LOOKFANTASTIC has unveiled its A/W ’26 Trend Report, an insider guide to the beauty movements already gaining momentum and set to shape the season ahead.
Powered by digital trend intelligence, LOOKFANTASTIC platform data and insights from TikTok, Reddit, Content Creators, industry experts and LOOKFANTASTIC’s Buying team, the report goes beyond predicting the next viral moment. Instead, it identifies the cultural and consumer shifts changing the way beauty is discovered, understood and experienced.
From a renewed focus on skin health and prevention to the continued evolution of K- Beauty, the rise of scalp-first haircare and a return to bold self-expression, the A/W ’26 beauty landscape is being shaped by a consumer who wants more from their beauty with the defining shift for A/W ’26 being intentionality.
LOOKFANTASTIC Managing Director, Keely Gough explains:
Staying ahead is not about chasing trends, but understanding the shifts changing how consumers discover, shop and experience beauty. With an increasingly complex landscape of recommendations, viral moments and evolving routines, trusted expertise is becoming more important than ever.
This shift is also being reflected in how consumers are discovering and choosing beauty, with trust, peer recommendations and considered decision-making increasingly influencing the path to purchase.
Lore Oxford, Head of Insights Product, Reddit noted:
We’ve entered a new era of beauty discovery where recommendations and peer reviews are the ultimate currency…This rise in engagement reflects a broader shift in how people make beauty decisions, with shoppers seeking authentic, peer-led recommendations from a community of like-minded enthusiasts.
1. Skin Barrier 2.0
Skin Barrier 2.0 marks a move away from treating skin concerns reactively towards futureproofing skin health. Now ranking as LOOKFANTASTIC’s fifth-highest skin concern, on-site search activity is up +28.5%, with three-year growth reaching +182%. Meanwhile, once specialist skincare terms ceramides and postbiotics have seen +419% search growth on TikTok over the last year.
The focus is shifting towards targeted formulas that support the skin’s natural defences, with barrier-building lipids, microbiome-friendly ferments and restorative actives taking centre stage.
2. Skin Streaming
Last year’s elaborate routines are giving way to a more efficient approach. Skin streaming reflects a consumer who has become increasingly knowledgeable about ingredients and unwilling to use products simply for the sake of another step. Instead, consumers reach for multi-tasking formulas that deliver more from fewer products are earning permanent places in beauty cabinets.
SPF is emerging as a hero of this streamlined approach, combining protection with additional skincare or makeup benefits. From Beauty of Joseon’s Relief Sun Rice + Probiotics SPF50+ to Quick Flick’s Quick Screen Setting Spray SPF50+, multifunctionality is becoming a key part of the new beauty routine.
As Content Creator Natalie O’Neill puts it, consumers are becoming “much wiser” and “far pickier” when it comes to their routines — simultaneously reducing the number of products they use while increasing their understanding of what each product does.
3. Beauty Longevity
The anti-ageing conversation is evolving and rather than focusing solely on reversing visible signs of ageing, beauty longevity is centred around maintaining healthy-looking skin over time with prevention, regeneration and resilience becoming the new priorities.
Searches for longevity-related skincare at LOOKFANTASTIC are up +4.7% quarter-on- quarter, reflecting growing interest in long-term skin health rather than quick, visible fixes.
An ingredient at the forefront is PDRN, with LOOKFANTASTIC searches accelerating +54% QoQ, while TikTok data shows #PDRN has experienced a remarkable +990.91% growth over three years. Retinal searches are also up +26.2% QoQ, while TikTok growth has reached 4,837% since 2023.
The movement is also moving beyond topical skincare. Sales of skin electrical tools at LOOKFANTASTIC have risen +101.3% YoY, signalling growing consumer appetite for beauty technology that brings more advanced treatments into the home.
As Dr Jonquille Chantrey notes in the report, the future of aesthetic medicine is moving away from age reversal towards healthy prejuvenation and visible biological health.
4. K-Beauty
K-Beauty has moved beyond viral curiosity and into purchase confidence with TikTok searches for #KBeauty up +719% since 2023. Meanwhile, K-Beauty sales at LOOKFANTASTIC have grown +158% YoY, with skincare accounting for 80% of the category.
The movement is also generating significant engagement beyond TikTok, with UK views to Reddit’s r/AsianBeauty reaching 5.8 million and r/KoreanBeauty reaching 730,000 in the first six months of 2026.
But the next phase of K-Beauty is about more than “glass skin”. Consumers are increasingly seeking targeted ingredients and formulations that address concerns including dryness, sun damage, ageing and compromised skin barriers.
