Hello lovelies,

I didn't plan to make a report from this year's Professional Beauty Exhibition in London but I've had quite a few poeple asking me about it so here it is, my photo report including my haul!

My day started early morning on Sunday 28th February because I have to drive about 1 hour 20 mins to get to the venue (Excel London). All was fine so I've arrived around 9.20am and could enjoy the early access pass and complimentary breakfast in one of the VIP zones. Pro Beauty is really good at treating visitors and if you are one of the lucky 'VIP' visitors then you also can get a champaigne at events during the day, discount on various seminars and a small goody bag among other perks.

I didn't have many plans this year and decided to wing it. Usually I make a list of things I want to buy, brands I want to visit and people I want to talk to but I just didn't have the energy to prepare properly this year. But I'm still glad I visited.

I didn't take my (heavy) camera so all pictures were taken with my mobile phone so please excuse the lower quality.

Let's have a look at my day...

OPI is always my favourite place to go to. They always go BIG and this year was probably the fanciest I've seen. They had big screens, educators/demonstrators and a pretty cool lady playing live on saxophone during the day! I can only assume that this was in connection with the New Orleans collection where saxophone appeared in promo images and of course it also ties to the jazzy New Orleans feel..

As always, I stopped for a chat at one of the demonstrator sections where talented Sophie Harris-Greenslade aka The Illustrated Nail was showing how to work with OPI Infinite Shine nail polish range.

Did you know that Sophie has opened her own salon in London earlier this year? It's called Pin & Polish, it's located in the Oasis store at Tottenham Court Road and you can get some really awesome nail art done there!

I always stop at Cuccio stand, they bring professional quality products for affordable prices :) I'm still using their Milk & Honey body butter and few other products so if you'll see them sold somewhere, they a worth a look.

I also picked up few nail art bits from Miss Cat Nails. Cat is a nail professional who has done many photoshoots and her and her team also did contestants' nails on the X Factor last year.

Now Cat has put together her own line of nail art products like metallic leaves, stickers, studs and crystals. I've been following her work and development of this brand for a while so I was very happy to finally buy some of her products. I've already met Cat once before at a Bio Seaweed Gel training seminar so it was nice to see her again :)

I like discovering new brands and this one caught my attention. It's called Margaret Dabbs and apparently they have introduced this new nail polish line at the exhibition. Margaret Dabbs is a trained podiatrist who has set up a series of Foot Clinics that are now very successful and her products are retailed in some of the most prestigious locations worldwide. The mani and pedi products looked very nice but I haven't tried any properly. But I thought maybe some of you would like to see some new nail polish on the block ;)

This year's PRO Beauty has been good for nail polish launches - Artistic brand which up until now sold only professional products like gel polish and gels has introduced Artistic COLOUR Revolution, their new nail polish line.

It's not available on their website yet so I don't know how many colours there are but there was quite a long line of them. I really like the bottle, there's none like it out there right now!

That's all for the pictures from the exhibition and it's time to check out what I brought home with me!

First up is a box of Nails Supreme nail art pen in neon colours. I took the second picture at the exhibition at their stand to show you all the available colours. The neon set is new and should be available soon. I actually got this set gifted because after I got talking to the lovely lady at the stand, we kind of got to my blog and she recognized me through my work because I've used their pens many times. Can't wait to do some fun nail art with these new colours :)

If you haven't seen these pens in action, you should check out some of my nail art with them, they are really good once you've mastered them! You can see my work here, here and here. Also Sophie (The Illustrated Nail) who is a pro in using these pens created some amazing nail art looks.

Next I stopped at the Crown Brush stand where I've bought a contouring brush, foundation brush and some angled brushes for clean up around nails.

Then there are goodies from Miss Cat Nails stand where I bought two pouches of crystals and two pots of metallic leaf foil in Flames (copper) and Mercury (charcoal) colours. I already have silver and gold leaf..

I also always go and check out the IBD discount bin where you can buy a bottle of gel polish for £5! I got myself two glitters and three creme colours. IBD gel polish if nice to do nail art with because it can be combined with other gel polish brands and they are nicely pigmented :)

The second lot of things is from Crystal Nails, another professional brand. I got their one stroke nail art paints, file and buffer and a white 3D gel.

Lastly, I picked up more metallic filigree stickers from All That Jazz. They are really cool and I wore them for the show as well (I'll show you some other time ;) They've also introduced a large version of the stickers in a shape of a strip where you can cut out your own shapes and sizes. I got just one to try it and see if I prefer the pre-cut stickers or the strip.

I couldn't leave you without showing you any nails, right? Well these are Gemma Lambert's nails. I went to a nail art seminar of hers in the afternoon and afterwards i got to see her amazing nails. She does her nails herself and whether you like the shape and length or not you have to appreciate the craft and the beautiful one stroke and 3D nail art she's done! I know I do ;) Gemma is a champion competitor and she literally won everything there is in the UK!

So that was my visit to the Professional Beauty exhibition! I'm glad I went again but I felt it was a bit weaker in terms of nail brands present. Can't wait for the next exhibition in September!

Have a lovely day! Lucie x