BARBARA OLIOSO
The Green Chemist Consultancy,
United Kingdom

The Formulation Summit 2021 (29-30 November) was a fabulous event which I had the great honour to moderate. It was not just about cosmetic trends, science and regulations, but also about the cosmetic industry’s resilience and the people behind it, from the speakers and the attendees, to the sponsors (CompLife and CLR Berlin) and even the event organizers who managed to pull through despite the challenges.

Even though it lasted for just two days, a lot of content was covered, and in this article I will give a summary of what I believe were the key “take aways” of the event. (1)

COVID consumers and industry trends – “more for less”
Consumers have kept on using on cosmetics during the pandemic, especially with a mental health focus. They also expect more out of the beauty products they use, and this makes multifunctional cosmetics very trendy and appealing. Examples of this trend are haircare products with de-stressing benefits, and colour cosmetics with additional skincare properties.

Ironically, the industry has ended up embodying the “making more for less” mind set becaus ...