We've been in a long-time love affair with Asia. Those of us stateside snapped up glass skin and K-Pop Demon Hunters. We take our "skinimalism" along with our sushi and matcha, and get seconds and thirds of Douyin makeup along with our dim sum.
With the urbanization and growing middle class in other parts of Asia though, we're at last venturing to other reaches of the region. The next moment in skin and wellness? Indian beauty, or "I-Beauty."
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We've been in a long-time love affair with Asia. Those of us stateside snapped up glass skin and K-Pop Demon Hunters. We take our "skinimalism" along with our sushi and matcha, and get seconds and thirds of Douyin makeup along with our dim sum.
With the urbanization and growing middle class in other parts of Asia though, we're at last venturing to other reaches of the region. The next moment in skin and wellness? Indian beauty, or "I-Beauty."
The "Story" of Skin Care
Current beauty trends point to a consumer base that's looking for more personalized, results-focused solutions, while the oversaturated market is forcing brands to transcend traditional value-draws to distinguish themselves. Read: efficacy is necessary still, of course, but no longer sufficient.
I-beauty sees this and raises us its solution: climate-aware and adaptive formulations that are inclusive to darker skin types. More than this, the target audience for I-beauty represents the majority of the largest growing beauty markets. Many consumers in these markets live in hot, humid, urban, population-dense areas, which tend to come with more pollution—factors that many Indian brands take into account.
Additionally, Ayurveda, a holistic Indian healing system, meshes well with an increasingly wellness-forward culture. By marrying science-backed formulation with coveted holistic practices, I-beauty positions itself to not just be what's next in skin care but a critical piece of the broader wellness dialogue.
E-Commerce Puts the 'E' in Easy
The rise of online sales means buying has never been so easy, with roughly one-third of global beauty sales projected to take place online by 2030. Harnessing the power of the internet has also catalyzed a new era of globalization. Easier communication and exchange make it easier to get goods into consumers' hands, meaning that parts of the beauty conversation that may have seemed irrelevant to consumers in the U.S. aren't just pertinent, but necessary for staying au courant.
Our susceptibility with respect to parasocial relationships has made us easier targets for brands as well. Influencers are a dominant force in the spread of I-beauty, not only able to leverage social media algorithms for a wider spread, but glamorizing-while-normalizing desirable results and experiences through everyday people in a register that's friendly and relatable.
While the market is flush with competition, I-beauty brands now have the opportunity to get their feet into doors, whether those doors are in neighborhoods local to them, on Fifth Avenue or anywhere else.
I-Beauty Trends
While there's a lot of choice territory in Indian beauty and wellness, skin care remains the largest sector—unsurprising, seeing as skin health has been competing with weight loss in becoming emblematic of our total health.
Notably, men's cosmetics and grooming is the fastest-growing area, as traditional gender roles are reworked and dismantled, and heightened awareness about health and wellness surrounds beauty conversations that fifteen years ago didn't venture much further past superficial.
Green words like "natural" and "organic" are still red-hot in an increasingly health-conscious market, meaning that I-beauty's often times holistic-leaning approach holds mass appeal.
Looking to start riding the I-beauty wave, but not sure where to start? As always, successful cultural collabs start with respect and research, and are strengthened through community and connection. Knowing what practices are tied to culture and religion versus which ones are okay for aesthetic and commercial use is a major part (and at times, not entirely separate). Knowing who's a more credible source to learn from, like members of the community and culture, versus those who have only experienced the culture from the outside, also makes a difference.
In an industry where education and relationships are essential, we're at our best when we inspire and learn from each other. Embracing beauty trends and cultural exchange from other places has allowed American aesthetics to progress past a historically pretty exclusive approach, and with I-beauty as a growing frontier, we once again have the opportunity to get even better.
