Key Takeaways:

• Emotions such as joy, nostalgia, and escapism now drive the algorithm, reflecting consumers’ search for optimism in turbulent times.
• Consumers are embracing both hyper-natural and clinical innovation, illustrating a new balance between instinct and intellect in beauty.
• Certain fast-moving beauty trends are reflecting cultural fatigue as much as creativity, with consumers using beauty to process identity, humor, and burnout.

Since time immemorial, beauty has always mirrored culture like Cleopatra and Marie Antoinette. However, in 2025, culture has become an even deeper and integral part of its pulse. According to Spate’s 2025 Culture Report: Key Themes Shaping Consumer Demand, the modern consumer is not only buying skincare or lipstick, but also mood, identity, and emotional release. Drawing on 900 billion Google search signals and 200 million pieces of social content across TikTok and Instagram, Spate mapped a world where dopamine, fantasy, self-optimization, and ritual collide.

“Our analysis of thousands of trends, large and small, across TikTok and Google Search, forms a broad, comprehensive understanding of critical macro themes while enabling us to get into the minutiae of trend drivers,” Spate Analyst Addison Cain told BeautyMatter. In this climate, beauty has evolved from self-care to self-expression as performance, which is a way to process chaos, nostalgia, and desire. Glitter freckles, “princess nails," beef tallow balms, and high-frequency wands, are viral microtrends that tell a story about what consumers crave, and that is joy, control, escape, or transformation. The report also identified five macro-themes: Need 4 Dopamine, Living in a Fantasy, Objective: Perfect Self, Animal-Based Routine, and Trends as a Coping Mechanism. These trends reveal how culture, content, and commerce are congregating to redefine beauty’s emotional economy.

Key Beauty Trends & Data Points

Need 4 Dopamine: Joy as a Beauty Driver
Consumers are leaning into “feel-good” beauty and whimsical aesthetics that inject delight into the everyday.

• Sweet treat searches reached 34.7 million, up 83.5% YoY.
• Lip gloss keychain searches rose 404.8%, reflecting a micro-accessory boom.
• Glitter freckles jumped 12,100%, blending nostalgia with childlike self-expression.
• The category saw a +169.2% combined YoY growth with 59.2 million average monthly popularity.
• Top brands gaining traction: Crumbl and Applegate on TikTok.

Living in a Fantasy: Escapism Meets Aestheticism
Fantasy-themed beauty and self-presentation are thriving, as consumers merge fairytale visuals with nostalgic indulgence.

• Princess nails (+66.6%) and balletcore (+49.8%) signal a return to softness and elegance.
• Fairy party (+400.3%) and witchcore (+16.1%) demonstrate how beauty trends cross into lifestyle and identity play.
• Matilda cake (+97.1%) and themed dinners (+389.5%) reflect the blending of beauty, food, and fantasy.
• The theme generated an average monthly popularity of 11 million and a combined YoY growth of +43.4 %.

Objective: Perfect Self and Subtle Enhancement as the New Status Symbol
The pursuit of “effortless perfection” dominates the beauty zeitgeist, and this is driven by surgical precision and aesthetic technology. “Perfect Self is projected to grow +43.0% YoY over the next 12 months, driving continued expansion of consumer routines,” Cain said. “From skincare steps to wellness habits, dietary choices, and new facial treatments, consumers are adding layers to their daily regimens,” she continued.

• Lip stain searches hit 35.1 million, up 89.5% YoY.
• Facial balancing rose 54.2%, while skin booster searches jumped 179.8%.
• High-frequency facial wand popularity increased 21.3%, as consumers bring professional-grade tools home.
• The overall theme boasts 52.3 million monthly popularity, up +91% YoY, with trends like lip stain and morning shed driving most of the category’s significant changes.

Animal-Based Routine—The Return of Naturalism
Animal-derived ingredients are making a polarizing comeback in beauty, with social media fueling both fascination and skepticism.

• Collagen (230.6 million searches, +52.8%) leads the category.
• Beef tallow skincare surged 641.2%, dominating 99.2% of the topic’s share on TikTok.
• PDRN (polydeoxyribonucleotide, derived from salmon sperm) rose 4,500%, spurred by Korean skincare influence.
• Colostrum supplements grew 2.1%, marketed as “liquid gold” for health and skin vitality.
• The category amassed 291.1 million average monthly popularity with +54.8% combined YoY growth, with trends like collagen and raw milk driving most of the category’s significant changes.

Trends as a Coping Mechanism: Emotional Wellness as Currency
From “unrecognizable makeup” to “crashing out,” beauty and humor now function as collective therapy.

• Brain rot (+241.6%) and crashing out (+283.7%) show how social burnout is being aestheticized.
• Unrecognizable makeup skyrocketed over 10,000% YoY, merging performance art with self-reinvention.
• Divorce party (+766.7%) and wellness retreat (+5.4%) reflect healing reframed as self-celebration.
• Combined, this theme saw 25.7 million monthly popularity and +170.5% YoY growth with trends like brain rot and crashing out driving most of the category’s significant changes.

The 2025 beauty consumer is less concerned with conformity and more interested in curating emotional experiences through products, rituals, and digital storytelling. From dopamine-driven adornments to bioactive serums and fantasy-led escapism, beauty is now a means of psychological restoration and not just aesthetic transformation.

Regardless of size, all brands should focus on staying relevant and relatable to consumers, remarked Cain. “That said, emerging and indie brands have the advantage of agility, able to adapt language, aesthetics, and even product development quickly to align with cultural shifts.” For brands, Spate’s data showcased the need to blend innovation with empathy, speak the language of cultural wellness, tap into the humor and humanity of online communities, and build products that help consumers feel as good as they look.