Raw material suppliers will be in the spotlight at In-Cosmetics Global when the winners of the Global Innovation Zone Best Ingredient Awards are announced on April 2. The awards celebrate the most cutting-edge ingredient launches. Gold, Silver and Bronze prizes will be handed out to suppliers that have helped cosmetic manufacturers push the boundaries of innovation over the last six months, according to show organizers. Five award categories will be presented at the event, Green Ingredient Award, Innovation Zone Best Active Ingredient, Innovation Zone Best Functional Ingredient and Make-Up Bar and Sensory Bar awards (judged at the event).


The judges include Belinda Carli, director, Institute of Personal Care Science; Colin Godefroy, international raw material manager, L'Oréal Research & Innovation; Dr. Andrea Mitarotonda, consultant; Muriel Pujos, technical and scientific director, skin care, Coty; Wren Holmes, new brands & business models manager Europe, Unilever; Marie Helene Lair, scientific communication director, Clarins Group; and Marie Dehlinger, scientific and regulatory affairs manager, Carrefour. Judges will reward ingredients that have best combined innovative science and product features in a way that demonstrates substantial benefits to manufacturers.


Finalists for the Innovation Zone Best Ingredient Awards are:

Best Active Ingredient Finalists
• Vytrus Biotech’s Olea Vitae PLF, a powerful revitalizer of mature skin, that uses specific signalling lipids from plant cell membranes to activate the skin's energy rejuvenation cycles;
• Hallstar’s Look Oléoactif, the first active ingredient based on Osmos which decreases eye bags and dark circles;
• Givaudan Active Beauty’s Darkenyl, a revolutionary and advanced hair repigmenting active ingredient designed to counteract the hair-graying biological process;
• BASF Personal Care & Nutrition GmbH’s Bix'Activ, an extract from the seeds of the Red Lip Tree (Bixa Orellana) that visibly reduces sebum production, mattifies the skin, refines pores and keeps the virulence of Propionibacterium acnes at bay;
• Vitalab’s Vita Rosalience, based on a patented plant embryogenic culture of Rosa rugosa, it rejuvenates biological mechanisms and mitochondrial biogenesis;
• IFF-Lucas Meyer Cosmetics’ SkiNectura, a natural and organic active ingredient with unique properties extracted from the Australian kangaroo paw flower;
• Laboratoires Expanscience's Algaenia, anl active ingredient to protect sensitive skin and allergic tendency; and 
• Lipoid Kosmetik AG’s Carotolino, an active ingredient that incorporates the best of carrots including stabilized carotenoid to reduce blue light stress.

LipoTrue SL, Mibelle Biochemistry, LipoTrue, Symrise, Chemyunion and Givaudan Active Beauty have other products that are finalists, but will be revealed for the first time at In Cosmetics Global.



Best Functional Ingredient Finalists
• Gattefossé’s Emulium Illustro,  a natural origin, PEG-free, water-in-oil emulsifier highly compatible with pigments and UV filters, but also with a wide range of cosmetic ingredients;
• NCD Ingredients GmbH’s Halorubin, produced by Haloarchaea to reinforce the cell membrane and protect cells against ROS primarily caused by extreme UV irradiation;
• Elementis Bentone's Luxe WN, a multifunctional ingredient that provides emulsification and rheology modification in one easy-to-use package;
• Nagase Personal Care’s Micromica MK-200PG, an ecological base powder developed for J-Beauty to enhance the properties and quality of conventional sericite;
• Maian – Innovative by Nature’s Silike 91 PL – a natural alternative for silicone cyclopentasiloxane or cyclomethicone that maintains performance, physicochemical and sensorial characteristics;

Vantage Specialty Ingredients, Inc., Clariant, PolymerExpert, Ashland, DSM Nutritional Products, Galaxy Surfactants Limited, Fuji Film, Wako Pure Chemical Corp., Seppic and Stearinerie DuBois  are also finalists with new products launching at In-Cosmetics Global.


Green Ingredient Finalists
• Vytrus Biotech’s Sarcoslim Re-Shape PRCF, a natural dermocosmetic active that reduces the excessive lipid accumulations and improves the general biomechanical properties of the skin by activation of the metabolism;
• Laboratoires Expanscience's SkinHairGium Bio, rich in peptides and sugars, it has the ability to stimulate hair growth, slow hair loss and provide a strengthening, revitalizing effect;
• Lipotec Active Ingredients’s Lumicease Blue Ingredient induces opsin proteins on the skin, which are considered as epidermal photosensors that could facilitate the skin perception of light. In vivo, it minimized the main signs of digital and photoaging; and
• Vitalab’s NutriVita,  the active demonstrates significant improvement of skin firmness and elasticity and represents the solution recommended for all skincare products dedicated to dull skin.

Rising Star Finalist
New this year, In-Cosmetics will reveal its Rising Star Award to the most innovative and flexible companies exhibiting at the show for the first time. Judged by five of the industry’s leading experts, 13 businesses have been shortlisted as finalists, with the winner to be announced at the show. The nominations are:
• Microfactory
• Pacifique Sud Ingrédients
• Veeva
• Naturamus GmbH
• Odycea
• Fuji Film Wako Pure Chemical Corp.
• O&3 - The Oil Family
• Vitalab
• Tri Princeton + Monasterium Lab.;
• PineAqua, Ltd;
• Microfactory;
• Entekno Materials
• MicroA AS

Cosmetics manufacturers can learn more about these new ingredients by visiting In-Cosmetics’ Innovation Zone from 2-4 April and joining the free-to-attend awards evening by registering at: http://www.in-cosmetics.com/register.