Beauty & Wellness Briefing: Why the next phase of beauty inclusivity is accessibility 

At the age of 13, Aerin Glazer was diagnosed with arthritis. Her limited mobility, as a result of the condition, cut her off from a beloved part of her routine: doing her makeup. “I couldn’t use, open, hold or enjoy the same things that my friends were enjoying with so much ease,” she said.

Now 21, Glazer has translated her experience into Tilt Beauty, a makeup brand designed for people with limited mobility. Launched in February, the brand was made in collaboration with groups like the National Arthritis Foundation, which awarded it the Ease of Use Certification, and the National Braille Institute. Tilt launched with a mascara and tinted lip balm designed with rubberized packaging and magnetic closures, and Glazer said there are plans to add products like lip liners down the line.

“I wanted to serve a market that was used to going to the disability aisle and modifying their products and trying to do something that made them feel better,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that the tone and the messaging did not feel patronizing and, in doing so, that we could foster this community.”

Inclusivity has been top of mind for many beauty brands for years, with Fenty Beauty among brands leading the way on issues like skin tone inclusivity. But disability has often been left out of the conversation. 

“In a lot of ways, disability is the last minority group to be recognized,” said April Lockhart, a disability advocate who also consulted on the creation of Tilt Beauty. “It’s a little bit taboo, especially in an industry like beauty where it’s all about aesthetics. Sometimes, disabilities are not the traditional, conventional beauty standards.” 

Those tides are shifting. According to the 2025 SeeMe Inclusivity Index for Beauty, 22% of beauty brands are designing products with disability in mind, compared to 11% in 2023. Beauty brands are taking a more intersectional approach to inclusivity, as well, with 73% factoring more than one identity dimension into their inclusive marketing strategies, compared to 70% in 2023.

“I firmly believe [accessibility] is the next wave of inclusion in the beauty industry,” said Kailey Waskall, OTR/L, an occupational therapist and accessibility consultant who often works with beauty brands on packaging accessibility. 2024 CDC data shows that more than 70 million U.S. adults reported having a disability.

Nail polish brand Olive & June launched Poppy, an adaptive tool to make its nail polishes easier to handle for those with limited mobility, in 2019. On its website, Patrick Starrr’s One Size makes a specific callout to its inclusion of consumers with disabilities on its “About” page. Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty has also earned praise for its accessible packaging. 

There are numerous ways for brands to think about accessibility, ranging from their website design to their retail displays and endcaps, to their primary and secondary packaging, Waskall said. Designing products to be accessible can be expensive, she added, and many accessible adaptations, like magnets, can come at the expense of sustainability goals. But designing for disability is not a niche concern.

“Good, accessible design just helps everyone,” Waskall said. “Something I talk about a lot is how the disability community is really the only community we can enter at any time.” Unlike other identities, she said, anyone can become temporarily disabled, such as by breaking an arm, or permanently disabled due to old age or other health issues.

But some brands have faltered when attempting to be inclusive of disabilities. Isamaya Ffrench’s namesake brand redesign in February received criticism on social media for including braille in its packaging but failing to consider how its complex assembly process may be challenging for those with limited or low vision. Isamaya Ffrench did not respond to Glossy’s request for comment. 

Other companies have turned to technology to increase accessibility. L’Oréal’s Lancôme is in the process of developing its Hapta assistive technology, a robotic tool designed to aid users in applying lipstick. 

Waskall cautions that high tech often comes with a high price, which can present an additional barrier to those with disabilities, who often earn less than their able-bodied counterparts. According to 2024 KFF data, one in four working-age adults in the U.S. with a disability have an income below the federal poverty level. 

But no matter who a product is designed for, Lockhart said many disabled people want the same thing as anyone else: a product that works and that doesn’t sacrifice style for function.  

“Most disabled people don’t use adaptive brands because we just want to use the same products all our friends are using,” she said. “Styles by most adaptive clothing brands that are out there are very clinical or generic. Disabled people want to feel normal, they want to feel cool, and they want to feel stylish. They want to use all the same beauty products that their friends are using, but they may just have different needs. … [Brands] also have to prove that the products are really going to work.”

Executive moves: 

• L’Oréal Groupe has appointed Damien Favre as president of L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty for North America. Favre succeeds Tina Fair, who has been named president of L’Oréal’s consumer products division. He previously oversaw the group’s consumer products division in Latin America. 

• The Estée Lauder Companies named Dr. Matthew Walker as the group’s first global sleep adviser. Walker, a sleep scientist and professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, will lead the group’s work on understanding the connection between sleep and health.
  
• Marly Kos was named senior director of brand marketing at Summer Fridays. Kos has been with the skin-care brand’s marketing department for five years following a stint at Casetify.

News to know:

• Louis Vuitton will launch La Beauté Louis Vuitton, a new makeup line with Pat McGrath at the helm. Slated for release in the fall, the collection will be Louis Vuitton’s first foray into makeup and will include products ranging from lipsticks to eyeshadows. Louis Vuitton, which is owned by LVMH, already sells fine fragrance. 

• Cos prepares to launch fragrance. The H&M-owned brand will introduce three perfumes made by Dsm-Firmenich perfumers Sophie Labbé, Ilias Ermenidis and Nathalie Lorson. Launching in April along with a series of candles, the scents will retail for $99 per 100-milliliter bottle. 

• L’Oréal announced plans to sell off natural hair-care and body-care brand Carol’s Daughter to its founder, Lisa Price, as well as an independent beauty entrepreneur. The French conglomerate, which acquired the brand in 2014, stated it will work with the new owners to ensure a seamless transition.

Stat of the week:

According to research from the SeeMe Index in partnership with Circana, beauty brands certified as inclusive outpaced less inclusive competitors by three points. The report also found that while there has been an increase in age inclusivity, with people aged 55 and older now receiving 2% of screen time in ads compared to 0.8% in 2023, the use of “anti-aging” language has increased to 49% of brands using such language, compared to 40% in 2023.

In the headlines:

A lot of Oscars red carpet dresses looked a little too perfect. Can Mecca, Australasia’s top beauty store, go global? Millie Bobby Brown’s face was never any of our business. Too many trends! How to buy a Vogue spread.

Listen in: 

C.O. Bigelow president Ian Ginsberg joins the Glossy Podcast to talk about unlocking profitable pharmacy retail.

Need a Glossy recap? 

How Bath & Body Works has remained ahead of the body mist craze for 3 decades. E.l.f. Cosmetics becomes first beauty sponsor of the National Women’s Soccer League. Suave’s big American hair-care comeback includes under-$6 dupes and a foray into men’s marketing. Google bulks up its AI shopping capabilities to allow virtual try-ons of makeup and clothing. Why brand founders are launching Substacks (it’s not to drive sales).