Formulate Asia, recently held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore, has – like previous events in the series staged since 1996 – positively contributed to the training of the cosmetic formulators in the Asia Pacific region.
The theme of the latest event, “Concept to Reality”, reflected the addressing of the problems formulators’ deal with when interacting with marketing needs, and legal and ethical requirements, connected to the launch of a new product. Alain Khaiat from Seers Consulting and Noble Mathew from J&J addressed the 100- strong audience sharing their experience and knowledge. The “Reality” of formulating was addressed by theoretical presentations on emulsion technology, emollients, rheology modifiers and fragrance. Speakers such as Jonathan Sy, Chantal Amalric, Marie Fe Boo, Stephanie Chan and Dr Norbert Braun kept the audience busy taking notes on the first day. On the second day, approximately half the delegates were transported to the laboratories of Singapore Polytechnic where they worked on 5 formulations designed to demonstrate the viscosity and skin feel differences that occur when a simple substitute is made to either the emollient or the emulsifier in a formulation. Participants bottled finished formulas for further work and experimentation. The presidents of the Personal Care Products Council and the Society of Cosmetic Scientists (Singapore) were delighted to see that delegates from countries such as South Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines were in equal attendance to that of formulators from Singapore. Thanks have been expressed to those businesses which sponsored the event: the gold sponsor Croda, media partner Personal Care, and bronze sponsors Reed Exhibitions (in-cosmetics Asia), B&T, Lubrizol and DSM. Seppic supplied pre-dinner drinks. The support of these businesses helped make the event a huge success. It is anticipated that other workshops will be held – potential delegates should check for the future dates at www.formulateasia.com
