Algorithm-driven beauty, pressure on young consumers and rising tension between belonging and individuality are shaping the next era of the global beauty market, a new study has revealed.
The Future Laboratory’s Beauty, Health and Wellness Futures 2026 Report, The Great Beauty Blur, highlighted homogenisation as a leading force in beauty, driven by social media algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) editing, rapid growth of aesthetics procedures and formula standardisation.
The report trend forecaster and strategic consultancy claimed that these forces are “blurring the boundaries between categories, identities and even ideas of what ‘natural’ beauty now looks like”.
“Algorithms are no longer just shaping our social media feeds, but also impacting our perceptions of beauty,” the report detailed.
Symmetrical, smooth and familiar-looking faces are being rewarded by social media platforms, also leading to repeating visual patterns.
This is further compounded by the growing prevalence of AI-generated images and augmented content pushing the same proportions, features, and tone across the market.
This is already impacting behaviour, as a meta-analysis cited within the report highlighted how exposure to beauty content across social media can increase individuals’ desire to undergo cosmetic procedures by 33% to 57%.
This is mirrored in the global aesthetics sector, with 38 million surgical and non-surgical procedures performed in 2024 – an increase of 43% since 2020.
Access has expanded and the notion of ‘optimisation’ culture has slipped into the mainstream, increasingly blurring boundaries between natural, edited, filtered and clinically enhanced appearances.
Olivia Houghton, lead beauty, health and wellness analyst at The Future Laboratory, told Cosmetics Business how this shift is redefining both industry behaviour and consumer expectations.
“In a market flooded with similar products and digital ideals, consumers are struggling to express their individuality,” she said.
“Traditional categories – skin care, make-up, wellness – are merging, while the visual language of beauty is becoming increasingly uniform.”
The report identifies category convergence and a driving structural shift.
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