2026 Beauty Forecast: Six Cultural Trends Changing the Game

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But when the beholder has had a smartphone tethered to their fingertips for the better part of two decades, what does beauty really look like in 2026?

For Sarah Tarca, a beauty journalist and co-founder of beauty newsletter Gloss Etc, it’s more of a feeling. “Beauty is a powerful tool – there’s a reason why lipstick sales continue to soar in times of recession. It’s an affordable luxury, yes, but it also has the power to make you feel good,” she explains.

The global beauty industry – worth more than $600 billion and counting – can sometimes feel like it’s built on the opposite premise: unrealistic, unattainable ideals that encourage individuals to conform to some sort of higher aesthetic power.

But when it comes to the Instagrammification of our faces, Tarca believes we may have reached a tipping point. “I think we’re at saturation, thanks to the unrelenting cycle of viral Tiktok trends. And strangely, I think it’s led to everyone looking the same because no one is experimenting and finding their ‘thing’ anymore,” she says. “Micro-trends are spun out at warp speed – there’s no time to try and adapt to your personal tastes because the next trend has already gone viral.”

In recent years, Tarca has become less interested in predicting individual trends and more attuned to the cultural shifts shaping how we think, talk about and engage with beauty day to day. While she remains curious about new ingredients and product innovation, it’s often the subtler changes that she finds most compelling.

These shifts – from long-term skin health to fragrance wardrobes and the rise of biohacking – echo the provocative question at the heart of the Disney+ series FX’s The Beauty: how far would you go to meet today’s beauty standards?

Here, Tarca outlines six shifts she believes will shape beauty in 2026.

Focus on long-term skin health

“We’re moving out of the ‘quick fix’ era of the last decade where injectable overuse led to everyone looking the same,” Tarca says. Instead, she predicts a pivot towards long-term skin health and maintenance, with strong influence from Korean beauty. “People will look for luminosity, not eradication of their age.” Prevention plays a central role here: daily sun protection, consistent hydration and barrier repair are all core tenets of K-beauty routines. But it’s not just about topicals – Tarca is noticing demand for professionally delivered, in-clinic treatments that help with the quality, texture and tone of skin, like “laser treatments, RF needling or biostimulators that help increase collagen production”.

The body care boom

Last year saw the beginning of a shift away from multi-step routines just for our faces and towards entire body care routines. Tarca predicts that this will continue to strengthen as traditional skincare brands look to broaden their ranges. By expanding into body-specific products that draw on ingredients traditionally found in facial products, both affordable, everyday brands and luxe names alike will seek to offer solution-focused products. Think retinol, vitamin C, ceramides and peptides that target texture and tone for arms, legs and more. This shift will also involve tools and skincare tech, including red light therapy.

Biohacking: skincare edition

The longevity-driven mindset popularised by Silicon Valley has made its way into beauty, shifting the focus from simply looking younger to optimising skin at a cellular level. Tarca believes this space will continue to grow. “Expect to see buzzy ingredients that claim to enhance cellular regeneration and reprogram how skin cells function, like PDRN and NAD+.” She notes that the jury is still out on these ingredients when it comes to topical efficacy. “You’ll also continue to see peptides in every product launch.”

The new make-up moment

In the past few years, terms like “glass skin”, “glazed doughnut skin” and “cloud skin” took over for-you-pages and newsfeeds alike. But in 2026, Tarca thinks that make-up is taking on a softer focus. “We’re seeing the arrival of ‘blurred’ looks – lips move from being overlined and high-contrast to ‘halo’ lips that use contour and soft definition,” she says. An evolution of pop culture’s obsession with glow, this approach to make-up feels more “lived in” – think of it as the antithesis of AI-generated faces that are devoid of pores and brimming with collagen.

Building a fragrance wardrobe

Tarca has clocked that fragrance as a category is growing steadily. “Prices are soaring – it’s not unusual for a fragrance to sit above $500 – and everyone is building and curating fragrance wardrobes,” she says. Collecting unique scents has become a niche hobby among Gen Z, particularly for men. “Fragrances are both personal and emotional, and most importantly, they make you feel something.” Scent layering and scent wardrobing – the concept of matching fragrances to different occasions – are aligned with the boom of Perfumetok.

Ingredients beginning with “E”

Exosome and ectoine are two ingredients to add to your skincare vocabulary this year. “While the market is hot for new products, it’s also thirsty for rebrands of existing ingredients,” Tarca says. “Ectoine has been around since the ’80s, but with the renewed focus on skin health and barrier function, it’s taking a spin in the spotlight.” Ectoine is favoured to protect skin that’s under stress or skin that’s become used to stressful environments. When it comes to topicals with exosomes, the claims are big. And while more clinical data is needed to provide evidence-backed results, Tarca is putting it on the radar early. “From helping with hair loss to cell regeneration and inflammation, exosomes are being pitted as the next big thing.”

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Disney+. FX’s The Beauty is now streaming exclusively on Disney+.