This year’s Cosmoprof Bologna took place from 16th to 20th March 2023 and it was a blast! The energy of this fair almost felt like the pre-pandemic Bologna shows and looking at the official trade show stats, Cosmoprof Bologna 2023 was indeed almost back to its 2019 strength [2019 was the last year that the fair took place before the pandemic; the first post-pandemic show happened in May 2022].
According to organisers BolognaFiere, a total of 2,964 exhibitors from 64 countries participated in the show while visitor numbers reached 250,000 attendees from 153 countries. This is still a bit less than the 2019 numbers (3,033 exhibitors, 265,000+ visitors) but it’s majorly impressive nonetheless, considering the current economic and geopolitical situation in Europe.
As always, the fair was divided into several thematic sections, with Cosmopack (packaging, ingredient, OEM/ODM) and Cosmo Perfumery & Cosmetics (finished/retail cosmetics) taking place from 16th to 18th March, and Cosmo Salon/Hair/Nails (salon beauty/professional products/brands/equipment) happening from 18th to 20th March.
There was also the usual conference programme which I didn’t attend this year – three days is barely enough to scratch the surface of Perfumery & Cosmetics and I was much too busy walking around the halls, chatting with brands and checking out product innovations.
I did visit the salon show briefly on the last day, just for fun (this section of the fair is so different from Perfumery & Cosmetics, much louder, shriller and younger!). If you’re interested: I uploaded my Instagram story coverage into a Highlights in my profile (@annika_trendtraveller). And here are the links to my previous Cosmoprof Bologna reports: Cosmoprof Bologna 2022, Cosmoprof Bologna 2019, Cosmoprof Bologna 2018, Cosmoprof Bologna 2017 and Cosmoprof Bologna 2016.
COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2023: KEY TRENDS
There was no single break-out trend or anything revolutionary new at the show this year. It was mostly more of the same: A further development of the major trends from the past few years, such as ingredient localisation – the geographic heritage/focus of the key ingredients used in a product or brand. This trend is closely connected to the transparency mega trend which has had a distinctive influence on many areas of the global cosmetics industry.
Then there were organic and natural formulations, of course (I don’t count vegan as a trend because let’s face it, virtually all brands that were launched in the past 24 months are vegan. There’s nothing special about it any more). Upcycled ingredients were huge and inner beauty launches (nutritional supplements) were also highly visible on the floor. As were gender-free brand concepts.
And speaking of gender-neutral: I noticed a bunch of recently-launched market-ready beauty brands that were targeted specifically at GenZ – we all know, of course, that GenZ is driving the beauty market, are a super important demographic, blah blah blah and as an female GenX representative I’m getting seriously annoyed at how the beauty industry continues to focus on younger consumers only – hello, we’re here as well!!!
However, this was the first trade show where I noticed a whole clutch of brands that weren’t built around a specific ingredient or concept (unless you count vegan and gender-free as a concept) but instead were developed exclusively for a specific age demographic. From packaging design to formulations, these brands were all about late teens and early twens.
Finally, I was struck by the number of fragrance brands that I saw at the show, with gender-free and functional fragrance blends much in evidence. Scroll to the very end of the article for more info on this category.
As always, brand within the categories are not listed in any particular order. Enjoy!
COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2023: FOCUS ON INGREDIENTS
AMAREY (Italy)
Coffee and cosmetics, what a great combination! Upcycling beauty brand Amarey is all about the coffee cherry/bean, with product formulations built around coffee extract, caffeine and other coffee cherry/bean-derived ingredients as key actives.
Amarey was launched in 2022 in cooperation with Illy University of Coffee (yes, that Illy, the famous Italian coffee manufacturer – the three brand founders are from the Illy family), and this is also where the coffee beans used in the products are coming from: it’s food waste from cafés and restaurants.
Coffee is also playing a role in the pack design: The cardboard packaging is made from 50% coffee silver skin – silver skin is the thin layer that covers the coffee cherries and is a by-product (and usually discarded) during the roasting process of the beans. Products and packaging are manufactured in Italy.
At the moment, there are just three products in the line-up – a solid face cleanser, a serum and a cream – but this September, the range will be extended with another 5 sku.
Products are priced at around 24-52 Euro and mostly available online for now, but the brand is also sold in La Rinascente department store in Milan and hopes to further extend its distribution in the department store retail channel.
