Today, more than one in two female consumers uses between 4 and 6 products on her face every day, and nearly 15 % apply 7 or more. This widespread adoption of “layering” is profoundly transforming beauty routines and presenting cosmetic laboratories with new formulation challenges. To address these challenges, Cosmed is bringing together scientific experts from the French cosmetics industry on September 29, 2026, in Montpellier.
150 scientific experts are expected from all over France
For the cosmetics industry, the paradigm has shifted: the challenge is no longer to prove the efficacy of a single product, but to anticipate how it will behave when layered with others. To address this new challenge, the 26th edition of the Cosmed Scientific Congress will bring together 150 researchers, formulators, toxicologists, and R&D managers from across France.
On the agenda: the latest advances in active ingredient interactions, optimizing multi-product efficacy, formulation compatibility, and the evaluation of complete skincare routines.
A program designed to solve the new equations in the formulation
To shed light on these issues, the conference will feature presentations by industry experts:
- Florence Bernardin (Founder, Asia Cosme Lab) will discuss the Asian origins of layering and its impact on consumer perception and loyalty.
- Coralie Ebert (CTO & Co-founder, Me Now) will present a groundbreaking, AI-generated map of the interactions among the market’s ten major flagship assets (Hero Molecules).
- Muriel Morelli (R&D Expert, Sciences & Cosmetics) will address formulation challenges, particularly «pilling»—a physical manifestation of incompatibility between products that significantly detracts from the user experience.
- Géraldine Savary (Lecturer and Researcher in Chemistry, Urcom Laboratory) will demonstrate how a physicochemical approach to the interface can guide the development of high-performance formulations.
- Hassan Zahouani (Professor at École Centrale Lyon & Co-founder, Tacinnov) will explain how to technically evaluate the performance of a complete routine.
- Clarisse Bavoux (Deputy Director General, Cehtra) and Adeline Nalin (Pharmacist and Toxicologist, Aroma-Zone) will explain the safety requirements associated with the daily layering of cosmetics.
Montpellier, a Strategic Ecosystem for Cosmetic Innovation
Organized by Cosmed, the leading professional association representing cosmetics companies in France, this event brings together the entire value chain of the industry: laboratories, brands, research centers, ingredient suppliers, and testing organizations. Holding this conference in Montpellier highlights the dynamism of the Occitanie region. A true hub of excellence in biotechnology and life sciences, the region is now home to 724 cosmetics companies and nearly 8,000 jobs.
Date: September 29, 2026
Location: Le Corum, Place Charles de Gaulle, 34000 Montpellier
Full program and registration on the website Internet
