Salon Beauty 2024, formerly known as Olympia Beauty, opened the doors of the ExCeL London to the industry on October 13-14, running alongside Salon International 2024.
The event welcomed 14,165 professionals for two days of networking, learning, competitions, and discovery, with innovative brands exhibiting the newest technology on the market. Salon Beauty also had visitors crossing over from Salon International.
Salon Beauty hosted three free education stages, to give the industry access to high-quality education for all sectors.
The Advanced Beauty stage covered topics ranging from skincare to nails, makeup to massage, and even included a panel discussion on sustainability.
Speakers included industry veterans like Andrew Hansford with “Everything you need to know about combination protocols and applications” and Anna Tsankova covering “The return of facial massage - lifting the face with only hands”, and even some new faces, like Jenny Longworth sharing tips on “Making it big as a session nail tech” and Nez Hasan educating on “The art of brows: microblading and natural brow growth”.
The Health and Wellbeing stage had a number of talks about how different massage techniques and styles can help boost clients’ welfare, and boost business. It covered cupping techniques with Daniel Lawrence and East vs West massage, as well as sharing the results from the National Massage Championships.
Sharing ideas in action, the Live Demo Stage gave visitors the opportunity to witness brands demonstrate their tips and tricks to get the best out of new products and innovations. Pinkfishes did a demonstration of its brow tint, and the SmartGroup demonstrated its new Mezotix fractional system, among other demos.
Laura Jane Stonehouse, owner of Queen Bee Beauty in Claygate, Surrey, said how much she appreciates the education at the show: “I enjoy the live stages. I loved Andrew Hansford and Jon Paul Hoy. I just thought it was really informative and I find it really helpful for my business. So, I love coming and I come every year.”
Lauren Gill, owner of LG Skin Specialist in Oxfordshire, shared her thoughts: “I love the Advanced Beauty Stage; I love watching and listening to speakers who have such passion for the industry which is what we're all here for.
90+ brands on the show floor covered advanced treatments, nails, lashes, brows, waxing and tanning, putting on a show for visitors.
All hosted by the friendly faces behind the brands, stands had displays of their latest treatments, exciting product launches, and live demonstrations.
Nikki Madani, founder and director of Hypo21 commented on the show: “The footfall this year has been amazing, we’ve been so busy that I could have had more people on the stand, it’s been brilliant.”
Jennie Nippard, deputy head of education at Glitterbels, commented on how beneficial it is for people to see demonstrations at the show “It’s lovely for people to see products being used in the correct way so they know and understand how to use them. Training gives people the opportunity to try before they buy, get a feel for how the products work, what’s involved in using them, so they can really get the best out of them.”
Lots of the brands chose to have education available on the stands themselves, with nail brands Glitterbels and Gelish offering masterclasses.
Gill expressed excitement about the brands at the show: “I have seen a lot of interesting things on the stands too; there's lots of new things for the industry and it’s really exciting that they launch it at Salon Beauty first. There's loads of great deals from the brands too so that’s been really fun.”
“I love going around the show and seeing all the new technologies on the stands,” said Stonehouse, “I loved watching the National Massage Championship too – that was fascinating to see all the different techniques in action.”
The event hosted the National Massage Championships, and nail industry competition Nailympia.
The NMC, in partnership with CityLux Massage, Massage World Magazine and sponsored by insurance broker Balens, saw qualified massage therapists and bodyworkers compete in six categories of massage.
Categories included facial massage, deep tissue, freestyle and more.
Nailympia inspired competitors with a whole range of categories from Salon Nails to L&P Sculpture.
This year’s competition saw nail techs achieve creative accomplishments, and endeavour to master essential and exciting techniques.
Visitors at Salon Beauty also had further opportunities to network and meet with peers, making it the perfect event for professionals in the beauty industry.
“I come every year because there are so many people who come here that I know and for me it's about being able to catch up with everybody,” shared Carole Lacey, owner of Waterside Aesthetics in Devon, “It’s quite a trek but I come for two days because I love it.”
