From 3-5 June 2018 the Baia del Silenzio in Sestri Levante, Italy, an enchanting spot of the Ligurian Coast near Genua, hosted the 2nd Intercontinental Personal Care Excellence Conference. A total of 35 scientific lecturers from 11 countries across 4 continents graced the stage of the Annunziata Convention Centre to illustrate cutting edge and emerging trending technologies in cosmetic science. The conference theme, ‘The future of cosmetics is now: innovations and technologies’, was certainly appropriate.

The four sessions of the 2 day conference where introduced by well known international Keynote speakers:

• Miki Minamino opened the session Emotional Cosmetics, giving supporting evidence to the assumption that developing and supplying emotions is not scientifically reductive for the cosmetic scientist
• Tony O’Lenick introduced the session Hi-tech in Personal Care, illustrating some of the new technologies supporting the concept that Hi-tech in Personal Care also means that “looking deeply into the nature of the raw materials in our formulations and how they interact with each other will allow us understand our formulations better and make better products”
• Fujihiro Kanda gave a very clear illustration of the concept of the third session: new ingredients are the real drivers for breakthrough cosmetic innovations to satisfy consumer needs
• Apostolos Pappas opened the last session, Functional Cosmetics, showing how bio-imitation can be used as a master tool to formulate effective cosmetic products

The first Day was held in the conference room and in the luxurious gardens of the Due Mari Hotel:

• The first lesson on Microbioma, Microbiota and Probiotics, was brilliantly conducted by Dr Pappas and Ing M Piacentini, who kindly stood in for the scheduled teachers (Prof M Eggert, Furtwangen University and Prof E Serra, University of Catalunya)
• The second lesson on Cosmetic Testing was delivered by Dr T Hollowood (Sensory Dimensions) and Ing M Piacentini (Eurofins Cosmetics) who illustrated how instrumental testing can be synergistic and complementary to sensory and preference market tests
• The Paradox Roundtable on Sustainability in Cosmetics was conducted by Prof F Iraldo from the Bocconi University of Milan, stimulating a passionate discussion among various stakeholders in the cosmetic chain, while tasting a light aperitif in one of the hotel gardens
• In a second garden, M Vassallo (Complife Group) guided a smaller but highly skilled group of cosmetologists along the risky path of the heavy metals and their limits in cosmetics!

Last, but not least, a delegation of the Oriental Beauty Valley, was invited to create a network of contacts during a working lunch and to present a video illustrating the facilities and the activities of this growing cosmetic district in China.