Key Takeaways:

• 66% of consumers seek simplicity, while 58% are under daily stress, making beauty's emotional function even more important.
• Nearly half of global consumers are willing to pay 10% more for clinically backed formulations.
• Based on its $139.5 billion cross-border e-commerce prowess, Asian innovation is setting the pace for beauty’s global future.

The world has become increasingly volatile and overstimulated, leaving beauty and wellness to be reshaped by three forces: the craving for calm, the rise of radical authenticity, and a new wave of innovation led by East Asia. According to Euromonitor International’s Top Global Consumer Trends 2026, consumers are stepping back from overoptimization and seeking tangible comfort, clinical precision, and cultural resonance in their choices. The report was built from a range of consumer and industry surveys. “The trends are built on our expert knowledge,” Alison Angus, Head of Innovation at Euromonitor International, told BeautyMatter. “We gather feedback and insights from our experts across the business and markets from our in-country analysts to our global industry experts.”

The report included markers like the “comfort zone” of sensorial self-soothing, the “fiercely unfiltered” movement redefining beauty as truth, and the “next Asian wave” rewriting global influence. These shifts indicate a new consumer base that prizes balance, emotional safety, and authenticity as ultimate luxuries. “[These trends] reflect a response to ongoing economic uncertainty, digital overload, the relentless pace of technological change, and constant political upheaval,” Angus said, highlighting that after years of instability, overstimulation, and mounting anxiety, consumers have reached a tipping point, and they now seek to regain a sense of control by prioritizing their health, emotional well-being, and overall sense of safety.

Across categories, brands that merge wellness with science and affordability with purpose, are best positioned to capture the hearts and wallets of consumers navigating stress, uncertainty, and self-expression fatigue.

Comfort Zone: Calm Becomes the New Currency

Consumers are retreating into wellness and self-preservation as the antidote to chaos. Beauty has become a form of protection, both physical and emotional.

• 58% of consumers experience moderate to extreme stress daily.
• 2 in 5 feel under constant pressure to get things done.
• 66% seek ways to simplify their lives.
• Global sales of FMCG products with a “natural” claim hit $377.2 billion in 2024.
• Over 8,000 new products featuring a natural claim launched online between September 2024 to August 2025.
• 10% of online launches with a health claim included mental well-being attributes.
• 2 million tonnes of botanicals were used in CPG products in 2025.
• Global sales of scented candles are expected to exceed $3 billion in 2026.

Beauty takeaway: Holistic well-being is now a mainstream aspiration, and beauty is its gateway. Consumers crave sensory rituals and products that deliver calm and reassurance, including botanical formulations, “less-but-better” skincare, and home fragrance lines with stress-relief positioning. Calm is the new luxury, and brands that provide emotional stability will earn loyalty in uncertain times.

Fiercely Unfiltered: The Era of Raw Authenticity

Polished perfection is out, while unfiltered truth is in. Beauty consumers are embracing individuality, transparency, and emotional honesty as badges of self-worth.

• 65% say their identity is accepted by society.
• Only 15% associate social acceptance with beauty.
• Upwards of 50% of consumers only buy from brands or companies they completely trust.
• 38% define beauty as being comfortable in their own skin.
• 36% define it as inner confidence.
• 50% want products and services tailored to them.
• 30% of socially active consumers buy from brands aligned with their values.
• 53% of professionals say individualism and personalization will highly influence their industry in the next five years.
• 48% of professionals said their company refocused marketing activity in response to changing consumer trends.
• Global legal recreational cannabis sales are expected to reach $40 billion in 2026, with 61% from adult-use products.

Beauty takeaway: Authenticity has evolved from being a marketing buzzword to being a moral baseline. Brands must now embody radical honesty through hyperpersonalized skincare or campaigns that feature real consumers. The next beauty leaders will cocreate with consumers, embracing unfiltered diversity and emotional resonance over image-driven aspiration.

Rewired Wellness: Tech-Enhanced Self-Care

Science is becoming self-care’s new language. Consumers are swapping generic wellness rituals for precision-based, data-driven, and clinically validated routines.

• 3 in 4 track their health with a device or app.
• 9% of consumers trying to lose weight take GLP-1 drugs, up from 6% in 2024.
• 1 in 5 new longevity-focused supplement SKUs that launched online between July 2024 and August 2025 featured certification support messaging.
• 49% would pay 10% more for beauty with a scientific formulation.
• 600+ new dermatologically tested products launched online (Sept 2024 to Aug 2025).
• 1,200+ new high-protein products launched online in the same period.
• Global dermocosmetics retail sales posted double-digit CAGR (2020 to 2024) across all regions.
• Global consumer spend on health goods/services is projected to be $6.9 trillion (2026).
• 62% of professionals say wellness trends will highly influence their industry in the next five years.

Beauty takeaway: Consumers now expect clinical-grade efficacy from everyday products. Data-driven dermocosmetics, precision nutrition, and AI-powered skincare diagnostics are redefining beauty as biopersonalized health. The line between beauty, biotech, and medicine will blur further, and brands that combine speed, safety, and science will dominate.

Next Asian Wave: East Asia’s Cultural and Commercial Power

East Asia continues to drive global innovation and consumer influence; think China’s tech-savvy retail ecosystems or the cultural exports of Japan and Korea.

• 1 in 5 consumers associate Chinese beauty products with innovation.
• 62% say international products are more available than five years ago.
• 37% of livestream shoppers use the format to discover new brands.
• 1 in 4 TikTok users made a purchase on the platform in early 2025.
• $139.5 billion are the projected cross-border retail e-commerce sales for China in 2026.
• $4 trillion is theprojected export value of Chinese goods/services in 2026.
• 4 of the 5 top global e-commerce retailers originated or are based in China.

Beauty takeaway: The next frontier of global beauty influence will be East driven. That is, affordable, innovative, and hyperdigital. From C-beauty’s rise to gamified retail ecosystems like Shein and TikTok Shop, Asian brands are rewriting the playbook for global reach. Western competitors will need to move faster, localize smarter, and build authentic cultural fluency to stay competitive.

Euromonitor’s 2026 outlook revealed a beauty landscape defined by paradoxes: calm yet clinical, radical yet responsible, hyperdigital yet deeply human. The most successful brands will not chase trends, but interpret them through the lens of purpose, proof, and personalization. In a time when consumers crave both sanctuary and stimulation, the future of beauty lies in making science sensorial, authenticity aspirational, and simplicity the ultimate sophistication.