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Beauty that is budget-friendly and big on performance has found its sweet spot among consumers in 2025.
While premium beauty boomed for several years, the first quarter of this year saw a shift, as mass beauty sales outpaced prestige for the first time in years.
In the US, Circana data revealed that mass beauty was up 3% and prestige was flat at 1% year-on-year.
In the UK, mass beauty sales during the 52 weeks ending 27 April 2025 climbed by 17%, leaving prestige beauty in its midst with its own increase of 9%, according to data from Kantar.
From the significant price hikes on beauty products amid high inflation to the rise of the value-conscious and ingredient-savvy shopper, multiple factors have contributed to the surge of affordable beauty.
The impact of tariffs on US consumer purchase behaviour is driving further shifts, while debate continues around whether the US is heading for recession.
Recent data from J.P. Morgan Research says that there is a 40% probability of a US and global recession occurring in 2025.
Beauty trends are reflecting the economic uncertainty: the term ‘recession blonde’ refers to consumers who let their hair colour grow out in order to cut down on frequent salon visits.
Likewise ‘recession nails’ are another cost-saving measure favouring DIY manicures, or tips to make a salon manicure last longer.
On TikTok, drugstore beauty is also having a resurgence as influencers spotlight affordable products that they would pay high end prices for – or pick over prestige.
Brands such as Milani Cosmetics, e.lf. Beauty and L’Oréal Paris feature frequently, while products such Melting Creme Blush from Boots own brand 17 have gone viral for being a dupe of Rhode’s Pocket Blush.
Experts believe that it is the high level of innovation from brands in the affordable beauty space that is driving consumer desire for mass and budget beauty at its very core.
For the UK, at least, this is currently having a bigger impact than anything else, says Kantar’s Health and Beauty Business Director Matt Maxwell.
He says: “Inflation rates have dropped, interest rates have dropped and the noise around disposable income is improving, so what we’re actually seeing right now is that times are getting better.
“I think the reason we’re seeing mass do particularly well – and why people are moving towards these beauty products – is because of the innovation and the accessibility of mass products, rather than a general movement among people looking to save money.”
Liza Suloti, co-founder and Chief Communications Officer at US creative marketing communications agency Shadow adds. “For some time now, we’ve been seeing across the board a heightened focus on value – beyond just cost.
“Consumers today, especially Gen Z, are seeking products that deliver more than ever before: multifunctional formulas, innovative formats, and ingredient transparency.
“Value is the new baseline, and brands are rising to meet that demand with high-performing, hybrid products that blend skin care and make-up benefits while delivering on both performance and principles.”
With both brands and retailer’s own-label lines creating many products that hit the perfect blend of being trend-led, affordable and well made, the affordable and budget brand space has not only become a more desirable destination for beauty, it is creating a more mixed landscape in how and where consumers shop beauty too.
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Trend 1: Tariff turmoil
Since US president Donald Trump announced a barrage of global tariff hikes, in what the White House dubbed “liberation day” on 2 April 2025, beauty brands, manufacturers and consumers have been left scrambling for clarity, with an increasing rise in prices as logistics in the US, a key market, become progressively more expensive.
Some brands have taken a strategic approach and publicly announced delayed price hikes due to come into effect over the summer, to give customers time to acclimate, and provide a safety buffer in case Trump’s tariffs change.
The long term consequences for the industry are unfolding, and it expects to see shifting consumer behaviours reflecting the instability of the tariff chaos.
“Research suggests consumers in the US are already stockpiling their favourite K-beauty products and others from abroad,” says Lisa Payne, Head of Beauty at analytics firm Stylus.
Trend 2: Beauty dupes: a new form of social status?
With budgets under pressure, dupes have become even bigger business in 2025, as they become socially desirable purchases.
Years of high inflation have turned shoppers into relentless bargain hunters and made low-price alternatives acceptable, says Circana in its Eat, Play, Love report.
And shoppers are not afraid to show off these savvy purchases.
Noting that rising costs, economic uncertainty and rapid trend cycles are driving Gen Z's preference for affordable alternatives, social and influencer intelligence platform WeArisma says in its Beauty 2025 State of Influence report: “They (Gen Z) see finding products for less as a new form of social status, making 'dupes' socially acceptable.”
Trend 3: The revival of fast beauty
Underconsumption core, ‘Project Pan’ and the ‘no buy’ movement may all still be gaining traction on TikTok and beyond, but beauty is no stranger to opposing trends.
Fast consumption also continues to flourish, particularly when it comes to buying budget and affordable beauty brands, and livestreams have become the near-perfect model for accelerating purchase volume and basket size.
Pete Dick, founder and CEO of social commerce consultancy Grant Digital, a team of ex-TikTok Shop experts, explains: “The average order is typically higher in a livestream, and it’s largely because the journey is able to complete end-end within that medium. Any friction is removed.”
“Fast beauty on TikTok is driven by immediacy and entertainment,” adds Beauty Business Brand and Product Development Specialist Sam Murton. “From my own experience, there is a distinct consumer behaviour: many shoppers will now wait for these live events and only buy during offers – often in large volume.”
Trend 4: The own-brand boom
Retailer-owned beauty lines are fast becoming a key driver of customer loyalty, brand differentiation and growth, particularly amid current economic instability led by rising inflation and Trump’s tumultuous tariffs.
According to intelligence platform Daash, the average price point for a prestige beauty product jumped 11% between May 2024 and May 2025.
And in the UK, mass beauty products are also becoming more expensive: Kantar data notes that the average pack price has increased by 32% compared with five years ago.
It is little wonder that own-label products, which can be 20-30% cheaper than branded products, are proving an increasingly attractive alternative for consumers.
But today's consumers are turning to private label brands not as a compromise, but as a smart, informed choice, and in 2025, beauty retailers are increasingly leaning into this momentum, creating ranges of affordable products, backed by exhaustive consumer data.
Trend 5: Beauty minis: reinventing the impulse buy
Miniature, travel-sized products may be diminutive in size but they are packing a bigger punch than ever in beauty.
Sales are soaring, selections are expanding in retail and they are dominating checkout displays: Minis have officially entered their maxi era.
Fiona Glen, Managing Director of beauty brand consultancy The Red Tree says: “Retailers across the board are taking minis more seriously in terms of the assortments, the visibility and the space that they’re giving to them.
“Yes, the pricing is obviously affordable, and they can be used for the gym and travel, but I think the biggest impact is their ability to drive impulse purchasing. Placed near the till, people see them, think they are cute and that they need them.”