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R&D Meets TikTok: How pH Beauty Is Bridging Science and Virality

Published July 6, 2025
Published July 6, 2025
Finding Ferdinand

Formerly limited to drugstore aisles and tween’s vanities, pH-reactive beauty has reemerged—this time with a new scroll-stopping, performance-packed persona. The latest wave of color-adapting products bridges personalized beauty with functional benefits, offering a new level of customization for Gen Z consumers while maintaining just enough nostalgia to engage those who remember the infamous green lipstick tubes of the past. (R.I.P. Lipstick Queen, gone but never forgotten.) First, a quick science lesson: these formulas rely on dyes that react to the skin’s pH (potential of hydrogen), which measures the acidity or alkalinity of a substance on a scale from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. When applied, the pigments adjust based on the skin’s unique pH level, creating a shade unique to each individual.According to Spate’s Popularity Index, interest in pH-reactive beauty has grown by 26.6% year over year across platforms, with Google Search accounting for nearly 79% of the trend’s popularity share. The category receives 8,200 average monthly searches, while TikTok fuels virality with 30,800 average weekly views—up 43.5% from last year. Unsurprisingly, as social media has become a discovery engine for the latest generation, with TikTok Shop being the most used, driving nearly 90% of “pH lipstick” views through commissionable and ad content.pH Beauty Then and NowThe next generation might have just discovered pH beauty, but the concept has a long history within the beauty industry. The earliest color-changing cosmetics date back to the 1920s, with Tangee’s color-changing formula, which went from a bright orange to a subtle pink.

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