It seems like I have a reality star sighting at every beauty convention I go to and I've decided I'm going to document it every time. There were two I saw at the International Salon and Spa Expo (ISSE). First I saw Real from Real Chance of Love with his long and lovely hair. Then, I went to visit the Brazilian Heat people and standing in their booth doing someone’s hair in front of an audience was none other than Derrick J from the Real Housewives of Atlanta! How excited was I?! You can tell I was but we were there to spot the trends, not go gaga over Ms. Derrick!

So what did I see? Lots of people! I usually go to this show on the Saturday, not the Sunday, because it is just too busy but I had to work so it was my only option. Yes, there was the usual fancy updos and hair styles, body painting and wow nails.

 

Of course I did a little shopping but I didn’t go nuts like I have in the past, which is good. I picked up the 8-pack of Bring It Up that I can’t wait to try. From OPI, I bought a glass nail file, a pack of regular nail files and huge bottle of nail polish remover. And lastly, I bought some of this next product that I think will be a big trend this year. It’s called Bling String and it’s a way to add a little pizzazz to your hair and their website has a great video that shows how to put them in. Easy!!

 

One trend I saw was hair oils as in Moroccanoil isn’t the only company that is putting out these nourishing Argan-based hair oils anymore. I spotted quite a few: Agadir, DermOrganics and Macadamia Hair Oil, which we featured on the site last week. So who makes the best? Most of them have silicones listed before the actual Argon oil so just make sure to read your ingredients so you know what you’re getting.

There’s always a lot going on in the nail category and Minx has been all the rage lately with the hip and trendy but I’ve only seen them on short nails until now. Leave it to nail queens Dashing Diva to put out full coverage animal print nails as part of their Chrome Nails Collection and I love that the underside of each is skinton-colored! Not sure when these will be on their site.

Overall, I didn’t think the show lived up to past ones where there are a bevy of new products (not just new collections) that are showcased for the consumer, but that’s fine, as this is an industry convention. I really look forward to this show every year to just be around all those beauty enthusiasts! Where else can you do that? I won’t be again until The Makeup Show comes up in March.