Glossy Forum: New Face of Beauty

Beauty is not what it used to be. Long driven by a one-size-fits-all, Barbie-like ideal, the industry’s definition of what’s beautiful (and who deserves to have fun with beauty) is evolving to include a wider range of people, spanning genders, races, ages, sizes and sexual orientations. Beauty content is changing to accommodate this shift, replacing shame with encouragement, and surface-level topics with explorations of identity. Alongside this, micro-trends are moving into the mainstream, pushing traditional beauty brands off to the sidelines in lieu of smaller, direct-to-consumer companies. With new technologies like augmented reality in the mix, as well, the way consumers discover and shop for products is being totally transformed.