Cosmoprof Asia 2025 was the 28th edition of Asia-Pacific’s largest cosmetics trade show and my 10th in-person Cosmoprof Asia trade fair – I’ve visited every Cosmoprof Asia since 2014 (excepting 2020-2021, of course, although I did attend both digital editions of the show), including the 2022 Singapore fair.
Feel free to check out my previous articles: Cosmoprof Asia 2014, Cosmoprof Asia 2015, Cosmoprof Asia 2016, Cosmoprof Asia 2017, Cosmoprof Asia 2018, Cosmoprof Asia 2019, Cosmoprof Asia Digital Week 2020, Cosmoprof Asia Digital Week 2021, Cosmoprof Asia Singapore 2022, Cosmoprof Asia 2023 and Cosmoprof Asia 2024.
It was great to be back in Hong Kong again for this year’s fair and I enjoyed myself tremendously. According to organisers BolognaFiere and Informa Markets, 2,688 exhibitors from 46 countries/regions presented their products and brands across both sections of the trade show (Cosmopack/AsiaWorld Expo and Cosmoprof/HKCEC). There were 16 country pavillions (and it did feel like there was a cluster of Korean brands every few steps or so, it was quite confusing) and around 65,000 visitors from 140 countries attended Cosmopack and Cosmoprof.
Focus on fragrances
I particularly liked this year’s focus on perfumery (although I would have liked to have seen more Asian indie fragrance exhibitors) but at least the Asia Perfume Foundation / Hong Kong Perfume School booth presented the finalists for the association’s annual perfume awards competitions (Niche Perfume Brand Awards 2025 and Emerging Perfume Brand Awards 2025) so there were a ton of indie brands to explore.
There were two special indie fragrance expo sections this year (which, incidentally, meant that the press office which used to be large and super conveniently located on the ground floor opposite Hall 1 was relocated to a much smaller space on the second floor…): Explorers by Esxence, a collection of 17 indie fragrance brands from Europe and the Middle East curated in collaboration with Italian perfumery show Esxence, and Fragrance Avenue which presented a more mass market selection of international personal and home fragrance brands – including, much to my delight, two Chinese perfume brands, I:M Sole which I first met at last year’s show and Boitown from Shanghai, one of the first Chinese indie fragrance houses.
FAVOURITE BRANDS/PRODUCT LAUNCHES AT COSMOPROF ASIA 2025
Without further ado let’s dive right into some of my favourite launches from this year’s show. As usual, brands are listed in no particular order although I’ve kind of grouped them according to product category.
COSMOPROF ASIA 2025: FRAGRANCES
I:M SOLE (China)
At its booth in the Fragrance Avenue section of the show, I:M Sole presented an overview of its fragrance portfolio including six new launches. The I:M Sole perfumes are gender-neutral and frequently edgy, I bought two of their fragrances last year (The Hunter, an intriguing blend of milk candy notes and woods and The Poet which is heavy on the incense ) and enjoy wearing them very much.
The new arrivals are Pandora, Anonymous Lover, The Pearl Girl, The Dark Nun and Liquid Allure and if my suitcase hadn’t already been quite heavy I would have bought The Pearl Girl for sure.
BOITOWN (China)
I’ve only ever read about Boitown so this was the first time I tried out their fragrances in real life. The Shanghai-based fragrance label launched in 2008 and was one of the first Chinese niche perfume houses, long before the hype around TikTok-famous brands like To Summer and Documents focused international attention on the Chinese indie perfumery sector.
Boitown also has a fairly new store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay area. I particularly liked Osmanthus & Lung Ching and Jasmine & Yuzu. I would have loved to have bought one of these scents but, well, heavy suitcase and all that.
HERSTELLER (Korea)
I’ve written about Korean brand Hersteller several times since I first met the brand at – I think it was one of the post-pandemic Cosmoprof Asia fairs? Hersteller is one of the many MANY Korean brands using German words in their brand names to emphasise functionality, high-quality manufacturing and natural/clean heritage. In this case, „Hersteller“ literally means „producer“ or manufacturer in German).
