Beauty Trends Around The World

The beauty industry is becoming increasingly complex. Our instinct is to dislike complexity. But "we either embrace it, or we’re not going to be around.”  

“People do judge a book by its cover, but a beautiful cover prompts a closer reading.” 

Let's face it. When we meet someone new, our first impression is first about looks; only later do things such as personality, brains and character start to take on meaning.  

Beauty is absolutely connected with success—well, at least financial success. Public clearly rewards businesses with beautiful faces. Beauty does make a difference. 

How some beautiful women view themselves can border on obsessive. They cherish their looks, but if they find a blemish, a wrinkle or a flaw, it can throw them into a panic. 

It can even have them inquiring around for a good plastic surgeon, new dietician or workout guru. This state of dissatisfaction within oneself gives rise to so-called 'beauty trends' like butterfly effect around the world. 

Let's look at four most common and desirable beauty trends in today's world:  

1. Instant fix

Human beings are obsessed with perfection. This desire for perfection is stretched even to physical appearance. An age-old desire for instant gratification, consumers want to see immediate improvement in boundless skin and beauty concerns. From erasing dark spots to the perfect lip balm, many skin savers will have you fresh and glowing in no time. Below are some of such examples :   

2. Skincare from the Earth

The skincare and beauty industry continues to explode with more natural and clean products. 

Many new brands and retailers are basically saying, “Your regular beauty products contain all sorts of dangerous stuff. Use these safer ones instead.” Natural usually tends to mean it contains plant-based ingredients, whereas clean products are notable for the ingredients they are free of: parabens, phthalates, sulfates, and more.  

Clean beauty proponents often cite the statistic that the European Union has banned more than 1,300 chemicals from being used in beauty products while the US has only banned about 30.  

However, it has led to a misconception among some consumers that chemicals equal danger. Kelly Dobos, a cosmetic chemist of 15 years says, “It’s ridiculous because water is a chemical." 

Natural ≠ Always Safe  

  or 

Chemical ≠ Always Dangerous. 

There are both good and bad natural/chemical ingredients when it comes to beauty. Every person has clinically different skin types. Thus, different skin ingredients are suitable for each skin type.  

So when it comes to beauty,  

Be a knowledgeable consumer not an ignorant trend follower.

3. Customisation & Personalisation 

No two people are the same.​ 

The universal truth applies even to skincare & beauty. Two different people with similar skin types will have different experiences of a product. 

Introduction of Customisation & Personalisation in skincare is a new form of luxury tackling individual skin concerns. It allows each consumer to personalize their skincare routine by filling in data of their : skin type, diet, fitness routine and even sleep routine.

Examples:  

• A Hyderabad-based start-up SkinKraft​ is one of the first to bring bespoke beauty to​ India. SkinKraft analyses everything from the current weather conditions around you to your age, skin type, concerns and other lifestyle-related factors for a completely bespoke skincare package. You’re allotted a unique SkinID that tracks your progress and also allows you to alter your routine based on a change in any prominent factors. 

• Hop & Cotton, an Australian personalised skincare label, ditches the algorithms and has​ a two-way communication process. After you fill out your skin analysis and pick products you’d like (cleanser, moisturiser, etc), they personally choose the ingredients that they believe would be ideal and run them by you before formulation. 

• Clinique launched their service Clinique iD last year, which allows you to customise your​ own serum and moisturiser duo. The service has 15 different combinations that help to treat your skin’s primary concern—whether it’s dullness, unevenness, irritation or fine lines—while also providing it with moisture in your preferred texture: heavy or light. 

• Neutrogena’s MaskiD brings 3D printing to beauty by providing customised care to​ every part of your face, all in a single sheet mask. The printing technology allows every inch of the mask to be infused with a different blend, so it’s truly tailored to all your skin concerns—macro and micro. 

• MC1 cream infuses your own blood into the cream to promote skin regeneration.​ 

4. The Doll Look  

Flawless more than natural.  

The Doll Look is never out of trend. From a young age, we are conditioned to admire perfect looking Barbie dolls. Hence, for the rest of our lives, we aspire to meet their standards of beauty. By using heavy makeup or surgery to create porcelain-like, smooth and perfect looks. 

Take Valeria Lukyanova​, the Human Barbie for example. She is Ukrainian model who first gained​ notoriety for winning the worldwide beauty contest "Miss Diamond Crown of the World" in 2007. 

She rose to popularity as "almost inhuman beauty." She explains that after many of her fans began comparing her to real life Barbie Doll, she created a look similar to that of the actual doll to appease them. 

Beauty standards are deeply ingrained into our subconscious mind through media, societal and cultural influences, peer pressure, etc.  

Ideal beauty standards are mainstream, boring and turn most people nearly psychotic. People who are obsessed and biased even subconsciously to these beauty standards and advertise it directly or indirectly don't need criticism, they need therapy. They need to be put into the shoes of the less privileged only then they will understand the extent of their damage. It's almost as if we're subconsciously—or for some maybe even consciously—looking for a reason to treat someone as less of a person. 

Beauty is an asset, just like physical prowess, charisma, brains or emotional intelligence. The key with any gift is in the way that you use it. It doesn’t define you as a person. Rather, it’s an asset to be used judiciously and with an understanding of how it is just one part of who you are. 

Those who get this will do well.

"Trends come and go. Style lives on."