SHINE | 05-Nov-2021 | By Ke Jiayun
The zone for beauty and cosmetics, and chemicals for daily use at hall 6.1 of the fourth China International Import Expo, is always one of the most popular sites for visitors. This year, it has been upgraded and consists of three areas – the cosmetics and facial care section featuring products such as make-up, perfume, skin care and masks; chemicals for daily use and toiletries section featuring detergent, toiletries and oral care; and home beauty kit section featuring household beauty tools, hair remover and facial cleansing devices.
Besides CIIE’s old friends L’Oréal, P&G, Unilever, Estée Lauder, Shiseido, Amorepacific and Kao, there are some new comers including Japanese multinational personal care company Kose, American multinational beauty company Coty and German multinational company Beiersdorf which manufactures and retails personal-care products and pressure-sensitive adhesives. This year, many of exhibitors have brought their latest high-tech products and are introducing sustainable development concepts.
L’Oréal
French cosmetics company L’Oréal uses its advanced technologies and innovative ideas to give consumers more choice in customized cosmetics as well as contribute to sustainable development. Women who feel it’s difficult to pick a lipstick when hanging out now can make their own with YSL ROUGE SUR MESUR, a smart “lipstick printer.” This portable, bottle-like device, which made its debut at the CIIE, allows them to mix lip gloss of different colors and work out a color fitting them through technologies like augmented reality.
After putting tubes of lip gloss into the device, users can connect it with their smartphone via a mobile application. Then they can choose a color from the color spectrum, from the color of an item on the photo, or from artificial intelligence analysis with the colors of their hair and clothes. Then the device will release different amount of lip gloss from each tube and mix it to obtain the desired color. Another device L’Oréal has brought to the CIIE for the first time is its water-saving hair care equipment. L’Oréal Water Saver, jointly developed by L’Oréal Group and the Swiss environmental innovation company Gjosa, takes advantage of the fractional distillation principle design for rocket engines. It manages to lead precise collision between water flows which can form super tiny water droplets only one-tenth of the size of ordinary water droplets. By this innovative process, the washing efficiency is greatly improved and is able to save up to 80 percent water. The system also provides users a one-stop hair care experience. It is able to mix up to three different products including shampoo, conditioner and hair mask into tiny high-speed water droplets based on individual preferences. Meanwhile, the powerful water flows will also give a massage-like comfort experience, making the hair wash and care experience more personalized and enjoyable.
Shiseido
Shiseido has developed a technology which can create a daily “second-layer skin” – a kind of thin coating that can be applied to a person’s face to relieve under-eye puffiness quickly. By touching a large screen at the digital interaction area set by Shiseido, visitors can see how under-eye puffiness disappears with the new technology. Shiseido’s Perfect UV Protector, which is nicknamed “Blue Fatty” because of its cute, ball-like blue bottle, will soon have a new member to its family. The “Pink Fatty,” debuted at the CIIE, can nourish the skin as well as protecting it from the sun. Anessa, another brand under Shiseido popular among Chinese for its sunscreen product, also showcases seven new products. An upgraded traditional product gives better protection to sun and heat. For sustainable development, Shiseido brings its skincare brand Baum which was set up last year. Based on the concept of “co-existing with the nature,” it uses recycled wood to make the packing and more than 90 percent of its products are made of natural materials. Another two brands under it, Elixir and Ipsa, also use eco-friendly packing.
Kose
When using a mask, people usually find the one-size type does not fit very well. But now, they can customize their own mask size with a machine showcased by Kose by scanning their face. After collecting the 3D data of one’s face with a tablet, the computer can have a printer run off the dry mask paper and then the customer can apply the toning lotion on it to make their own mask. Kose also brought a nail printer it has cooperated with CASIO over to the expo. It can let customers print the pattern they like on their nails. This year they had a designer create a set of three patterns specially for CIIE. They also have another two sets which are respectively designed for autumn and are gender-neutral. During the expo, it will hold events to give a waste cosmetics “rebirth.” Working with start-up MÅNGATA, Kose developed technologies that can recycle waste cosmetics to produce pigment.
Its brand Sekkisei is also a supporter of sustainable development. Its Clear Wellness series uses environment-friendly material Bio-PET made of bagasse, which emits less carbon dioxide in production. Besides recycled packing, it has no paper instructions inside and instead, there is a QR code on the box for digital ones. The ink printed on the goods is biomass ink which is easily degradable and has less impact on the environment. It is also considering placing recycling boxes in some stores for used containers.
P&G
P&G brand SK-II provides a device called “Mini Magic Scan” which can test the quality of one’s skin and help find problems through artificial intelligence analysis. After showing one’s face in the frame on the mirror and giving some basic information, the device will give analysis about the skin in three minutes.