USTAWI (France/Congo)
Ustawi (which means “well-being” in Swahili) was founded by a former Miss Kongo in September 2021. Whilst the 9-sku face care range was primarily formulated for medium and dark melanated skin, the French-Congolese brand makes a point of communicating the skin care efficacy of its products rather than focusing on a specific target demographic.
Products are formulated with African key botanicals such as shea butter or baobab oil, and the brand first launched in the US where Ustawi is sold in JC Penney’s, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. Now Ustawi is entering the French market and wants to eventually expand into the rest of Europe as well.
TOYAMA (Japan)
This Japanese bath and body care brand has a unique concept – and it is unique even for a country that has many onsen (hot spring) beauty brands. The brand name refers to the geographical location of the key ingredients in this range: Toyama prefecture on Honshu island or rather, the glacier and deep sea water from the Tateyama mountain range which form part of the Northern Japanese Alps.
The Toyama Quality Water range is divided into two sub-ranges, Altitude 3000 and Depth 1000. The Altitude products are based on snow melt water from the snow-laden peaks of the mountains (at an altitude of approximately 3,000 metres). That snow melt (water) is filtered through layers of granite, limestone and other geological strata (adding minerals and trace elements to the water) and then flows down in torrential rivers towards the plain.
There are 3 products in the Altitude range, the Natural Onsen Spa Mist, the watery Onsen Water Gel and the Onsen Micellar Water. The Depth 1000 products are based on deep sea water (desalinated, of course) from Toyama Bay, one of the deepest bays in all Japan – it’s lowest point is over 1,000 metres deep – and said to be exceptionally pure.
The Depth line-up includes the Marine Mineral Mist which contains 95% of Toyama bay deep sea water, an extra moisturising spray with added hyaluronic acid, an unscented body scrub based on deep sea salt from the bay and plant oils, two unscented bath salts in jars, three bath salt tablets and seven scented liquid bath additives which can be used in conjunction with the bath salts/scrub or as stand-alone products.
I was told that the company is currently preparing to launch the range in Europe after which Toyama Quality Water will be introduced in Japan. I tried out several of the face care products and loved the texture; the scents of the bath additives were what you’d expect from a Japanese onsen range – wooden scents, soft florals and herbs, nothing brightly coloured or scented. Very nice indeed.
IYURA (US)
There are still not that many ayurvedic beauty ranges in Germany – or Europe, for that matter; at least not in mainstream retail or distribution. I can name a few brands inspired by the ayurvedic tradition but these are mostly from the organic/natural beauty sector. And except for US-based Iyura I didn’t really see that many ayurveda brands at the show, and definitely not at Cosmoprime.
So, Iyura is from the US and was launched in 2017. In its home market, Iyura has a solid offline and online distribution; in Europe it is still primarily available online. The company (a first-time exhibitor) was at Cosmoprof Bologna to check out the offline retail situation in the various European markets.
In the US, the Iyura product range comprises around 75 sku across face, body and hair care, in Europe the brand’s portfolio is only around half the size, 30 sku. As you can see in the images, the packaging is eye-catching – I love the colours – and while I don’t know much about ayurvedic cosmetic formulations the INCIs looked pretty good.
Price-wise, the face oils retail for around 40 Euro for the face oils, hair oils are 25-30 Euro. I look forward to seeing how the brand does in Europe.
YUNNAN BAIYAO (China)
I first met Chinese TCM beauty and supplements brand Yunnan Baiyao at one of my very first Cosmoprof Bolognas – 2017 perhaps or 2018. I mostly associate the brand with its amazing TCM herbal masks (the INCI lists are practically wall-to-wall plant extracts!). Last time I met the brand at a trade show I was given several mask packs to try and loved the formulations.
This was the company’s first European trade fair appearance since the pandemic so there were a lot of new products to check out. Yunnan Baiyao’s latest launch (from 2022) is a customised skin care range which consists of three components: lyophilised actives in powder form, a liquid serum and an essence booster.
Customers select a serum base (there are six different ones, including two serums formulated with TCM herbs), an active powder (six TCM powders to choose from) and an essence (there are four essence boosters, including two TCM formulations) and then blend these three components together prior to using the product.
The company has also extended its face and body care range with a number of new products and there are six new mask variants that are extending the original 5-sku sheet mask line.
MANETTI (Italy)
I met Giusto Manetti Battiloro at Cosmo Salon/Hair/Nails (the professional beauty section of the trade show) and I am so glad I did; that company’s history truly sparks the imagination!
