2014-03-28 23:36:18

CEW’s Product Demo Marks 20th Anniversary

2014-03-28 23:36:18

 Colorful balloons, creative flower arrangements and boardwalk-like games added extra festivity to CEW’s 20th annual Product Demo as the organization kicked off its Insiders’ Choice Beauty Awards season on March 5 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.

More than 2,000 CEW members had the opportunity to test more than 650 products launched during 2013 at the sold-out session and vote for their favorites after the event. 

Winners will be selected in each of 31 categories, from hair color to lip color, prestige fragrance to mass skin care. 

The finalists will be announced on April 4th, and CEW’s Board of Governors along with other industry experts, will vote to determine the winners. The announcements will be made at theBeauty Awards luncheon May 16th at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. 

CEW's president, Carlotta Jacobson.

Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW, said this year’s event was the largest demo ever. 

The first, she said, featured 20 brands. In contrast, this year 350 companies participated. “It’s growing every year, and this is a very special evening,” said Jacobson. carlotta

When the Demo was created 20 years ago, Jacobson explained that CEW was in the best position to judge. 

“Consumers respond to the opinions of the experts in the industry,” she said. Jacobson pointed out that more than 16 billion products were sold last year—and consumers want to know which ones beauty insiders think are best. 

Going Public

In recent years, CEW has been going more public with the awards and the selected products have attracted more visibility. Now, a new partnership with Meredith Corporation will reach consumers through the publisher’s multiple media platforms, which include magazines, television, and digital properties. In October, every magazine at Meredith will feature a “beauty month.”

What top trends did Jacobson note among this year’s many entries? 

The rapidly growing market for masks and peels—which saw a 66% sales jump in prestige outlets in 2013—joined anti-aging products in both mass and prestige for the lead. 

Oils spread in their appeal to consumers who have grown to appreciate their gentle texture. 

The eyes also had their share of launches with volume-driven mascaras and art-inspired colors and forms. 

The alphabet creams continued, anti-aging grew in hair care, deep hues punctuated lips and professional doctor brands returned to prominence due to their “credibility factor.”


Personal View

Beauty Packaging's editor, Jamie Matusow.

Following are some of the trends and products that caught my eye as I made the alphabetical rounds from brand to brand, jostling with the excited crowds vying to touch, smell and feel the many products and packages skillfully displayed and demonstrated by the evening’s knowledgable counterpersons.

Gels are in! Gravitating from their popularity in nails, a spongier formulation has emerged in eye (and cheek) colors like those from Josie Maran and Classic Cosmetics, and a color correcting gel from Per-fekt. 

Meanwhile, Gel Effect, from Nails Inc., London, offers a high-shine finish—that simulates a gel manicure, sans a UV lamp. A wide brush ensures easy application.

Cores mark the spot at the center of bullets! Two or three products in one combine for extra benefits such as hydration when you swivel up. And they look pretty, too.

Brows get a pick me up! Brow products seemed hotter than ever with a variety of solutions for priming, coloring and plumping. Benefit’s Gimme Brow features a brush-on fiber gel for filled-in or lush brows.

Packaging Wowed

From fragrance to color cosmetics, lots of great packaging drew attention on the expansive counters. A number of fragrances built a successful story with their packages.

Some of the packages spotted at CEW's Product Demo.

The ribbed glass bottle for Ermenegildo Zegna Uomo (shown, second from left) reflects the staircase climbing Casa Malaparte, a magnificent home built in the ’40s on the Isle of Capri, by Italian journalist Curzio Malaparte. 

It is considered “a testament to masculine determination, a place where the Uomo man lives with passion and steps up to claim his destiny.” 

From the cap with its “horse bit” to the diamante pattern and webbing on the carton, Gucci Made to Measure gets across the essence of the brand at first glance.

Hugo Hugo Boss not only captured the year’s trend toward red bottles, but hit a high mark for creativity with its heat-sensitive, pliable bottle. The counterperson explained that the scent is all about energy, taking risks and leaving an imprint—exactly what happens when your fingers leave a slight color-change indentation on the bottle, due to the reaction of body temperature on the plastic-coated glass. The canteen-style cap unscrews and pops off for application. 

A citrusy aroma was the essence of Lacoste for Women, whose bottle featured the pique texture of the iconic polo shirts, complete with a mini crocodile. Even the scent strips were in the shape of the beloved reptile. The globelike bottle feels good in the hand.

Similarly, the Swarovski Miss Aura fragrance, (shown, top right) with an elongated cap topped with a crystal and decorated with a swarm of butterfly cutouts, used scent strips in the shape of the beautiful winged insects. 

In cosmetics, Per-fekt Beauty’s Skin Perfection CC Crème seemed to be quite a hit. The multi-tasker is designed to hydrate, prime, protect, “perfekt” and color correct—and last all day. And the pretty aqua blue compact with a soft, matching sponge and an interior plastic protective cover, travels in style. Pixi by Petra, with its dual-ended eye pencils is a good example of the growing number of quality cosmetics brands available at Target. 

Consumers can lend sparkle to both hair and skin with Gatsby’s Glam It Up Shimmer Spray, (shown, bottom row third from left) packaged in a can that graphically translates the sparkling gold message instantly and effectively. 

The credible doctor’s edge was seen in a number of products. Organic Doctor, an organic brand new to the U.S., recently crossed the pond from the UK. A wide range of products from face to body, lip to eye, is sold exclusively at Vitamin World shops.

Dr Jart’s (shown, bottom row, far right) counter rep told me that the brand merges art and science. He said they were the original creators of BB cream, started in Seoul, and arriving in the U.S by storm in 2012.