The in-cosmetics Formulation Summit 2018 is an annual event aimed at industry formulators and focusing on the science behind the trends.
This year’s programme focused on the exciting area of personalisation, and saw delegates from over 24 countries gather at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel in London to gain an insight into the world of bespoke beauty.
The two-day conference was opened by Chair Dr Barbara Brockway, Director, Personal Care, Applied DNA Sciences, who offered an introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality in the beauty arena.
The 20 speaker programme included Vivienne Rudd, Director of Global Innovation and Insight, Beauty & Personal Care at Mintel, and cannabinoid ingredient supplier from the US, Lilu’s Garden.
Cosmetics Design will be hosting a webinar dedicated to the topic on Wednesday 5 December: “Personalisation and Customised Beauty: What’s Next?” Further details are available here.
Colour as a language
A firm highlight from the programme was ‘Exciting innovations in personalised haircare’ delivered by keynote speaker Lauren Bowker, alchemist and Founder of The Unseen.
Bowker gave her insights into what personalisation means, while explaining how she blends art, design and science to create a ‘magical’ product.
She spoke of the idea that colour should be considered a communicative language, and nowhere is this more relevant than in beauty.
Delegate feedback
Shifra Liba Klein, Senior Scientist, Johnson & Johnson said about the event: “The Formulation Summit was fantastic – I learned a lot! The conference had a good structure and covered relevant topics, offering a brilliant introduction to AI with perfect insight offered by the speakers. I was really impressed with the innovative approach and attending was definitely worthwhile.”
Chair Brockway added: “This year’s event was a huge success and highlighted how personalisation is one of the key upcoming trends in the cosmetics and personal care industry. Our speakers showed how exciting products can be created to provide consumers with bespoke beauty – and brought the concept to life.
“The Summit provides the perfect place for those at the forefront of industry evolution to share and build on ideas that will ultimately lead to the creation of future innovations.”
Exhibition organiser: successful programme
Roziani Zulkifli, Exhibition Manager, spoke to Cosmetics Design about how the theme of personalisation was chosen and what is next.
“When it comes to the summit, we want to try and capture something that’s hot, that’s a leading trend,” she explained.
“We did research and personalisation is a leading trend - we research online, we talk to our consultants that we work with, and we survey visitors at our Global in-cosmetics event.
“Prescribed beauty is no longer something that consumer wants. You can’t just prescribe ‘one size fits all’. There are just so many areas in personalisation: it could be hair care, fragrances, DNA, microbiome - we can see from the different brands, they’ve started using technology. Facial mapping, using data.
“But it’s still new - so when something is new and hot, there are always going to be a lot of questions around it. So we wanted to put the experts together, from researchers, to brands, to ingredients manufacturers.”
The Formulation Summit will return to London for its fifth year in 2019, with dates to be announced soon.
