The Growth Categories To Action On Within Beauty For 2024

Trends Agency

Looking to the year ahead, beauty remains a hot topic of conversation amongst both consumers and retailers alike. With such a vast array of categories that make up this industry, it’s key to narrow down the top areas of growth and what’s influencing them in 2024. Currently, social media is a driving force within the industry, dictating the must-have products and offering up extensive knowledge to consumers to help them make more strategic purchasing decisions. We’re seeing beauty trendsetters opt for more natural ingredients that promote homeopathic healing while also implementing tech tools––even at home––into their beauty routine. Ahead, discover how these ideas are shaping the need-to-know growth categories within beauty and wellness.

Shining on Suncare

With a heightened awareness surrounding the effects of UV rays on the skin, suncare is top of mind for consumers, especially during the summer months. We are seeing multi-use suncare products and a variety of sunscreen formats emerge in the market, such as SPF tinted moisturizers (+55% to LY), SPF sticks (+45% to LY), sunscreen mists (+39% to LY), sunscreen oil (+32% to LY), sunscreen gel (+27% to LY) and even SPF body creams (+74% to LY). With a wide range of sunscreen products, consumers can pick and choose which formulas work best for their skin and use-case, whether they’re taking it on-the-go or it’s staying in their medicine cabinet at home. Similarly, bronzer (+58% to LY) is on the rise as minimal makeup is the defining look for 2024, laying glowy skin as the foundation of beauty looks. Bronzing drops are +218% to last year in searches with brands like Drunk Elephant leading in sales. Bronzer powders (+102% to LY), sticks (+51% to LY), creams (+11% to LY) and body bronzer (+37% to LY) are expected to continue growing, too, supporting the interest in a safe yet golden look.

Take the Spa Home

Since the COVID-19 lockdown, consumers have wanted to have everything they need right in the comfort of their own home, so why not bring the spa home, too? A variety of tech tools for beauty and healing are standing out in the market, allowing consumers to create their own at-home spas using quality tools. Notably, red (+58% to LY) and blue light therapy (+36% to LY) is steadily growing in searches and the Solawave wandcontinues to be a top pick when it comes to at home light therapy with searches up +45% to last year. Sonic brushes (+221% to LY) and other microcurrent (+3% to LY) tools like face massagers (+11% to LY), particularly NuFace’s facial toning device, remain popular due to their proven ability to improve skin elasticity and cell turnover, too. Whether it’s a dermapen (+18% to LY) or acupressure (19k average weekly searches) mat at home, consumers are becoming more aware of the science behind health products and these tech tools.

Hair Health

Hair health has become a popular topic of conversation on social media in recent months, leading people to treat their hair at the source: the roots. Scalpcare is up +26% to last year in searches with scalp specific beauty products taking over the shelves at Ulta and Sephora––much of which has been inspired by Japanese and Ayurvedic scalpcare practices. Scalp treatments (+25% to LY), oils (+36% to LY) and serums (+56% to LY), like Pacifica’s Scalp Love serum, are becoming hair routine staples to better promote growth and overall hair health. Furthermore, to stimulate hair follicles scalp scrubs and massagers are up by +13% and +44% to last year in market adoption and expected to continue growth for at least the next 6 months.

Lip Action

Lip trends in beauty are shifting from super pigmented, matte lipsticks to lightly colored lip oils and balms. Products like the Dior Lip Glow Oil (117k average weekly searches) sparked interest on TikTok and now we are seeing other brands like Summer Fridays and Hourglass promote their own rendition of this lip trend through butter balms (+36% to LY) and lip serums. The best part? This more natural-looking approach offers up just enough of a gloss effect without the stickiness and indulges in hydration to combat dryness in the colder months. Lip oils have an extreme search volume, up +24% to last year, and are particularly popular in red. We are seeing a resurgence of the classic red lip (+2,286% to LY) through pigmented glosses and balms that allow for a more natural red look. Cherry, strawberry and deep reds are sure to stick around throughout the fall and winter months, too.