Reporting from Beyond Beauty in Paris, the show that sets itself the ambitious task of providing a solution for managers right along the production chain
With France being seen as the traditional heart of cosmetics and industry it seems only right and proper that it should host a strong event for the industry. Until the advent of Cosmeeting in 2003 that really wasn’t the case but the show, now developed into an event called Beyond Beauty and comprising four shows in one, has really grown into its skin and is certainly attracting exhibitors and visitors from a wide range of disciplines and regions. Having said that, the show did feel a little quieter this year and this was commented on by a number of exhibitors. But then the official show statistics suggest an overall increase in visitor numbers of 10.2%. Total visitor numbers were 16,605, comprising 11,234 from France and 5371 internationl visitors.
This year’s show was officially opened by French minister delegate for foreign trade, Christine Lagarde. “I am visiting the exhibition on the first day because it is an exhibition full of energy, life and enthusiasm, and cosmetics have contributed greatly to export and trade in general for France. The cosmetics industry contributes in two ways, not only in pure monetary terms, but also in strengthening France’s image and its reputation for quality,” said Lagarde.
“There are over 900 companies present at the exhibition, some of which are returning for the fourth year running, which in my view is an indication that the exhibition is of very good quality,” she continued.
Lagarde was also promoting UBI France, an agency that has been set up to help French companies develop their business abroad. Lagarde put France’s top markets for cosmetics exports as Germany, the UK, Italy and the US, while exports of cosmetics and toiletries are experiencing the most growth in Russia and the Middle East. French cosmetics exports totalled €4.3bn in the first half of 2006, an increase of 7.6% on the same period in 2005. Perfumery was the star category, growing 13%.
“The main challenges to cosmetic exports are the different regulations in different markets. That’s where the conferences and seminars, such as those organised by Beyond Beauty, can really help companies to understand foreign markets,” said Lagarde.
She explained that exhibitions are especially useful to smaller firms. “Shows such as this are useful to the mid-market and young companies. They provide a platform for promotion, enabling smaller companies to be seen. You don’t see the big names here because they don’t need any help.”
The four shows that make up Beyond Beauty are: Cosmeeting, which focuses on beauty brands; Spa & Institut, featuring products and equipment for beauty salons and spas; Creative, comprising beauty suppliers; and Ingredients, housing raw material suppliers.
Differentiating itself from other cosmetics ingredients shows, the focus of the latter was actually very specifically on beauty from within, with exhibitors drawn from a range of disciplines and many of them having gone to some trouble to make very specific presentations to align with the theme.
DSM said it had received interest both from cosmetics companies looking at inner beauty and supplements specialists interested in cosmetics. “We’re launching the combined concept here as a trial,” said Regina Goralczyk, senior project manager with DSM Nutritional Products. “We’re really pleased with the interest and are planning to develop the concept further. Some ingredients work best applied topically, but for some, longer term nutritional use is more effective. A combination of both is probably best.” In addition to individual ingredients, DSM had put together sample blends to bring the whole together. For example, for immune regulation a combination of Lafti, carotenoids, CaroCare and Ropufa was suggested, while for anti-wrinkling and skin repair a blend of vitamins C, E, pro-vitamin A, carotenoids and retinol was suggested.
Kemin attracted a lot of attention with new evidence for the efficacy of lutein in combination with zeaxanthin, believed to offer new possibilities for these ingredients. In addition to its natural antioxidant properties, lutein is now understood to have specific anti-ageing properties such as hydration, elasticity and decreasing oxidation of skin lipids. Using zeaxanthin in combination with lutein is said to provide ADM risk reduction.
A newer name to the industry, Singapore-based life sciences group Davos was focusing on vitamin E in the form of tocotrienols as ‘vitamin E beyond tocopherols in skin protection’. “We’re not selling this as
an antioxidant story,” said Barrie Tan, R&D director of Davos. “Tocotrienols preferentially deposit on the viable layer of the skin when taken orally so they have anti-ageing properties.”
“The new ingredients section has been the best surprise of the show,” commented Sophie Dudicourt, international sales manager for the event. “It’s working even better than we had forecast and next year we expect more ingredients exhibitors.”
Suppliers in the Creative area also had much to offer. COSi was one of the busiest private label stands this year. The company has been working hard to reposition itself and to put across its core strengths of innovation, global reach and breadth of capability. Taking the gourmand trend a step further, the company was showing colour cosmetics, including lipsticks, eyeshadows and mascaras, containing around 60% actual chocolate. Sushi themed colour cosmetics were another tasty option.
COSi was among the suppliers involved with the beauty forum for 2006, which this year took the theme of Beaudiversity. Organised by Wouter Wiels, this initiative sees a range of suppliers, designers and manufacturers working together to showcase novel concepts using their collective talents. Other attractions here this year included Arctic innovations from Greentech and Alpol with Dieter Bakic and Aztecao realisations from Isipca and L’Oréal.
Niche attraction
One of the areas in which Beyong Beauty has made quite a name for itself is its mission to discover the best of the niche brands out there. Having scoured the international beauty scene, products considered the most innovative and high quality are put up for the Beauty Challenger Awards. These were actually announced just before the show this year to enable exhibiting winners to optimise their presence. Many of those nominated for awards exhibit in the show’s Zoom section.
The jury’s Grand Prize went to Crazy Libellule & The Poppies, a collection of pleasure oriented solid scents designed for portability and to be applied in a sensual way. Second and third prizes went to Oh! and Outils Rubils respectively.
The awards also included an Innovation Prize which went to Voyages des Thés for its body and face products. In addition to the striking presentation of these in different shaped ceramic containers, the concept, developed by a design and architecture group, enables product personalisation as the customer selects the fragrance they’d like as well as essential oils based on their activity. The Creativity Prize went to 99.4% organic brand Doux Me, which recommends its products are kept in the fridge to enhance activity. Finally, Cinq Mondes picked up the Spa brand Prize.
Also attracting attention in Zoom was Boa, which began life earlier this year as a novel clay exfoliating product and has now been extended with face and body cleansers and moisturisers. “It’s basic skin care so it’s easy to follow and we can concentrate on intense hydration,” commented Masoomeh Wake, director of business development for the brand. “But we didn’t put a cap on ingredient costs so the quality is the dominant thing.” Along with other exhibitors, Wake reported having had many interesting visits from distributors and retailers.
The one really unfortunate fact was that this year’s Beyond Beauty clashed with HBA in New York. The organisers promise that this will not be repeated next year.