Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna, the world’s largest beauty expo, grew even bigger this year. Held between March 8 and March 11, Cosmoprof saw a 14% increase in overall visitor attendance to 193,842 this year. That’s a lot of traffic. Moreover, Cosmoprof, which is organized by SoGeCos, featured 2,390 exhibitors, including 1,500 from abroad with new entries by Japan, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Colombia. This year the show kicked off with a new event, Beauty in Vogue, a partnership with Vogue Italia that looked to generate shopping excitement with proceeds from sales of limited-edition beauty bags going to help those affected by the Emilia-Romagna region’s 2012 earthquakes. Here, some of the trends you missed:

Masks were hot at Cosmoprof, most notably Ice Mask, an at-home anti-aging mask made in Switzerland by Liquid Ice CosMedicals. After mixing the formula and applying to the face, the mask delivers a cooling effect and aims to tighten facial ligaments in just 10 minutes, with results of younger looking skin.

– Within high performance skin care, there was 111 Skin, an age defying line created by cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Yannis Alexandrides. While 111 Skin offers a range of serums, eye and night creams, one standout was the Celestial Black Diamond Anti-Aging Night Cream, which sells for almost $1,000 for a 50-ml jar.

Hair is always a highlight at Cosmoprof and consistently drawing a crowd was Milan-based Landoll. The firm offers a range of professional hair care products targeting all different hair types with a keratin-infused formula under the Nashi banner.

– “The nail pavilion was electric,” said one fair attendee, “far and away the action center of the show”—especially on the day the beauty schools came in. “Gels dominated the category: stick-on nail gels were something new – they stick on the nail and simulate a gel finish. It seemed that the smaller, new nail companies have dramatically increased their space in the last two years: one-booth companies are now six-booth companies. A lot of new players have been formed in that category. There was even an ink jet printer that printed a pattern directly onto a prepped nail. There were also a lot of DIY items, i.e., ink stamps (like in a craft store) for nails, embellishments, stick-ons, 3D charms, jewels and beads were seen everywhere.”

– The number of salon distributors in the nail care business was massive. Although not widely publicized, the nail pavilion was like a large retail store broken up into major salon distributors “who were physically selling product there.”

– Some of last year’s hair glamour items made it into skin care. Argan oil, for example, was featured in many skin care brands. “We’re still seeing a lot of attempts in bringing the stem cell verbiage into marketing, i.e. plants, animals. They’re definitely trying to figure out how to use the public’s perception of the regenerative process, and how it’s associated with stem cells, into the marketing story,” said another fair attendee.

– There was a lot of creative multi-functional componentry on display.  “Being able to deliver two different types of product , i.e. loose powder and an emulsion, remains big as it provides for a unique treatment/enhancement system or problem solving system. Also, some unique liner and shadow applications were accomplished simply by the unique shapes and delivery systems they were implementing,” said a fair attendee.

Innovation came in the form of gold leaf for face serums, and perfume with a catch line: “anti-aging, inflammatory, acne benefits.”

– Last year, Asia was a big topic of concern for many U.S.-based brands as the FDA turned up the heat on manufacturing issues. This year, talk turned towards the optimism seen in the beauty and cosmetic business. “Most people felt there was a lot of positive momentum for 2013-2014.”

Perfume displayed a trend towards strong, spicy and sweet fragrances, with 40 exhibitors from the Middle East.

Green products were particularly in fashion, with an entire pavilion dedicated to the sector and 198 exhibitors focusing on eco-sustainability. Quite a bit of wood components were featured, keeping in line with the trend for natural elements.

– Within Cosmoprof there was a new location for Cosmopack, a kind of “show-within-a-show”, dedicated to packaging, machinery and contract production. This formula proved to be very popular and drew visitors’ attention to a production supply chain where the Made in Italy brand has been playing a leading role.


To see a short video capturing this year’s nail and makeup trends, take a peek at ‘Cosmoprof on 8 mm.’