together with
13 - 16 February 2024 // Nürnberg, Germany
VIVANESS Newsroom
“The quest for beauty” with Julia Keith - Part 2
A review of VIVANESS 2018: highlights and innovations
If I spent four days thinking of nothing but organic and natural cosmetics from morning till night… then I must be at VIVANESS!
Two things jumped out at me during my visit this year: I had the impression there were more start-ups than usual, and not just at the “Breeze”, the special zone for selected new businesses. It was also clear just how much appeal VIVANESS has for international exhibitors. A couple of examples: BAIMS was a new make-up brand that I discovered from Brazil, and Anakena from Easter Island offered tropical monoi cosmetics. I was also fascinated by Sativa, an exciting skin-care brand from Belarus – not somewhere I previously associated with natural cosmetics. The high-end brand C.Lavie, on the other hand, was one I knew from the detox market in Los Angeles – and although it is a French brand, most of its sales have been in the US.
A lot more mineral sunscreen
Although there has been little new to report in the area of mineral sunscreen for quite some time, there has been huge growth in the selection available in recent years. Brands like Algamaris and Acorelle were trail-blazers in improved ease of application. This year not only saw the big comeback of sunscreen products from Weleda, but the Eco Cosmetics brand has also been hard at work, and now offers numerous sun sprays and a whole series of face care products with a high sun protection factor, and has also launched a low-cost entry-level sunscreen brand under the name “ey!” Mádara, from Latvia, and Whamisa, from South Korea, also found a niche for themselves at VIVANESS with elegant textures for daily facial sun protection.
Large selection of vegetable hair dyes
It seemed that everywhere I looked at VIVANESS, I found brands offering vegetable hair dyes as part of their range. Tradition-rich brand Logona has re-worked its entire collection of hair dyes, now using an even more finely ground powder. As a ready-mixed cream, it’s particularly practical to use. Anyone with an interest in vegetable hair dyes should look at brands like Radico, Ayluna and Cultivator’s. And from Indus Valley I even found henna for my eyebrows!
Deodorants with bicarbonate of soda
Deodorants with bicarbonate of soda have finally found their way to VIVANESS! This type of highly effective deodorant cream has been popular in the US and on-line for many years. The majority of these are waterless balms in a jar (e.g. from We love the planet), which you apply with your fingertips or a spatula. Ben&Anna also makes this type of deodorant in a handy stick form. New developments are creamier deodorant emulsions like the one from Berlin manufacturer i+m.
All kinds of minimalism
The trend toward minimalism was evident in many forms at VIVANESS. There was a whole series of waterless balms, oils and hydrolates to discover (such as from Pure Skin Food); it would be almost impossible to find ingredients reduced any further in the skin care line. Those who want more say in their ingredients, and of course a lot of fun mixing it all together, have the option of DIY kits for lip care or wash products from Coscoon or Hello Simple. For me, the trend toward minimalism also includes the formulations in the new Pure series from Santaverde, which are easy to understand and use no scents. And when it comes to packaging, solid products like the Shampoo Bars from Jolu and the shampoo soap from Speick manage very easily without plastic and create very little waste.
I can only add that I’m already looking forward to next year!
Julia Keith
Julia Keith founded the largest German-language blog for organic and natural cosmetics in 2010. Since then, she has been constantly on the look-out for the most exciting beauty trends around the world.