Professional Beauty Manchester

Last weekend saw Professional Beauty Manchester arrive back in town for it’s annual exhibition at Manchester Central (or GMEX, as literally everyone still calls it). Having been to Pro Beauty North for the past couple of years with my blogger pals, Irena and Anna, it’s become somewhat of a tradition and so on Sunday 20th September we headed over to check out this professional beauty and skincare exhibition once again.

We were welcomed with a champagne reception at 1pm in the press bubble, where there were also soft drinks and coffees if you aren’t into sparkling wine – if that is even a thing! Bloggers, press and some minor celebs (think celebrity make-up artists you definitely recognise but can’t remember their name) gathered together in a little penned in area central to the exhibition. There was a short speech and then owners from various different cosmetics brands mingled to sell in their products – to be expected really. The nicest part was catching up with a few other blogger pals, including the ever lovely Clare – honestly, the best part of blogging events is always the social side!

During the day there were plenty of seminars and demo’s to keep industry professionals amused. The main seminars took place in the centre of the exhibition hall and included interesting topics such as the above body painting – really impressive and huge skills involved in that, but it didn’t seem to catch people’s attention for that long with the hall being so busy! Many of the larger exhibition stands conducted their own tutorials or demonstrations with their own microphone and set-up to draw in a crowd, although I think most people were just being nosy to be honest (including various tanning stands which had half naked models getting spray tanned – a sure fire way to draw attention)!

The event isn’t your typical blogger event – it’s very much geared towards beauty professionals, people that own and work at beauty salons and want to bulk buy products and services. Half of the stands are small, low budget set-ups offering cheaper products and discounts, and the other half of the hall has some massive recognisable beauty brands such as HD Brows, Bioscultpture Gel, Heaven Skincare, Essie and OPI. I personally found the nail stands, such as OPI, Essie Jessica, Gellish and Biosculpture Gel the most interesting and accessible for buying things, although the discounts were pretty small for the most part. I just picked up a gel nail polish or two for my own collection.

Aside from an Art Deco lipstick (of course – like I need any more lipsticks!) the only other thing I bought was a pretty darn fancy candle. I stumbled upon the Aroma Works stand on the way out and having not heard of the brand before was immediately sucked in by the amazing scents. Honestly, everything just smelt like a spa! The stand was also massive, with half of it dedicated to salon services and wholesale, and the other half retail, which is where I bought my candle. I feel like I could have bought everything, but fortunately the prices convinced me that I should only purchase the above candle. It was originally £40 down to £30ish for the show; still extortionate for a candle really, but I just couldn’t help myself.

The general vibe I get from the show is that a lot of people use it to stock up on products for their own beauty salons, or take advantage of in-show offers to have services done themselves. This year, there were definitely a lot more product demos and live treatments going on than previous years – such as teeth whitening, tanning, waxing, facials, botox, massage and eyelash extensions. It’s not something that I would worry about missing as a blogger, but I do enjoy the new products you inevitable fall across with so many start-ups selling there. For instance, the Lava Shell above is something that really caught my attention – a massage tool that heats up and remains toasty warm for up to an hour. Just gotta find someone to massage me now.

Over all, Professional Beauty is not a show that is a must-go to for any blogger, but I do really enjoy that it gives me and my blogger pals an excuse for a girly day out, trying make-up, buying luxury bits and having a gossip about all the goings-on. It’s totally worth it for that element alone.