09/20/2025
In honor of The Makeup Show 20th Anniversary Year and the shows return to Houston this weekend, I give you our On Makeup Magazine Spring 2025 Milestone: 20 Years Of The Makeup Show feature. Enjoy!
You can read the feature below or download the issue here
https://www.thepowdergroup.com/on-makeup-magazine/
Twenty Years! Simply a remarkable milestone and an accomplishment that I don’t know if we ever thought would happen when we created The Makeup Show in 2005. Now, for clarity, although I co-founded the show, and it remains close to my heart and is a significant part of my personal journey as well as The Powder Group’s legacy in the industry, Metropolitan Pavilion and Shelly Taggar have owned the show outright for the past 15 years.
And what an incredible job Shelly and her team have done growing and evolving the show to meet our industry’s needs in so many ways. These days as an exhibitor and speaker, I am not a part of producing the show, but it will always be one of the things I am proudest of in my career and my life.
Okay, now onto a brief 20-year look back on TMS history. When I left my corporate job at MAC in 2002 and embarked on the journey that has become The Powder Group, I was certain about a few things regarding my new path. I knew I was going to do my best to fill a void in our industry. I knew that I’d have to work harder than I ever had before. I knew that I wanted to launch a new magazine that celebrated the art of makeup. I knew that I would create The Makeup Show.
My business plan literally had The Makeup Show at Metropolitan Pavilion as a part of the document. Well, just under two years after starting The Powder Group, I had the good fortune of connecting with Shelly and Metropolitan Pavilion owner Alan Boss as they began putting the finishing touches on one of the first of their own internally produced events — a holiday shopping event that a friend of mine had suggested I get The Powder Group involved with.
It was during a meeting about my involvement in that holiday event that I took one of the biggest long shots of my career. I told Shelly and her team about my plans to produce The Makeup Show at their space and asked if they would be interested in partnering with me on the event. Shelly said we talk about it after the event, and the rest is industry history.
While I had been in the industry for more than 10 years at this point, most of my career was as an executive with MAC so I really needed the newer relationships I had built since starting The Powder Group to step up and say yes to this new concept. While I was hopeful, I did not expect quite the resounding cheer from the industry when we began approaching potential vendors. It quickly became clear that everyone had been thinking the same thing: "Why is there no makeup artist trade show in New York?”
From my perspective, it was also a question of why there wasn’t a trade show for our industry that truly celebrated the art of makeup and beauty in a way that is focused on the artist as the core of its business. And that gave an energy of joy, passion and creativity to an event of this type. More than a trade show, I wanted to create a big makeup party, and apparently, the industry agreed that this was a great idea.
I was personally so humbled by the reception that the idea received. First to jump on board was the amazing and inspirational Maurice Stein and his legendary company Cinema Secrets, then came MAC, Temptu, Face Atelier, Alcone Company, Kryolan, and on and on. From iconic industry brands to new upstarts, everyone wanted the same thing — to connect, celebrate, and have a weekend together as one big amazing pro makeup artistry community.
We had a great show that first year. Our vendors, our educators and most importantly the thousands of attendees who joined us for the start of this incredible journey loved what the show brought to our industry. While the launch event was not without its challenges, the overwhelming emotions that we were left with after the show were joy and excitement. The Makeup Show was a hit.
It makes me really proud to look back at the incredible individuals we brought in as keynote speakers and educators during those early years. We featured the best of the best and most unique and important voices of the day, including Maurice Stein, Ve Neill, Dany Sanz, Sandy Linter, Billy B, Sharon Gault, Kate Best, Eugenia Weston, Linda Mason, Angelina Avallone, Joanna Schlipp, Eve Pearl and Jinny to name a few. Looking back it blows my mind that such a collection of icons came together under one roof to support the show’s launch.
It would take this entire page to list all of those who came later and who are rock stars of The Makeup Show world today. Suffice it to say, that anyone who is anyone in professional makeup artistry has been a part of the world of TMS.
Twenty years and dozens of shows later, The Makeup Show in one form or another has traveled to Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Orlando, Houston, Atlanta, Berlin, San Francisco, and Dallas. It has made an indelible mark on the pro beauty industry along the way. Thousands of pros have been inspired, informed, and shown the power of community around the world thanks to the hard work of The Makeup Show team and all of the show’s vendors, sponsors, and supporters.
So a huge Happy 20th Anniversary to The Makeup Show and an even bigger thank you to everyone who helped to make it possible along the way. Congratulations to Shelly and the amazing The Makeup Show team for continuing to make such an impact on the lives and careers of so many. Here’s to many more years of hosting the most incredible and joyful trade show on the planet!
Words Michael DeVellis
Photos Nadav Havakook
