Consumers & Markets

South Korean brands transforms innovation into mass-market consumer experiences through disruptive formats, high-sensory appeal and visible results in a short time.
Asia’s Beauty Blueprint: 10 Innovation Trends
From China’s biotech and Korea’s consumer creativity to Japan’s precision science, the Asian beauty ecosystem is reshaping cosmetic breakthroughs.
Featured
'There’s no such thing as a 'Gen Z brand' anymore,' says Simran Suri, principal on the investment team at Maveron. 'As the same social media apps have proliferated across all ages, the same marketing campaigns are reaching all audiences.'
Customer Love Isn’t Enough. This is What Investor Simran Suri Really Wants in Beauty.
Frank insights into improving investor decks, improving elevator pitches, the most overhyped and underestimated beauty concepts, and more.
Aug 31st, 2026
Cosmetic Droppers: inside Lumson's engineering approach
Sponsored
Cosmetic Droppers: inside Lumson's engineering approach
Behind every cosmetic dropper lies a complex engineering process. Discover Lumson's approach to designing dispensing systems that combine precision, aesthetics, manufacturing expertise and consistent, reliable performance.
Aug 31st, 2026
July/August 2026
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One in Three U.S. Women Are Already Using AI for Skincare and Bodycare Advice, New Survey Finds
Aug 26th, 2026
Dove Men Icarus Press Release Image
Dove Men+Care and Basketball Champion Karl-Anthony Towns Team Up to Help Men Find Their Vibe with Plant-Powered Body Wash Campaign
Aug 25th, 2026
Beauty’s commitment to inclusion is holding up better as a brand value than as a business practice.
Beauty’s D&I Progresses on the Shelf, Retreats in the C-Suite
Aug 23rd, 2026
Cosmetic Droppers: inside Lumson's engineering approach
Sponsored
Cosmetic Droppers: inside Lumson's engineering approach
Aug 31st, 2026
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The raise builds on the firm's successful first fund, which delivered exits including Touchland, acquired by Church & Dwight, Billie, Coterie and Hims.
Align Ventures Raises $125M Fund II, Signaling Strong Investor Appetite for Next-Generation Beauty Brands
Align has also already warehoused an investment in California Naturals ahead of Fund II and recently participated in the brand's Series B round.
Jul 28th, 2026
Cosmetic Droppers: inside Lumson's engineering approach
Sponsored
Cosmetic Droppers: inside Lumson's engineering approach
Behind every cosmetic dropper lies a complex engineering process. Discover Lumson's approach to designing dispensing systems that combine precision, aesthetics, manufacturing expertise and consistent, reliable performance.
Aug 31st, 2026
K-beauty's impact is firmly rooted in international markets, as shown by Olive Young's U.S. expansion.
Why K-Beauty's 53% Growth Is Forcing Beauty Brands to Rethink Innovation
Ingredients such as snail mucin, Centella asiatica and PDRN demonstrate how science-backed actives can quickly transition from regional specialties to global demand.
Jul 21st, 2026
Notably, 32% of millennials and Gen Z claim to have had procedures in the past five years, compared to 28% of those in the Gen X generation and 18% of baby boomers.
The Procedure-to-Product Pipeline Is Growing: New Consumer Survey Data
Providing the proof that consumers seek will give them permission to explore the pre- and post-procedure skin care products that have piqued shoppers' interest.
Jul 6th, 2026
A staggering 56% of consumers say beauty brands explain the science of aging unclearly or not at all; a meager 12% state it is explained 'very clearly.'
The Longevity Illusion: FIT’s 2026 Think Tank Exposes the Credibility Gap in Beauty Innovation
A call to action to restructure product development and communication pipelines around verified performance, educational clarity and experiential depth.
Jun 29th, 2026
'We founded Innovist on the conviction that Indian consumers deserve beauty products built on real science with full transparency on formulation, and that these products could be made in India to global standards”, said Rohit Chawla, CEO and founder of Innovist. “This partnership with L'Oréal brings together a deep alignment in this vision and product philosophy, with the global scientific innovation resources to grow this ambition. Together, we see a significant opportunity to build the next generation of beauty brands.'
L’Oréal Deepens India Push with Stake in Digital Beauty Challenger
"[W]e look forward to bringing L'Oréal even closer to the new generation of digitally-savvy Indian beauty consumers."
Jun 18th, 2026
SkinCeuticals, CeraVe and Garnier will participate in OpenAI's global advertising pilot, placing L'Oréal among the first beauty companies experimenting with AI-native advertising at the moment of consumer intent.
L'Oréal Goes All-In on AI: OpenAI Deal Extends From ChatGPT Commerce to Microbiome Discovery
Months after teaming with Nvidia to reinvent formulation science, L'Oréal is now embedding OpenAI across consumer discovery, advertising, content creation and biological research—signaling an industry-wide shift toward AI-native beauty.
Jun 17th, 2026
Luxury beauty brands desperately need new points of distribution, as traditional department stores increasingly fail to deliver true luxury experiences. The solution lies in infiltrating high-end, membership-based wellness spaces.
The New Alchemy: Why Longevity is Beauty’s Next Billion-Dollar Battleground
Brands must transition from being simple product providers to becoming indispensable, lifelong partners in a consumer’s personal growth and vitality.
Jun 12th, 2026
A sampling of 5,000 Reddit posts and nearly 700K comments found that consumers are prioritizing unique scents/distinctive olfactory experiences. Often, this gives an advantage to indie brands, which are often freer to push the envelope with novel notes and combinations.
Beyond the Boom: Strategic Growth in the Era of Fragrance Normalization
From longevity to functional fragrances, consumers want brands to push the envelope in scent innovation.
May 1st, 2026
Lower-income consumers are more likely to prioritize products tailored to their skin type or concerns (40%), while higher-income shoppers lean more heavily on brand trust (43%).
Consumers Are Buying Less but Expecting More. Here's What That Means for Beauty.
Spending expectations diverge by 15–20 percentage points between high- and low-income households.
Apr 28th, 2026
By 2034, older adults will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history. Declining populations under 18 and rising life expectancy will drive this aging trend.
Beauty’s Demographic Destiny: Aging, Autonomy, and the 2040 Pivot
Population shifts are opening new avenues for growth as purchasing power redistributes across age cohorts, rewarding brands that strategically embrace these demographic transformations.
Apr 22nd, 2026
Hair thinning (77%) and hair loss/shedding (80%) are the top two negative hair changes women experience since perimenopause or menopause (up sharply from the 2021 study results, where hair thinning or shedding were negative effects hovered around 50% for menopausal women).
Beyond Quick Fixes: Women Embrace Science-Backed, Life-Stage Hair Care
Most women don’t currently use a hair longevity approach to their own hair, but there is strong interest.
Apr 9th, 2026