Last year, over 1,250 exhibitors and 30,000 attendees were at Cosmoprof North America (CPNA) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Growing year over year, CPNA brings together beauty professionals from all over the world to experience a grand-scale trade show unlike any other. Last night, CPNA held its first Los Angeles-based event called Discovering the Beauty of Trends—a preview of the exciting trends we’ll be seeing at this year’s CPNA, and the brands behind them leading the charge.
PREDICTING TRENDS
Discovering the Beauty of Trends brought together a panel of experts, moderated by CPNA's marketing director Daniela Ciocan, at the flagship Ron Robinson boutique in Santa Monica, California. On the panel was none other than Ron Robinson himself, the president and founder of Ron Robinson Inc.; the executive producer of LA Fashion Week, Arthur Chipman; and Andy Howell, the founder and strategy officer of MatchCo.
Since the late ’70s, Robinson has been selling hard-to-find, unique brands at his boutique stores, which carry clothing, home décor and beauty products. When it comes to searching for new items to stock, Robinson says he looks for quality, and admits that he enjoys being the first store to find and supply a soon-to-be-trendy item. “We like having those early, new entrepreneurs,” Robinson says, citing that his stores were the first to offer cutting-edge brands like Hard Candy, Child Perfume, Lorac and 100% Pure. Follow popular influencers on social media so you can see what beauty products millennial and Gen Z consumers are excited about, and then find new brands for your store on the cusp of going viral.
“I realized that there was this immediacy that kept happening, where people felt like if they couldn’t get it, it was more important.”
–Andy Howell, founder and strategy officer, MatchCo
THE AGE OF INFLUENCERS
Arthur Chipman also has experience with witnessing trends before they become mainstream. Many years ago, while he was working as a marketing director in Toronto producing fashion shows, he recalls that a gentlemen from Australia who was mentoring him mentioned that an up-and-comer named Kim Kardashian had a desire to attend his fashion shows. This was over 10 years ago, when the first wave of influencers, then known as socialites, began cropping up on social media. Chipman says he was amazed that these early influencers had such strong personal voices that differed from traditional celebrities of the past. “A lot of programs that I had created with IMG in Toronto, which were replicated in New York and a lot of other places, have become the norm now worldwide, with these influencer and ambassadors programs,” he says. As we now know, this same phenomenon has penetrated the beauty world, and shows no signs of slowing down.
THE EVOLUTION OF LIMITED EDITION
Andy Howell’s background as a professional skateboarder and entrepreneur has lead him to become a part of many industries over the last two decades, including action sports, art, fashion, entertainment, technology and beauty. Howell says that since the 1990s, he’s observed how other industries have influenced the beauty world—which he believed could be improved because consumers needed specific solutions. “I realized that there was this immediacy that kept happening, where people felt like if they couldn’t get it, it was more important,” he says.
By the mid-2000s customization and personalization became popular, which Howell calls “the evolution of limited edition.” Because he know that customization would be useful to the beauty industry for people in search of the right foundation color, he founded MatchCo, an app that turns an iPhone into a scanner to help you find your perfect shade. “It’s exciting to see that technology can be integrated into lifestyle that way,” he says.
When it comes to predicting trends, Howell says he relies on his network of professionals by “crowdsourcing,” a pool that now encompasses beauty influencers and socially savvy makeup artists. “Technology is really driving the culture forward so fast right now, so we’re racing to catch up with whatever’s new and what’s happening with social media,” he says. “The influencers really have the edge right now. They have so much insight into what’s happening that brands are coming to them from all over the world, trying to get them to promote their products.”
BRANDS TO WATCH
At Discovering the Beauty of Trends, several new products were on display for the crowd to look at and experience firsthand. CPNA’s trending selection included Supermood’s Beauty Sleep line, Aria Beauty’s Unicorn Mini Blowdryer,Sphynx portable razor, Snowcrystal’s customizable makeup palettes, Teaology’s tea-infused skincare line, Maskingdom’s Organic Cleansing Flakes, LeChat’s Dare to Wear Mood Polish, Auro Mask’s LED face mask, Yuza Snow Ice Cooling Cream from Lisse, Glycelene’s Golden Ice Globes and Skin Regimen Skincare. As for discovering what other hot products will be the next viral sensations, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what CPNA 2018 has in store for us this July 29-31!
For more information on CPNA, visit cosmoprofnorthamerica.com.
[Photos courtesy of CPNA]