Amongst the new Hersteller launches are several hand serums (reflecting the premiumisation in body care trend) and three solid perfumes equipped with a little chain and hook so they can be clipped to key chains and on handbags. Key chain beauty, i.e. small items of makeup, skin or body care that can be attached to bags or keys, has been trending amongst Korean GenA and GenZ for a while and it looks like this trend isn’t going to go away any time soon.
What I liked about these solid perfumes is their glittery colour in the pan – usually solid fragrances are white-ish or beige; the three Hersteller perfumes shimmer in green, red and gold and look very decorative. The shimmer is barely visible on the skin. Available in three fragrances and, of course, vegan.
POÉCILE (France)
I loved the new launch of French indie fragrance brand Poécile – a perfumed candle scented with notes of freshly baked bread! French Baguette is one of four new scented candles and it really does smell like toasted white bread. It’s such a fun idea.
Poécile’s personal fragrance range was extended with two new EDTs which I forgot to photograph – Alsace is a blend of Christmas market inspired spice-forward notes and the more floral-fresh Normandie.
COSMOPROF ASIA 2025: FACE AND BODY CARE
THINK BIO(Korea)
I met Think Bio at Cosmobeauty Seoul two years ago when the brand first presented its innovative freeze-dried AirBall serum spheres in two variants, Collagen and Vita-C. These are little dry balls of highly concentrated active ingredients which can be added to any liquid skin care product (toner, serum, essence etc.) to boost efficacy. At that trade show I bought a pack of the collagen AirBall spheres to try them out and really liked the product – they melt super quickly.
At Cosmoprof Asia 2025, Think Bio presented two new liquid serum bases which contain three serum balls in the cap. Before first use you tip the balls into the serum base and shake, after a few minutes the serum is ready for use. You can also add further spheres to increase the percentage of active ingredients so it become more potent with each addition. The brand will soon launch two further AirBall serum variants.
KOCOSTAR (Korea)
As always, Korean beauty brand Kocostar presented a number of new beauty launches at the show including a six-sku range of sheet masks with a truly unusual carrier material. The Hydrogel Melt Masks are a blend of hydrogel and tencel fibres which gives you the best of both worlds – the relative sturdiness of tencel mask sheets which, however, tend to dry fairly quickly and often don’t fit well and the super moisturising hydrogels which conform perfectly to every feature and stay moist for ages but tear really easily if you aren’t careful with your finger nails.
I was given a set of the Hydrogel Melt masks to try and the material really is a great hybrid – fits so much better than the usual sheet masks but is comparatively easy to unfold and stays wet for a really long time. On the face the masks look almost transparent.
The line includes Thanaka (thanaka + hyaluronic acid), Collagen (collagen + kelp powder), Vitamin (yuzu + vitamin C powder), Cica (cica + cica water), Rice (Prebiome complex + rice bran water) and PDRN (PDRN + rose water).
Another new launch is an iteration of Kocostar’s hydrogel masks – transparent hydrogels are a bit of trend at the moment so the brand has introduced a new variant in its popular a.m. Sunday mask range. The Collagen Glutathione mask (see pic above) turns from milky white to transparent once it is applied to the skin.
RESEAR (Korea)
The Resear KimBap sheet mask was one of my favourite new products at this year’s Cosmoprof Asia; the entire marketing concept of this launch is so on-point. As the name indicates, the KimBap mask references Korea’s iconic gimbap (or kimbap) street food snack – these are various fillings on rice and a nori seaweed sheet which is rolled into an extra large maki-type sushi roll.
The mask sheet of the KimBap mask is based on seaweed so the colour is as black-greenish as a nori sheet, and the mask essence contains extracts of carrot, cucumber, radish, spinach (all the classic gimbap fillings!) and rice extract. Instead of the usual square folded mask shape the KimBap Roll Mask is rolled around a thin plastic straw and packaged in a long thin cyclinder. Each pack contains five rolled up sheet masks. I was told that the symbols on the black pack refer to the Netflix hit series The Squid Game (which I didn’t watch).
