The Top 33 Beauty Trends of 2025

First, here’s a look at the fastest-growing beauty topics of the past year:

Now, let’s move beyond keywords to explore the top beauty trends that our analysts have identified will shape 2025 & 2026.

Biotech turns skincare clinical

Skincare is moving from treating skin types to decoding individual biology—and consumers are ready for it.

The rise of biotech-driven skincare reflects a broader shift toward hyper-personalization, closely tied to the quantified self movement and larger wellness trends. Instead of choosing products based on vague categories like “dry” or “sensitive,” consumers are increasingly drawn to DNA analyses, exosome therapies, and biologically tailored solutions that claim to match their unique cellular profiles.

This shift isn’t happening in isolation. It mirrors the broader medicalization of beauty, where the language and methods of clinical science—once confined to hospitals—are being repackaged for everyday routines. Terms like “cell regeneration” and “biomimetic repair” have entered marketing copy, lending an air of scientific credibility that traditional cosmetics increasingly struggle to match.

The economics are changing too. As biotech manufacturing costs have dropped, processes once reserved for cutting-edge medical treatments have become viable for premium consumer products. What was once futuristic now fits neatly onto retail shelves, with a price tag designed to reinforce its perceived exclusivity.

Luxury brands have leaned into this positioning. In a crowded beauty market, biotech gives them a way to differentiate not just on branding, but on process—selling not just results, but the idea that those results are biologically, even clinically, smarter.

At its core, biotech skincare is part of a larger evolution: personalization, medicalization, and status converging to redefine what it means to invest in your skin.

Cheaper LEDs fuel surge in red light therapy

Beauty tech is following the same pattern as home fitness: what once lived in clinics and studios is moving onto bathroom counters.

Red light masks and helmets, once reserved for dermatologist offices, have become increasingly common at home. The timing isn’t accidental. During the pandemic, access to professional treatments was limited, and interest in at-home alternatives surged. Tools that could plausibly replicate parts of a medical-grade routine—especially those backed by some peer-reviewed research—found a ready audience.

LED technology itself has quietly made the leap from niche to mass-market. Since 2008, the price of LEDs has fallen by over 98%, lowering barriers for consumer devices that previously would have been prohibitively expensive to manufacture or buy.

Meanwhile, the normalization of beauty devices more broadly—like microcurrent toning tools and percussive therapy guns—primed consumers to think of technology as a standard part of self-care. A red light mask no longer seems experimental; it feels like a logical next step.

Importantly, red light therapy has a stronger scientific foundation than many other beauty gadgets. Studies have shown that specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light can stimulate collagen production and reduce inflammation in skin cells, giving red light masks a level of credibility that purely aesthetic tools often lack.

What’s happening with red light devices isn’t just a story about another skincare trend. It’s about how the line between clinical treatment and consumer self-service keeps getting thinner—and how technology, once again, quietly democratizes what used to be reserved for a few.

Makeup and skincare converge

Makeup is becoming less about covering flaws and more about maintaining skin.

The rise of skincare-infused makeup reflects a broader shift toward natural aesthetics and functional beauty. Products like tinted sunscreens and serum foundations aren’t just offering color correction; they’re positioned as extensions of a skincare routine, promising hydration, protection, and even long-term skin benefits. It’s a response to a consumer who expects more from every step of their regimen—and who increasingly values skin health over heavy coverage.

Part of the shift is cultural. Minimal, dewy finishes have overtaken full-matte looks as the aspirational standard, especially among younger consumers raised on the idea of “your skin, but better.” Daily SPF usage has also become more normalized, thanks in part to social media campaigns and dermatological guidance. Tinted sunscreens have emerged as a practical solution: a way to integrate sun protection without adding an extra layer.

Technology and ingredient literacy play roles too. Today’s shoppers are fluent in buzzwords like niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, and they expect to find them not just in serums, but also in their foundations and concealers. The result is a growing expectation that beauty products should multitask—enhancing appearance while actively supporting skin health underneath.

This isn’t simply a temporary trend. It’s a redefinition of what makeup is supposed to do: not just hide, but help. As skin health becomes a visible part of beauty culture, the future of cosmetics looks less like transformation—and more like optimization.

Beauty routines go edible

The idea that beauty starts on the inside has gone from a wellness cliché to one of the fastest-growing beauty and supplement trends. Consumers aren’t just applying serums and creams anymore—they’re ingesting products designed to nourish their skin, hair, and nails from the inside out.

This shift reflects a growing belief that external appearance is often a reflection of internal health. Supplements promise a more foundational fix, targeting the root causes of dull skin, thinning hair, or brittle nails instead of covering them up. And they’re being marketed not as quick fixes, but as part of a daily ritual—something that complements a skincare routine, not replaces it.

