The gathering is called Cosmoprof North America and was held for three days last week at Mandalay Bay Convention Center. I attended and couldn’t believe how “out of touch” I was with the beauty industry.

Csmoprof North America is organized by USA Beauty L.L.C., a joint venture between BolognaFiere, Informa Markets and the Professional Beauty Organization. The attendees are retailers, distributors, investors, beauty brands and suppliers. However, upon walking the convention floor, one would have thought initially that Korea was the organizer. The Korea signs were everywhere. One of the exhibitors told me that “K Beauty” is a favorite expression of the day. K Beauty products, from South Korea, focus on “innovative, effective and gentle” skin-care products that are typically less expensive than products made elsewhere. High volume sales, efficient production and minimalist packaging seem to be the keys to their lower cost. The ladies behind the Korea counters all looked lovely.

And another thing I learned came from the Orly International booth – one of the only names I recognized. The lady at Orly, maker of nail polishes for manicures and pedicures, told me that 80 percent of nail salons these days are staffed by people from VietNam (I go to a salon staffed by folks from VietNam). The lady at the Orly booth was also from VietNam. Orly, she said, has been in business since 1975.

And lastly, after walking around for a hour or so, I stopped at a booth featuring something called a “Spacetouch Capsule,” a device that one was to lie down “in” and enjoy some kind of light therapy. The lady in charge said that the device worked on 11 different issues including anti-aging and “body slimming and contouring.” (I could get younger and slimmer all at once?) The machine’s cost was somewhwere between $40,000 (convention discount) and $80,000. I think I’d rather eat less chocolate.

Below are a few of the photos taken at CosmoProf.