Over 12,500 global visitors unite around the trends and innovations shaping the future of beauty
06 MAY, PARIS: in-cosmetics Global 2026, organised by RX, concluded a record-breaking edition in Paris, welcoming 12,559 unique visitors and reinforcing its position as the leading destination for personal care ingredients and trends.
Sponsored by KSM-66, the event attracted a highly international audience (67% international vs. 33% domestic), creating a truly global exchange of ideas across the show floor.
Bringing together brands, manufacturers and suppliers from across the personal care value chain, the show floor was filled with innovations and concepts that set the global benchmark for beauty’s future.
Attendees included leading global beauty and cosmetic houses such as L’Oréal, Chanel, Estée Lauder, Coty and Puig, alongside a diverse mix of ingredient suppliers, indie brands, cosmetic scientists, manufacturers, formulators and R&D specialists. This year’s edition also highlighted the industry’s expansion into new verticals including nutricosmetics, neurocosmetics, health and wellness, reflecting a broader evolution across the global beauty landscape.
Introducing inner beauty
This year saw the debut of the Inner Beauty Zone, a new area bridging beauty and nutraceuticals.
Within the zone, innovations in beauty-from-within filled the zone with gummies, drinks, powders and capsules targeting slow-ageing, hyperpigmentation, hydration, hair/skin quality, and stimulated skin cell production, powered by ingredients such as collagen, vitamin C, astaxanthin, ashwagandha, turmeric, and more.
The Taste Bar invited visitors to sample a range of supplements from Mibelle Biochemistry, KSM-66 Ashwagandha, Bionap S.R.L., Lubrizol, Symrise and more. Building on this, the new Taste Bar Award recognised standout innovations with Lubrizol awarded Best Tasting Nutricosmetics Food for its Curcushine gummies and Symrise winning Best Tasting Nutricosmetics Beverage for its AceRoselle.
The momentum around beauty-from-within was further reflected across the show floor. “It’s been a success story for Activ’Inside – it is our first time exhibiting here in the Inner Beauty Zone. We’re riding the huge trend in the beauty-from-within market […], and in-cosmetics Global is a great way to help brands enter an industry that is growing exponentially. The quality of encounters has us really satisfied with our participation – we’re already booked for next year,” said Karine Laurent, Sales Director, Europe at Activ’Inside.
Supporting this growing category, the in-cosmetics Global Nutricosmetics Ingredient Index launched at the event, offering a clear snapshot of the ingredients driving momentum in the fast-evolving category.
Beauty through a broader lens
The event highlighted beauty’s growing role within wellness, spanning sleep, mood, fragrance, mind & neurological support, gut health, ovarian health, longevity and more. Mintel set the tone with a trends-led session projecting 8.6% growth in the wellness market by 2029, highlighting the convergence of beauty, nutrition and consistent-use formats. Key areas included muscle health as a metabolic driver, evolving gut microbiome support, and ovarian health as part of preventative, life-stage-focused care.
Exhibitors across the show floor brought these concepts to life through increasingly science-backed and emotionally driven innovations. Brain Impact Neuroscience demonstrated how fMRI and AI can measure emotional responses to beauty products, while Næmos introduced SYNATIS™, a neuroprotective, plant-based extract targeting skin ageing at a sensory level. iNGR Inc. unveiled its next-generation bio-platform integrating inner and outer beauty solutions.
dsm-firmenich further blurred beauty-wellness lines with its ALPAFLOR® NEUROSOOTH (skin-mind stress interrupter) and EXOVIVE LIFT, an extracellular synergy system harnessing the power of Alpine Apple, Mediterranean Tangerine and Sicilian Papaya.
Record-breaking Innovation Zone
in-cosmetics Global set a new benchmark in the Innovation Zone this year with a record-breaking 233 entries; the highest ever, mirroring the event’s historic scale and signalling the beauty industry’s rapid pace of innovation.
As consumers demand greater efficacy, transparency, and emotional resonance, suppliers responded with truly groundbreaking ingredients spanning scalp-focused actives, longevity science, neurocosmetics, invisible SPF, pet care, natural alternatives to synthetic ingredients, and much more.
All entries were automatically considered for the in-cosmetics Global 2026 Awards, recognising leading advances in cosmetic science. Winners across nine categories were selected by an expert judging panel and announced at the ceremony on 14 April.
In the Active category, RAHN AG took Gold for CALNEURIN SENSE, Næmos earned Silver with SHISOME, and Bronze went to Chemyunion’s Peptid4 Light MB and dsm-firmenich’s EXOVIVE LIFT.
The Functional category saw PolymerExpert claim Gold for ViscoPure, SEPPIC take Silver with Solagum X+, and Evonik secure Bronze for RHEANCE Soft GO.
