Cosmoprof Bologna 2024: [Show Report]

The 55th edition of the world’s most important beauty trade fair Cosmoprof Bologna (21st-24th March) was such a good show. Super buzzy every day of the fair, with lots of interesting brands and product to discover. And it was fantastic seeing friends and colleagues again.

So, overall, Cosmoprof Bologna 2024 was a lot of fun. The weather was absolutely beautiful as well (not a given in Bologna in March; I’ve been to Cosmoprof Bolognas when it was pouring with rain or, one time, snowing!). Which reminds me, here are my reports from Cosmoprof Bologna 2016, Cosmoprof Bologna 2017, Cosmoprof Bologna 2018, Cosmoprof Bologna 2019, Cosmoprof Bologna 2022 and Cosmoprof Bologna 2023.

According to the organisers, 3,012 exhibitors from 69 countries participated across the three sections of the show (Cosmo Perfumery & Cosmetics: Finished/retail cosmetics; Cosmopack: Packaging/supply chain; Cosmo Hair & Nail & Beauty Salon: Professional/salon beauty) and a total of 248,500 visitors from 150 countries visited the fair. I just compared these figures to the last pre-pandemic Cosmoprof Bologna (2019: 3,033 exhibitors from 70 countries; 265,000 visitors) and yes, the 2024 edition of Cosmoprof Bologna is practically back to 2019 levels!

The usual Cosmoprof features also returned: The Cosmo Talks conference programme of lectures and panels, Cosmo on Stage (workshops, product demonstrations), the Boutique charity concept and all the rest of it. As usual I didn’t have time to visit any of the Cosmo Talks sessions which is a pity (since the programme is always really interesting) but for me, spending time on the floor/in the expo halls is more important. Three days (Cosmo Perfumery/Pack: 21st-23rd March, Cosmo Salon 21st to 24th March) is not nearly enough for a trade show of that magnitude.

Luckily I’ve visited enough Cosmoprof Bolognas to know my way around the fair so it’s easy to prioritise. My focus is always retail beauty (so I skip Cosmopack entirely), innovations/trends and indie/niche beauty. Plus the Asian beauty brands, of course.

The first stop is always Cosmoprime (Hall 14) first for trends and indie/niche beauty; the two Korean expo tents for a whirlwind tour of K-beauty innovations (Korea also had numerous other country pavillions across the show; even more so than in previous years), Hall 21 (Green Hall) for natural brands; Hall 22 and 19 for the bigger European beauty companies and usually a quick walk-through of Hall 26 (mostly larger fragrance and beauty companies, a lot of OEM/ODM). I visit the salon halls if I’m in Bologna for longer than just the fair‘s duration but this year, I only stayed for a few nights so skipped the salon section entirely.

And here are some of my favourite brand discoveries from Cosmoprof Bologna 2024. As always, brands are listed in no particular order although I’ve grouped the exhibitors by country. A lot of my brand coverage is also on Instagram so feel free to check out my feed @annika_trendtraveller as well as the Cosmoprof Bologna Highlight in my bio.

COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2024: BRANDS FROM ITALY

AROMÁLIA (Italy)

I’m starting with one of my favourite Italian brand discoveries, Aromália. The brand was launched on the occasion of Cosmoprof Bologna and doesn’t have a website/Instagram yet; the manufacturer is Blueberry Cosmetici.

Aromália offers alcohol-free perfumes with a twist: The fragrances are highly perfumed skin care emulsions rather than scented waters, with a very liquid, sprayable milky texture that quickly disappears into the skin. The formulation is based on water, pentylene glycol, glycerine, lecithin, collagen and hyaluronic acid – definitely more face care ingredients than fragrance components; the INCI reads almost like a serum or moisturising lotion. And the fragrance lingers on the skin pretty well; I could still smell it after three hours (and after having other products applied on top of the skin).

It is also much more moisturising, of course, and since the formulation isn’t based on alcohol, you can wear the fragrances in the sun without having to worry about skin discolouration. There are six fragrances in the range – my favourite was Whispers – and they retail for 79 Euro per 100ml.

BREALA (Italy)

This was another interesting Italian brand launch with a rather unusual key active. The Breala & Gest products are formulated with organic cotton seed oil that was cultivated and harvested in Italy. I didn’t even know that cotton was cultivated in Italy but it is; at least in the province of Puglia to be more precise.

