The company's founder spent eight years researching and sourcing his products. 'If you want to cook a special recipe, you need to start with the highest quality ingredients,' says Ishi's scientific director and president Davide Antichi, from the sidelines of the three-day exhibition in the ExCel London centre. 'Otherwise, you could be the best chef in the world, but you couldn't do anything special.' His passion for food pervades every business aspect - from the chocolate treatments to products based on Italian truffles and wine.

Dafla claims to be the first company in the world to harness the hydrating and supposedly anti-ageing properties of truffles (luxury mushrooms). The centrepiece is called caviar (although there's no caviar involved). A paste of black truffles, coriander and star anise is ground in a pestle and mortar. It's then smeared over the face and neck. Black truffles contain amino acids that are said to have an anti-wrinkle property. 'Truffles work by mimicking cell production in the skin,' says Millhouse.

Antichi says truffle treatments can also reduce spots caused by age, hormones or sun damage by 60 per cent in a month. This is achieved through a special lightening cream with a rare white truffle known as 'the white diamond'. He says it blocks the production of melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour.

Vino Therapy is Ishi's grape-based treatment line and its product list is a wine aficionado's dream come true. It features a Cabernet Sauvignon lotion and Pinot Noir body-toning cream. Like chocolate, grapes contain antioxidants and a host of beneficial vitamins and minerals.

Antichi hopes to sell Ishi products all over the world, but for now his main target is China. Although China has many beauty companies of its own, he says there's room for a European company. 'The richer people in China want to buy European and occidental products because the products are different in many ways. So there's a lot of opportunity there. It will be difficult, but we can do it.' And there are fresh ideas in Ishi's pipeline. 'We're working with other ingredients such as beer,' Antichi says. 'But we stay quiet before our projects are ready.'

Just a few metres from the chocolates, truffles and wine, another beauty company displays a different approach to the fight against ageing. Its hi-tech machine hovers over a client's face, bathing it in coloured light. Omnilux light therapy treatments come in three colours: blue, red and what it calls 'near-infrared'. Blue light is the mildest - it penetrates only two or three millimetres into the skin and is primarily used to fight acne by killing bacteria. Red light goes deeper - up to eight millimetres under the surface - to attack fine lines and revive the skin. It's said to stimulate collagen production and boost circulation. The third and most powerful light treatment is Anti-Wrinkle Omnilux Plus, which penetrates to the bone and is supposed to stimulate cells so they 'perform to their full potential'. 'Near infrared is also used on scar tissue in the US,' says national training co-ordinator Vicki Redfern.

Omnilux treatments are available in 37 places, including Hong Kong. You can receive a similar treatment at the Feel Good Factor (see below). For a lasting effect, nine or 10 sessions are recommended. Each lasts 20 minutes and costs about $750.

Like most of the companies at the show, Omnilux's aim is to make people look better. But the Professional Beauty Fair also features exhibits that showcase inventive ways of making people feel better. The most eye-catching is the Sha AlphaLounger, a glowing blue chair that uses vibrations and music to induce a dream state. The fibreglass lounger's wave-like shape puts you in a semi-foetal position. The chair is heated, lit from within and fitted with speakers. The music is a series of deep, long notes that reverberate through the chair in waves.

'The composition uses sound recorded in the womb of a pregnant woman,' says Sha sales development manager Bob Bork. The aim is to help the clients relax until they reach what's known as the alpha state. This is the point at which the mind begins to experience vivid dreams. Normally, the alpha state lasts for perhaps 30 seconds each night, before deeper sleep takes hold. 'But with the lounger, it can be prolonged and lasts for 20 minutes,' Bork says.

The result is a feeling of relaxation and a sense of escape from day-to-day stresses,' says Sha user Debi Green as she emerges from a session. 'I feel a bit floaty. It's difficult to describe. I feel like my nerve endings are bubbling. It's very relaxing.'

Not far from the AlphaLounger, another reclining chair is occupied by a woman undergoing a less relaxing procedure. Natural Enhancement offers a range of so-called permanent cosmetics. These involve injecting pigment into the skin through small needles, to create eyeliner, lip colour or permanent cheek blush. The word 'permanent' is a bit deceptive, since the colour fades after a couple of years.

Before you commit to the new look, colours are tried out using conventional cosmetics so you can approve the pigment beforehand. It takes about 20 minutes to inject the pigment into the skin through a series of needle pricks. The company says the procedure is 'no more painful than having your eyebrows tweezed'.

Paying the bill is likely to hurt though. Eyeliner and lip enhancements cost about $6,000 each.