On the first day of New York Fashion Week, beauty industry professionals walked alongside fashion aficionados on the streets of Manhattan to the sixth installment of MakeUp in NY (the 20th including other cities). Held on September 7 through September 8 at Chelsea event space Center548, the show expanded from last year to accommodate a bustling exhibitor and attendee list.

“People here really busy, they are really working,” said event co-founder, Jean Yves Bourgeois, adding that about 60 percent of exhibitors are in formulation, 25 percent are in packaging and the rest are in the accessories market. “They are not just here for networking and shaking hands. It’s a busy show, and everyone is totally focused on the product.”

And busy it was. More than 100 exhibitors from countries including China, Germany, Italy, Korea and Poland showed off new advances in beauty packaging and formulation to about 3,000 visitors from across the globe.

“It’s a full service show and visitors have access to the complete chain of production, from formula to packaging, there’s everything here for people who may want to do their own line,” said event co-founder, Sandra Maguarian. “It’s just a cocktail that works.”

The event, which also included several makeup and nail application stations on the floor, as well as a packaging contest for university students who submitted ideas for future product designs, also featured an innovation tree, where 24 products, selected by a panel of judges, hung off golden branches. Products selected for the tree included artfully packaged offerings, including a transparent lipstick with a visible dried flower suspended within it, and a stackable lip gloss that offered various top coats for different finishes.

The event, which was sponsored by CIBS, CEW, FIT and Michel & Augustin, also featured a number of conferences that focused on themes such as television marketing, the growing Mexican beauty market and the advent of new sales trends, thanks to a trend report from The NPD Group.

According to Kissura Craft, Director and Category Analyst for The NPD Group, this year’s most noteworthy beauty trends were “makeup baking,” reflected in growing sales of loose powder; “makeup draping,” evidenced by blush sales going from the negative into the positive, as well as male-friendly makeup. “We are also seeing more boys getting involved with makeup, and Milk makeup launched with a genderless approach,” said Kissura. A few other themes impacting the category, according to Kissura, are indie brands, Internet-only launches and influencer collaborations.

Formula trends came in the way of holographic finishes, matte metallic lips, as well as plenty of glitter, no doubt inspired by Kylie Jenner and Pat McGrath’s blockbuster and viral lip launches this year. Above all, transformation was everywhere, as shape-shifting products and formulas were omnipresent across both skin care and makeup. Futuristic polymers that blend with the skin, and lip colors that last for an entire workday were also highlights of the show.

“This year we are all about sensorial, innovative textures,” said Nicole Amorosino, Director of Product Sales for packaging company, HCT. “Our formulas are meant to change when they are touched.” HCT’s newest launches included transformational formulas, such as an exfoliating facial powder from Japan that becomes a “skin milk” once water is added, intensely pigmented metallic eyeshadows with soft-touch formulas and flexible “elastic eyeshadows” that won’t streak thanks to a polymer innovation out of Thailand.

Speaking of transformation, South Korean makeup formulation company, C&C International, which works with brands such as AmorePacific, TonyMoly and Etude House in Korea, was showing its newest innovation, called Powder Essence. The powder formula, which can be utilized as a concealer, face, lip or eye product, actually becomes a liquid once it’s rubbed onto skin. “The inside is water and the outside is powder,” said Jud Oh, C&C’s Marketing Team Manager, of the malleable texture. “It transforms.”

Englewood Labs’ skin care offerings were equally all about metamorphosis and supple textures. “We call it a sherbet cleanser, because it’s transitional, and when you add water it turns milky,” said Patricia Antonelli, Director of Sales & Marketing, while demonstrating the company’s new skin-cooling Ice Sherbet Cleanser. Englewood Labs also had on display an Oil-to-Foam Cleanser, a “melting” Cleansing Oil Stick and a “bubbling charcoal mask,” which while applied like a traditional face mask, becomes a foaming cleanser with water. “When the texture of a product actually changes you can get a better sense that it’s working,” said Patricia.

For its part, Toronto-based Cosmetica showcased a litany of color formula innovations inspired by viral beauty trends. “We follow what bloggers and consumers are talking about on social media and apply that to our development process,” said Courtney Daer, Cosmetica’s Business Development Manager. “We saw immediately that metallics were a big thing and have products that reflect that.”

