It goes without saying that the 2010’s came hard with the beauty game. The 2020’s aren’t going to be an easier. Already brands are bringing heat with next level hero ingredients, devices and personalized products targeting marginalized groups. Here are my top picks for beauty trends gaining momentum in 2020.

CBD - We saw the CBD infused beauty trend start to climb into the beauty aisles around 2018 but what seemed like a fade is quickly becoming a very well footed niche. Many lines from Milk Makeup, Glossier to E.L.F. Beauty and Milani Cosmetics are debuting collections featuring the cannabis plant. There’s still little data out there about how effective CBD is when delivered through skin care creams and serums but one thing I do find interesting is that beauty brands are finding a very valuable use case for replacing “toxic” or nonperforming ingredients i.e. fillers and binders with CBD. In my opinion one of the most successful applications of this use case is Milk Makeup’s Kush Brow (which I featured on this blog/YouTube channel). Milk Makeup delivers a very practical use case for using cannabis in the Brow Gel which is that the heart-shaped fibers are bound together using CBD oil where it once would’ve likely used an animal bi-product or a synthetic ingredient to bind the fibers together in order to make good on what the product promised to deliver - thicker brows. E.L.F. Cosmetics is claiming that adding Sativa to it’s line of specialized moisturizers.
Men’s Grooming -In every corner of every metro city with a downtown, you’ll spot a guy with a beard! This has ben an evolving trend over the last decade - men growing out their facial hair in unity. No long is the “beard” only for scruffing blue collar men and along with this growing trend comes the need for Beard Care. Beard Care services revenue has increased by 38%. Transactions are up 37%. All of this of course means that shaving is on the decline. So Gillette better do something asap! Not that it would help much, the beard market is currently dominated by Indie Brands and a few celebrity collars with major brands such as L’Oreal. One fo the leading brands in beard care is House 99, a collaboration between L’Oreal and David Beckham. I remember a few years back when everyone thought there would be an “Uber” for salons and barbershops that would put small business owner out of business. Instead add-on services like beard care have helped small salon owners and barbershops increase sales.
Amazon - Amazon is the dominate online retailer affecting the beauty space. Not only is Amazon dedicated to the growth of indie brands but Amazon recently launched their own private label skincare brand, Belei. Amazon is capturing more of the beauty market by introducing a marketplace for beauty professionals which is actually a landing page within their Amazon Business portal but still offers great deals for hairstylists and salon owners. I think the question of whether indie beauty brands can survive without Amazon, still remains.
Indie Beauty Brands - Which leads me to the growing market of indie brands themselves. We’ve a gigantic growth in the launch of indie beauty as a result of social media influencers (mainly Instagram). Growth of Brazilian indie beauty brands of 40% ahead of total market. Many of these Brazilian indie brands feature native ingredients. In the U.S. and China, indie brands are driven by social media and e-commerce marketplaces, namely Amazon and T-Mall. We’ve seen a few of these indie brands get acquired by industry leaders. In Late 2019, Coty purchased majority stake in Kylie Cosmetics and Kylie Skin for $600 million but how much can this category continue to grow before all of the success indie brands get acquired and the remaining get forced out of business?
Sustainable Beauty - Indie brands in the U.S. are leading the transparency and sustainability trend establishing a new standard in the industry. Brands like The Ordinary, Dr. Bronner’s, E.L.F. are promoting their efforts in recycled packaging, ingredient transparency, and vegan formulas. Over the next 12 months, I believe we’ll see an increase of leading brands introducing reformulated products with all natural ingredients and transparent formulas as an effort to catch up with indie brands.
Beauty Tech - The U.S. is finally embracing products like micro-current generating tools, smart phone apps that help consumers self diagnose, and keep track of procedures. NuFace promotes a micro current device that helps stimulate tissue to increase firmness. YouCam Makeup App combines artificial intelligence with augmented reality to make recommendations and help consumers try-on makeup and diagnose skin aliments.
Personalized Beauty - Most DTC brands have incorporated some sort of personalization into the offerings. More brands, especially leading with indie brands will continue to personalize products for consumers through online quizzes, i.e. Madison Reed and Bare Escentuals. While others are collaborating with beauty devices such as Ultra is doing with YouCam. High-end salons are also incorporating personalization into their business model like offering consumers personalized in-salon color application with a customer at-home care maintenance routine. In the skincare space, brands are allowing doctors to customize treatment serums for their patients. We’re also seeing the “intimate care” category expand with serums and devices geared towards vaginal health & wellness. While many are still traumatized by Goop, other indie brands have come online gaining new found trust from young and old female consumers alike, targeting concerns of vaginal dryness, menopause, and menstruation. CBD is playing a huge role in many brands product offering as well as Kegel devices.