With consumer demand fragmenting across regions and price sensitivity rising in developed markets, 2025 proved to be a year of recalibration for beauty and personal care manufacturers. While growth slowed in parts of North America and Europe, resilience in fragrances, dermocosmetics, aesthetics and select emerging markets helped offset pressure in mass beauty and professional channels. The result was a year defined less by uniform expansion and more by strategic adjustment, portfolio discipline and geographic imbalance.
In the US, weakness among lower- and mid-income consumers weighed heavily on mass-oriented players. Procter & Gamble repeatedly flagged sharp category declines in the US, citing consumer fatigue and trade-down behaviour even as it delivered modest growth and held its full-year outlook. Cost pressures, tariff impacts and plans for workforce reductions underscored the challenges facing large FMCG groups reliant on volume-led models. Kenvue faced similar headwinds, posting sales declines across multiple quarters and revising its outlook as it undertook a broader strategic review.
By contrast, brands with strong value propositions or digitally native models continued to outperform. e.l.f. Beauty sustained double-digit growth across the year despite tariff pressure, while ODDITY delivered another period of outsized expansion, raising its full-year forecast on the back of strong online momentum at IL MAKIAGE and SpoiledChild. Waldencast’s performance highlighted the same divergence: Obagi accelerated while Milk Makeup softened, prompting acquisitions and a review of strategic options as the group sought to rebalance its portfolio.
Prestige and fragrance proved among the most resilient categories globally. Puig delivered strong growth across multiple reporting periods, consistently outperforming the broader luxury slowdown as APAC, makeup and fragrance drove results. LVMH’s perfumes and cosmetics division remained steady despite wider group softness, supported by Dior, Guerlain and Sephora, while Chanel reported a rebound in Chinese demand that partially offset slower US sales. Interparfums, however, illustrated the volatility of the segment, with sales dips linked to order timing and brand transitions rather than structural weakness.
Europe’s large-cap beauty players delivered mixed but generally stable performances. L’Oréal posted robust first-half and quarterly results, with growth across all divisions even as US makeup demand softened. Beiersdorf, meanwhile, adjusted its full-year outlook as market conditions slowed, despite continued gains at Nivea and solid performance in derma. Henkel faced pressure in its consumer business as US personal care demand weakened, although longer-term transformation efforts continued to advance.
Asia remained a critical growth engine, albeit with uneven momentum. Amorepacific stood out, delivering double-digit sales growth in some quarters and sharp profit expansion as overseas markets and global beauty brands gained traction. Kao also posted solid sales and profit growth, driven by cosmetics and chemicals, reinforcing the strength of its diversified model. At the same time, Chinese players such as Proya and Yatsen faced slowing domestic demand, even as they pursued international expansion and tighter focus on skincare.
Latin America told a story of transition rather than collapse. Natura reported revenue declines in some quarters as macroeconomic pressure weighed on demand, yet profitability improved as integration advanced and the Avon International sale neared completion. By year-end, the group’s Latam operations delivered materially stronger margins, highlighting the benefits of structural simplification even in a challenging environment.
In professional beauty and aesthetics, performance diverged sharply from traditional retail-linked categories. Galderma delivered record sales and raised its guidance on blockbuster injectables, while Hugel posted strong quarterly and half-year growth as global demand for toxins and aesthetics continued to rise. These results contrasted with ongoing weakness in professional haircare, where Olaplex continued to struggle despite some gains in specialty retail.
Across the board, 2025 reinforced a clear hierarchy within beauty manufacturing. Scale alone was no guarantee of success; instead, growth clustered around prestige, fragrance, dermocosmetics, aesthetics and digitally native brands with strong engagement models. Mass beauty and professional haircare faced sustained pressure, while geographic exposure—particularly to Asia and select emerging markets—proved increasingly decisive.
As manufacturers look ahead, the lessons of the year are clear. Portfolio focus, operational discipline and targeted investment are no longer optional. In a market defined by uneven consumer confidence, those able to pivot quickly, protect brand equity and invest behind resilient categories are best positioned to turn volatility into long-term advantage.
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