Setting sprays have become a staple of morning routines, and in an increasingly crowded market, new formulations are bringing more than just make-up-fixing features to the dressing table.
Fragrance, bronzing, cooling and hydration are among the new novelties hoping to give brands staying power in the competitive category.
“Setting sprays are increasingly difficult to differentiate through longevity claims alone,” says Faiza Hussain, Cosmetic Scientist and Growth Laboratory Consultancy Founder, The Skin Shrink.
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“Multifunctionality gives them a clearer commercial story, whether through colour, scent, skin care benefits or finish.
“The strongest innovations will not simply add more claims, they will solve a recognisable consumer need while preserving the fine mist, comfort and dependable performance expected from the category.”
A trusted format
Patrick Starrr’s make-up brand One/Size already has the Sephora best-selling hero On ‘Til Dawn Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray.
Now the viral internet favourite has had a glow up, with On ‘Til Dawn Bronze Veil Waterproof Setting Spray, designed to bring a luminous bronze glow that enhances rather than covers the skin.
Available in Caramel and Coco Glow, a bronze pigment blend of coated powders provides a blurring, soft-glow filter on skin.
Coconut water and coconut alkanes are said to offer hydrated, smoother skin, while witch hazel absorbs excess oil, and a flex hold polymer blend locks in make-up.
“One/Size's bronzing spray is a smart example of borrowing equity from the adjacent tanning-mist boom and folding it into a format consumers already trust,” Hussain adds.
One/Size On ‘Til Dawn Bronze Veil Waterproof Setting Spray
The trend for multifunctional setting sprays is part of the wider “skinification” of make-up, says Jill Weir, NPD & Brand Consultant at White Label Thinking.
“People increasingly expect more than the primary function of a product,” she says.
“The main benefit needs to be overlaid with other claims to make it seem credible.”
Many of the extra benefits also reflect concerns that are increasingly on consumer’s agendas, she adds, such as SPF: “More is more when it comes to getting protection for your skin.
“The addition of fragrance can give you a sensory mood boost, perfect on down days.”
Scent-sational setting spray experiences
Another best-seller, L’Oréal Paris’s Infallible 36H Setting Mist, has been upgraded with a fragrance twist.
The UK’s number one setting spray now comes in an on-trend Cherry version.
Too Faced has also drawn on scent for its latest launch as part of its Peach Collection revival with Peach Mist Hydrating Makeup Setting Spray, a hydrating mist with a juicy peach scent for after make-up or throughout the day.
Another on-trend ingredient, matcha, has also inspired By Terry’s latest launch – a skin-care and make-up hybrid, Matcha Mist Elixir.
The bi-phase glow mist delivers hydration for a ‘glass skin’ finish, prepping skin for make-up and offering hydration through the day.
Matcha complex is said to revive tired and dull skin, calm redness, as well as soothe and moisturise, while a botanical defence complex aims to protect skin cells from oxidative stress.
Centella asiatica extract calms redness, repairs damaged skin, strengthens skin barrier, and vitamins B3 and B5 are said to brighten dull complexion, minimise pores and reinforce skin barriers.
L’Oréal Paris’s Infallible 36H Setting Mist Cherry
“The extras convert a functional replenishment purchase into an emotional one,” says Hussain.
“Fragrance especially is doing the heavy lifting; we know from neuroscience that scent is the fastest route to emotional memory, so a signature scent in a twice-daily face mist is brand-building delivered close to the consumer, every single day.”
The added benefits being included in setting sprays
The cost benefits of multifunctional products also add to the appeal, says Weir – for both consumer and brand.
“In current economic times, multifunctional means better value for money. If you can get a glow from your setting spray, it might be one less product you have to buy,” she says.
“Setting spray itself is also inherently thrifty – ensuring make-up lasts longer with fewer reapplications.
“From a development perspective, if you are working with an aerosol format, these can be tricky to source with high minimum orders, so it is best to get all your benefits in one rather than running multiple options.”
Trouble Maker, the fun and affordable UK make-up brand, has introduced three aerosol-based Aura Mist setting sprays, each offering additional features: Lock In with additional hold, Raye Daze with SPF 50, and Kool Off with cooling properties.
For brands, 'extras' are a way to refresh a hero sku without inventing a new category, says cosmetics scientist Dominika Andrys.
"Setting spray sales are heavily concentrated in a handful of iconic products, so a fragrance or finish variation is lower-risk NPD than launching something entirely new.
"It rides on existing brand equity and formula trust while giving press, retail, and social media a fresh reason to talk about it."
Simplifying steps for consumers
Multifunctional setting sprays bring multiple benefits in a single step, notes Hussain – but they add complexity to formulations.
“Consumers are looking for convenience, hybrid products that consider lifestyle without compromising on a good formulation that delivers on multifunctionality,” she says.
“From a formulation perspective, however, every added benefit introduces some level of complexity.
“Bronzing pigments must remain evenly suspended, spray uniformly and avoid nozzle blockage, patchiness or transfer.
“Fragrance, meanwhile, must remain compatible with the solvent system while being carefully balanced against facial sensitivity, eye-area exposure and consumer tolerance.”
By Terry Matcha Mist Elixir
For brands, it is a “clear point of differentiation in a saturated market" that lets them” tap into adjacent categories while adding value to consumers' make-up bags”, says Valerie Collins, founder of Visionary Beauty Group, a product development consultancy.
“When the core function (setting make-up) is table stakes, brands can rest on their laurels for a while if a product is just absolutely great on its own.
“But the competition does not sleep, and someone else is already working on a dupe to make it the same but cheaper, or better overall.
“How do you remind everyone about your great product when they are getting tempted by newness? You add a new feature like shade, fragrance, or effect, as seen with the OneSize Bronzing Setting Spray.
“Patrick’s [One/Size] team pretty much mastered this, owning the category not by having a bunch of different setting spray sku's but more so by keeping their great original spray and pairing it with different multipurpose attributes.”
Platform rather than product
The global setting spray market is worth US$1.2bn, according to Grand View Research, and is set to hit $1.7bn by 2030, with annual growth of 7.6%.
With no signs of the category or the competition within it slowing, we can likely expect more multifunctional formats to follow, experts say.
“Mist is the most frictionless delivery format we have, so it will keep absorbing functions,” says Hussain.
“I would watch for anti-pollution and antioxidant films for regional climates, soft-focus blurring via light-diffusing particles and skin care-hybrid mists carrying ingredients consumers already know and love – niacinamide, peptides or ceramides – repositioning the last step of make-up as the first step of skin care.
“Considering climate adaptation, I would add low-alcohol systems, [which are] technically demanding, since ethanol does the quick-dry work but a serious commercial prize for whoever solves it elegantly.”
Andrys concurs: "I've watched this same pattern repeat itself again and again: it rarely takes an entire market moving at once to create a trend.
"Usually it just takes one brand doing something slightly differently, and the rest following within a season or two.
"Setting spray itself is a case in point. What started as a niche, almost professional-make-up-artist product became a category staple once a handful of viral, hero skus proved consumers wanted it... and then everyone needed one.
"What we are seeing now with multifunctional setting sprays feels like the same mechanism playing out at a smaller scale, inside a category that is already established.
"Bronzing, fragrance, and cooling are becoming the next round of 'features' that get copied fast once one a brand shows they resonate."
Hussain concludes: “The setting spray is quietly becoming a platform rather than a product and the brands that treat it that way will define the category's next phase.”
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