I was walking around the salon halls when I saw a golden sheet mask at this one booth. Now, gold is a very popular and highly traditional ingredient in Japanese beauty so I am familiar with gold flake serums, gold sheet masks, cream and so on. I know that almost all gold leaf/flakes/powders that are sold in Japan are produced in Kanazawa prefecture which is famous for its gold manufacturing heritage. And initially I thought that this Italian exhibitor had sourced its gold from Japan (I had seen individual beauty products in Europe that contain gold as an ingredient before, but never an entire product range).
Man, was I wrong! Manetti is the oldest gold manufacturer in the world (and by far the biggest gold manufacturer in Europe); with a company history to rival that of any of the famous Kanazawa-based gold producers. The company was first founded in the early 1600s in Florence as a gold leaf workshop and it is still family-owned.
Over the past 500 years, Manetti’s gold leaf work has been used on and in some of the most famous historic (and modern) buildings in the world, from Versailles Palace in Paris over Big Ben in London to the Florence Duomo, the Bahai Temple in Haifa, Israel; the Wafi skyscraper in Dubai and the Prada Foundation in Milan; in and on countless statues, memorials, gates, churches, temples and shrines across the world, in artworks and paintings, on altars and theatres – scroll through the gallery on the Manetti website for an overview.
Today, the company’s key focus is still on gold leaf, flakes and powders (they also produce palladium and silver) for architecture, artworks, restorations and interior design. However, around 10 years ago Manetti branched out into edible gold and silver for gastronomic businesses, and a few years later the company launched a cosmetic gold division. The gold is purchased from banks, by the way, so it’s – I guess upcycled? old? – gold; definitely not newly mined “blood” gold.
Beauty Gold is Manetti’s salon and retail gold beauty range which was launched in 2022, there are some 10-sku in the range (a sheet mask and undereye masks, serums, creams and so on) plus an additional 15-odd products in the salon range. The company also supplies gold and silver flakes/powders/leaf to other cosmetic manufacturers.
FRANZ (Korea)
Korean high tech beauty brand Franz’s new Naked SunShield Peptide Patch is a true innovation. The set contains two ultra-thin patches (they are barely visible on the skin, just 15 μm (micron, micrometer) thick) and a moisturising peptide solution. You apply the peptide solution to the patches and place these on your face wherever you need additional sun protection, like the cheek bones or forehead.
The film is so thin (and also water-resistant) that you can apply makeup on top of it, and it filters out 95.8% of UVA and 99.9% of UVB radiation. Plus you get the added skin care benefits of the peptide blend. I read online that the product has already received several professional awards and I’m not surprised – after all, Franz is the #kbeauty brand that became famous with its Micro-Current Tissue X sheet mask technology for home use many years ago. I’ve written about Franz a number of times over the past decade or so, the company is pretty active on the international trade show circuit and I always enjoy checking out their booth.
LYCASTE (Switzerland)
Swiss beauty brand Lycaste was launched in 2023 with a range of high-end anti-ageing face care products. There are nine face moisturisers with different textures and formulations and nine boosters (actives) which can be mixed and matched to create a personalised skin care solution.
Lycaste’s app offers customers the opportunity to get an AI-powered face analysis (using the smartphone’s camera) and detailed product recommendation. In addition the line-up includes four nutritional supplements as part of its anti-ageing face care range to offer a holistic inner and outer beauty experience. The prices are distinctly premium, with a pack design to match.
I’M SORRY FOR MY SKIN (Korea)
This k-beauty brand has such fun launches and the product design and packaging copy is always highly enjoyable! And I’m Sorry For My Skin’s newest launches are no exception; check out the luscious texture of the brand’s new Age Capture creams below!
There are four variants in the Age Capture range, each with a clear gel texture and dollops of richer moisturising cream suspended in the gel formula – those are the white blobs you can see in the picture. Whilst applying the cream, you either stick your finger (or spatula) straight into one of the white patches (or the clear gel) or stir both phases together.
Another I’m Sorry For My Skin launch is the Pink Lacto Amoule (see pic above) which focuses on microbiome protection. The formulation contains lactobacilli and other probiotics.
COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2023: ORGANIC BEAUTY
SKIN SAPIENS (UK)
Sensitive skin care brand Skin Sapiens was launched in 2020 and its line-up currently comprises 12 products – nine face care sku, two baby care products and one body care product – plus three different beauty sets.
Formulations are fragrance-free, organic and vegan and what I particularly liked: Skin Sapiens lists the precise breakdown of the different materials used in its packaging ON the packaging. The company behind the brand also belongs to “1% for the Planet” which means that they donate 1% of their entire sales (not just the profit – 1% of the brand’s sales turnover).
