Top beauty brands duke it out in In-Cosmetic's first-ever Formulation Challenge

Formulators from some of the beauty industry's giants went head-to-head in the first-ever Formulation Challenge, which was held in In-Cosmetics North America's Formulation Lab in New York last September 7.

Among the teams that took part in the competition are global cosmetic manufacturers Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Conair Corp., Victoria's Secret, Cosmetic Group USA and Dermolab Canada. The companies were tasked to create an innovative beauty product and an accompanying marketing campaign in just 90 minutes. The Institute of Personal Care Science and Mintel were the competition's judges.

Each team consisted of four formulators or chemists and two marketing personnel, and received an information sheet and a mystery box of ingredients.

US-based personal care and beauty products specialist Conair bags the top award with its all-day moisturizer, ranking first in both the technical and marketing categories.

Cosmetic Group USA was in close second place for its urban skin care cream.

A spokesperson from Conair said: "We were very excited to be taking part in the Formulation Challenge. Innovation is our passion and we're delighted that our team effort combined to make a product that really impressed the judges."

After presenting the award, Belinda Carli, director at The Institute of Personal Care Science, noted, "Asking five finished product manufacturers to create a new product in such a short period of time was a difficult task. The results demonstrated just how creative an industry we work in. The in-cosmetics North America event is all about highlighting the ingredients that will help inspire a new generation of cosmetics and this competition showed just how exciting the future is."