Breala & Gest is a collaboration between skin care brand Breala and Italian cotton shirt brand Gest. The 8-sku face care line was launched in February 2024 and the cotton seed oil is produced from the cotton waste left over from Gest’s manufacturing process – Gest‘s brand founders wanted to re-introduce cotton cultivation in Italy and in 2020, the company started their first cotton fields in Puglia near Gest‘s headquarters.

The Breala & Gest products are priced between 20-30 Euro and right now, they are primarily available online as well as through selected regional pharmacies and beauty salons. However, the brand is hoping to expand further into online and offline retail and I certainly keep my fingers crossed for them – this is a nice brand with a truly unusual concept.

BLONDESISTER (Italy)

Italian indie makeup brand Blondesister was launched in 2020; I really like their pack design which strikes a perfect balance between dreamy-romantic and stylish. The line-up comprises 22 sku of face, eye and lip makeup and one of their new launches received a Cosmoprof Award at this year’s Cosmoprof Bologna.

The Eyebrow & Lash Serum comes with a rolling/roll-on applicator which is quite unusual, I think; and the collection includes another product with a really interesting product design: The brand’s 4-in-1 Click & Turn Mascara has an applicator brush that can be twisted into four (!) different shapes to help you achieve different lash looks – it starts out as a straight brush applicator and with each turn of the handle, the bristle twist into a more diagonal shape.

The Blondesister products retail for 16-33 Euro and the brand’s distribution is both online and offline in selected pharmacies and perfumeries but also in domestic department store chain La Rinascente.

UNIKO NAIL (Italy)

Newcomer brand Uniko Nail’s booth was located in the Italian Start-Up Brand communal expo pavillion (a new addition to Cosmoprime this year).

The brand specialises in UV nail polishes – gel polishes that are hardened under a UV/LED lamp – and was launched just before or during the pandemic (I can’t remember right now). What struck me about this brand was the user-friendliness and the pack design of their products: The Uniko Nails polishes are packaged in squeeze tubes with a brush applicator.

The company offers a salon-only range as well as the brand-new at-home semi-permanent polish line Lactube with 42 (!) different all-in-one shades – no need for base coat or top coat, simply apply the polish to clean nails and dry undeneath a UV lamp. The polishes retail for around  18-21 Euro per tube.

FIT.FE by FEDE (Italy)

A visually striking athletic beauty/sports beauty brand, Fit.FE by Fede is a 12-sku collection of six face care and six body care products created in collaboration with renowned Italian athlete/swimmer Federica Pellegrini. The range was launched in September 2023 and is exclusively distributed through Douglas Italy, both online and offline. Price point: 15-25 Euro.

The products have a strong sports/outdoor beauty vibe, functional and non-fussy with a distinct focus on anti-oxidant benefits, skin protection and hydration. The face care line-up (pink packaging) offers a foaming face wash, serum, moisturising cream gel and so on, the body care section of the range (turquoise pack design) includes revitalising and soothing products (body lotion, body wash, SPF50 body spray, a cooling massage balm with menthol and eucalyptus).

COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2024: BRANDS FROM ASIA

PUREDERM/ADWIN (Korea)

The last time I saw Adwin at a trade show was in Hong Kong at Cosmoprof Asia 2023 and not even four months later, the Korean beauty manufacturer already has dozen or so new launches in its Purederm range – the innovation power and launch pace of Adwin International is seriously impressive.

Some of the new Purederm launches: Three facial cleansing wipes formulated with face care actives (Exfoliating with AHA/BHA/PHA/LHA, Slow-Aging with Bakuchiol/Vitamin and Anti-Blemish with Niacinamide), the UV Perfect Hydro Sun Lotion SPF50 PA++++ sun cream in travel-friendly and convenient tear-off single-dose sachets, a new Sun Cushion Stick in the same range. There is also a new hair care and styling range in Purederm which, I think, marks the first foray of this skin care brand into the hair care category.

The next time I’ll see Purederm/Adwin will most likely be Cosmobeauty Seoul 2024 or Cosmoprof CBE Asean 2024 and I’m already looking forward to checking out their next wave of launches.

KOCOSTAR (Korea)

One of my favourite brands at any trade show! As usual, Kocostar presented several new launches at Cosmoprof Bologna 2024 and as usual, these are proper innovations.

