BRINGING THE buzz back

Professional Beauty London 2025 brought new brands, fresh stages and more live demos than ever before. Here are a few of the highlights

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The beauty and spa industry came out in force for Professional Beauty London on March 2–3 to see new brand launches, and some of the biggest names in beauty and spa on the stands and stages. Some 18,631 visitors attended, with professionals from the spa, beauty, nails and education sectors represented.

This year, the show’s headline sponsor was Vagaro, and UK managing director Jason Downes said, “It’s been our best-ever show. We had a recordbreaking day on Sunday for sign-ups, which is the all-important measure for us, and we’ve met so many interesting customers.”

The show was a launch pad for new innovations, including the debut of Skin Rocks Pro, a first appearance for cult makeup brand Mac and the return of iconic names such as HD Brows.

Exhibitors were happy to see the buzz and excitement around the event. Caroline Hirons, founder of Skin Rocks Pro said, “Professional Beauty has been great for Skin Rocks Pro because it’s an opportunity to see potential clients, announce ourselves to the industry and do it in the best possible place. If you’re a salon owner or an independent therapist or even a student, visiting Pro Beauty is the best because it immerses you within our world and you get a taste of what’s coming, what’s new. It’s the only place to be.”

Kirstie Fox, director of Nouveau HD Beauty Group, commented, “We’ve been completely blown away by the response. There’s been a really nice buzz. We haven’t exhibited for about six years but we decided to come back to Professional Beauty London because we realised we’d been out of the community for such a long time.

“Everybody’s really leaned on digital as a way of being in touch and really it doesn’t take the place of getting in front of people and physically speaking to them.”

Show of strength

The Smart Group’s chief executive Josh Yardley added, “It’s been a fantastic couple of days. Really insightful, a great quality of salon owners. The education process is the best way to market and this is the perfect opportunity because people can actually see and meet us.”

Steph Barrick, national manager of artistry at Mac, added, “This is our first time at Professional Beauty and it’s been an amazing experience. It’s been so busy. We’ve had so much interest. As a company, we’ve got a massive focus on servicing our pro community so we felt that this was the perfect opportunity to get out there to meet pro makeup artists and people who work in the beauty industry.”

Commenting on the show as a whole, Professional Beauty managing director Mark Moloney said, “It was so good to see the industry come together at London’s ExCeL centre. From our new facial competition to our international spa and wellness convention, it’s important that we cater for all professionals.

“It was great to see most of the world-leading spa and hotel chains in attendance and we also saw more salon owners than last year – fewer students and colleges though, which is a concern for the future of our industry.

“As an event, we need to keep moving forward and being relevant, so visitors will see some new innovations in 2026, including more training and business support.”

Stage presence

Visitors agreed the show provided the perfect opportunity to connect with suppliers and other industry professionals.

Shannice Brown, owner of BINC Beauty in London, said, “I love to network and it’s just so great to see what is new in the beauty industry. I’m here to see new devices, electrical beds, and I’m always on the look out for anything exciting I can offer my clients. The show also helps me expand on my own industry knowledge.”

Freelance beauty professional Portia Campbell said, “I come to network, find out what’s new and make connections for our business. I also come to see the new products on the market I can use to enhance the work I do.”

There was also a huge programme of talks and demos across four free live stages: Trends & Techniques, Skin & Advanced Treatments, and the brand new PB Live Lounge, where the PB team interviewed major industry names live, including makeup pro Dominic Skinner, skincare expert Caroline Hirons, nail pros Shea Osei and Anouska Anastasia and brand founder Karen Betts.

Speakers across the other stages included The Skin Priest Okikiola Emaleku, advanced facialist Lola Dansu and aesthetics trainer Andrew Hansford on the Skin & Advanced Treatments stage, plus business expert Hellen Ward, hair, makeup and prosthetics artist Paige Cole and Glow Up makeup artist James Mac on the Trends & Techniques stage.

The show also featured a wide range of conferences including the International Manufacturers and Distributors Forum and the World Spa & Wellness Convention.

Visitors were also able to attend round-table discussion sessions at the Beauty Roundup and as part of the business programme on the Phorest stand. Luke Doolin, Phorest’s country manager UK&I said, “We tried something different this year – we had an educational section with roundtables which meant we could really reconnect with clients and we got a buzz around the new tools we launched.”

There were also seminars and workshops run by Dermapenworld, Gelish, Glitterbels, Skin Philosophy Training, Vagaro and many more.