Collagen supplements are the category’s star, but the real story is how the entire approach to beauty is changing. Consumers now want long-term radiance, not just a short-term glow. That mindset is driving the growth of ingestible beauty products that are easy to incorporate, habit-forming, and often more appealing than messy topicals.

Water quality enters beauty playbook

Consumers are becoming more aware that it’s not just what you put on your skin that matters—it’s what you rinse it with, too.

Shower water filters have gained popularity in beauty routines as concerns about environmental factors like chlorine, heavy metals, and hard water have become more mainstream. The logic is simple: if you’re investing hundreds of dollars in serums, moisturizers, and professional treatments, exposing your skin to unfiltered water could undermine those efforts. For many consumers, it feels increasingly inconsistent to obsess over ingredient lists but ignore the quality of the water hitting their face twice a day.

Part of the appeal is practical. Compared to costly water softening systems or full-home filtration, a $50 shower filter is a low-friction, relatively affordable upgrade. It’s marketed as a small change with the potential to protect bigger investments, making it an easy sell in an industry where barrier health and minimal irritation are now top priorities.

Broader trends are reinforcing this shift. The “skinification” of haircare has led people to treat their scalp like facial skin, raising sensitivity to everything from shampoo ingredients to shower water quality. And rising distrust in municipal water systems—fueled by high-profile contamination events—has extended anxiety beyond drinking water into daily hygiene.

While research on the cosmetic benefits of shower filters remains limited, the broader behavioral pattern is clear: consumers are increasingly treating environmental control as an essential part of personal care, not an optional add-on.

Salmon DNA—the next big thing in regenerative skincare

Skincare is no longer just about protecting what you have—it’s about rebuilding what’s been lost.

Rejuran, a treatment based on polynucleotides extracted from salmon DNA, has quietly gained traction as part of a broader shift toward regenerative beauty. Instead of focusing on surface-level hydration or temporary plumping, regenerative treatments aim to restore the skin’s underlying structure, appealing to consumers who want true recovery and long-term resilience—not just maintenance.

Several forces have converged to push Rejuran into the spotlight. The cultural influence of K-beauty helped normalize the blending of clinical treatments with everyday skincare routines, making procedures like skin boosters and microneedling more familiar outside of medical settings. At the same time, growing interest in bio-compatible ingredients has played a key role: salmon DNA’s structural similarity to human DNA reduces the risk of adverse reactions, an increasingly important consideration as the market for sensitive-skin products continues to grow.

There’s also a broader shift underway in consumer attitudes toward aesthetic treatments. While Botox and dermal fillers remain popular, there’s a rising hesitation around anything that visibly alters facial structure. Many consumers—especially younger ones—are looking for solutions that enhance natural skin quality without freezing muscles or adding volume. Rejuran, along with emerging regenerative treatments like exosome serums, fit neatly into this evolving preference: repair what’s there, rather than change it.

This regenerative focus isn’t confined to professional clinics. On the consumer side, everyday skincare is evolving too. The surge in barrier repair creams, microbiome-supporting products, and low-intervention “skin health” routines all point toward a growing desire to rebuild and protect the skin’s natural systems, rather than strip or overstimulate them.

In the bigger picture, regenerative beauty reflects a deeper redefinition of what skincare is meant to do. It’s not just about preserving youth, covering flaws, or slowing decline—it’s about strengthening the skin’s ability to heal itself, actively engineering resilience from within.

Men normalize cosmetic use

While makeup is strongly associated with femininity, there's an ongoing cosmetics trend where male consumers are increasingly buying makeup products. The shift started in skincare: it was only a few years ago when men's moisturizer was looked upon as taboo, yet now there are dozens of men's skincare brands.

Now, that shift is expanding to new makeup trends, with men increasingly experimenting with products once considered exclusive to women.

In contrast to women's makeup, marketing for men's makeup mainly focuses on utility. A product description on a male cosmetics site reads, "Your eyes tell a story. Don't tell a tired one. Use our Wake Up Eye Stick with Caffeine to help de-puff the bags under your eyes."

These brands also push back against the stigma by using models with highly masculine features - thick beards and defined facial features. They also typically use masculine branding, black and red colors alongside bold and all caps text.

Simplicity marketed as sophistication

Simplicity is being rebranded as sophistication.

Rice is the most widely consumed food on earth. Now it’s showing up in new skincare trends. Korean beauty brand I’m From sells a $23 rice cream that’s more than 300x the cost of raw rice. What you’re buying isn’t just hydration—it’s a story: where the rice was grown, how it was harvested, and what that says about your values. Even the packaging includes a map with GPS coordinates. It’s a case study in decommoditization—turning a global staple into a niche luxury.

This shift isn’t isolated. As demand for ingredient transparency grows, brands are leaning into ingredients consumers already recognize and trust—rice, ginseng, caffeine, even beef tallow—rather than inventing obscure new compounds. With the internet making it easier for shoppers to fact-check and self-educate, complex beauty jargon is losing power.

