The growing strength of social media channels has played a major role in the increasingly blurred line between the professional and consumer beauty markets.

Just as anyone with a smartphone is suddenly a photographer, anyone with a YouTube channel can now present themselves as a make-up artist or nail technician, regardless of whether they’ve had any training.

Our make-up feature on page 70 further explores the impact of social media on the profession and offers some advice on how to raise your profile as a skilled MUA, without resorting to the extreme looks or image retouching methods that many of the insta-famous make-up influencers use.

Elsewhere in the salon market, the biggest impact of growing internet use has probably been seen in retail sales. While competition from online channels can sometimes make in-salon retail more of a challenge, it’s a revenue stream that most manufacturers can’t afford to ignore. And of course, increased consumer recognition and loyalty for a brand can play a part in driving people into spas for treatments. So, the news this month that Darphin is pulling out of the UK spa and salon market to focus solely on retail (see page 14) has been met with some disappointment, but not necessarily surprise, by the French skincare brand’s pro accounts.

We’ve seen many professional brands shift their focus to retail in recent years, although most have retained a foothold in salons and spas, and many will be hoping that Estée Lauder’s more radical repositioning of Darphin is not the shape of things to come.

This month, we also take a closer look at the challenges you’ve experienced in your bricks-and-mortar businesses. Our feature on page 82 revisits the three winners of our SOS Support Our Salons campaign, to find out how they’re using their prizes to transform their businesses.

Editor