From lab to launch
The show floor was alive with launches and announcements, with major players unveiling new ingredients and products for the very first time. Sustainability and biotech led the conversation, with natural, microplastic-free, circular and upcycled solutions alongside high-performance actives.
Standout launches this year included Upcycled Beauty Company’s microbiome-friendly Cherry NECTA™ active oil made from cherry stones and zero-waste Cherishd Cherry-Up Eye-Elixir; SETHIC’s ILLUMETA super-metabiotic from premium Koshihikari rice for glass-skin; and COLIPI’s Climate Butter™, a scalable alternative to tropical butters via circular fermentation.
Mibelle Biochemistry also unveiled EpiSnow™, an advanced skin-rejuvenating active targeting seven key hallmarks of ageing, while Lucas Meyer Cosmetics by Clariant introduced AlgaSurge, a next-generation skin longevity active derived from extremophile microalgae via blue biotechnology.
Symrise introduced three new ingredients including its SymConcentrole® Barrier Boost, a 100% natural-origin liquid oil which blends upcycled pineapple hearts with organic coconut/MCT oil to strengthen skin barrier, structure and elasticity.
Givaudan Active Beauty, in collaboration with Haut.AI, unveiled an interactive experience powered by generative AI, enabling visitors to digitally “try on” PrimalHyal™ NeuroYouth and visualise its effects on their own skin over time. Ravetllat Fragrances also launched “From Space to Place,” a new collection where light, volume and texture converge to create a sensory narrative.
Korean manufacturing giant Cosmax and HelloBiome spotlighted a new partnership bringing AI-powered microbiome intelligence directly into skincare formulation, integrating HelloBiome’s clinical research platform to optimise product development, reflecting the growing role of biotech and data-driven innovation in Korean beauty manufacturing.
Meanwhile, members of the Circular Cosmetic Collective featuring Lignopure, Gaia Tech, Kaffe Bueno, Swedish Algae Factory, The Upcycled Beauty Company and others made their debut in the Upcycling Hub, underscoring the collaborative momentum toward circular beauty.
Elevating scent
Fragrance played a strong role this year, with an enhanced Fragrance Zone and the introduction of the new Scent Bar, a dedicated space designed to explore scent as a compelling and emotionally engaging component of personal care.
Across the zone, exhibitors showcased how fragrance is evolving beyond traditional scent into a strategic ingredient for wellbeing, mood and sensory experience. Insights from Fragrance Oils highlighted growing demand for clinically supported claims, with brands increasingly seeking accessible fragrance solutions that deliver measurable wellness benefits alongside emotional impact.
This transition was brought to life through innovations from leading fragrance houses. LUZI showcased “The Play of Sweets”, demonstrating how gourmand fragrances are being reimagined with twists that balance nostalgia with discovery, creating scents that feel comforting and joyful.
Expressions Parfumées presented its Longevity Collection alongside AgeAura™, a new fragrance technology supporting the emerging “active perfumery” space by integrating functional ingredients into scent compositions.
Meanwhile, IFF and Eurofragance showcased scent’s growing role in wellbeing, from mood-enhancing and sleep-supporting fragrance technologies to immersive emotional experiences underlining sensory design’s integral place in next-generation beauty.
Knowledge sharing
Across the event, 239 educational sessions, from panels, keynotes and seminars to Q&As and hands-on workshops, brought the industry together to share insights. As a core learning platform for the cosmetic community, the programme explored themes from nutricosmetics and longevity to beauty in the GLP-1 era and the evolving role of scent, alongside advances in hair biology and next-generation biomaterials inspired by nature and circular innovation.
The event fostered meaningful connections across the value chain, reinforcing its position as a key meeting point for the industry. With over 141,363 Colleqt QR code scans, engagement levels were high, as attendees exchanged contacts, scheduled meetings and sparked new partnerships in real time.
Dr Bhuvana Kannan, Scientific Director of Hyperganic, added: “It’s been very busy with lots of people coming, great footfall, and tons of leads and meetings. We supply all over the world, and all our distributors are here. We had 45 meetings in just two days, which we wouldn’t have achieved without being here.”
The unprecedented scale of in-cosmetics Global 2026, and the explosion of product launches and unveilings, demonstrated the event’s global pull and gravitas as the leading platform for the personal care and beauty industry to unite and benchmark progress.
Andy Mathers, Event Director of in-cosmetics Global, said: “The level of innovation, energy and momentum across the industry was evident in every corner of the event. There was a real sense of excitement, offering a clear and promising glimpse of where the industry is heading. Beauty is evolving and expanding into new and dynamic spaces, and that was reflected across the entire show floor. We look forward to building on this momentum at in-cosmetics Global 2027 in Barcelona.”