Product prices start at 6.50 Euro for the lip balm and go up to 24 Euro for the serum. In the UK, Skin Sapiens is sold in Selfridges (department store), Holland & Barretts’s (health food retailer) and online through Sephora.co.uk; in Ireland the products are available in pharmacies as well.
Skin Sapiens has already started its foray into the Continental European market – the brand is available in selected retailers in Denmark and Spain – but now they want to really drive forward their EU expansion. Good luck to them, this is a really nice brand.
EARTH HARBOR (US)
Earth Harbor is the prettiest organic indie face care brand from the US. Launched in 2018, the vegan brand’s line-up offers around 32 sku of face and body care although the majority is dedicated to face care – serums, moisturizers, lotions, toners, creams and so on.
The product formulations are ocean-friendly and the brand has a strong marine vibe, not just in the product names – every product contains at least one marine ingredient. Almost all formulations are based on plant extracts, oils or hydrosols and are chock-a-block with herbal ingredients. This is a classic small-batch beauty brand (started out as a kind of kitchen brand, if I remember correctly), with a ton of certifications including Leaping Bunny, FSC, Carbon Neutral and 1% for the Planet.
The packaging is glass (made partially with recycled glass), shipping and packaging materials are compostable and all plastic components are made from PCR (post-consumer recycled) ocean plastic, i.e. plastic reclaimed from the ocean.
In the US, Earth Harbor products are very widely available in online and offline retailers, such as Ulta Beauty, the Whole Foods healthfoods chain, fashion retailer Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Asos as well in various beauty subscription boxes (Kinderbox, Glossybox and Boxcharm).
All products are made in the company’s facility in Utah and many of the ingredients are locally sourced. I tried out a number of products on my hands and really liked the textures. Price range: From 18 USD for cleansers to 48 USD for face creams.
Earth Harbor was at Cosmoprof Bologna to drive forward its expansion into Europe and I really hope they’ll find a distributor – I liked the product very much.
LORJ (France)
This tiny artisan beauty brand hails from Ploeuc l’Hermitage in the Bretagne and was launched in September 2022. The key active in Lorj’s three products is barley extract which brand founder Pascal Drouet is manufacturing himself from barley that he cultivates locally.
At the moment, Lorj’s product line-up comprises three products, a solid face cleansing bar, a face cream and a body cream, with a further two products to follow later this year.
While I love drinking barley tea (I’m a big fan of grain teas) I didn’t really know much about barley as a skin care ingredient – and this grain has a lot to offer: It is rich in polyphenols and vitamin C as well as trace elements such as selenium.
The Lorj products are manufactured locally, are certified organic and vegan and currently available online and in selected regional pharmacies, parapharmacies, beauty salons and perfumeries. Price range: 25-30 Euro.
EAU THERMALE JONZAC (France)
I always enjoy visiting Léa Nature at any trade show – the French organic health and beauty manufacturer has some awesome brands (including face and body care brand So Bio Ètic and colour cosmetics range Boho Green Makeup) but my favourite is certified organic thermal water brand Eau Thermale Jonzac!
The Jonzac novelties this year were almost all in the body care category and included some lovely products. I particularly liked the Thermal Water Body Care toner which is a very light, clear hydrating liquid – like a Korean style face care essence but for the body! Absorbs super quickly, leaves skin soft and smooth. The same (new) range also features a body scrub and liquid cleansing gel.
Another new body care launch which I found pretty impressive was the Lipid Replenishing Cleansing Oil in the Nutritive AP+ range. This is a moisturising shower oil formulated specifically for atopic and very dry skin. I forgot to take a picture of the INCI so I can’t tell you more about the ingredients but it looks like a really interesting product – I mean, how many certified organic shower oils for super-reactive skin are there?
OPPIDUM (France)
Artisan beauty brand Oppidum was first launched in 2018. The company started out with cold-processed soaps (and the soap range is still at the core of the brand’s product portfolio) and then branched out into face and body care in 2019.
Oppidum is based in the little town of Albi in the Southwest of France and all its products are made locally and in small batches. I was particularly interested in the face care: There are different ranges which are each structured around a key ingredient (plus a fragrance-free range). The line-up usually includes a solid face cleanser (the small rectangular packs you see in the images) and the Weekly Face Mask Soap, a solid cleanser/mask – you foam up the product, apply it to the face and leave it on as an intensive treatment, then rinse it off. Each range also includes a oil serum and a cream (most of Oppidum’s products are water-free).
