal and iron powder thatheats up to around 40°C once the mask packageis opened. There is also an innovative new facecleanser: Organic Cleansing Flakes. Theseultra-thin circles of papery solid cleanser foam up quickly once they come into contactwith water.

KOREAN INNOVATIONConsidering the strong influence of K-beauty onthe worldwide C&T market it is not surprisingthat Korea was one of the largest exhibitorcountries at Cosmoprof Asia.

Korean manufacturer Hugel Pharmaspecialises in dermo cosmetics and productranges for use in cosmetic surgery and beautytreatments. At Cosmoprof Asia, Hugel Pharmapresented some of its retail product lines,including the Wellage range of two-step facemasks (the pack includes a serum sachet and anindividually packaged sheet mask) and therather unusual Black Aqua Roll Mask. Thissheet mask is rolled up into a thin rectangularmask pack rather than packaged into the usualflat square shape. Hugel Pharma says that when

unfolding a flat sheet mask it is easy toaccidentally damage the thin mask material withfingernails. If a mask is rolled up rather thanfolded, however, the risk of accidentally tearingthe mask is minimised.

Fellow Korean mask company Skin Leaderoffered a number of mask innovations in itsEttang brand. One of these was Cook Pack, a twist on the classic modelling (rubber) mask variant.

Modelling masks usually consist of analginate-based mask powder which is mixedwith a liquid (such as water, serum or gel) into arubbery texture, applied to the skin and is then(after the mask has hardened) gently pulled offthe skin.

Instead of the classic powder and liquidcombination Cook Pack masks contain two gelphases that are stirred together and applied tothe face in the usual way. Ettang claims that thegel delivers the texture, comfort and skin careeffect of a modelling mask, but without the messleft behind by adding powder into liquid.

Mediheal is another major face maskmanufacturer that exhibits at Cosmoprof Asiaevery year. New in 2017 were its two-part ChipSheet Masks. These are printed with clearly-marked acupressure circles that are embeddedwith tiny, round chips of mineral stones.

After applying the serum to the skin, the maskis placed so that the tiny stones touch the skin.The consumer then places their finger on theoutside of these circles and lightly massagestheir face. The combination of hydrating serumand gentle acupressure point massage is said tohelp relax frown lines and plump up the skin.

Korean dermo brand Doctor.3, meanwhile,focuses on pared-down, unisex skin careproducts. The brand was launched just a fewmonths ago and its concept is simple: there arejust five products that are designed to work inconjunction. With its stylish simple packaging,the new range is aimed at a young, urbandemographic.

With a focus on the natural beauty marketand other trending product categories,Cosmoprof Asia 2018 is set to continue on itsupward trajectory. The 2018 fair dates are 13-15 November for Cosmopack (AWE) and 14-16 November for Cosmoprof (HKCEC)

Pollution stoppers

Another trending skin care category at CosmoprofAsia 2017 was anti-pollution and detox skin care.These are products that claim to protect skin fromthe damaging effects of environmental pollution,such as air pollution and sun exposure or, in thecase of detoxing care, ‘feed’ skin with nutrientsand vitamins to increase skin health.

Anti-pollution beauty is especially popular in Asia because its mega citiestend to have very high air pollution levels. However, even in the US andEurope, the anti-pollution C&T category is growing strongly, a developmentboosted by the ongoing wellness trend.

Anti-pollution skin care range Detox Intense was launched in August2017. The German brand is part of the brand stable of ICB (InnovativeCosmetic Brands) which, in turn, belongs to Germany’s Artdeco group.

The six-sku Detox Intense range was developed with Germandermatologist Dr Ockenfels and the line-up comprises a cleanser formulatedwith goji, cranberry and blackcurrant extracts; a cleansing cream mask withactivated charcoal; a detoxing skin concentrate with African black beanextract; a day cream and night cream; as well as a clear sun protection fluidwith SPF30.

Premium anti-ageing brand Jacqueline Piotaz from Switzerland has alsojust introduced a detoxing range. Pollution Defense was launched inNovember 2017 and promises to protect skin from airborne pollution. Theline-up is formulated with the brand’s AutophaCell complex.

The Mediheal brandhas combined themask concept withthe principles ofacupressure tocombat frown linesand plump up skin

072-074_SPC_FEB_Cosmoprof_SDJWAK.qxp_Layout 1 25/01/2018 11:05 Page 74