During the CEW 2020 Beauty Awards Product Demo, more than 1,000 of the year’s most innovative beauty products were on display.
Event attendees were given the opportunity to scope out some of the industry's trendiest categories, including skin care, hair care, sexual wellness, indies, unisex fragrance and CBD.
Global Cosmetic Industry magazine spoke with Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW, to learn more about the event’s biggest trends, unique product submissions and the evolution of the industry and market.
Global Cosmetic Industry: What are some of the biggest trends you've identified among this year's submissions?
Carlotta Jacobson (CJ): This was a very interesting year in beauty as several new, and unexpected trends rose to the top.
- Uber Ingredient—CBD: We saw an increase in demand for ingredients that can help with emotional balance and CBD topped the charts. CBD has continued to explode onto the beauty scene, as both new and iconic brands explore the possibilities.
- Sexual Wellness: Sexual wellness products expanded into beauty and hit the mainstream.
- Beauty Wellness Supplements: Also evolving from the wellness trend, brands are creating supplements designed to tackle beauty needs from the inside out (such as skin radiance, healthy hair and stress release) with everything from pills to powders, to tinctures to transdermals.
- “Clean-ical” Skincare: There was a 5% increase in U.S. sales for skin care last year, according to NPD, with brands that tout a clean, clinical position poised to gain greater prominence. Particularly, we also saw significant growth within the skin care masks category.
- Hair Disruptors: Hair care and the hair category saw growth in 2019 as well, including new forms of personalization for shampoos and masks, dry shampoo, and product formulas designed to treat the scalp as one would treat skin.
Global Cosmetic Industry: What are some of the most unique/unusual products submitted this year?
CJ: We saw very interesting innovations this year including the merging of two trends—CBD and sexual wellness—into new beauty product offerings, the introduction of unisex fragrances and scents incorporating clean ingredients, sustainable products and packaging and very targeted “niche-stige” products to solve for specific beauty concerns such as underarm discoloration or sparse brows.
Global Cosmetic Industry: What can we learn from this year's range of submissions? What do they tell us about the evolution of the industry and market?
CJ: After taking a close look at this year’s submissions, we can tell that the beauty industry is becoming more inclusive than ever before.
When the CEW Beauty Awards started 26 years ago, categories were very focused on beauty products in the traditional sense—skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair. Now, we see a much more expansive definition of beauty.
The number of independent beauty companies hitting the market continues to grow at a rapid pace, and their incredible success is also contributing to changing the face of the industry.
We see the rise of micro-category brands, also known as niche-stige, offering products that focus on very targeted beauty needs, such as lashes or brows. We also see an increase in unisex and personalized beauty products, and skin care and hair tools to promote at-home beauty care routines.
For a look at all the products on display, check out the CEW 2020 Beauty Awards Product Demo photo album on our Facebook page.
