What’s Trending in Beauty?

The 2023 Licensing International Global Licensing Industry Study valued the health and beauty industry at 4% of the licensing industry, amounting to $12.34 billion. To continue and grow this segment in 2024, licensors and licensees need insight into how the beauty industry is shifting with the times.

License Global previously reported on the overall impact of the beauty segment, including the change of the “20-year trend cycle” to something more fast-moving. To create valuable licensing partnerships, however, more information is needed: what overall beauty trends are growing right now? What are consumers looking for, and how can we incorporate that into licensed consumer products?

According to The Vogue Business Beauty Tracker, five trends are what they call “sustained risers” for 2024, meaning the trend is only moving upward, and beauty fans are moving to use these trends this year.

With these trends in mind, licensors and licensees can now move to create products that will achieve the desired look through a licensed lens. License Global highlights some broad ideas for each trend (and what they are) below.

Wet-Set Lashes

Wet-set lashes are a trend in which eyelashes are made to look wet and voluminous, either through lash extensions, mascara or false eyelash application. Vogue Business noted this as the largest growth projection for beauty, with a 228.1% trend growth year over year and 1,900 monthly searches.

Related:An Introduction to The Beauty Industry and Fandom

For properties that can use this trend, think water – aquatic-themed shows, movies and music, water parks and more.

Dark Feminine Makeup

Dark feminine makeup involves sultry eyes, including smokey eyeshadow and eyeliner, paired with dramatic, full lips generally painted in a deeper hue. The look is all about leaning into seductive and provocative stereotypes for makeup. This has seen an average monthly search of 1,000 and a 171.8% increase year over year.

Darker properties would suit this trend: think films like “Jennifer’s Body” or Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” album.

Douyin Makeup

Douyin makeup is a popular Chinese makeup style that has entered mainstream Western media through TikTok. The aim is to highlight natural features for a more youthful and doll-like appearance, complete with ombre lips, pink blush, glitter and “manhua,” a style of eyelash where lashes are clumped together to look more defined. This look has inspired a lot of K-Beauty trends. Vogue Business has noted a 133.6% increase year over year for this category, with a whopping 21,500 average monthly searches.

Douyin makeup is a great trend to lean into when creating makeup representing K-Pop groups, Korean dramas, Lunar New Year celebrations and more.

Latte Makeup

Latte makeup is exactly what it sounds like – makeup made to be reminiscent of a latte. Warm browns are the star of this look, placed on the eyelid and blended out into a hazy, smokey look. The look is often completed with warm blush, bronzer and a brownish lip, achieving a monochromatic effect. Two thousand three hundred average monthly searches have given it a 126.7% increase year over year.

Given the name, latte makeup would be a great thing to lean into for coffee shop collabs: “Friends’” Central Perk or Dunkin’ could be properties that could use this trend to their advantage.

Color-Changing Lips

Color-changing lips come in many forms: clear products that react with pH to turn a pinkish hue, liquid lipsticks that reveal glitters when rubbed together, and multichromatic shades that shift to different colors in the light. From natural to dramatic makeup looks, color-changing lips are a fun product to show off on social media sites, and the novelty has drawn in users. Vogue Business says there’s medium competition in this category, with 2,000 average monthly searches and a 108.7% growth of the category year over year.

The color-changing aspect of these lip products would be great for fantasy properties like “Harry Potter,” “Matilda” or “Doctor Strange.”

Licensing’s Makeup Metamorphosis

The beauty of licensed collaborations is that innovations in products lead to innovations in expressing fandom. As trends move with the times, the possibilities for creating products that connect with fans only expand. License Global will continue to report on beauty trends in the coming months – stay tuned.