The moment finally came just a few short hours ago, Cosmoprof North America opened their doors for 2011. It was a moment I had been dreaming about for months. I had no idea what to expect, except for chaos. My expectations were met with thousands of people filing into the conference halls at Mandalay Bay Convention Centre. It was the busiest trade fair I had ever seen.

My goal for Cosmoprof was to find some unique products, learn about what is coming up for 2011 and increase my knowledge of the beauty industry. Another important goal for me during Cosmoprof was to hear (and if possible, meet) my idols in the online beauty world, Christine from Temptalia, Annie from Bellasugar and Rachel from Daily Makeover. Day 1 may have been exhausting, but I think I accomplished all of those straight off the bat. Nice!

Products

There are a huge range of products on show at Cosmoprof. There is everything from hair products, nails, salon equipment and more. Here are a few of the things I found interesting on my first day.

Twistmaster

Hair twirling your thing? Well, the Twistmaster makes it automated. The device comes with two separate prongs that allow you to create a unique ‘twisted’ hairstyle. First, there is a hook shaped attachment that when looped through hair, twists the hair to be pinned back for a funky look. Alternatively there is the separated tongs which can curly your hair into a neat little roll read for pinning.

My initial thoughts are that this item is very niche for the uncreative folk. If you are really good at coming up with crazy hair ideas than this could be an item that would speed up the process. I guess we will have to wait and see if this one takes off.

Details: US $69.99 from Stylemaster

TwiddleStic

Don’t you hate it when you go to all that effort to curl your fine, limp hair, and then it falls within a few seconds? TwiddleStic by Doll Haircare could just be what we all need. The cone shaped, hollow sticks come in 3 different sizes and all promise to give us the most amazing curls ever. Not only that, but they promise the curls (and the sticks) are completely cool to touch immediately after using …. AND the curls will last until you wash them out. Say what?!?!

Using them sounds too easy to be true, but I saw the demonstration and all appears to be real. Hrmmm. To get these amazing curls, simply take a piece of hair and wrap it around the TwiddleStic. Then, using a flat iron (any brand is fine), you apply heat to the hair for 3-4 seconds, rotating the TwiddleStic backwards and forwards as you go. Pull the stick out and you will have perfect curls, cool to touch and no wait time.

For those completely hair retarded I think this will take quite a bit of practice. I already see myself finding a way to make it not work, but for those who can use a curling wand than this is could be a much better option for you.

Details: US $135 rrp per TwiddleStic. More information is available from Doll Haircare

Hair Tinsel

The name really does say it all. It is tinsel for your hair. The idea can not get more simple and neither can the product. Take 1 piece of Pro Hair Tinsel and tie it onto a strand of hair at the root. The result is little bits of glimmering sparkle throughout your hair. To get the tinsel out, you just need to wait for your natural shedding process to occur, and seeing as though we lose on average 100 hairs a day, it shouldn’t take too long.

It does look pretty with the right colour matching, but I question whether this product will result in a trend. Ultimately, it is the exact same tinsel we adorn our Xmas trees with but with a fancier name and even fancier price tag. What do you think?

Details: US $11 rrp for a pack of 100 strands from Hair Flairs

Liquid Palisade

This one wins my best product of the day. Big call. A rather simple idea has been executed to perfection and I cannot believe someone has not come up with it sooner. This paint-on nail barrier allows flawless application of nail lacquer. Whether you want to save your cuticles from mess, or do some fancy nail art, just paint Liquid Palisade wherever you DON’T want nail polish to go. After letting the barrier dry a little bit, push the edges into the position you want them and paint your nails as desired. When you’re done, you simply peel off Liquid Palisade. You will have perfectly clean lines, no sticky gunk and no mess.

If you are nail hopeless like me, this is a dream come true. No more sticky tape or special ‘french tip tape’ that never seems to work. This stuff is the bee’s knees. And just on the d/l … they are currently offering FREE SHIPPING on all orders, including international!!! No really. I almost died with shock.

This product is going to be a HUGE hit. I can just feel it.

Details: US $22 from Kiesque

Friends

And I use that word loosely! I got to meet some fabulous people today, some of whom I had only previously dreamt of having the honour to one day grace the same room with.

Beauty Bloggers Panel

I was very excited to hear that four prominent beauty bloggers were going to be attending Cosmoprof this year and chatting live at  a special panel discussion. Those bloggers were Christine from Temptalia, Annie from Bellasugar, Rachel from Daily Makeover and Clio from ClioMakeUp. As you can imagine, Christine is a legend in the independent blogging arena, and Annie and Rachel are hugely responsible for the extreme success their respective sites have achieved. Unfortunately I am not very familiar with Clio at all, and this may be because she is a YouTuber or because she has an Italian target market, both of which I do not fit into.

For me, the panel discussion did not teach me anything I didn’t already know, but it wasn’t for me. It was for beauty business people, brands and company owners to learn what blogging is in the beauty world and how these 4 big sites operate. The reason I wanted to listen in was to see if their way of operating and thinking resonates with the way we do it back in Australia. I was very glad to hear that everything the ladies said was exactly on par with what I also tell beauty brands and businesses. They operate no different to us little Aussie battlers and they too have the same struggles we do. That was a comforting thing for me to hear.

The lovely beauty bloggers in the panel discussion

Suzi Weiss-Fischmann

Yes, I am talking about THE Suzi. The one and only Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Executive Vice President & Artistic Director of OPI.

I was extremely blessed to be granted an exclusive interview with Suzi during my time at Cosmoprof. As a nail polish fan and general business woman enthusiast, Suzi is one of the best people to look up to. I sat down with Suzi and asked her a few questions that were plaguing me, along with some of your own questions submitted via email. Stay tuned for the upcoming EXCLUSIVE interview!

Having a good old yarn with Suzi

Katie Cazorla

She may not be a big name in Australia (yet!) but in the US beauty world she is a shining star. Owner of LA nail salon, The Painted Nail, and reality TV Star of Nail Files, has created her own line of lacquers for Nubar (which happens to be her favourite nail brand and the only one she will use in her salon!). Katie was on hand at the show to talk about her line, which includes some of the best glitter polishes I have ever seen!

I was lucky enough to hang out with her during the show and this evening for dinner (and 1 too many cocktails). She is an outright fire ball and I truly hope her line comes to Australia VERY soon. It is the prettiest stuff. I die!

Katie Cazorla showed me some of her products

So that brings me to the end of Day 1 and I am very much looking forward to Day 2. Make sure you stay tuned for my exclusive chat with the delightful Suzi Weiss-Fischmann from OPI!

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