Cosmetica had on offer a “commercial version” of the season’s go-to glittery red lip (as seen on Pat McGrath’s client Naomi Campell at the VMAs), featuring a new binding system that offers glitter that “we can see from space.” Cosmetica, which sends out B2B subscription boxes to its clients showcasing new formula trends (this season’s is dubbed “Metallica”), also had a new holographic eyeshadow, Brilliance Bright. Futuristic facial formulas came in the way of a matte foundation that morphs from liquid to powder once applied to the skin and a concealer called Liquid Bandaid, which contains a polymer that “moves with skin rather than drying into it.”

France-based AirCos was also all about metallics and glittering formulas. Two especially resplendent finishes included a shimmering silver “top coat,” essentially a highly pigmented glitter formula blended with a solvent, and a shining color-shifting powder called Glossy Pink, which can be used on lips, eyes or face.

“These are trends we are seeing in pop culture and on TV,” said Karima Najab-Godart, Key Account Manager for Aircos. “This year is totally different from years past in that we are embracing artistry and dramatic finishes, and lots of glitter.”

Metallics were also a big thing at California-based Cosmetics Group USA, as they were showing off a matte metal lipstick, and a shimmering mascara top coat, meant to look like snowflakes atop eyelashes for fall/winter color collections. Holographic finishes were seen at Cosmax in its Color Traveling Lip Gloss, and at Oxygen Development, which interpreted cyberspace with a collection full of shimmer and light-reflecting pigments.

“It’s about color flipping and layering and creating a second reality,” said Oxygen’s Marketing Specialist, Lindsay Bierman. “We respond very quickly to trends.” Other makeup innovations included molten gold liquid metal eyeshadows, prismatic eyeliners, suspended glitter lipsticks, gender-free foundations and a bevy of brow colors and ornamentation, inspired by the Korean and Japanese trend.

There were also a few noteworthy formula innovations that created categories all their own, such as black light lipsticks from Alkos Group, paint-on freckles (a liquid liner type product which actually lightens skin with a self-tanning technology, leaving “freckles” behind for three to four days) from iTiT Cosmetics S.R.L., and a time-released sleep mask from Oxygen Development.

On the packaging-meets-formula side, Englewood Labs also showed a host of innovations for eye and lips. On the eye front, there was a calligraphy-like eye pen with a ball point tip called the Magic Ball Eyeliner, designed for intricate eye art. For lip, there were impressively long-wearing lip stains, one with a cushion applicator (to create a natural ombrè effect) that stays vivid from six to eight hours; the other, with a silicone tip, that lasts more than eight hours. “It’s for a long day,” laughed Katherine Kang, Packaging Director at Englewood Labs, who also showed an innovative “lip tattoo” which is applied then peeled off after five minutes for a full day’s worth of lip color.

Among the packaging trends were dual-sided components, extract-infused makeup brushes and unbreakable silicone compacts and tubes.

An interesting two-in-one packaging prototype came from Chinese packaging manufacturer, Taesung, who showed CEW Beauty Insider its Ion Electric Machine. The bulbous metallic product resembled a metallic orb, with face cream at the bottom, and a vibrating product applicator at the top. “It gets your cream deeper into the skin,” said Taesung Team Manager, Judy Joung. “It’s better than just tapping it onto the face.

HCT also had a double-sided product, dubbed the Dropper Spray Duo, which had a dropper on one side, and a facial mist on the other, both of which utilized the same hydrating formula in the center. “The innovation is that it’s the same product, just different delivery systems,” said Nicole.

Meanwhile, Kolmar displayed a new type of cushion compact, in which small colorful beads sit under a mesh. “You break them with an applicator, and get different skin benefits from the beads, such as color correcting and moisturizing,” said Erin Park, Assistant Manager of Kolmar Overseas Business Division. “It’s the next generation of cushion.”

Interesting green tea, red clay and charcoal-infused makeup brushes from Korean Hyangam Beauty promised benefits such as sun protection, skin purification and even the ability to help boost circulation.

Other innovations in packaging came from

Derik Industrial USA Inc., which had intuitive compacts that push out a complementary brush applicator or sponge as the piece opens. “It stores the applicator until you need it,” said a brand spokesperson on the show floor, of the patented packaging design. “It pops out.”

Soft-touch silicone compacts and vintage-inspired lip components were presented by Italian company, Cosmei s.r.l. “It’s a new idea from our creative director,” said Cristina Festini, Chief Commercial Officer, who showed off the flexible, brightly-hued packaging in a number of shapes and colors. “They cannot break and are beautiful to look at.”

According to the show’s creators, the two-day event was a success.

“There is always something new here,” said Jean Yves, referencing upcoming showcases in São Paolo, Los Angeles, Seoul and Paris. “Guests who come to our show will see new launches for every season every three months. It will just keep getting bigger and better.”