Niacinamide, PDRN, peptides and collagen are all delivering triple-digit growth, according to LOOKFANTASTIC Senior Buying Manager Lauren Starkey, while probiotics are emerging as another ingredient to watch.
5. Beauty & Wellness
The crossover between beauty and wellness is accelerating, with consumers embracing a more holistic approach encompassing nutrition, recovery, stress, hormone balance and overall wellbeing.
At LOOKFANTASTIC, wellness-related product sales are up +28% YoY, while collagen is growing +6.8% QoQ and supplements and vitamins remain a high-performing segment, with a 20% conversion rate. The result is a more integrated beauty routine, with customers increasingly purchasing wellness products alongside their skincare and haircare essentials.
As LOOKFANTASTIC Senior Buying Manager Lauren Starkey explains, the longevity movement is ultimately part of a broader mindset centred on self-care, prevention and a more holistic approach to health and wellbeing.
6. The Hair Growth Revolution
For A/W ’26, the scalp is becoming the new focus of haircare, with consumers increasingly treating the scalp with the same level of attention as facial skin.
Related terms including “scalp treatment”, “scalp scrub” and “dry scalp” have generated more than 4,111 LOOKFANTASTIC searches, while the hair loss and growth category is up +37% YoY.
The shift is also moving consumers towards complete, routine-led solutions. Searches for “hair growth” and related terms generated 18,789 searches in the last quarter, while products associated with growth and thickening benefits have risen +15.9% YoY and products tagged to the “Growth and Thickening” trend have accelerated +42%.
As LOOKFANTASTIC Buying Manager Beth Eyre explains, customers are increasingly buying into full routines, with routine-led bundles becoming a key area of growth.
7. Maximalist Makeup is Back
After years of pared-back aesthetics, more is more is making its return. The A/W ’26 beauty consumer is moving away from prescriptive aesthetics and towards looks that feel authentic, individual and personal by embracing colour, texture and statement details.
Searches for brows are up +25.3%, eyes +19.3% and lips +11.7%, signalling renewed appetite for the features that allow consumers to define and personalise their look.
LOOKFANTASTIC Expert and Makeup Artist Jeyanney is seeing the same shift professionally, noting a growing demand for more polished, glamorous looks with greater definition, structure and impact.
But maximalism doesn’t necessarily mean heavy coverage. As the report puts it: “Less coverage, more character.”
8. Bronzer is Back
Alongside maximalist makeup, one beauty staple is reclaiming its place in the spotlight: bronzer.
Drawing on the continued popularity of skin-first aesthetics, A/W ’26 is embracing a more relaxed, lived-in approach to complexion, with soft definition and healthy-looking radiance replacing heavy contouring.
Fake tan sales at LOOKFANTASTIC are up +21.5%, bronzers are up +5.1%, and brown shades have grown +10.4% YoY.
The movement is also evolving through “skinified” self-tan, with formulas increasingly incorporating ingredients such as peptides and niacinamide alongside bronzing benefits.
9. Fragrance as Identity
Perhaps nowhere is personalisation more apparent than fragrance. The traditional idea of finding one signature scent is giving way to the fragrance wardrobe — a collection of scents chosen according to mood, personality, occasion and season.
UK views of Reddit’s r/perfumesthatfeellikesthis have grown by more than +60% over the last six months, reflecting growing appetite for fragrance discovery and experimentation. Meanwhile, fragrance sets at LOOKFANTASTIC increased +13% in H1 2026 compared with the same period last year.
Layering is expected to continue growing as consumers experiment with combining scents to create their own individual fragrance identity.
While vanilla remains the most in-demand note, cherry is the fragrance profile to watch, with searches up +16% YoY and a 13% conversion rate. Pistachio is another standout note, with searches up +29.8% QoQ and a 12.5% conversion rate.
Hair perfume is also breaking away from the traditional fragrance format, with sales up +71% YoY as consumers expand their scent wardrobes beyond eau de parfum.
The New Season of Beauty
Across skincare, haircare, makeup, fragrance and wellness, the A/W ’26 trends point towards the same fundamental shift: beauty consumers are becoming more informed, more intentional and more individual.
They are streamlining rather than accumulating. Investing in prevention rather than correction. Looking to science and technology for smarter solutions. Treating beauty as part of wider wellbeing. And, at the same time, embracing colour, creativity and personal expression.
The result is a beauty landscape that is both more considered and more expressive — where there is no single definition of what is “in”.
