Beauty’s glow-up goals for 2025
Spate’s 2025 Beauty Trends Report indicates that there is a growing importance placed on body care, multibenefit solutions and products that deliver sensorial experiences.
With indicators that consumers are hunting for beauty bargains, mass merchants are beefing up selections, looking for on-trend merchandise and elevating the shopping experience to nab more category sales.
For the past four years, prestige growth has eclipsed mass. U.S. prestige beauty sales grew by 8% to $15.3 billion in the first half of 2024—with mass sales remaining flat. Could this be the year the mass market roars back?
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Retailers are implementing tactics to improve the shopping experience—both in stores and online. CVS is spotlighting new brands on special displays in its stores. Walmart launched an online premium marketplace in August with brands like ColorWow, CosRX and Paul Mitchell. Target is playing up its exclusives like Blake Brown, founded by Blake Lively, and L’Oréal’s Colorsonic. And Walgreens has a new line of private-label beauty items inspired by high-end brands at a fraction of the price.
There are signs that mass merchants could be chipping away at specialty market dominance, especially with Gen Z customers. Target gained four points in the Piper Sandler semiannual Taking Stock With Teens Survey, grabbing a 37% share of the “retailer of choice” pie. Walmart expanded from a 5% to 7% share.
Here are some new items that help mass retailers match their assortments to Spate’s top skin, bath and makeup searches: Clean girl, ‘no makeup’ makeup still growing in searches: Spate finds that clean girl makeup registered a 25% gain in searches.
“Consumers are increasingly interested in solutions that enhance a natural look while streamlining beauty routines, aligning with the ‘e ortless but elevated’ aesthetic,” Spate reported.
Milani is on target with its new Conceal + Perfect Blur Out Skin Tint Stick. It is an ultra-lightweight, silky formula offering buildable semi-sheer to medium coverage, delivering a soft blur, satin finish that keeps skin hydrated. According to Milani’s chief marketing officer, Jeremy Lowenstein, it is perfect for achieving a no makeup, makeup look.
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Brow business: Searches for brow stains and brow mascara are up 44.8% and 36.3%, respectively, according to Spate. Milani’s new Stay Put Tinted Brow Mousse meets demand.
The ultra-nourishing, high-pigment tint is infused with shea butter, jojoba seed oil and hair-nourishing panthenol vitamin B5 to condition brows while taming and boosting them to their lushest, fullest arch, per the brand.
Safe and healthy driving in skin care sales: Spate reports that skin care searches center on the desire for skin health and product safety.
“In recent years, the beauty and skin care industry has undergone a significant transformation, shifting its focus
toward natural and sustainable products that resonate with consumers’ growing environmental consciousness. This movement refl ects a broader acknowledgment of the importance of using ingredients that are not only effective but also derived from nature and produced responsibly,” said Chithra Kanna, founder and CEO of Skin Centrick.
Kanna’s brand brings products that harness the power of plant-based serums infused with stem cells. “Skin Centrick’s commitment to science-backed formulations showcases how e ective skin care can be achieved without compromising sustainability.”
Consumers eyeing ingredient stories: Turmeric is making noise in skin and hair. “It’s in face masks, creams, and serums because it can help with redness, pimples and make your skin look bright. Lots of people love it. It’s super popular because it’s a natural way to help your skin,” said Juan Morillo, social media manager for Okay Pure Naturals.
Okay formulates with turmeric in products encompassing body wash, hand and body lotions, facial cleansers and soap. People are searching for more gentle forms of retinol. “Skin care is evolving toward natural, scientifically advanced alternatives to traditional ingredients like retinol,” said Sean Finney, founder of Tano Skincare.
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His brand harnesses the power of balbisiana banana sap to offer a retinal alternative that boosts collagen production and improves skin elasticity, hydration and overall resilience without the irritation some people experience from retinoids.
Mature skin products gain traction: Spate identifies products for mature skin as an untapped market. For the past few years, brands have been laser-focused on younger shoppers. With 76 million baby boomers in the United States , the cohort is hard to ignore.
“Brands should tap into this growing trend and offer products adapted to more mature skins, with an emphasis on how important textures, formulas and application techniques are,” the Spate report suggested.
Pure Mineralz is in sync with the opportunity, and sees growth in the men’s sector. “We continue to see opportunities in men’s grooming. We are developing a men’s line for introduction at the end of the first quarter of 2025,” said Deborah Dixon, the creator of Pure Mineralz. “It will be a limited line of products that make skin care grooming easy for men, especially mature men.”
Dixon is also bringing travel-size options for the brand’s Renewing Face Cream, Restorative Hand and Body Cream, Eyelash Booster and Eye Brow Booster. “The travel size products were developed as a direct result of customer feedback,” she said.
Searches spiking for bath and body products: Bodycare and bath products are having a moment—and mass merchants are saving space for it, literally. After registering gains in facial skin care, retailers are stocking up on products for below the neck.
“We see an increasing crossover between body care and skin care, with products such as glycolic body lotion, vitamin C lotion and turmeric soap,” the Spate report says “This blending of categories not only expands the body care market but also offers brands an opportunity to innovate with multi-benefit products that address comprehensive skincare goals from head to toe.”
Circana data supports the swelling demand for body and bath, calling the category the fastest growing in 2024, with sales up 7% over 2023.
Tree Hut has emerged as a brand attracting young consumers who like to collect different scents. Target set up an endcap devoted to Tree Hut gel wash and sugar scrubs during the holiday season.
CVS devotes an entire gondola to Hand in Hand, a collection of bath and body items. The CVS Beauty Spotlight displays also present bath and body items from Raw Sugar and Bubble. So what’s next? Spate’s search data pulls back the curtain on future opportunities for mass brands.
Skin care: There is still room left in the K-beauty skin care category, particularly in sunscreens. Search volume is high with low competition. Top searched concerns, such as oily skin, acne-prone [skin] and sensitive skin, reveal consumers are looking for products that will work with their skin type.
Trending searches in overall skin care include fragrance-free, skin barrier repair, acne safe and hypoallergenic.
Body care: If searches are on target, African net sponges are about to be on fire. The sponges are predicted to register a 126% increase in searches for 2025. Many inquiries center on the difference between the African net sponges and loofahs. (An African net sponge is a flexible, stretchy mesh bathing tool made from nylon fibers that effectively exfoliates the skin, while a loofah is a natural sponge derived from a dried gourd.)
Rising search volumes for perioral dermatitis, sweat bumps and heat rash highlight the growing intersection between wellness and beauty care.
