The glass skin trend may still be going strong in 2026, but there’s a lot more going on in skin care than just a desire for shine.
People are more and more ignoring short-lived trends and seeing their routines as a “skinvestment,” with an emphasis on results and long-term effects as well as gentle but effective formulas.
A strong skin barrier is important as skin health below the surface becomes more important as skin health below the surface becomes more important.
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This change is being called “post-glass skin” or “glass skin 2.0” in 2026. It shows a bigger shift in what people want from skin care and where the industry is going: toward repair, resilience, longevity, and regeneration.
The Cosmetics Business Innovation Awards give formulators, suppliers, and technology developers a chance to show off and explain important new ideas to the whole industry.
According to Boots’ 2026 Beauty & Wellness Trends Report, 80% of adults are taking a preventative approach to their beauty routines, focusing on consistent long-term care and maintenance instead of reactive solutions.
In the context of wider beauty and wellness routines that are changing to help people build mental physical and skin resilience, it also says that “skin stability is front of mind.”
According to Euromonitor International the skin care market grew by 4.5% to US$169.9 billion in 2025.
According to Circana, skin care sales in Europe as a whole showed a similar trend, with a 4.6% increase however there were some big differences between regions.
A lot of mass
But if you look more closely at what is causing growth, you will see that mass market skin care is growing much faster than prestige skin care.
According to Kantar (52 w/e 4 January 2026), mass skin care sales in the UK went up by 21% and premium skin care sales went up by 7%.
Matt Maxwell, Health and Beauty Business Unit Director at Kantar, says, “It’s a flip in performance because last year, premium skin care did really well and mass was behind the market.”
“It’s a trend we’re seeing in the beauty industry as a whole, with 1.2 million more UK shoppers buying skin care than last year.”
Nick Vaus, co-founder and Managing Partner of Free The Birds, says, “One of the most important things that has happened in the last year is that prestige beauty has leveled off.”
“The difference between luxury and value skin care has grown, and ‘accessible luxury’ is no longer relevant.”
“Consumers are switching to value-driven brands that work well at lower prices, or spending more on luxury brands, but only when brands can clearly explain why the premium.”
Maxwell says that mass brands like Nivea, Garnier, and Simple have been doing very well in the UK over the past year. This is because their science-backed formulas make hero ingredients like peptides ceramides and vitamin C much easier for customers to find.
Derma and K-beauty brands are also still growing quickly, with growth rates in the double digits, which is much higher than the average for the category.
With so many brands in the mid and mass-price range using high-performance ingredients and cutting-edge technologies, prestige brands have to do more to stand out.
Vaus says, “To stand out high-end brands need to go beyond having the same ingredients and focus on depth instead of sameness.”
It becomes very important to tell stories about craft innovation and formulation expertise. “Prestige brands need to make a ‘moment’ in the lives of their customers.”
Trend 1: Spicules
Exosomes and PDRN (polydeoxyribonucleotide) have become popular ingredients in beauty products over the past year. But in 2026, there will be a new thing on the market that looks like it will take beauty by storm: spicules.
As always, Korea is at the forefront, with a wave of beauty products coming out of the country that contain this ingredient, which comes from marine sponges and is gaining attention across global beauty markets.
People are talking about them on social media because they have effects similar to microneedling. They are often called “microneedling in a bottle” or “liquid microneedling”.
This article will look into whether spicules are about to become popular.
Trend 2: Skin care that follows a set of rules
The demand for cosmetic surgery and treatments is through the roof, which means that new skin care products and services are becoming available before and after the procedure.
In 2026, aesthetic medicine is focusing on treatments that work with the body’s own repair systems to make the skin healthier and better at doing its job.
There are now a lot of new products on the market that are meant to go along with either aesthetic plastic surgery or “tweakments” in modern aesthetic medicine.
Trend 3: Beta-glucan
Along with the general trend toward skin care that focuses on long-lasting effects, people are also putting barrier-supporting and moisturizing formulas at the top of their lists.
Beta-glucan is a natural polysaccharide that is found in many fungi, bacteria, and algae. In the medical world, it is known for helping the heart and boosting the immune system.
Research shows that this new ingredient could be very useful in skin care for things like reducing inflammation repairing the skin barrier, moisturizing, and protecting against UV damage.
Beta-glucan is becoming more popular as the barrier repair hero of 2026, with searches for it up 51% in the past year.
Trend 4: Heroes of optimized ingredients
Beauty lovers love new ingredients especially for skin care.
There are a lot of exciting new ingredients for people to try, from ectoin to exosomes.
But in the world of skin care science, the trends that shape development aren’t always based on what’s new.
This article talks about how and why the big five hero ingredients—retinol, peptides, vitamin C, ceramides, and niacinamide—are being improved for the newest products.
Trend 5: Skin care based on medicine
Medical science has been a source of new ideas for skin care brands for a long time.
Augustinus Bader, which started out as a way to heal wounds, and 111 Skin, which started out as a way to heal after surgery, are two examples of a medical-to-skin translation.
But this is going to the next level in 2026. Medical and surgical technology is inspiring brands like Mantle and Kyomi Skin to make skin care that is better than ever.
