The Many Faces of Beauty Innovation

By Natallia Bambiza, makeup category analyst at Circana

Since following the beauty industry is both my job and passion, I often find myself approached by friends for beauty product advice. Some are looking to address specific concerns, while others are asking for my opinion on a product trending on social media. And then there is this one friend who comes to me every now and then venting about a brand revamping her favorite product of the latest decade.

Circana data shows that 46% of female beauty buyers in the U.S. prefer to replenish beauty products that they’ve used before, rather than trying new ones. This means that over half of beauty consumers like trying new products – whether they come from brands they’ve already used, or ones that are new to them.

In beauty, newness manifests in different ways. There is pure innovation, or a first-to-market offering, and renovation, or an upgrade to an existing product. Sometimes, a new product is a reiteration of something that has been less top-of-mind and brought back to light by brands or consumers. Take stick forms of traditional powder makeup products, for example. Not an entirely new concept, eye shadow sticks made their foray into consumers’ makeup routines a few years ago and grew sales by double digits in the first half of 2025.

Lip liner, driven by social media trends like lip contouring – a nod to the 90s – was among the fastest growing subsegments and top gaining contributors to both prestige and mass makeup sales, growing +28% and +36%, respectively, so far this year.

In addition to drawing inspiration from the past, the beauty categories have been borrowing ideas from each other. In the past few years, we witnessed a shift from makeup products featuring skincare benefits to products that are true hybrids, with skincare benefits and color being equally important. Lately, skincare-first brands have expanded into makeup by launching products where skincare ingredients and benefits take priority, while color plays a supporting role.

Skincare ingredients, such as peptides and exosomes, are making their way into hair products, too. Skincare has been borrowing from other categories, as well: body care infused with fragrance are among the products driving the category.

Innovation comes in many shapes and forms. In a beauty market flooded with products, true innovation might be harder to achieve, but it is a characteristic that can help distinguish a brand from competitors and propel them to be a leader in their space.