Cosmoprof 2016

Setting the Pace for Beauty 

Set against a backdrop of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, the glitz of the Vegas strip and sizzling desert heat set the stage for this year’s professional beauty event known as Cosmoprof North America. This yearly business to business beauty experience offered North America’s largest exhibition of beauty brands and covered most every industry segment under one roof. According to the organizers, this year saw a 12% increase in exhibitors and a 12.5% increase in attendees, which is great news as the U.S. comes out of its lengthy recession.

Cosmoprof allowed participants to connect with importers, distributors, and leading retail buyers to create new partnerships and help develop their businesses. Attendees also experienced new sections this year including Discover Green and Glamour Me along with show favorites, Discover Beauty, Tones of Beauty and Discover Scent. They also gained inspiration and a wealth of knowledge from product and packaging displays, educational conferences, and special events.

Discover Green

Discover Green was a special area dedicated to eco-friendly, clean, organic and/or natural beauty products. The decision to include a new “green” section came from increased consumer awareness of ingredient safety and environmental impact from products purchased. 

Glamour Me

Glamour Me was a new beauty lounge that allowed attendees to experience participating exhibitor products first-hand. Attendees were able to select to have their hair, nails, skin or makeup show-ready with quick 30-minute services provided by select exhibitors.  

Tones of Beauty

Also returning for the second year was the highly successful Tones of Beauty, which showcased a select group of coveted and innovative multicultural brands across every major sector: skin, hair and color.

Discover Scent

An area on the show floor dedicated exclusively to fragrance, Discover Scent featured 13 niche fragrance brands. Air Aroma, a leading scent branding agency that designs custom fragrances for luxury brands around the world, returned this year to scent main show areas through its patented diffusion technology. This year the agency custom formulated a signature Cosmoprof fragrance.

Displays

Discover Beauty Spotlights included a display presentation featuring exhibitors from around the world. This department store like area offered a high end presentation of smaller but innovative labels that deliver ingenuity and artisan craftsmanship, a prime fit for high-end retail stores, boutiques, salons, and spas.

For the first time at Cosmoprof North America, The Dieline Awards’ 2015 winners were displayed with a pop-up installation. The Dieline is a one-of-a-kind online platform that showcases best packaging design ideas regardless of industry.


Events

As far as events off of the show floor, Cosmoprof did not disappoint. An intense program of conferences and seminars brought business and industry leaders, as well as experts from the fields of marketing and branding in round-table discussions and panels to share their knowledge and insights.

Other events included PBA Beauty Week, which is North America’s largest, most inclusive beauty event, offering unlimited networking, education, and professional growth opportunities to all sectors of the beauty industry. This all-encompassing event featured the North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA), PBA Business Forum, PBA Sponsored Education, PBA Beacon, and new for 2016, Inspire: “A Night Celebrating Beauty Entrepreneurs” featuring the return of Beauty Pitch with proceeds benefiting the City of Hope and PBA Foundation.

A first of its kind competition, Beauty Pitch offered up-and-coming and established companies alike the opportunity to present their brand, products or ideas to a panel of top investors including renowned entrepreneurs.

In a spectacular gala event, the North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA) showcased some of the finest photographic work from hair, makeup and nail artists across North American. Dubbed the ‘Academy Awards of the beauty industry’ this talent packed event was hosted by Alan Cumming, Tony award winning actor, author and activist. See the winners here.

The Beacon program, which is designed to encourage and inspire beauty industry students to effectively and aggressively prepare for successful careers, also announced the 2016 winners and honorable mentions during Cosmoprof. This program provides the nation’s most promising cosmetology students with education and opportunities to network with the industry’s highest profile salon owners, professionals, and stylists during PBA Beauty Week.

 Many manufacturers debuted their lines or new products at Cosmoprof this year, offering the latest in hair, nails, skin, and body care.

All Photography: Focus on Hair & Courtesy of the Professional Beauty Association (PBA)

About PBA

The Professional Beauty Association (PBA) advances the professional beauty industry by providing our members with education, charitable outreach, government advocacy, events and more. PBA is the largest organization of industry professionals with members representing salons and spas, distributors, manufacturers, and beauty professionals/NCA. To learn more, please visit www.probeauty.org 

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