You won’t find these masks at Olive Young or similar drugstore retailers either (although the masks are sold at Seoul’s Incheon Airport and online, of course). Instead, the brand decided to go a different for a different type of offline distribution: gimbap rolls were originally a travel snack so the KimBap masks are sold at KORAIL stations (KORAIL is the national Korean railway company) and on selected KORAIL trends.
KHEONI (India)
One of the most interesting ingredients that I came across at Cosmoprof Asia 2025 was at the booth of Indian sustainable wellness beauty brand Kheoni. At the booth, Kheoni presented its Kokum body butter bar – the potato-shapes you can see in the pic. I’d never heard of kokum butter so immediately had to google it: Kokum butter is the fat extracted from the seed of the Garcinia indica tree which is native to India. This plant butter has a high melting point so it’s considered one of the most stable plant butters. It’s also edible, by the way.
There are some interesting skin care benefits as well: Kokum butter is rich in fatty acids (especially oleic acid and stearic acid) so it’s moisturising and protective but not sticky which I can confirm. It is stable at room temperature but melts in contact with the skin (and friction) but does not leave the glossy stickiness that is common with most shea butter, cocoa butter or coconut oil-based body bars. Instead, it leaves a matte, almost velvety feel on the skin. It has a very light natural scent – smelled a little like cedarwood perhaps? – but that disappeared quickly. An absolutely fascinating ingredient. Kheoni works with over 60 regional and local forest-based communities in central India so the kokum butter is sustainably sourced.
LHOOQ (Japan)
LHOOQ is an interesting natural beauty brand from Tokushima prefecture in Japan. The brand was launched 12 years ago and is primarily sold through salons and spas in Japan.The company’s new Watery Serum Mist was a finalist at this year Cosmoprof Awards in the Natural beauty category. This is a hydrating spray with a very light gel texture and some great skin-caring ingredients – rose geranium water, humus/humic extract, tremella fuciformis, oat kernel oil and blue indigo plant/stem extract.
Blue indigo is, of course, best known as a natural dye and widely used in traditional Japanese fabric dying/crafts. I think this might be the first time I’ve seen a beauty product containing this plant extract. The Serum Mist is barely scented and I absolutely would have bought a bottle if it hadn’t been packaged in heavy glass and my suitcase etc. (see above!).
What I did buy was the oil-based facial soap from the LHOOQ range. Besides the soap the line-up also offers a multi-purpose oil, a booster oil for the face, a multipurpose balm as well as indigo stem bath salts, hair shampoo and hair treatment.
SANDAWHA (Korea)
I’ve been a Sandawha fan girl for more than a decade so I was really excited to check out the Korean natural beauty brand’s new Camellia skin care range. The first product in the line, the Camellia Spicule Shots, were launched in early 2025 (I bought a pack at Cosmobeauty Seoul this June and really like these microneedle serum shots).
This summer, the range was extended with a toner and a milky lotion, a renewing essence, and oil serum and a glow-boosting moisturising cream. The already existing Water Cream was repackaged so the entire line-up now features the same pack design. I received some samples of the new skin care products and the products are fabulous, no surprise there.
DEMAIN BEAUTY (France)
I met French indie brand Demain Beauty at the La French Beauty communal expo pavillion. La French Beauty is the successor of the WAFIB (We Are French Indie Beauty) brand/expo concept which premiered (if I remember correctly) at Cosmoprof Asia 2022 in Singapore.
La French Beauty has a very similar scope to WAFIB – they organise communal brand pavillions at trade shows allowing smaller and niche brands to present themselves without having to invest in a separate expo booth. However, the marketing concept of La French Beauty also encompasses actual offline stores in Paris which retail some (if not all) of the brands represented by the association.
The Cosmoprof Asia 2025 La French Beauty pavillion featured around a dozen French indie brands, including Demain Beauty, a 7-sku Cosmos Organic-certified face care brand. Absolutely delightful textures and a subtle scent of orange blossom. The line-up includes a morning gel cleanser and morning moisturising cream, an evening cleansing oil balm (with a great oil-to-milk texture), a slightly richer facial moisturising cream, an unscented 2-phase serum and a mattifying acne moisturiser for problem skin.
