The two-day educational event will feature lectures, workshops and demonstrations given by international experts in the professional skin-care industry.

Renaud Dutreil, French Minister for SME, Trade, Small-scale Industry and the Professions, will attend the opening ceremony as a special guest.

All sectors of the beauty industry will be represented: perfumery, cosmetics and toiletries, beauty salons and wellness, hair, nails and tools, packaging, raw materials, machinery, contract manufacturing and private label exhibitors.

'We have had double-digit growth each year and there is still enormous room for growth,' said Michael Duck, director of Cosmoprof Asia, the organiser of the fair. 'This industry is just beginning in Asia.'

The packaging sector alone has doubled its floor space at the fair over the past two years. More than 300 leading companies will display innovative technologies and novel designs in cosmetic packaging, private labels, contract manufacturing, machinery and raw materials.

Asia's beauty industry has benefited from companies in Europe and the United States contracting out their manufacturing and setting up joint ventures with Asian countries to cut production costs.

A new feature is 'Focus Country of the Year', and Thailand has been chosen for the spotlight because of the country's increasingly important role in the international beauty business, especially its spa sector.

More than 80 Thai companies, supported by Thailand's Ministry of Commerce and its Department of Export Promotion, are exhibiting at the fair. 'One reason we are highlighting Thailand is that small- to medium-sized related businesses have grown quite nicely with the spa industry,' Mr Duck said.

For the fourth successive year, Cosmoprof Asia 2006 has been selected by the US Commercial Service for its Asia Now Programme, which introduces qualified buyers and delegations from new markets in Asia.

The keynote speaker at Cosmoprof Asia will be Thierry de Baschmakoff, a leading French designer in high perfumery. He will host a roundtable discussion to examine the relationship between the design and cosmetics industries.

The opening day of the fair will hit a chic, youthful note with an international competition for hairdressers 23 years and below. The event is organised by the Hong Kong Hairdesigners Association, the Hong Kong division of Organisation Mondiale Coiffure (OMC).

The competition is an opportunity for promising young hairstylists to exchange ideas and know-how. 'About 200 hairstylists will be competing,' said Ginnie Koay, Cosmoprof Asia events manager. Visitors will be able to see the stylists at work on the hair of models. The winner will represent Hong Kong at the 2008 OMC Hairworld, to be held in Chicago, in the United States.

Last year saw the debut of Les Nouvelles Esthetiques Hong Kong International Aesthetics Congress, and the organisers hope to repeat their success this year too.

The two-day event (November 16 and 17) is for skincare, beauty and wellness and spa professionals. The educational event covers new products and techniques.

Topics range from foot massage and spa and chemotherapy sessions to skin-lightening techniques and substances.

Running concurrently with the fair is the fifth edition of the Natural Health Fair, a showcase of natural foods, ingredients, therapies and services conducive to healthy living.

More than 110 companies will be involved and there will be pavilions representing Australia, Indonesia, Japan, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Japan is this year's focus country. High-end Japanese companies will participate in Japanese Day, showcasing a comprehensive range of products.