Professional Beauty London 2016 draws international buyers

With more than 800 brands showcasing innovations and trends for the year ahead, Professional Beauty London was nothing short of a massive feat.

Some 33,240 salon, spa and clinic owners, therapists, nail technicians and students visited the show at London’s ExCel on February 28 and 29 to see the latest launches set to shape the market.

The world’s leading beauty and spa brands were exhibiting at the show, including Gerrard International (Mii, Jessica and BeautyLab London), Elemis, Dermalogica, Caci and Sweet Squared (CND, MoroccanTan, Waxperts), and they were particularly impressed with the number of serious buyers wanting to open accounts.

The two-day extravaganza included live demonstrations, make-up and nail competitions, seminars that covered a broad range of industry topics and untold networking opportunities, as well as global conference platforms at the Professional Spa and Wellness Convention and the International Manufacturers and Distributors Forum.  

Many exhibitors commented that the show had returned to past glories, with a high number of serious buyers in attendence. Sweet Squared director Samantha Sweet said the show had been "phenomenal", adding "We’ve been doing the show for years but this year we’ve been been chatting and engaging with customers much more. The footfall has been amazing.” Meanwhile Lorraine Jackson, divisional sales manager for Grafton International (Orly, IBD and Eyelash Emporium) commented: “This show feels like it did back in the good old days – it’s buzzy, there are good quality visitors and key accounts are visiting us on stand. We have been very busy on all three stands.” 

L'Oreal's Decléor and Essie stands were also extremely busy and national sales director Ian Bailey said, “We sold a huge amount of product on both. It’s also been a great opportunity to hold meetings with all our key accounts.” Anna Coull, marketing manager at High Definition (formerly HD Brows), added, “It has been our best year in terms of revenue. Interest in our training has also been incredible,”

Tom Pellereau aka Inventor Tom from BBC’s The Apprentice, also found plenty of buyers for his new innnovations. “We sold out of the nail files by Sunday afternoon and my new make-up brush cleaner product has received a lot of interest. This was the right place to showcase it," he said.

The winners of the Professional Beauty Awards 2016 and nail and make-up competitions, all held during the event, have also been announced.