In addition, there is a body care product – well, a multi-balm really – with a glossy gel cream texture and that wonderful orange blossom scent and three nutritional supplements (probiotics and collagen).
Products retail for around 30-50 Euro and in France, the brand is sold in department stores, perfumeries, parapharmacies and selected beauty institutes. Demain Beauty is also available in a couple of other European countries but not (yet) in Germany. But hopefully soon, I’d like to try out more from the brand.
MONO SKINCARE (France)
Mono Skincare was another La French Beauty exhibitor. The French indie brand launched in 2024 with an interesting refillable concept – the highly concentrated skin care actives and formulae are freeze-dried into a tablet shape. You then blend the tablet with drinking water to create the product. Each product set contains a large empty product container and a small glass bottle with the product tablet.
You fill the large container with drinking water (no tap water), add the tablet and gently shake the formula. After around 24-48 hours the product has gelled (a key ingredient are inulin fibres) and is ready for use. When the product is empty you rinse the bottle with hot water, purchase a refill tablet and mix a new batch of product.
Prices range from 18-80 Euro, there are seven skin care products in the range (serums, cleansers, toners – no creams, just various liquid textures) which are sold in independent parapharmacies, online and in La French Beauty retail stores.
COSMOPROF ASIA 2025: COLOUR COSMETICS
KURETAKE (Japan)
Japanese eye makeup brand Kuretake Cosme has the most interesting brand story. The company was first launched in 1902 as a sumi ink stick (calligraphy ink) manufacturer. In the 1950s, Kuretake expanded into the art and craft supplies and stationery categories, manufacturing and launching a liquid calligraphy ink, then Japan’s first felt-tipped drawing pen and finally the Kuretake Fude Pen (especially popular with anime and manga artists) which remains one of the company’s bestsellers in Japan. Today, Kuretake sells its brushes, pens and stationery/craft products under the ZIG brand which is hugely successful in Japan and internationally. The company also does a lot of OEM/ODM for other beauty companies.
In 2022, Kuretake decided to leverage its expertise in manufacturing brushes and pens and launched the Kuretake Cosme division with a 2-sku range of liquid eyeliners pens. The twist: While there might just be two colours, Chestnut Brown and Black, each colour is available with four different brush tip/applicator sizes which range from super thin over flat-tipped to thicker applicators.
Last year, Kuretake extended its Fude beauty range with four eyebrow liners. Kuretake Okesho Fudepen Liquid Brow Liner (see pics above) is available in four shades (different browns, beiges and greiges) and has an ultra-thin brush tip so you can draw in each individual brow hair with utmost precision.
I was also interested to find out that the Kuretake Cosme products are not sold in beauty retailers or drugstores but instead are available in BIC Camera and Yamanaka Denki stores (electronics chains that also sell a lot of non-electronic products) and online, of course.
PAESE (Poland)
I first met mineral makeup brand Paese at one of the Cosmoprof Bologna shows, must have been just before the pandemic? Anyway, I always enjoy checking out Paese’s new products whenever I see them at a fair. Good quality, attractive packaging and a lot of product innovation.
The last time I wrote about the brand was in my Cosmoprof Bologna 2025 article – they had just launched an olive leaf powder and an SPF50 makeup spray with a great texture. At Cosmoprof Asia, the brand presented a whole clutch of new products, including the a six-sku range of twist-up blusher, bronzer and highlighter sticks, a new loose raspberry seed powder which joins Paese’s line of plant powders (which already includes olive, rice and bamboo powders).
I also liked the two new highlighting powder palettes which offer two distinctly different shimmer particle concentrations in each palette. In addition, there is a six-sku range of slim lip glosses which are much more sheer than they look and the face-blurring PuffCloud liquid foundation which has become a bestseller in Poland since it was launched this year.
MY MAGAZINE (Korea)
Chosungah Beauty was also an exhibitor at Cosmoprof Asia and I absolutely love the design of the company’s My Magazine makeup brand – it’s actually a new incarnation of the 16 Brand Eyemagazine palette which I posted about – oh my goodness, it must have been in 2015 or 2016? Very cute beauty magazine inspired design.
