Professional Beauty London 2021 reunited the industry at ExCeL

After more than two years, Professional Beauty London made a triumphant return to ExCeL London on October 17–18. 

22,323 professional trade visitors streamed through the doors over the two days to reconnect with the industry face to face and to discover the latest products, brands and trends. 

This year, for the frst time ever, Professional Beauty London took place alongside major hair event Salon International, meaning visitors could take advantage of all the launches and education that both show had to offer, all under one roof. 

Professional Beauty London hosted 100s of exhibitors from across all sectors of the market, including spa, skincare, aesthetic equipment, nails, lashes, make-up and more. 

Lorraine Perretta, iiaa’s head of nutrition for Advance Nutrition Programme, said, “We’re really excited to be back at the show. It’s been so exciting to see the number of people taking on new brands, which indicates that there’s confidence in the industry and people are ready to boost their businesses with innovation. There’s a lot of energy and excitement and we’re looking forward to the future for Professional Beauty.”

Hayley Jones, sales and marketing director, Lynton Lasers, added, “This year we did something different at Professional Beauty and dedicated an area for our VIPs to come and meet us, sit down, have a glass of wine or a coffee and have some really good chats with us and it’s been fantastic and really busy. We worked with Professional Beauty magazine quite a lot to drum up some interest before the event and that’s really paid off as we’ve managed to get a lot of interest from new customers.”

“It’s been amazing,” agreed Sarah Bacon, head of spa and salon at Elemis. “We’ve seen so many old and new faces and it’s been wonderful just to be together again. It’s been lovely to see people in person rather than on Zoom. We’ve had so many conversations – about business but also just catching up and having a glass of fizz and showing them all our innovation.” 

“It’s so nice to have a space to catch up with people,” added Christina Barham, director, Novalash UK, “especially the accounts that we’ve had join us during the last two years where we’ve perhaps only connected via email. It’s great to finally put a face to those names. I’ve met lots of new customers at the show – we’ve been back-to-back talking to new people and making connections.”

Visitors also had access to training and education across the extensive conference, live stage and seminar programme.

The World Spa & Wellness Convention saw top-level speakers from across the globe come together to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the market. 

Popular topics included creating a smart business model to cope with change, and recruiting and retaining a strong spa team in a challenging market. 

Meanwhile, the International Manufacturers and Distributors Forum (IMF) and Cosmetics Ingredients & Packaging International (CIPI) covered how AI and AR tech is reshaping the future of the industry; sustainable beauty and more. 

And the Education Forum provided an opportunity for lecturers to convene and to hear from key employers, sector specialists and an Ofsted inspector.

Elsewhere, live programmes for Business Skills; Skin & Advanced Treatments; Digital Skills; ‘How to’ demos; and Nail Skills brought learnings from some of the UK’s best speakers and educators, including aesthetic therapists Dija Ayodele and Chelsee Lewis, and consultants Susan Routledge, Liz McKeon and Ryan Power.

The Nail and Make-up Competitions also returned to the show this year, showcasing and rewarding amazing talent. 

Find out who won the Make-up Competition, organised in partnership with session tech Lan Nguyen-Grealis, here. And see the winners of the Nail Competition, in association with the Federation of Nail Professionals, here. 

Professional Beauty London 2022 will take place on April 3–4, 2022, at ExCeL London, follwed by an online-only day on April 5. Register your interest for Professional Beauty London 2022 here.

New show Professional Beauty Business will then run alongside Salon International on October 9–10.