With over 300 booths, 160 workshops and on-going demonstrations on multiple stages, International Beauty Show Las Vegas was quite stupendous. One of the fastest growing beauty events in the country, it boasts over 19,000 attendees. New tools, products, technology and education: It's heaven for a stylist — as long as you don't get overwhelmed.
So. Where to begin?
DAY 1
I started at the main stage, where Michael O'Rourke was holding a presentation. He was demonstrating some very avant-garde hair cutting techniques, I was enthralled. Michael is an amazing presenter, full of life, with an amazing story; as my first experience at the show, it motivated me to soak up as much as I could in the two days I would be here.
This is a clip of Michael O'Rourke at another show. My shots didn't turn out well, unfortunately, as you can see below...
After Michael O'Rourke's presentation, I weaved through all the booths and made my way to the workshops. It's great to shop around and see all the products and gizmos, but workshops are the bread and butter of trade shows.
My first workshop was called "Booked Solid". Booked Solid focused on how to increase and retain clients. The speaker, Paul Digrigoli is a hair stylist/entrepreneur, who shares his rags to riches process, which centers on forming a long term plan of action. This class was interesting though I learned that I'm implementing most of his techniques already—nice to know I'm on the right track!
After lunch, I attended "Red Carpet Radiance," a demonstration on updo's and elegant hair styling. I LOVED IT! They demonstrated five extremely elegant hair styles that could effortlessly be done in less than an hour. I learned a bunch of new tips and I'm very excited to implement them. By the end of Red Carpet Radiance the show was over for the day. I headed out to people watch on the Strip.
Day 2
For day 2, I wanted to attend one more workshop before I headed out to the main floor to get lost in those hundreds of booths.
I picked "The Art of Highlighting - Go Fresco". This workshop was very interesting to me as I love hair color and I will not pass up an opportunity to learn new techniques. The class didn't disappoint: I learned new placements to achieve soft natural color and highlights and some new tips on how to utilize hair color. They were good at offering suggestions on how to save time while still creating smooth flowing color transitions.
(Yes, these are very interesting, when you are a colorist!)
Next, the showroom floor!
The showroom at the Las Vegas Convention Center is huge and a bit daunting, but all you can do is jump in. There were rows and rows of booths selling everything beauty related from make-up, nail adornments, hair products, blinged out accessories, self-tanning booths, to miracle diet products. The truth is that a lot of it is... kitschy. A lot of people are peddling products that don't fit an upscale, professional style. But it's still fun to window shop. I tried to go through the aisles in an organized fashion but the buzz at some booths would suck me in.
One of my favorite booths was the Nick Arrojo booth. I actually got see Nick Arrojo demonstrate a hair cut, He had a mellow, approachable presence. For this demo he used no scissors, only a razor. I have to say I enjoyed that very much. You can hear him talking about razor cutting here to get a sense of his work.
Nell started her career as a hair stylist in Honolulu and relocated to San Francisco in early 2012, joining Atelier Emmanuel at its new location. She enjoys working on a variety of hair textures and types and creating new looks through color and cutting. Nell has a fashion forward style: her work ranges from funky hip to chic and sophisticated.
No comments:
Post a Comment