Twenty Ingredients Shortlisted for in-cosmetics Asia 2026 Awards

Twenty personal care ingredients will compete for the in-cosmetics Asia 2026 Innovation Zone awards, with a panel of 12 independent industry experts selecting winners ahead of a ceremony in Bangkok on 3 November. The shortlist spans two categories: functional ingredients, the formulation workhorses such as emulsifiers and film-formers, and actives, the compounds marketed for a documented effect on skin.

What made the functional shortlist?

Ten ingredients earned nominations in the functional category:

• Spraymulse – Alchemy by Elementis
• Effisin Em Natural Multifunctional – Ashland
• Emulgade Verde PE – BASF
• Eclipsogen CAP Duo Z – Clariant
• Dowsil EL-9400 Hybrid Elastomer Blend – Dow
• TEGO Filmstar BST1 – Evonik
• Protecticire MB – Gattefossé
• SensoTrue DM5 – Givaudan
• Coffea Regenera – SAES Chemicals
• Solagum X+ – Seppic

The names signal the familiar formulation briefs these suppliers are chasing: emulsification, multifunctional preservation, sensory modification and film-forming. None of the shortlist entries arrives with published efficacy data in the announcement itself, so any performance claims will rest on what each supplier presents to the judges.

Which actives are in contention?

The active category also carries ten nominees:

• NeoHelix Regenerate – BASF
• Glycare SK Renew – DSM-Firmenich
• PrimalHyal NeuroYouth – Givaudan
• Glintarine – LipoTrue
• Synatis – Naemos
• Illumeta – Sethic
• Bloomlight – Solabia
• BioNia – Viablife Biotech
• Ignilyte – Vytrus Biotech
• Toleroxyl – Vytrus Biotech

Vytrus Biotech is the only company with two nominees, both apparently biotech-derived. Givaudan, BASF and Dow appear across both supplier groups represented here, but Givaudan alone lands a slot in each category — SensoTrue DM5 among the functionals and PrimalHyal NeuroYouth among the actives.

The trade names gesture at anti-ageing and skin-renewal positioning — Regenerate, Renew, NeuroYouth — yet the announcement supplies no concentrations, no trial data and no mechanism of action. PrimalHyal, by name at least, belongs to a hyaluronic-acid lineage; the rest require supplier documentation before any dermatological claim can be weighed.

How large is the Innovation Zone itself?

The awards sit within the wider Innovation Zone, a standing feature of the show. This year the zone will display 120 innovations, all launched within the last eight months — a compressed commercial window that functions as a de facto freshness filter.

Event director Sarah Gibson framed the shortlist as evidence of divergent supplier strategies rather than incremental reformulation. "What's interesting about this year's Innovation Zone is the different ways suppliers are approaching familiar formulation challenges," she said.

She pointed to two parallel tracks of work. "We're seeing new research into skin ageing alongside technologies that are changing how ingredients are sourced, developed and used," Gibson added.

Her third remark leaned promotional: "It's exciting to look at the science behind the products consumers will be using in the future." Excitement, however, is not evidence. Which of the twenty nominees carries peer-reviewed support, and which carries a marketing deck, will become clearer only when the judges publish their reasoning in Bangkok on 3 November.