The Beauty Pitch 2016 finalists have been announced

12-Jun-2016 - Last updated on 13-Jun-2016 at 13:12 GMT

Winners of the 2nd annual competition will be decided in Las Vegas, Nevada, latter this month in conjunction with the Professional Beauty Association’s Beauty Week events and Cosmoprof North America.

Beauty Pitch contestant companies are vying for prizes that last year included business mentorship and investor funding. Judges for this year’s event include Emily Dougherty, Beauty Director of Elle Magazine, Mark Spinks of Sally Beauty Holdings, and Deanne Kaczerski, Executive Editor of Digital Innovation at InStyle.

Not just for the young

This year’s Beauty Pitch finalists are divided into two categories: startup businesses and established businesses. Competing in the established category are P3 Pure, Vanity Girl Hollywood, and Whish.

P3 Pure is a collection of natural underarm deodorants made with baking-soda. Some are conventional stick style, while others are designed to be applied by fingertip. The company also sells lip balm, body powder, and an oral care product.

Vanity Girl Hollywood specializes in fully lit vanity mirrors and accessories (like replacement light bulbs and rolling stools). Maxine Tatlonghari founded the company in 2008 and has been bringing “a little piece of Hollywood glamour to women throughout the United States and Canada” ever since.

Whish, launched in 2010, is a brand comprising bath, body care, anti-aging, tanning, and hair removal products.

New kids on the block

The three startups in this year’s Beauty Pitch competition are the Flip-It! Cap Company, pur~lisse beauty, and Sunlights Balayage. Flip-It is an after-market bottle cap system that combines a push-pull-valve with tiny legs that allow a bottle to be stored upside down. The gadget is meant to minimize the frustration and expense of slack fill.

pur~lisse beauty is a skin care collection that promises to combine “authentic time-tested Asian beauty wisdom with advanced French cosmeceuticals,” according to a statement on the company’s site from CEO Jennifer Yen.

And, Sunlights Balayage is the brainchild of hairdressing veteran Candy Shaw. Her products are hair-highlighting kits meant to help salon professionals learn and succeed at balayage processing.

Anyone’s guess

The winners will be decided based on the pitches each brand makes during the live event in LA this month. In the meantime, PBA executive director Steve Sleeper is confident that “these Beauty Pitch finalists represent some of the most innovative, driven and creative professionals in our industry.”

“Beauty Pitch is an inspiring event," he says, "and we’re excited to watch these entrepreneurs share their personal story and their passion with the industry during the kick-off event for PBA Beauty Week and Cosmoprof North America.”