Key trends from independent beauty brands in Europe
Indie beauty: a global reality?
The Indie Beauty Expo (IBE) event is well-estabilished in the US, and launched its first edition in the UK, in London, last week. A second European edition will be taking place in Berlin in March 2019.
We asked co-founder Jillian Wright whether the expansion of the show is a sign that the consumer demand for indie beauty on the rise in Europe.
A celebrity esthetician, spa owner, and founder of Jillian Wright Skincare, Wright has been in the beauty industry for over 15 years, and has been running the IBE event in the US for the past few years.
Speaking to Cosmetics Design of the launch of the IBE event in Europe, Wright explained that the move to launch in the region came from the team’s recognition that the rise in independent and niche beauty was not limited to the U.S. or one specific region, but is in fact a global reality.
“We are connecting brands and retailers across the world and want to continue to make it easy for those connections to happen,” Wright said.
“European consumers are eager to discover new brands and products and retailers around the world are looking to diversify their beauty assortments.”
Wright pointed to a recent study by Mintel Group, 40,000 unique beauty products launched in the UK between 2015-2017 and UK consumers spent 25.1 billion Pounds on beauty products and services.
“Indie beauty is a growing global phenomena,” she asserted.
Major trends: cruelty-free, vegan, organic, gluten free and halal
On the showfloor, we spotted cruelty-free, vegan, organic claims as the key claims and trends currently big among many indie beauty players.
Alongside this, personalised beauty was in evidence: for example, Emulsion, a British personal care player, was exhibiting.
Emulsion is a personalised skincare brand that allows the customer to tailor his/her own products to tackle specific needs and fragrance preferences.
We asked Wright if she sees any other trends as being key within the indie beauty sector.
“Halal and gluten-free products are on the rise,” she confirmed.
“As consumers become more educated about what they put in their bodies, it also affects their lifestyle and skincare and beauty regiments are a big part of this.
“During IBE London we also saw a lot of interesting twists on tried and true products like a cream-based nail polish remover from The Sign Tribe, vinegar-formulated cleanser from Galinee and foam tooth cleanser from Swiss Smile.”
Moving forward: ever more growth
Finally we asked Wright if she has any predictions for the future of indie beauty.
“Independent beauty is just going to continue to grow and take up more and more market share!” she asserted.
“Our mission when we started IBE was to support the beauty entrepreneur, and that mission hasn’t changed.”
