With the show floor set to open in just days, in-cosmetics Global Paris has revealed the shortlist for its 2026 awards, spotlighting a wave of next-generation ingredients and formulation breakthroughs shaping the future of personal care.
This year’s lineup underscores a step-change in innovation, from cutting-edge actives and high-performance functional materials to sustainability-led solutions redefining product development. With competition intensifying across categories, the 2026 edition is poised to be one of the most closely contested to date.
Award categories span the Innovation Zone Best Active Ingredient and Best Functional Ingredient Awards, Green Ingredient Award, Rising Star Award, Kenvue Trusted Science Award, Make-Up Bar Award, Sensory Bar Award, and—new for 2026—the Scent Bar and Taste Bar Awards. Together, they reflect the industry’s expanding focus on efficacy, sustainability, sensoriality and emerging spaces like nutricosmetics.
The Innovation Zone awards continue to spotlight ingredients that marry scientific advancement with real-world formulation impact, while the Green Ingredient Award, in partnership with Ecovia Intelligence, recognizes leadership in environmentally responsible innovation.
Meanwhile, the Rising Star Award highlights first-year exhibitors bringing fresh thinking and disruptive technologies to market, and the Kenvue Trusted Science Award honors ingredients backed by robust research addressing unmet consumer needs.
New additions for 2026, the Scent Bar and Taste Bar Awards will be judged live on-site, celebrating excellence in fragrance and beauty-from-within. Their debut—alongside the Inner Beauty Zone—signals growing momentum behind ingestible beauty and scent as strategic pillars of formulation.
Winners will be announced on April 14, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. in the Marketing Trends Theatre, during an evening dedicated to recognizing excellence across cosmetic science.
Innovation Zone Best Active Ingredient Award — Shortlist
- Active Peptide Company — APderma CollaCyclic
- ALGAKTIV — ALGAKTIV Vitalys
- Antarka — ANKros-CPD
- Biocogent — RNActivate W
- Chemyunion — Peptid4 Light MB
- Croda Beauty — Malvallin
- dsm-firmenich — GLYCARE SK RENEW
- dsm-firmenich — EXOVIVE LIFT
- Givaudan Active Beauty — VectorHyal
- Lucas Meyer Cosmetics by Clariant — AlgaSurge
- NAEMOS — SHISOME
- NAEMOS — SYNATIS
- RAHN AG — CALNEURIN-SENSE
- Uniproma GmbH — RJMPDRN REC / Recombinant PDRN
- Vytrus Biotech — Ignilyte – Bioelectric power for your skin
Innovation Zone Best Functional Ingredient Award — Shortlist
- Colonial Chemical — SugaCitrate L1C MB
- Evonik — RHEANCE Soft GO
- Evonik — TEGO FILMSTAR BST1
- MINASOLVE — O-Leen 26
- Pilot Chemical — UpSyCal BA17
- PolymerExpert (Solabia Group) — ViscoPure
- SAES Chemicals — ZeoSAES DeoPrecision
- Sappi — Valida BC+
- SEPPIC — Solagum X+
- Sonneborn — SonneNatural Fluidity 40P
Green Ingredient Award — Shortlist
- Ashland — eternight biofunctional
- Bloomage Biotechnology — PDRN from synthetic biology
- COLIP — Climate Oil; Climate Fat
- dsm-firmenich — ALPAFLOR NEUROSOOTH
- Evonik — ECOHANCE Soft BOL
- Givaudan Active Beauty — PrimalHyal NeuroYouth
- Lipoid Kosmetik — Cashew Apple Pro
- Lucas Meyer Cosmetics by Clariant — AlgaSurge
- Mane Kancor Ingredients — PURAKAN – Natural Scalp Care Elixir
Rising Star Award — Shortlist
- Activ'Inside
- ÄIO (äio tech OÜ)
- Antarka
- Artha Research
- Dr.PONG+ Skin Research Lab
- Eggnovo
- Mediterranean Algae
- NAEMOS
- Nordic Bioproducts Group
- Valdera