I love the size and shape of the facial cleansers, this rectangular format is perfect for travelling. I use a face bar cleanser every day (the Ceramide cleansing bar from Korean brand Toun28, if you’re interested) and while I love the effects on my skin, I hate the great big size – it’s the typical hand soap bar size, like solid cleansers usually are. First thing I always do is slice up the square bar into smaller pieces because they are so much easier to handle. And take up less space in the luggage.
Anyway, in 2020, Oppidum launched a range which is particularly interesting: The 8-sku La Sève des Arbres (Tree Sap) was formulated with wild dragon’s blood tree resin and has the most amazing smell. Later this year, there will be four new oil face serums.
Prices vary according to range, the regular bar soaps are priced from 9-11 Euro (they are available in Germany at Blanda Beauty, if you’re interested); the face cleansers cost around 12-16 Euro while the tree sap range is priced at 60-70 Euro.
Distribution is rather niche right now, mostly online (through perfumery chain Nocibé, for example) while offline, products are mostly sold in selected regional beauty retailers. Outside of its home market, Oppidum is present in a few international markets but mostly with its soap range).
PAESE (Poland)
Polish makeup brand Paese was launched in 2009 and while I have probably seen them at international trade shows I never really paid much attention to this company. Not sure why. However, at Cosmoprof Bologna 2023 this all changed!
The company recently relaunched its packaging and my goodness, the new design is gorgeous. And totally eye-catching; I first stopped to check out the brand’s new Minerals Makeup range (launched in October 2022) which offers 19 sku of mineral powder products (plus to primer oils) and then discovered that Paese has loose face powders based on plants! Like, a barley face powder (launched in May 2022) which consists of 100% finely milled barley powder and feels so satin-y on the skin. There are also bamboo and rice (!) based face powders.
In total, Paese offers some 100+ sku, mostly makeup but also the brand also has several face care ranges which are primarily hybrid colour cosmetics/skin care products. Distribution is solid (both online and offline); the products are sold in perfumeries and department stores and online through giant e-tailers like Douglas.com. The brand is also present in around 50 international markets.
NAOBAY (Spain)
An organic beauty brand from Spain, Naobay has grown nicely since its launch in…can’t quite remember, but I first saw them at a Vivaness shows a few years before the pandemic, so they’ve been around for a while.
I always enjoy seeing Naobay at trade shows; while the brand’s products are pretty widely sold in Germany (they are available offline in the Alnatura organic supermarket chain and in Budni drugstores, for example) the offline retailers usually only carry a small selection of Naobay’s products.
At Cosmoprof Bologna 2023 I used the opportunity to check out the brand’s complete product range with a particular focus on new launches. And this year, Naobay presented a pretty interesting looking range which launched at at the trade show and is so new that the trade fair booth only carried mockups of the outer packaging. The new range is called Makeup No Makeup and quite obviously reflects the no-makeup trend, in this case interpreted to mean that well-cared for skin doesn’t need a lot of makeup to look good.
Accordingly, the seven sku in the Makeup No Makeup range focus on gentle hydration and nourishment; the line-up includes a micellar oil, cleansing balm and hydrating serum, an eye serum, two facial moisturisers and a lightly tinted primer which has a great texture.
There was no information yet on pricing or distribution either but I was told that both will be similar to Naobay’s existing face care portfolio (which has prices ranging from 25-50 Euro depending on the product). There will also be the usual Cosmos Organic certification.
O-WAY (Italy)
I had seen O-Way’s store in the Bologna city centre before but had no idea that this was actually a Bologna-based organic beauty brand.
O-Way was founded around 15 years ago and they have a massive hair, face and body care range across the salon and retail beauty categories (and indeed, at Cosmoprof Bologna 2023, O-Way had its exhibition booth in the salon part of the show). There are some 75-sku in the face care category alone.
Most of the products are packaged in aluminum or glass, with outer packaging made from wood although there are still a lot of packaging components that are made from plastic. Not sure if this is PCR or “new” plastic, but mostly, the packaging is plastic free.
The majority of the product range is certified organic by Cosmos Natural, I also saw the Leaping Bunny (cruelty-free) seal on many products. The entire product portfolio is manufactured locally, near the outskirts of Bologna where O-Way’s headquarters are located, and although the brand sources its ingredients internationally, all of the essential oils used in the product formulations are distilled from plants cultivated and harvested in the company’s large gardens near-by.
COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2023: INNER BEAUTY
D-LAB (France)
French indie brand D-Lab Nutricosmetics has been manufacturing inner beauty since 2010 which means that they started formulating supplements and nutraceuticals at least a decade before it became a major trend.
The company is based in Vichy, the spa town where the famous thermal water lives (if you are a historian you’ll also associate this spa town with the Pétain regime in WW2 but that’s another topic) and all of their products are manufactured regionally with very high quality ingredients.
Product prices are comparatively affordable, with 20-26 Euro per bottle (which usually include a month’s supply of supplements, and in some cases even three months’ worth of tablets/capsules).
In total, D-Lab offers around 80 different supplements for skin, hair, body, digestion, slimming and general well-being), primarily as capsules and tablets but increasingly, the powder format is also becoming popular.
D-Lab’s newest launch are three powder supplements with marine-based collagen and elastine oligopeptides: You can blend Pro-Collagène into yoghurt, smoothies or other liquids/creams. There are variants for slimming (with Superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes from cantaloupe melon, acerola powder, mate extract and chromium), digestion (papaine, glutamine, lactobacilli and bifido bacteria) and anti-hair loss (pear juice powder, hydrolyzed keratin, arginine and selenium).
In France, the brand’s products are widely available both online and offline (in, for example, Sephora, Monoprix, Marionnaud, Nocibé and Galeries Lafayette). I was told that the company also has a strong presence in Eastern Europe but less so in the countries bordering France. Which is why they were at Cosmoprof Bologna, of course.
I really liked this brand and I can definitely see D-Lab at Douglas, for example. The German perfumery chain began adding beauty supplements to its brand portfolio a couple of years ago and while the biggest choice of inner beauty products is still found online on douglas.de, some of the larger urban Douglas stores in Germany have now also begun to carry some beauty supplements.
VILD NORD (Denmark)
More collagen/inner beauty, this time from Denmark! was lauched in 2019 and their speciality is marine collagen which is manufactured from wild-caught cod from sustainable fisheries. In the brand’s collagen powder blends, the fish collagen is combined with various plant ingredients, such as Scottish algae, acerola, wild blueberries, blackcurrant or wild mushrooms.
Vild Nord’s portfolio includes around 20 supplements, mostly collagen powders and refills, collagen capsules and as the most recent launch, three probiotic supplements in powder form. The format is particularly interesting: Usually probiotic powders need to be dissolved in warm water to achieve the maximum of bio-availability. In the Vild Nord powders, however, the lactobacilli and other prebiotic ingredients are freeze-dried and packaged in single-use sachets. You tip the contents of the sachet into your mouth and the saliva then “activates” the probiotics.
There are three variants, one for immunity, one for gut health and one for pregnant women; priced at around 33 Euro for a month’s supply. The collagen powders (which come in jars of 300 gr = 60 servings; the company recommends 1-2 servings per day) cost from 30-70 Euro depending on the blend.
In its home market, Vild Nord is retailed in health food stores, beauty retailers, pharmacies and salons as well as online.
IVYBEARS (Germany)
This German supplements brand has really stepped up its trade fair activities over the past year; they attend almost as many trade shows as I do! At Cosmoprof Bologna 2023, Ivybears had its individual pavillion tent outside, in between the Cosmoprime hall and the Service Centre which is a nice and above all, strategic!, location.
They were also lucky that the weather during the trade show was spectacular so a lot of visitors walked around outside, had lunch in the sunshine and generally enjoyed the outdoors life. I’ve been to Cosmoprof Bolognas when it was snowing, raining or sleeting and you scurry between the halls as fast as you can, avoiding the outside as much as possible. But this year, the weather at Cosmoprof Bologna was splendid.
The Ivybears tent also had a DJ who played a great mix of 1970s and 1980s tunes which contributed to the all-round party atmosphere; and there was an entire platoon of Ivybears-logoed women walking around the trade show halls with trays of different vitamin gummy bears to sample. The company really knows how to maximise a trade fair presence!
Ivybears was launched in 2015; all gummies are manufactured in Germany and are vegan, halal and gluten-free. There are around 12 different supplement gummies (for hair, skin, better sleep, immune system enhancement, general wellbeing and so on, with variants for men and women) which are all bear shaped but in different designs depending on the variant (the women’s hair gummy bears, for example, have shoulder-length hair!).
