Inside The Makeup Show NYC, one of beauty’s leading events

The Makeup Show in New York City is one of the beauty industry’s biggest events, and for good reason. With sponsored beauty figureheads such as Danessa Myricks and Etienne Ortega, big-name brand beauty booths, and hundreds of professional attendees, the convention is as booming as the makeup industry itself.

Taking place at the Metropolitan Pavilion from April 30 to May 1, The Makeup Show not only offered discounted beauty goods, but also a number of educational demonstrations and conferences dedicated to beauty.

With artistry brands such as Makeup Forever and editorial brands such as Pat McGrath Labs present, the overall scope of the industry was represented, drawing in between over 3,500 attendees that hailed from all sectors of the beauty world; whether bridal freelancers, self-taught enthusiasts, corporate mavens, beauty students, or fashion editorial artists.

“The Makeup Show has grown so much and it’s due to how much the industry has grown,” the event’s founder Shelly Taggar told FashionUnited. “It’s been around for 18 years, and started because we saw so many hair shows but no makeup, so in 2006 we did our first show. It was a huge success and from there things have grown to over 80 shows in more than 20 cities.”

In its early stages, The Makeup Show featured around a thousand brands; now, according to Taggar, that number has grown to as high as 20,000. “As the event and the amount of people that want to be makeup artists grew, so did the amount of brands and the beauty worlds as a whole.”

Beauty on the rise

The beauty industry is not only growing in numbers but also in representation and community. According to Myricks, founder of her eponymous brand Danessa Myricks Beauty, the industry is ever “evolving”. As new brands launch every year, new product innovations are unveiled, and a slew of social media-charged beauty trends emerge—TikTok’s “beauty” tag has nearly 200 billion views—the growth of the industry is rapid, robust, and not slowing down anytime soon.

The Makeup Show is one of beauty’s stages where it all culminates. “This is the most beautiful, loving community. I love the inspiration of being around like-minded artists that not just want to share their artistry, but share their heart,” says Myricks.

As beauty flourishes, fashion appears to plateau. According to market reports from Grand View Research and Statista respectively, the global cosmetics market was valued at 262 billion dollars, with an expected expansion rate of 4.2 percent in 2022. In comparison, the fashion industry, long known for its high revenue, is expected to grow 1.96 percent in 2023.

The Makeup Show and its corresponding events occur multiple times a year in numerous American cities. The next rendition, The Makeup Show Forum, will be held in Nashville in late June. It returns to New York every year.