The future of the beauty industry was on display earlier this month at MakeUp in New York, the eighth edition of the show held at Center 415 in Manhattan. More than 3,500 beauty insiders from contract manufacturers, fillers, purchasing managers, marketing experts and influencers strolled the two-floor exhibition and attended a content-packed conference schedule headlined by 23 speakers.

MakeUp in NewYork’s co-founder and show director, Sandra Maguarian, called it the best show yet with the number of exhibitors rising 10 percent to 110. Plans were announced to add Korea as a country guest next year.

That’s a smart decision since K-Beauty, along with rituals from Japan, were hot topics during the two-day show. The buzz was also about the ongoing ascension of indie brands, the need for speed, multi-use products, personalization, environmental packaging and sensorial formulas.


Sizing Up the Potential

Mintel’s Sarah Jindal, Senior Global Analyst, Innovation and Insight, provided a backdrop in her opening presentation. “The color cosmetics industry is moving at a faster pace than ever before and staying in line with emerging seasonal trends is essential,” Sarah said. Color cosmetics sales will topple the $48 billion mark this year, Sarah added.

“Instaglam” is a trend propelling sales of textures, interesting ingredients and brands with personality. “Social media remains at the forefront of makeup,” she explained, noting 55% of those aged between 18 to 22 get their beauty information from social media in the U.S. What brands need to prepare for, she added, is a world that is diverse and inclusive. Her crystal ball forecasts more color-changing formulas, and she said the expansion of J-beauty could even bring freeze-dried makeup to the market. Ingredient stories will become even more crucial in the future. For example, there has been a 600 percent increase in the number of people identifying as vegan in the U.S. in just the past three years. So far in 2018, 6 percent of global color cosmetics launches are vegan, up from 1.6 percent in 2016.

Consumers want clean, vegan and cruelty free, agreed Karen Young, Chief Executive Officer of The Young Group, which specializes in marketing, branding, product development, trend tracking and consumer research. Along with cleaner ingredients, environmental issues impact the presentation. She said there is even chatter of products in the future that don’t require packaging.

Indies Still the Disruptors


The indie category, said Karen, is averaging 30 percent growth per year. “Every part of the supply chain is being disrupted and challenged,” she said. “There is no question the legacy brands are scratching their heads trying to sort out how to play in this game.It’s tough to be big and act small.” The quest for innovation cascades down to formulators and manufacturers who are challenged to find new ingredients and new techniques.

Turnkey is Competitive Advantage
“Our biggest challenge is that everybody wants everything right away. No one wants what everyone else has and they want it yesterday,” said Robbyn Norman, Senior Vice President, Product Development, Wormser Corp. What helps her company is that expanded into turnkey resources that been able to compress its turnaround time.

Vonda Simon, Chief Executive Officer, Seacliff Beauty, said she also can move from concept to finished products with speed.In fact, the just managed a custom fragrance cap for a launch in less than six months. “We do a lot of customization,” said Vonda, who also showed off new airtight packages for volatile creamy formulas that in the past were prone to dry out.

Turnkey was a frequently mentioned asset on the show floor since that helps compress the production process., especially for upstarts that are known for being first. “There is a significantly increased demand for turnkey, as many of the indies want one stop shopping with their contract manufacturer,” Karen at The Young Group said.

Make it Jaw Dropping


As part of a quest for something different, innovative textures and unique delivery systems abounded. The overarching theme was that makeup has to be more than eye appealing, and it needs a tactile function, as well. Several companies displayed facial powders and eye shadows with textures built in. There were formulas that changed colors or transformed from gels to a milky consistency when applied.

And, easy-to-remove nail polish is back. Polychromatic showed peelable nail polish that works even on glitter formulas, according to Lia Paperetti, Sales Director for U.S. and Brazil. She said several brands will soon debut the easy-to-remove polish, perfect for quick changes or after a manicure malfunction.

At Texen, makeup artist Rudy Miles was showing off an enhanced eyelash curler concept that rolls rather than pinches lashes. “People are afraid of eyelash curlers and that shouldn’t be the case,” said Rudy, who sees big upside to his better solution.

Other innovations included makeup stamps (such as one from Alkos that’s multi-colored and fragranced) that offer easy on trend applications, Halal beauty options and formulas fusing wellness with beauty.

Customized and Multi-Use


“People don’t all want to look the same,” said Anja Bergwitz, Vice President Global Communication and Corporate Identify at Schwan Cosmetics. Not only does the company offer customization, many of its new products are multi-functional for unlimited looks. The Multi-Use Liquid Gel, for example, can be used as a high-definition liner or as blended shadow. “People don’t want to carry a lot in their bags,” said Anja. “We have three products that can do a full look.”

Multi-functional was also on the menu at World Wide Packaging where account executive Lori Tirelli displayed clever dual-ended products. “Minis are also key because people want to buy smaller sizes and sample because there are so many products out there.”

Everyone Wants a Piece of the Beauty Pie
Influencers and apparel retailers are joining traditional beauty companies in a quest to create their own beauty brands. Judy Zegarelli, the founder of Cosmetic Group USA, Inc., who has worked with Jefree Star, said the key for social stars is to do something never done before. “Eighty percent are failing because they are doing copycats,” she warned. But is there any innovation left? Cosmetics Group published an entire booklet for the meeting of its breakthroughs including shadow for when sleeping (he’ll never know reads the copy), transparent blush and liquid eye oil.

Next-Generation Masks


One of the biggest success stories in mass and class has been facial masks, especially sheet masks. Christopher Manenti, Vice President of Corporate Sales for Oxygen Development, which acquired a Korean factory, is delivering incremental sales opportunity with masks that feature a capsule to keep the actives fresh until ready to apply along with a syringe applicator. Also new is a men’s trio mask with compartments for toner, beard and moisturizer masks.