The Beauty of Food
It might seem weird to look at what is happening in our plates to try to understand what will arrive on our bathroom shelves. However, I believe that we can learn a lot about Beauty trends by observing Food trends.
‘Beauty from within’ isn’t that new. From carrots that (supposedly) enhance our golden glow to supplements that strengthen our hair and nails, we all have heard about different food ingredients that would impact our appearance. However the pace of Food incursion in the Beauty space has recently increased.
Beauty products are more and more evolving toward ‘food-like’ products, highlighting the same plant-based ingredients as our favorite meal. As a result, we aren’t surprised to read that the global beauty supplement market is expected to grow from $3.5b in 2016 up to $7b in 2024 (1).
‘Food-like’ trend not only impacts beauty product ingredients but also textures, as shown in this inspiring Instagram account @Ritualofme.
Even beauty packaging is sometimes so close to food packaging that we could be confused. If we look at the Beekman 1802 bottle below, is it a diary drink or a hair conditioner?
On the other side, food products are now offering more than just sustenance. They become ‘super-food’, promising us healthier skin and stronger hair, overall transforming us in a better version of ourselves. Kale, açaí, goji berries, quinoa and chia seeds all started as super-food added in our favorite salad bar and are now star ingredients in beauty products such as in Youth To The People kale moisture cream or in Kiehls quinoa micro-peel concentrate. This ‘super-food’ trend seems to be here for the long term, with a global market estimated to grow at a CAGR of c.16% during the period 2018–2022 (2).
And some food packaging could be misleading too, using similar design codes to beauty products. If we look at this Wild Island bottle below, is it a perfume or an alcoholic drink?
It is interesting to note how previous Food trends have transferred into Beauty trends: organic food to clean beauty, vegan food to cruelty free beauty, food kit to DIY beauty, etc.
One of the latest trends being transferred is “from farm-to-table”, movement initiated by companies such as La Ruche Qui Dit Oui, transferring to “farm-to-face” in Beauty. As a result, we are now observing some beauty brands putting a foot in the Agritech space. Tata Harper or Farmacy are both beauty companies investing in their own farms. Farm-to-face beauty brands master their production and as a result are able to offer full transparency and to produce small batches maximising product freshness, both attributes valued by today’s beauty consumers.
The frontier between Food and Beauty is becoming more and more blurry. That’s why I will continue to look at my neighbours’ plates to try to identify the future Beauty trends, and potentially to look at our bathroom shelves to catch the next Food trend!
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