Let’s start with the Princess Gold Eye Patch (undereye masks) and Princess Rose Gold Cheek & Forehead Patch (small round hydrogels to calm and soothe irritated skin). These are two hydrogel products with a twist: The hydrogel material is manufactured with Kocostar’s patented Micro-Hole Technology – the perforations help make the masks adhere to the skin more easily, they store extra essence and the tiny holes also create a vacuum effect that boosts the absorption of active ingredients into the skin.

There is also a new collagen-based undereye mask treatment, the Under Eye Ultimate Care Solution set which includes a thick-ish clear eye serum packaged in a pen with massage applicator and comma-shaped hydrolyed collagen patches. These patches are made from 95% collagen and 5% glutathione. And this is how it works: You apply a thick layer of the serum to the undereye area, then place one of the patches on the moist surface. The patches melt immediately – I think the ingredients are a powder layer – add some more serum on top and then peel of the patch carrier material. Massage everything into the skin. I’ve uploaded an Instastory video of the whole process (in my Highlights, Cosmoprof Bologna 2024).

Around a year ago, Kocostar launched the Happy Hair Packs range, two sheet masks for the hair – these are kind of  conditioning/hydrating hair wraps that you pull over your hair. Hair masks are not that uncommon amongst Korean brands and Kocostar has had these type of masks in their portfolio for a while now, but this launch caught my eye because one of the masks is for textured/curly hair, with a Black hair model on the packaging, Mind you, Kocostar consistently uses non-Asian advertising faces for their international product launches (like many Korean brands so) and usually Caucasian females. I think this might have been the first time that I’ve seen a Black model on a Kocostar product. It’s a nice change.

Finally, there is an up-coming launch: The Ultimate Face Patches Targeted Wrinkle Care Collection comprises four type of shapes wrinkle patches (comma-shaped for smile lines, t-shaped for frown lines between the eyebrows etc.). The material is diamond-mesh hydrogel saturated with face care ingredients – the Forehead patches, for example, contain niacinamide, adenosine, glycerin and carrot extract; the material has a kind of white-ish transparent colour. I stuck one to the back of my hand and completely forgot about it; noticed it an hour or so later and when I pulled it off the skin underneath it really felt super soft. Quite impressive.

ISNTREE (Korea)

Isntree is another one of my K-Beauty favourites, particularly their Hyaluronic Acid Toner (the dark blue-packaged original) – works really well and is great value for money. I saw Isntree at Cosmobeauty Seoul 2023 and Cosmoprof Asia 2024 and both times, they had a couple of products on show from the new Onion range – and at Cosmoprof Bologna 2024, the brand finally unveiled the entire 9-sku range. And check out that great onion slice display!

The Onion range contains, well, onion extract as key active and the line-up offers a cleanser, cream, serum, ampoule, pimple patches etc. as well as two high-SPF sun care products, including a sun cream stick in the brand’s really convenient triangular stick format – I bought one of their sun sticks from a different range last year and it’s really pleasant to use. The new range is already available in Korea, I was told, but registration for sale in the EU is already underway and products should be available in Europe by this summer.

TOI:L (Korea)

Korean body care brand Toi:l (according to the company, the brand name refers to the French word “toi” (you) and is also an acronym of the brand’s slogan “Time of illumination: Love yourself“) launched its Gentle Touch Bubble Peeling Body Pad a couple of years ago so this is not a new launch but the product is really interesting: A foaming cleansing glove that can be used on dry skin.

It foams up like crazy once you massage it into the skin – again, on dry skin! – then you rinse it off. The glove has a slight exfoliating effect and is marketed as a self-care luxury-at-home product that is also convenient for travelling and suitable for a nomad lifestyle. And it has pretty, glittery-purple packaging.

Like so many Korean beauty brands, the Glove was first launched outside of Korea, I think – the product is distributed via Amazon and is available in selected online and offline retailers in the US, Europe and the Middle East. In Korea, Toi:l is distributed through all the big department store, beauty and duty free retailers, including Lotte, Shinsegae and CJ Group/Olive Young.

SENNOK (Korea)

A new bath care beauty brand from Korea with really attractive branding and packaging, Sennok was launched in 2023.

The brand’s line-up includes 14 sku of bath and body care with a distinct s#leepbeauty angle, including some interesting products: There’s an After Bath Perfume, for example, to prolong the effects of a relaxing bath – surprisingly, this fragrance doesn’t feature the typical night-time scent notes (lavender-dominated, relaxing, powdery). Instead, the notes are herbal and kind of citrussy; very pleasant indeed. The body lotion, body wash, body oil and hand cream have the same scent and there is also a hair oil, a de-stressing multi-balm and a pillow spray.