Packaging, product and brand communication is colourful, fun and very attractive and the brand has a very solid retail presence in Germany (you can buy Ivybears gummies offline and online in many drugstores and perfumeries). One small jar (60 gummies) usually retails for around 25 Euro.
According to the website, Ivybears is the biggest vitamin gummy bear brand in Europe and I wouldn’t be suprised if this were true – this is such a well-designed inner beauty brand.
The newest product that Ivybears presented in Bologna were Protein Boost gummy bears (see pic above). These mark the brand’s first foray into the fitness/sports supplements sector: The bears are much bigger than the usual Ivybears gummies and each bear contains 5 gr of proteins, amino acids, creatine and caffeine; with four additional sports-themed supplements flankers to follow soon.
The Protein Boost gummies are more expensive than the average Ivybears supplement: 49.95 Euro for 60 gummies; the brand recommends you take two bears per day. The gummies will be retailed online but also in fitness/sports studio chains which is a new distribution channel for the company.
Another new launch which will hit the shelves soon is Boost Energy which contains a high concentration of caffeine, taurine, vitamins B6 and B12 to help fight fatigue and improve concentration and mental energy. I might be looking into trying this out once the supplement is available : )
COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2023: GENZ BEAUTY
ONE TRICK PONIES (Sweden)
I came across Swedish brand One Trick Ponies on my very last afternoon at Cosmoprof Bologna and it was kind of a fitting end to the trade show: A gender-neutral, minimalistic, clean and vegan GenZ beauty brand. Almost the cliché!
Anyway, One Trick Ponies range was launched during the show and features six face and body care products. Each product is built around a single key active (hence the brand name). The line-up comprises a body lotion, a face cleanser, serum, moisturiser, eye cream and sleeping mask; each product has its “hero ingredient” (the brand’s words, not mine) featured prominently on the packaging.
Formulations are clean albeit unexciting, the outer packaging is attractive – purple background, white 1970s style bubble lettering; it probably will look pretty eye-catching on the shelf; priced at around 20 USD per product.
I asked about anticipated distribution channels and was told that One Trick Ponies is definitely looking at the trendier perfumery/beauty retailers (think Sephora rather than Douglas) and definitely not the mass markt. Which is exactly what I would have expected from the brand positioning : )
2SQM (Italy)
This is also GenZ beauty but entirely different from One Trick Ponies! This vegan and minimalistic Napoli-based brand was launched last year. Unlike OTP, 2SQM is certified organic with solid formulations (although no super-exciting ingredients or cutting-edge cosmetic tech) and gender-neutral packaging (of course!).
The brand was launched by two brother in collaboration with a collective of Naples-based performance artists, designers and creators; including some high-profile individuals like SAGG Napoli (@sagg_napoli) and Victoria Genzini (@victoria_genzini).
The 2SQM range (the brand name refers to the size of the human skin which measures about 2 square metres) offers eight face care products, including two face creams, a gel mask (I received a sample of this product and really liked it), a serum, toner, foam cleanser and two body care products.
This is another range with eye-catching packaging; the products are sold online and in luxury fashion and concept stores rather than mainstream perfumeries. Altogether a pretty cool brand. I was given a few samples and tried them out on my face over the next day – really liked the textures.
SAVAIP (Lithuania)
Savaip (the brand name means “your own way” in Lithuanian) was launched in October 2022. This “playful and groovy” beauty brand (their description, not mine) is aiming to offer exactly that: gender-free clean beauty face care with a seasonal slant for sensitive and post-acne skin. Mind you, I looked at the INCIs and the formulation looked rather conventional to me but, yeah, let’s go with clean beauty ; )
The target demographic: GenZ and Millennials. What I did like about Savaip is that they offer different products for different seasons. The Cold Season Milky Toner, for example, features a richer milk texture while the Warm Season toner has a fresher serum-in-toner formula. The Beginner Retinol Autumn Cream contains encapsulated retinol, and is recommended for the autumn/winter season while the Barrier Craft Winter Cream has been formulated with ceramides and oat extract to protect, nourish and moisturiser dry and dehydrated skin in the winter time.
There are nine products altogether which are priced between 26 and 30 Euro. The packaging is similar to the One Trick Ponies pack design, with a strong 1970s vibe. As this is such a recent brand it is still mostly sold online.
COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2023: FRAGRANCE BRANDS
MARGOT + TITA (France)
This French mass market fragrance brand was launched in 2018 and named after the two grandmothers of the brand founder. She wanted to create a fragrance wardrobe – a range of different scents to suit any mood and occasion – which could also be used for fragrance layering.
