Sustainability has become table stakes in the beauty industry in recent years. But the constant influx of new products, whether created with recyclable packaging or not, feels at odds with the idea of lessening our carbon footprint. Like any consumer industry, the beauty world can only survive through consumption, and investors are often looking for substantial year-over-year growth, which, again, requires more products. Driven by their social media feeds, some consumers want to experiment with trends rather than streamline their product shelves. Even for brands with a carbon-neutral footprint, there is still at least a minimal impact. It begs the question: In 2025, where do models of conscious consumption truly stand?According to Spate’s Popularity Index, which combines Google searches and TikTok views, sustainable beauty has declined by 77.7% compared to last year. Online searches for the term grew by 7.1% compared to last year. On TikTok, searches for sustainable beauty have declined by 78.6% compared to last year, although one could argue that those discovering products through TikTok are more likely to be trend-driven than sustainability-driven, chasing after the newest viral product rather than thinking about the long-term impact of their purchase.“There is a disconnect between what people say they want and what they actually buy. That's what the data shows,” said Jennifer Carlsson, founder of competitive market research and strategy consultancy Mintoiro. “If you ask people what the current trend is, they'll say sustainability.