In Korea, Sennok is available online – products are priced from 22-52 Euro – but the fragrances are also sold offline in Olive Young stores.

MUZIGAE MANSIONS (Korea)

More eye-catching packaging from Korea, this time from makeup brand Muzigae Mansion. Launched in 2022, the brand already has a super solid online and offline distribution through Olive Young (both in Korea and globally) but also across numerous other online platforms in the US.

In South East Asia, the brand sells through Watsons drugstores in Singapore/Malaysia and Beautrium in Thailand; in Hong Kong through SaSa. I am looking forward to seeing which European retailer is going to pick up this brand!

There are some 50+ sku in the Muzigae Mansion line-up, including face makeup – cushions and blushers – and lip products. I particularly liked the crumpled looking acrylic packs of the Objet Liquid lip creams.

AETAS (Japan)

Super stylish urban face care from Tokyo, Aetas was launched in May 2023. It’s very much a clean beauty, less-is-more kind of brand with a focus on anti-pollution and barrier care.

There are three products in the range: An oil cleanser, a clear hydrating lotion and a liquid moisturiser which are all formulated with ceramides and vitamins C and E. As you might expect, the textures are lovely and the products are unscented.

In Japan, Aetas is primarily sold online although the brand also has a retail presence in one of the Seibu department stores in Shibuya. Prices are firmly in the luxury category, with around 65-85 Euro.

COSMOPROF BOLOGNA 2024: REST OF THE WORLD

NEBOA (Poland)

I stopped at the Neboa booth because the packaging of the Polish brand’s hair care and styling products was so eye-catching, fun and colourful. Really stood out amongst the other natural beauty brands in the Green Hall.

Neboa was launched in 2020 and while they’re not certified organic or anything, it‘s definitely near-natural/clean beauty. The brand offers a 30+ sku range of hair care (including scalp care; protective and moisturising lotions and an enzymatic peeling scrub with papain, peppermint and horsetail extract), hair styling and body care.

All products are vegan and the price-point of 8-10 Euro is very much mass market-compatible. In its home market, Neboa is sold exclusively through the online and offline stores of Rossmann Polska (the Polish subsidiary of German drugstore retailer Rossmann) but I’ve also seen the products in the German Rossmann online store. I might take a closer look at that scalp scrub at some point.

In addition to Poland and Germany, the Neboa products are also available in around 10 further countries in Europe.

BEAUTY MADE EASY (Denmark)

Solid cosmetics don’t really excite me that much any more but I did like this Danish solid beauty brand. Beauty Made Easy was launched in 2015; the brand went water-less and plastic free a few years later which makes them one of the first brands in Denmark to offer this kind of beauty format.

The company started out with lipbalms and these are still amongst the brand’s bestseller – paper packaged push-up tubes of  flavoured lip balm sticks, with really pretty packaging. The lip balms sell for around 3-5 Euro and in Germany and are available at Müller drugstores, for example.

I was a bit more intrigued by the Beauty Made Easy face care range which will be launched this August: Three products – a cleansing stick, serum and facial moisturiser. The cleanser can be used on dry skin – it emulsifies upon contact with water and can then be rinsed off. Very nice subtle herbal scents. The face care will retail for 13-16 Euro. Also new is a sun care duo of an SPF20 lip balm and a SPF50 sun block stick.

LÉA NATURE (France)

I always enjoy checking out the innovations at the Léa Nature booth – this organic French beauty and health care manufacturer owns some 30+ brands in the beauty, personal care, health food and nutritional supplements categories. At trade shows, Léa Nature usually focuses on its best-selling beauty brands So Bio Étic, Eau Thermale Jonzac , Natessance  and  Boho Green Makeup. My absolute Léa Nature favourite is Jonzac (still the only certified organic thermal water brand I know of). However, I also like So Bio Étic which is fun accessible organic face and body care, with beautifully formulated products.

At Cosmoprof Bologna, Léa Nature presented the newest launches in both of these brands. In So Bio Étic, the latest range is Lumi Lys [C], four sku of skin-brightening face care formulated with white lily extract, MelaninCorrect complex and vitamin C. The line-up includes a serum, a night-time peeling/brightening cream, a moisturiser and a BB Cream with SPF10. I do like the scent of this new range, it’s a subtle powdery-floral but doesn’t linger too much. So Bio Étic also has a nice new multi-purpose dry oil with a great monoi fragrance.