What’s winning instead is familiarity wrapped in premium storytelling.

Beef tallow, once a humble byproduct of food production, is another example. Touted for its skin-barrier benefits and ancestral appeal, it’s now positioned as a “natural,” nutrient-dense alternative to synthetic moisturizers. The playbook mirrors what’s happening in supplement & vitamin trends too, where organ supplements like beef liver are surging—another case of repackaging traditional, known substances as modern wellness solutions.

The pattern is consistent: brands start by highlighting a recognizable ingredient, then double down by emphasizing its purity, sourcing, or heritage.

This isn’t just about skincare. It’s about how we repackage the familiar, tell new stories with old ingredients, and sell simplicity in a way that feels sophisticated.

Gen Alpha enters beauty early

In 2023, Sephora reported that the number of its customers aged 9 to 12 had doubled over the past five years. Social media’s role in shaping this trend is undeniable, with over 80% of teenagers reportedly watching beauty tutorials online, especially as beauty trends on TikTok go viral and influence younger audiences.

This growing focus on beauty among (pre)teens has fueled the explosion of brands like E.L.F., a standout in Gen Z beauty, which saw its revenue surge by a staggering 77% in 2024 to $1.02 billion and now commands 35% of the female teen market.

The company's stock price increased over 1500% from 2019-2024, making it the best-performing U.S. stock during that period.

Kids’ products are heavily influenced by clean beauty trends and typically offering gentler, more hypoallergenic formulas to reduce the risk of irritating younger, more sensitive skin.

Some argue that beauty routines offer kids an opportunity for self-care and personal expression. But others are concerned that introducing complex beauty routines at a young age can send the message that looking good requires constant effort—and spending. This not only fuels self-consciousness as kids begin comparing themselves to curated ideals, but also normalizes costly habits that may be more about pressure than play.

“Non-toxic” becomes beauty baseline

The European Union bans over 1,600 cosmetic ingredients. The U.S. bans fewer than 40,

The rise of non-toxic skincare is closely tied to a growing unease about ingredient safety and the gap between consumer expectations and regulatory oversight, a shift also seen in broader health & wellness trends. That gap has become a breeding ground for consumer skepticism.

Brands didn’t just respond to that fear—they reframed it. Companies like Beautycounter and retailers like Credo turned “non-toxic” into a luxury signal, suggesting that true quality wasn’t just about performance, but about purity and transparency. Safety, once a basic expectation, became a selling point in itself.

At the same time, litigation and high-profile media stories—around talc, parabens, and chemical sunscreens—helped cement the idea that mainstream beauty products could contain unseen risks. Viral ingredient blacklists and influencer-driven “skincare education” accelerated the shift, pushing label-reading from a niche practice into a standard part of shopping behavior.

The result isn’t just a demand for cleaner products. It’s a broader shift in how trust is built in beauty: less about glossy advertising and more about proof, transparency, and the careful management of fear.

Korean beauty rises with pop culture

Korean skincare didn’t just introduce new products—it introduced a new philosophy around beauty, and it’s still expanding its influence on emerging skincare trends.

While once seen as a niche category, Korean skincare has become a fixture in global beauty routines, thanks to its emphasis on prevention over correction. Instead of treating damage after it appears, K-beauty encouraged consumers to maintain skin health early and consistently—a subtle but important shift that resonated especially with younger buyers.

Part of its continued growth comes from how dynamic the category remains. Korean brands are often faster to experiment with new ingredients like snail mucin, fermented extracts, and centella asiatica, positioning themselves as more innovative compared to traditional Western skincare, which has historically leaned on a smaller set of actives like retinol and vitamin C.

At the same time, Korean skincare reimagined the daily routine itself. Multi-step regimens turned skincare from a quick task into a ritualistic form of self-care, aligning neatly with broader consumer movements toward mindfulness and personal wellness. In a world where routines often feel rushed, layering serums and ampoules offered a rare moment of deliberate time investment.

Even as K-beauty is now well-known internationally, even sparking new alcohol trends, its growth hasn’t plateaued. New formats, gentler formulations, and accessible price points continue to bring in first-time users—particularly those seeking a long-term, low-stress approach to skincare, rather than high-pressure correction after problems emerge.

In the end, Korean skincare’s staying power isn’t just about the products. It’s about how it reframed beauty: less as a reaction to flaws, and more as a daily practice of maintenance and care.

Contouring without injectables

Demand for depuffing and facial sculpting products has soared in recent years. For many consumers, it’s about more than just vanity—it’s about taking control of their appearance with small, daily rituals. Products in this category promise visible results in minutes, often backed by before-and-after social media videos showing a slimmer, more contoured face.

This is part of a broader trend toward low-effort, at-home beauty tools that mimic spa services. Whether it’s reducing puffiness from sleep or sculpting cheekbones for an event, consumers are looking for fast, non-invasive ways to enhance their facial structure without turning to injectables.