Meanwhile, a new limited edition of SK-II essence features the brand’s first fully recyclable bottle themed with American Pop artist Andy Warhol. It also comes in a gift set with a unique Andy Warhol TV inspired pouch made from regenerated nylon, an infinitely recyclable sustainable yarn made from ocean and landfill nylon waste like abandoned fishing nets. At the sustainability exhibition area of P&G, its brand Herbal Essences launched a new natural hair care product called “Perennial”, which adheres to the concept of sustainable development and environmental protection. The aluminum bottle and refill pack, reduces plastic consumption per milliliter by approximately 62 percent compared to the same volume of plastic bottle. The company works with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in the United Kingdom and the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to support the Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank program, and to help scientists study and protect 20 endangered plants in China. These plants are printed on the bottles. This area showcases nine products from six categories to demonstrate P&G’s innovative approach to sustainability with respect to product development and design. The rejoice non-rinse conditioner saves water for each rinse of conditioner, equal to one person’s two weeks of drinking water. The Tide liquid and pods’ bottle and boxes, and Safeguard liquid hand soap and body wash bottle are all recyclable. The OLAY peach cream reduced plastic consumption by 4 percent annually equaling to a reduction of 3 million bottles of mineral water, while Oral-B iO electric toothbrush’s packaging is transitioning from paper-plastics to paper only.
Amorepacific
Amorepacific has two exhibition halls for visual and audio connection with beauty and cosmetics. The display combines science and art. In one hall, when the visitor picks up the model of a product from the desk, a video about it will be played on the holographic screen. The visitor will feel they are at the site where it is produced. Short videos from visual design team Healing Times which is supported by Amorepacific are shown at the other hall for visitors to get an autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), feeling for relaxation and healing themselves. The booth of Innisfree copied part of its empty bottle recycling store in Seoul, South Korea, showcasing items made with recycled bottles, including toothbrush holder, key chain, flower pot and even the wall.
Coty
It feels like entering a garden when visiting Coty. People can enjoy the smell of modern versions generated from the four classic fragrances created by French perfumer Francois Coty, the brand’s founder, from a few decorations designed as bell-shaped flowers with long stems. Coty, a newcomer to the CIIE, is the first company to use sustainable ethanol from captured carbon emissions in fragrance production, which is a huge technological breakthrough across the beauty industry. Ethanol is a vital ingredient in the production of fragrances, making up approximately 80 percent of the final product. It achieved this in partnership with Lanzatech, a leader in the production of new-generation, green and sustainable ingredients.
The latter’s sun care product Lancaster Sun Sensitive offers clean and vegan formulas developed to be compliant with the strictest clean charter of application with 40 percent fewer ingredients. It’s ocean friendly and the packaging is also eco-conscious, containing a minimum of 50 percent post-consumer recycled materials. Industrial emissions, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases, are being transformed into fragrances by brands like Gucci, Burberry and others.
The Chloe Naturelle is a fully natural origin fragrance which is developed with sustainably harvested ingredients including neroli, rose, cedar and citron and lower-impact packaging.
Unilever
People may think that cosmetics are only for facial use. But at the area of Unilever, visitors can find “make-up” and “mask” for their teeth. Among the four imported brands Unilever introduces to CIlE for the first time, there is Signal, a leading French oral whitening brand. Its whitening pen, which is easy for carrying, can help people make their teeth look white for urgent use such as dating and interviews. Its 3D customized teeth whitening kit, which applies special gel on the teeth like a “mask,” will make one’s teeth whiten as soon as six days in a safe way. Another brand, REGENERATE, is the world’s first toothpaste maker that repairs tooth enamel. Unilever also has a “Sustainable Action Wall” showing how laundry detergent brand OMO “air” laundry capsules are made. This product is the first laundry product on the market in the world that uses carbon capture technology to make carbon from the air. This breaks through the washing industry’s tradition of extracting carbon from fossil fuels to make detergent surfactants. This “green technology” originated from Unilever’s research and development team in China and was first listed in the Chinese market. This is the first time that OMO’s “air” laundry capsule has been showcased at CIIE, providing Chinese consumers with another new option for “green consumption”.
Estée Lauder
If you want to know details about your skin problems but are reluctant to see a doctor, you can come to the area of Estée Lauder. A machine, which has three types of light sources to catch the surface, middle and deep layers of one’s skin clearly with a camera, can detect wrinkles, spots and clogged pores and give an evaluation and analysis. After the camera takes three photos of one’s face from left, middle and right, the machine can give a quick analysis. How serious the problem is will be marked with three colors – green, yellow and red – from lowest to highest level. Each part of the skin can be magnified on the screen with lines and circles to show where the problem is. Decorating the booth with a model of a wooded valley with a train running around, Jo Malone, British fragrance and lifestyle brand under Estée Lauder, introduce their latest three products based on natural ingredients including rose, magnolia, mandarin, honey, white moss and snowdrop, all in well-designed bottles. The White Moss & Snowdrop is expected to retail in stores next month.