Over the past 12 months, Léa Nature has been overhauling the Jonzac brand – new logo, pack design, reformulations, range names. Amongst the new arrivals is the the 4-sku Reactive Control face care range, fragrance-free products for atopic, allergy-prone and very sensitive skin. The line-up includes the Jonzac typical rich cream and light cream (most Jonzac face care line offer a richer and a lighter cream in the same range), a multi-purpose cream and an eye-contour cream.

SHAKEUP COSMETICS (UK)

I like UK male grooming brand Shakeup Cosmetics and whenever I see their booth at a show I go over to check out the new launches.

And this eye cream from October 2023 looks really good: Age-Def-Eye has a lovely texture, promises an instant tightening and smoothing effect and feels silky on the skin. I’m still in the market for a new eye cream myself so I’ll probably give this one a go – for me, texture is one of the most important aspect of a beauty product, no matter how great the ingredients or fragrance or whatever. If it doesn’t feel right on my skin I won’t use it.

Anyway, Shakeup Cosmetics was launched in 2019 and they’re doing really well internationally – the brand’s tinted day creams are best-sellers on the top Chinese beauty e-commerce sites; I’ve also Shakeup Cosmetics on various German online beauty stores – mostly men’s beauty sites – as well as Amazon.de.

GITTI BEAUTY (Germany)

Berlin-based vegan beauty brand Gitti Beauty has an interesting history: Originally a DTC (Direct-to-Consumer brand) with a very loyal brand community, Gitti started with water-based vegan nail polishes back in 2019. At that time, plant-based non-chemical polishes were still few and far between so Gitti was pretty much a trail blazer, and the indie brand’s been growing strongly and consistently ever since.

While Gitti Beauty‘s core portfolio is still nail care – and personally, I most strongly associate Gitti with their nail polishes – the brand has long since branched out into other colour cosmetics categories. The company was a first-time exhibitor at Cosmoprof Bologna 2024 and presented several new nail care products including a really exciting new range which I can’t write about in detail yet, unfortunately – it’s still embargoed although the products were shown at the Gitti expo booth. All I’m saying is: plant-based UV polishes!

Amongst the Gitti launches that are already available is a home-spa nail treatment range which launched in autumn 2023: Five products altogether including a nail serum, exfoliating cuticle gel and nail oil, two hand creams – one for day time, one for night-use – and an all-natural nail polish remover. In the regular range, there are a new nail primer and top coat and several spring-time seasonal colours.

The makeup section of the portfolio – eye, lip and cheek colours – are currently being reformulated without titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide is a contentious ingredient which in the EU was banned in food products; with cosmetics the situation is trickier and still in flux as of right now. However, a lot of European beauty brands are already taking steps to eliminate titanium dioxide from their formulations, just in case.

PACIFIC ISLANDS (Pacific Islands)

This communal expo pavillion was a first-time exhibitor at Cosmoprof Bologna 2024: Five indie brands from the Pacific Islands region – one from Papua New-Guinea, two from Fiji and two from Samoa – were presenting themselves in the trade show’s Green Hall. With a focus on indigenous, regional and local ingredients these were an interesting group of brands – all founder-led, mostly female entrepreneurs.

I made the rounds, of course, and here’s a quick overview of the companies: Oshin Organics (Papua New-Guinea) was launched in 2017 and its key ingredient is virgin cold-pressed coconut oil – the company collaborates with different Papua New-Guinean village communities who cultivate, harvest and manufacture the coconut oil. There are around 27 face and body care products in the range which are priced at 5-50 Euro. The company has a small online footprint in Australia.

Loloma is a virgin coconut oil brand while fellow brand Nama is an up-market 9-sku spa face care range which is available at luxury spas and hotels throughout the island. The brand was launched in 2019, everything is manufactured in Fiji, of course, and the key ingredient is wild-harvested sea grape extract. Price range: Between 50-100 Euro.

Samoan brand Kuki was also launched in 2019; Kuki’s 4-sku face care range focuses on local ingredients such as tamanu oil, turmeric and ginger. And Mailelani, also from Samoa, was introduced in November 2023 so they’re still very new on the market. The brand offers two ranges, the 5-sku Mailelani Samoa is family-suitable personal care – body wash, hand soap and so on – while the unisex 7-sku face care and shaving range is more upmarket (priced at around 45 Euro).

And that was it from me for this year’s Cosmoprof Bologna. Next year’s show will take place from 20th t