Is the fast fashion approach to beauty brands dead?
Less is more in 2025, right?
There was a time not so long ago when launching a new lipstick every week felt like the height of innovation. The fast beauty boom, fuelled by viral drops, celebrity collaborations and copycat formulas, promised endless novelty for under a tenner. It was impulsive and playful, and for a while, it worked.
But now? That kind of consumption feels out of sync with the way a lot of people are living. People are drained by brands who constantly churn out new products and collections. There’s less of a feeling that fits with hoarding drawers full of products that you’ll never use. It might be my age, but there does seem to be more intention behind some purchases.
Where fast fashion led, fast beauty eagerly followed. Brands churned out weekly drops, micro-trends exploded overnight, and new launches were hyped before the last had even shipped. The sheer pace of it all was relentless. But in 2025, the energy has shifted. We’re no longer excited by excess. We’re craving something slower, more intentional and more aligned with who we are now.
Part of this is financial. Budgets are tighter. A cost-of-living crisis will do that. But it’s not just about money. It’s about meaning. We’re being more selective with what we buy and how we use it. There’s less tolerance for waste, and more interest in conscious consumption. The question isn’t what’s new? but what do I actually need?
This mindset is everywhere, from Project Pan to undercosnumption core, clean girl beauty, pushback against 12-step routines and an increased appetite for multipurpose products. Panning a palette or finishing a tube of moisturiser is a small act of defiance in a beauty culture that once glorified hauls and endless accumulation. More and more, people are proud to curate their collections instead of constantly adding to them.
That’s not to say people are giving up on beauty altogether. Far from it. But the aesthetic is shifting. Minimalist makeup is having a moment, with clean girl beauty dominating social feeds and everyday routines. Glazed skin, brushed brows, a single swipe of balm - it’s a return to simplicity that speaks to something deeper than just a trend. It’s beauty as wellness, as routine, as ritual, and there’s definitely more of a wellness focus throughout the beauty industry.
The clean girl aesthetic may have started as a TikTok trend, but it’s grown into a broader rejection of the overcomplicated, over-contoured looks that defined much of the 2010s. The goal now is effortlessness. Skin that looks like skin. Makeup that enhances rather than masks. Products that do more with less.
This shift isn’t just cultural. It’s changing the market. Some of the biggest names in fast beauty are scaling back. Morphe closed stores. ColourPop is no longer churning out weekly collabs with the same intensity. Even Kylie Cosmetics quietly reformulated and rebranded. The novelty that once made these brands feel fun and disruptive now feels outdated, even exhausting.
In their place, we’re seeing the rise of slower, more considered beauty brands. Think formulas rooted in science, launches that take months rather than days and a clear focus on skincare-first solutions. It’s not that consumers no longer want choice, they just want better choices. We’re seeing more hybrid products, more thoughtful packaging and a stronger focus on value. It’s not just financial value either, emotional and ethical value is a bit part of it too.
Of course, there’s still a place for play. Beauty has always been about expression. But the idea that we constantly need new to feel good? That we need to be buying every beauty product that crosses our path? That 25 pairs of strip lashes is normal? That’s fading fast. People want products they’ll actually use, not just ones that look good on a shelf. They want routines that serve them, not the algorithm.
So, is the fast fashion approach to beauty dead? Maybe not entirely. But it’s certainly no longer aspirational. The new status symbol isn’t a shelf full of barely used products, it’s a pared-back edit of hardworking favourites. Products that deliver. Routines that make sense. A beauty bag that’s been curated.