Our EMEA Croda Beauty highlights for 2025

A year of connection, celebrity, and recognition

2025 was a landmark year filled with connection, scientific achievement, and industry recognition. Across every season, our teams met customers, partners, and innovators throughout the region, while our people and products earned accolades that highlight Croda’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and sustainability leadership.

We opened the year in Paris, France at Cosmet’Agora, setting the tone for a dynamic events calendar. As spring arrived, we travelled to in-cosmetics Global in Amsterdam, the biggest event in the beauty calendar, where we showcased our latest innovations, alongside receiving the Kenvue Trusted Science Award for Luceane™. The event also served as a launchpad for several brand new ingredients including KeraBio™ K31, Phytessence™ Green Coffee EC, and Zenakine™.

Summer brought us to Cosmetic Business in Munich and CHCI in Istanbul, followed by Coschem Supplier’s Day in South Africa, as our teams continued engaging customers across continents.

An action-packed autumn began with the IFSCC Congress in Cannes and HPCI in Warsaw, before returning to France for the Sustainability Cosmetics Summit in Paris where we received the Silver Award for our biodegradability programme at their Sustainable Beauty Awards. October also saw us at the SEPAWA Congress in Berlin and Cosmetorium in Barcelona.

We closed the year with a strong November presence at Cosmébio in Valence, Beauty World Middle East in Dubai, SCANCOS in Copenhagen, Making Cosmetics in Milan, and SCS Formulate in Coventry where our Biomimetic Bond Building Serum featuring KeraBio™ K31 won the Laura Marshall Award for Technology and Disruption.

During the year, several further honours highlighted the impact of our science. These included:

• Recognition as finalists at the C&T Allé Awards for Crodamol™ GTS and for our Measure It to Master It carbon footprint initiative
• Covalo’s Top 10 Global Choice Award for Zenakine™ at in-cosmetics Asia
• A Silver win for Natrineo™ CR8 at the Pure Beauty Awards in London, UK
• SpecialChem also ranked us #2 in their annual Top 10 Cosmetic Ingredient Suppliers
• At the Global Sustainability Awards, we were highly commended for both Sustainable Partnership and Sustainable Technology.

 

Personal recognition

We were thrilled to celebrate a major milestone for our leadership this year. Our Chief Executive Office, Steve Foots, was awarded an Honorary Degree from the University of York and received his Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours from HRH The Princess Royal, recognising his outstanding contributions to the chemical and life sciences industries. This year also marked an incredible 35 years of service at Croda, a testament to his long-standing dedication, vision, and leadership.

Showcasing our expertise

Our formulation expertise continues to be a defining strength, and our Top Five formulation campaigns highlighted the depth and breadth of our technical creativity. During 2025, our team has explored:

• Heritage Beauty, drawing inspiration from time-honoured rituals and traditional ingredients to create modern, sensorial formulations with a story rooted in cultural legacy. 
• The latest innovations, showcasing cutting-edge textures, next-generation actives, and high-performance solutions to demonstrate how our ingredients push the boundaries of what’s possible in formulation design. 
• Sun care leadership, presenting advanced UV protection formats that pair high efficacy with elegant aesthetics, supported by our strong scientific expertise in photoprotection. 

Trends and inspiration: what’s shaping the future of beauty

2025 saw our experts produce influential insight pieces to help guide your planning for the future. Our insightful blog is continually updated to keep you up to speed with the very latest trends, news and emerging opportunities across beauty. From Future-proof beauty and the trends shaping the role of sun protection, to what’s hot in sustainability and the heritage beauty trend, our global team is dedicated to keeping you ahead of the curve with forward-thinking analysis and market-driven inspiration.

Sustainable beauty at our core

This year reinforced our vision of powering a century of innovation with sustainable science. Our work in green chemistry, biodegradability, renewable technologies, and carbon footprint transparency have continued to differentiate Croda Beauty and to support our customers to develop more sustainable product portfolios. From novel tools like our Measure It to Master It product carbon footprinting, to the expansion of renewable and bio-based ingredient options, we continue building the foundation for climate-smart beauty innovation.

New product launches: innovations making an impact

2025 welcomed several exciting additions to our Croda Beauty portfolio:

• KeraBio™ K31: our breakthrough biomimetic keratin technology delivering next-generation hair strengthening and repair.
• Zenakine™: a cutting-edge neuroactive ingredient designed to counteract the effects of stress on the skin and improve overall wellbeing.
• Phytessence™ Green Coffee EC: a botanical ingredient designed to tone the skin and promote positive emotions.
• Natrineo™ CR8:  PEG-free, phosphate ester emulsifier that provides the unique ability to create W/O/W emulsions with a single ingredient.

 

Closing a century and opening the next: a big year coming in 2026

As we step into the year ahead, we are incredibly proud of the achievements, partnerships, and innovations that defined our centenary year. Thank you to our teams, customers, and collaborators who made this year one to remember. If 2025 was a year of celebration and connection, 2026 will be a year of bold launches and new opportunities.

Here’s a sneaky peek of what to expect:

• The biggest launch for Croda Beauty Actives in 20 years, a milestone not to be missed!
• in-cosmetics global in Paris in April, always one of our most important showcases
• A full calendar of local country events bringing Croda Beauty even closer
• Sustainability insights to help you with your sustainability journey as part of our programme for better transparency
• PEG-free solutions that deliver on performance
• New SPF boosting data
• New solutions for makeup and disruptive applications
• Continued support with innovative, sustainable concepts, and market-driven insights

Here's to 2026, shaping the future of beauty, sustainably.