Two panels of judges are currently working around the clock to process the hundreds of submissions, with one judging panel devoted to the ingredients and formulation and the other purely focused on submissions for the indie beauty categories.
Over the course of the next several weeks those judges will be charged with the difficult task of picking out the finalist, a task that has been made extra challenging this year due to the very high standard of submissions.
The finalists will be announced end of March
As the judges narrow their choices down, they will be aiming to narrow the submissions down to three finalists for each category.
Those finalists will all be announced by the Cosmetics Design team by the end of March, paving the way for our final announcement concerning the winner and two runners up for each category.
All the ingredients and products that are being judged have been launched within the space of the last year calendar year, with the exception of the Best Indie Beauty Brand.
Awards ceremony at in-cosmetics Global
So here’s the time and place to come and witness our awards ceremony, which is taking place on day two of the in-cosmetics Global event, in Amsterdam:
Date: 18th of April
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Place: The Roast Room, Europaplen 2, Amsterdam
The venue is a two-minute walk away from the RAI Amsterdam, where the in-cosmetics Global event is taking place this year.
You can enquire about attending the event by clicking here, otherwise attendance will be by invite only.
Ingredients and formulations categories
Best Color Cosmetics Ingredient – The judges will be looking out for submissions that highlight ease of formulation, cost effectiveness, impact on the environment, efficacy and function and, in particular, special effects.
Best Skin Care Ingredient – Entries for this category should be at the cutting edge of innovation, include ease of formulation and cost effectiveness, have strong environmental attributes and be highly effective.
Best Hair Care Ingredient – Because of the highly segmented nature of the hair care market, the judges will be particularly looking out for functionality that helps give brands that all-important competitive edge, together with ease of formulation, environmental attributes and cost effectiveness.
Best Sensory Ingredient – This will be decided through the submission of two topical cosmetic formulation samples representing each ingredient and will be determined by criteria such as appearance and texture, appearance on skin, after feel and rate of absorption. This category will also require the submission of two formulation samples per entry, for the judges to test.
Best Use of an Ingredient in a Finished Product – In this category judges will be looking for ingredients or formulation technologies that help give brand owners an added edge in efficacy and function, provide overall benefits to the end user and are also relatively easy to formulate with.
Finished Product Categories
Best Indie Beauty Brand – In this category the judges will be scoring the overall brand, not product specific, looking out for the highest levels of innovation, whether or not the brand breaks new ground and what are the benefits to the consumer, while also considering the presentation of the brand and the effectiveness of the marketing campaign.
Best Indie Color Cosmetic – This fast-paced category has to dazzle so the judges will be looking for products that are innovative, ahead of the competition and bring exciting new looks for consumers that want to bring something new to their beauty routines.
Best Indie Skin Care – Skin care is by far the biggest category in the beauty industry and the product launches just keep coming. To stand out here, judges will be looking for products with proven skin benefits, while also having claims that put them ahead of the competition.
Best Indie Hair Care – New and successful hair care products are all about being tailored to specific needs. In line with this, judges will be looking for launches that tackle both every day and very particular hair care issues, simply and effectively.