Beauty therapy students make bath bombs with Pretty Sins during employability week

Beauty therapy students at West Notts College took part in employability-week activities, including a hands-on Pretty Sins bath bomb making session in the college science lab. The practical workshop gave learners an immediate, trade-ready experience in product creation and exposure to small-business practice, skills that matter when moving into retail, salon or freelance roles.

Pretty Sins, a Bolsover-based company set up by sisters Serene and Charlene Wright, led the lab session, bringing an industry perspective into a classroom environment. College captions noted that “Beauty therapy students enjoyed creating a fizz in the lab,” a simple line that captures the session’s mix of chemistry and cosmetics and underlines how classroom science supports salon skills.

West Notts College framed the session as part of a wider curriculum push to connect students with career pathways. “Hairdressing and beauty therapy students had their turn at quizzing the experts last week during the curriculum’s employability week,” the college reported, and added that “the salons were buzzing with activity as guest speakers joined classes to share their journeys into successful careers as stylists, therapists and freelance artists, giving students valuable insight into the wide range of opportunities available within the hair and beauty industries.”

That breadth was visible across the week. Trainee stylists focused on new technical competencies, described on the college site as “Things became rather hair-raising as trainee stylists developed new technical skills throughout the week.” Make-up artistry students explored wig preparation and styling under the guidance of teacher Samantha Brown. The college said: “Make-up artistry students explored the art of preparing models for wig application and styling both real hair and synthetic wigs. Teacher Samantha Brown guided the hands-on session, which saw students experiment with a variety of alternative hairstyles and colours.” Accompanying captions included “Make up artistry students prepared and fitted wigs” and the page highlighted “A great treatment to master the art of dermaplaning.”

Head of department Nicholas Thorpe positioned the week as both inspiration and practical career prep, saying: “Employability week is always a highlight for us, and this year has been particularly inspiring. The range of guest speakers, treatments and creative sessions on offer has given our students a real sense of what is possible within the industry.

Seeing professionals from so many different pathways share their experiences reinforces to our learners that there is no single route to success – just passion, skill and a willingness to keep learning.”

For students, the bath-bomb workshop offers immediate, transferable skills: understanding product formulation, safe handling of ingredients in a lab setting, and basic packaging and presentation ideas suitable for retail or social-media sales. For local small businesses such as Pretty Sins, the session builds a pipeline of potential employees, interns and collaborators who already understand how a beauty product is made and marketed.

The employability-week model used by West Notts College points to practical partnerships that benefit both learners and the local beauty economy. Expect more hands-on collaborations that pair classroom technique with real-world product skills, giving students both the fizz and the know-how to turn classroom projects into income streams.