Margot + Tita’s 40-odd range of fragrances is divided into two sections, Margot and Tita, and you can mix and match any Margot fragrance with Tita and vice versa. There are also six body mists, a dry oil and gift sets. The newest launch is a fragrance pair of unisex fragrances, Partenaire Particulier and Partenaire Particulière.
The fragrances are rooted firmly in the mass market, with each fragrance retailing for around 18-20 Euro. And the concept seems to work well: In France, Margot + Tita’s fragrances are retailed in Galeries Lafayette and Marionnaud, in Duty-Free stores and departments stores as well as online.
ESSENZA (Italy)
Essenza is a Milan-based fragrance brand that will be launched in September 2023. The company’s six fragrances are unisex/gender-free and vegan and although they can be worn individually, of course, the brand concept was designed around the strategy of fragrance layering.
The six EDTs are divided into three fragrance pairs with each fragrance focusing two key notes: There are two green/fresh florals (white musk & peony, white tea & ginger), two warmer/fruitier florals (cedarwood & cashmere, raspberry & rose) and two gourmand-inspired fragrances (vanilla & pink pepper, patchouli & amber).
The brand recommends certain fragrance combinations and if you purchase a fragrance, the pack will include a 2ml sample of the other recommended fragrance so you can try the combination. Or wear the fragrances on their own.
The perfumes will be priced at 50 Euro each which means that the brand will be rooted in the more affordable luxury category, and the anticipated distribution channel will be perfumeries and other fragrance retailers.
KORRES (Greece)
Korres needs no introduction: The Greek beauty brand has a massive product portfolio which embraces face, hair and body care, men’s beauty, fragrances and makeup, is very good at storytelling, has beautiful packaging and a global retail presence.
At Cosmoprof Bologna 2023, Korres introduced a number of new face care launches but I was most interested in the brand’s new fragrances. A while ago, the 20-sku Korres fragrance range was repackaged to more closely reflect the brand’s apothecary origins; think brown glass flacons, white labels, black accents, that sort of thing.
The three latest fragrances are Avgustous, Anafi and Kyma; all three are lovely blends but my absolute favourite was Avgustous which is described as evoking the scent of a late August afternoon somewhere in the Mediterranean. And I’d say that Korres has nailed this fragrance experience: We have sun-scorched dry florals and citrus notes, juicy fig and green lemon tree leaves and base notes of woods and ambergris. I fell in love with the scent at one sniff and the Korres lady very kindly gave me a bottle.
The aquatic floral Kyma is described as a salt-laden breeze that you smell whilst sailing on a boat, with zesty notes of lime, mandarine and orange, a heart of marine accords and a base of cedar and vetiver; whilst Anafi is another summer-themed fragrance said to evoke life on the Greek islands, with sun-drenched citrus groves, sweet orange blossom and dry lavender and basenotes of patchouli and vetiver.
As with most Korres fragrances, these are unisex blends although the Korres online shop occasionally recommends one or the other variant specifically for men or women. Priced at around 45 Euro for 60m EDT.
100 BON (France)
I completely forgot to post the new launches of organic fragrance brand 100 Bon on my Instagram during the show! And this is a pity because 100 Bon (a play on words: the French word for 100 is “cent” which sounds like “sent”, add the “bon” and you get “smells good”) has great fragrances and their latest launch, from 2022 is a really interesting duo of functional fragrances.
Lâcher prise (let go) is a blend of ten essential oils including bergamot, magnolia and santal amyris) to help deal with stress while Doux Rêves (sweet dreams) contains nine essential oils including orange blossom and petitgrain to help with sleep and when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
100 Bon was launched in 2017, the company has its headquarters in Lyon while the fragrances are manufactured in Grasse. The perfumes are based on organic alcohol and natural fragrance components and essential oils (no synthetics) which makes them very pleasant light fragrances that linger for a few hours.
The product range includes EDTs, EDCs and EDPs, room sprays and scented candles and roll-ons. The Eaux de Toilette are priced at around 35 Euro for 50ml, the Eaux des Parfums 55-60 Euro; refill bottles are also available. 100 Bon is pretty widely available in Germany, mostly online but there are a number of organic beauty stores and even some Müller drugstores that carry some of the 100 Bon fragrance range. I’ve also seen the brand’s perfumes in Japan, at organic beauty retailer Cosme Kitchen.
And this was Cosmoprof Bologna 2023! I hope you enjoyed this article.
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 