The first UK Anti Ageing Hair and Beauty Show took place on May 11th 12th 2013. If you are familiar with the Ideal Home Exhibition or Vitality exhibition you will understand the format. Held at Olympia, lots of companies exhibit their product while talks took place on two areas.
Personally, I am not a fan of the ‘anti-ageing’ moniker. I feel that ageing is normally and to have the anti ageing title suggest that ageing is not only a bad thing, but that it is not a normal process. That said I can see that calling this event the ‘Innovative- beauty-makeup-skincare-dental-hair-supplements-and-some-other-related-products-expo’ would not work, but I really liked the concept. If you are into, or want to get into skincare, cosmetics treatments supplements and the like there isn’t really one place that you can go to. Other expo’s are either for the trade or don’t have the breadth of brands.
The good
There were loads of brands, treatments, cosmetics, skincare, salons, vitamins, supplements, eyebrows, and more under one roof. Fab. The target demographic for the event was men and women aged thirty five plus. F I N A L L Y. We have an ageing population in Britain and for many, as we go through our forties, heading towards our fifties and beyond our economic strength increases and our vitality remains high. We get better as we get older and this was confirmed by amazingly gorgeous men and women at the event who were interested in looking their best for as long as possible.
Olympia is easily accessible (I prefer it to Earls Court personally). I also liked that the Saturday was a long day (10 – 7) which meant that you really had time to see everything or you could do a shorter day on the Sunday.
Talks – there were too lots of talks taking place at the show which covered a wide variety of products including… The event was not just about purchasing, it was informative too.
Treatments – The treatment side of the event was amazing. You had the opportunity to have all sorts
The not so good
Some of the brands were not ready for informed customers. There were brands that were not aware of their ingredients, (‘paraffinium liquidium isn’t mineral oil’) the recommended daily amount (‘you can add as much as you like to water’) or their brand’s heritage (‘he’s a doctor I think’). This was an issue for a small minority of brands but consumers are really well informed and expect the Brand Ambassadors to know their products.
The goody bag. Ma was REALLY disappointed – there were so many amazing brand there but the goody bag did not reflect the event at all. Between the promotional literature and the samples, Ma was expecting a heftier bag to carry home. A real missed opportunity as she was looking forward to catching up with brands that she had not seen on the day.
Some suggestions
More chairs. There was loads going on at the event. not only would my Ma (who is in her seventies) have appreciated more opportunities to perch now and then, but the ladies that ended up sitting on the floor to eat their sarnies, and me in my heels would have too! There was the champagne area in the middle but a few clusters of seats around the edges would have been great.
Diversity – there weren’t really any hair brands that I could get my teeth into. I don’t use straighteners on my hair and I don’t always use specialist products on my hair. A prestige hair oil, shampoo or conditioner or the like would have been the perfect complement to the other products there. Not all the cosmetics brands catered for my skintone – this is no different from high street or premium brands, but I can think of some specialists brands that would have fit in perfectly at the event.
Lighting – the Green and White stages were at the perimeter of the venue and suffered from poor lighting (the acoustics weren’t amazing either). I missed some of the information that was given.
Brand to Watch – Vitabella
I was very impressed with what I saw, Suzanne was lovely and I will be doing a review soon.
Special Mentions
Cosmetics a la Carte
Lynn took ten years off my sister by making her step away from the red undertone foundation. Lynn really really took her time to explain the products and was genuinely lovely and super talented. My sister and I will be going to the Knightsbridge store for some one to one advice and a custom blend foundation very soon. Thank you.
Dr LeWinns
Clair and Maria took such good care of my Mum it was like having a girls night in…. expect we were in the middle of Olympia. They really know their stuff, they love their products, they use their products and they treated us like family. Thank you.
All in all, it was a great event. I’m looking forward to the next one.