However, I must admit that I (now) prefer the new look: Six absolutely gorgeous eyeshadow/highlighter/blusher palettes which combines shimmer, glitter and balmy textures. Each palette is named after a trending neighbourhood in Seoul – Gangnam, for example, Seongsu or Hongdae. I tried out some of the colours on my hand and as you would expect from a Korean brand, the powders are super easy to blend and have great colour payoff.
I’ve already decided that during my next Seoul trip I’ll buy one of these palettes, probably Seongsu (great for contouring the eye area which is my primary reason for using powder shadows) or Bukchon.
COSMOPROF ASIA 2025: PERSONAL CARE
INNER SAENGAK (Korea)
An interesting #femcare brand which I discovered almost accidentally. Inner Saengak launched in 2023 and the range offers seven intimate care products, mostly cleansers in different textures (foams, whipped, wipes) formulated with plant extracts. While the formulations aren’t organic they are definitely near-natural (if Google Translate did its job well). Barely scented, nice textures. The products are sold in Olive Young drug stores.
The company behind Inner Saengak also presented a couple of other brands at the exhibition booth including Oh! My Swab, individually wrapped face cleansing wipes in two different strengths – one for normal makeup, one for waterproof/SPF products. Each wipe has two differently textured sides. I tried one out on my hand and was so impressed by how gentle the unscented formulation was that I bought five packs at trade show prices.
Cleansing wipes sold in drugstores in Germany are usually heavily scented or alcoholically-abrasive – I’ve never found a brand that my skin really likes. Also, it is impossible to find individually wrapped wipes in Germany – cleansing wipes usually come in big, heavy multipacks – so whenever I find brands offering single wipes during my travels I stock up. I like having a couple of single wipes in my cabin luggage during long-haul flights.
Anyway, I’ve tested both types of wipes on my recent flight back from Taiwan and absolutely loved them – even the waterproof/SPF wipe was gentle, it didn‘t leave my skin dry but sort of nicely moisturised and it did remove all of my (light) makeup. Excellent product, I wish I had bought a few extra packs.
ORALISTA (Japan)
This is an interesting Japanese toothpaste launch from newcomer oral care brand Oralista. Oralista Oral Clear Gel gently removes plaque and discolourations on the tooth enamel thanks to stabilised ionised water, the key ingredient in this formulation. The negative ion gel adheres to stains and tartar build-up, then you just need to gently brush your teeth to remove the discolourations – without abrasive polishing particles or bleaching ingredients.
The gel formula is available in two flavours, mint and lemon, and you can use it either as a toothpaste/gel or a mouthwash if you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to brush. I love these kind of travel friendly 2-in-1 products. The Oral Clear Gel is packaged in a small pump applicator flacon for extra portability. I forgot to ask where the products are sold but as Mizuhada Hojyudo, the company behind Oralista, also manufactures the best-selling Emaked mascara (which is widely available in the Japanese beauty mass market channel) I will hopefully find it on the shelf when I’m in Tokyo next month.
TOUCH BEAUTY (China)
This beauty tech device might look like a bike helmet but it’s actually for scalp care, or more precisely, to stimulate hair growth. I do enjoy checking out Chinese manufacturer Touch Beauty‘s new launches whenever I see the company at a fair – there’s always something innovative to look at.
Like the Vita Scalp Rejuvenating Helmet which is equipped with a single-layer graphene membrane and far-infrared light and heat technology to help tackle thinning hair and hair loss. The helmet has different light modi – red, blue, green etc. – to promote blood circulation in the scalp and stimulate follicle cell metabolism to boost hair growth. The inside of the helmet has five silicone touch points so the light waves can reach every part of the scalp, and there are replacable pads to help the helmet fit different head sizes. Although this is a unisex product I would imagine the primary target demographic are most likely men.
And that was it from Cosmoprof Asia 2025! I’ll leave you with some more images of the show. Thanks for reading.
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 