In-Cosmetics Amazon focus draws the crowds

Feedback from the show indicated that visitors had taken strongly to the new concept, with Reed Exhibitions claiming that a survey it had conducted showed that people had warmed to the idea and would appreciate a similar themed focus for next year's event.

The group of stands at the In-Focus Amazonia comprised a range of Brazilian products that are all tapping into this demand - with offerings that allowed visitors to interact with the touch and smell of plants, and even taste them at Solabia juice bar.

The stands also included a range of other big ingredients suppliers, all trying to muscle in on the growth that. Big names included Croda, Beraca, Greetech, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, Orafti, Expansience, Agipal and Rohm & Haas and Lessonia.

But as well as providing a platform for companies to promote the Amazon-derived ingredients, In-Focus also aimed to familiarise industry professionals with a range of ingredients that many have never worked with or even seen before.

The Brazilian Drugstore featured classics such as Andiroba and Coapiba, as well as more exotic ingredients such as Charma Fortuna and Amor Eterno, while, as well as serving drinks, Solabia's stand was also featuring a range of cosmetic grade fruit pulps that are part of the all-important move towards sustainable development in this region.

Beraca, being one of the world's leading provider of Amazon-sourced cosmetics ingredients, also had a prominent placing at the In-Focus, which was further boosted by its larger show stand.

The company was showing a range of Amazon-sourced oils and butters - including Aniroba, Buriti and Pracaxi oils, as well as Muru mure, Cupuacu and Ucuuba butter oils - that have all recently received ECOCERT organic certification.

The company was also showing its Açai oil for the first time at the show. This is a native palm from the Amazonian region that is rich in phtosterols, anthoncyanins, essential fatty acids and vitamins, making an ideal ingredient for skin care products.

Meanwhile French player Lessonia was also showing a range of new Amazon-sourced cosmetics exfoliators at the show. These included non-refined organic sugar cane, used for body scrubs and general exfoliants sourced from equitable sugar suppliers.

The company was also unveiling for the first time an Amazon-sourced Guarana seed exofliator in three grades together with its Luffa Annatto exfloliator. Luffa is a effective exfoliant that, in this case, has been coloured by annatto seeds, used by indigenous tribes for centuries to colour fabrics as well as for body paint.

With all of the new ingredients on offer on the show, it will be interesting to see in what kind of products they will be appearing in finished products and to see exactly how they are marketed.

But if the number of ingredients on offer is anything to go by, it seems inevitable that Amazon-derived products are set to be big in the future.