This is an episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the beauty and wellness industries. More from the series →
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What will 2026 mean for the beauty and wellness industries?
In today’s special episode, hosts Lexy Lebsack, Emily Jensen and Sara Spruch-Feiner share their 2026 industry predictions.
This includes a slowdown of the “no-makeup makeup” aesthetic in favor of bolder color cosmetics trends, the rise of experimental peptide therapy among wellness consumers and an uptick in budget-conscious beauty shoppers. The hosts also made specific predictions, such as an increase in savory scents in fragrance and more clean, value-priced body care in big-box stores. The trio also muses about the bubbles that could burst in 2026, and so much more.
On innovation in color cosmetics
Jensen: “We’ve been hearing rumblings of the end of the ‘clean girl,’ no-makeup makeup [look] for a while now, just because that look was so pervasive in the past couple of years. But I do think that 2026 is going to be a step forward, away from just that clean skin, minimal makeup [aesthetic] and into people embracing more color on the eyes and color on the lips.”
On the rise of peptides
Lebsack: “Even though experimental peptide therapy is technically not FDA-approved, and technically not legal, most companies — longevity centers, doctors, concierge doctors — [began] operating in this gray area [this year]. It’s a Wild West, and I think we’re really primed to have this huge explosion of peptides [in 2026].”
On dupes driving value shopping
Spruch-Feiner: “One of the things I started looking at just at the very end of the year was how brands are talking about value. Obviously, it’s not the best year for economic sentiment. There have been layoffs, there have been tariffs. … [It] also really connects to the boom of the dupe market and consumers who maybe wouldn’t have said, ‘You know what? Maybe it is OK if I don’t have the brand-name foundation, because brands are coming out with things more similar than ever before.’”
