Beauty International 2013 in Düsseldorf was very busy indeed, with 1250 exhibitors from 41 countries and some 50,000 trade visitors. Like most FMCG trade shows Beauty is an order show but – and this is what I love about it! – it also has a direct sales area.
This means that some of the exhibitors sell their products at special reduced show prices. Oh yes. I left quite a bit of money at the Bellapierre stand. Bellapierre is a very cool French mineral makeup brand – I mean, two loose shimmer eye shadows for 15 Euro is a steal! I bought four. German makeup artist brand Kryolan, another favourite of mine, was also there and I stocked up on my favourite loose powder.
But to return to the actual trade show: Beauty International comprises four thematic areas – foot, wellness/spa, cosmetics, C&T direct sales and nails. Since I only had one day in Düsseldorf I decided to concentrate on cosmetics and wellness/spa, with a side visit to the nails area to check out Alessandro International.
Their exhibition stand is always quite spectacular, mainly because it is so big. And it showcases the entire – and I mean ENTIRE – product portfolio – the rows and rows of different nail polishes are pure eye candy. I do love Alessandro International! It always makes me so proud when I travel around Asia and decide to treat myself to a manicure at a local salon and they use Alessandro polishes…..
Alessandro’s big trade show launch was StripLac, a peel-off nail polish which is hardened under UV light and is claimed to last for up to ten days. StripLac was ceremoniously unveiled by Pamela Anderson, apparently, which I missed since my train from Bonn was delayed for 25 minutes. Good old Deutsche Bahn.
Back to the salon brands and some of their new launches. Babor always has one of the biggest exhibition stands at Beauty. Aside from the completely repackaged Cleansing range they presented their latest limited edition colour collection “Eternal Sun Days”. Malu Wilz‘ latest products include Hyaluronic Max3 Beauty Flash Spray and Charlotte Meentzen introduced the Aqua Mineral face care range and two new body care products, Contour Lift.
Dr. Grandel also had a big exhibition area, they have just launched a new 5-sku lifestyle skin care range: Beauty Press, especially formulated for time-starved women. The range comprises three different moisturisers, an eye cream and ampoule treatments. Phyris, which also belongs to Dr. Grandel, introduced Body Sensation, two new anti-cellulite body care products.
I also came across the Chiara Ambra stand – Chiara Ambra is a salon brand from the Black Forest area in Southern Germany. Their latest product range – I had read about it but this was the first time I actually saw the products – is Black Forest, an organic anti-ageing skin care range. With mineral water! Very nice touch.
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 