How Gen Z Is Recomposing the Beauty Routine: The Skinimalism Trend

Gen Z: The New Core of the Global Beauty Market

Gen Z (born 1997–2012) has firmly established itself as a pivotal consumer group in the global beauty market. Global consumer reports from BCG and McKinsey estimate their direct purchasing power at approximately $360 billion. Furthermore, they are recognized as an ‘Influential Consumer’ segment, significantly impacting the purchasing decisions of their peers and families.

This generation maintains clear criteria for consumption. They eschew exaggerated claims or complex steps, placing value on daily, achievable routines and products that can be seamlessly incorporated into their everyday lives.

This pragmatic beauty sensibility can be encapsulated by the trend known as ‘Skinimalism.’ Skinimalism is not merely about using fewer products but represents an attitude focused on calibrating the routine to fit one's needs and finding sustainable methods of use.

Recomposing the Routine: The Multi-Use Trend Driven by Gen Z

Skinimalism is directly leading the charge in the skin and sun care markets, resulting in the proliferation of Multi-use products designed to perform several functions in one item.

The market is increasingly seeing products engineered to cover multiple areas of the body. Examples include:

• Stick-type color products that can be used on the lips, cheeks, and eyes.

• Pocket-sized sun sticks that can be applied immediately without a mirror while out.

• Lip balms, bases, and cushion products that include SPF functionality.

• UV care products extended for use on the hairline, behind the ears, and even the scalp.

It is more accurate to view these Multi-use products not as items with 'combined features,' but as products designed around the user's lifestyle and daily rhythm. They are the result of actively recomposing the routine—not simply reducing the product count.

Values Driving Gen Z Consumption

• Practicality: Selecting products that can be used consistently in real life.

• Trust: Relying on clear and unexaggerated product descriptions.

• Comfort: Valuing comfortable formulations and application for effortless daily use.

While the routine has simplified, Gen Z's standards for product selection have become more refined.

Less Complex, More Precise: Information Architecture in the Multi-Use Era

Although Multi-use products may appear streamlined externally, the communication and information surrounding them must be engineered with greater precision.

✔️ Regulatory Review: For products containing UV protection, review may be necessary not only for cosmetic classification but also for compliance with OTC (Over-the-Counter Drug) standards.

✔️ Label Clarity: For products usable on multiple areas, instructions—including usage, applicable areas, and warnings—must be exceptionally clear on the labeling.

✔️ Careful Efficacy Claims: Phrases suggesting efficacy, such as “soothing,” “barrier strengthening,” or “recovery,” require meticulous review based on scientific evidence and term interpretation standards.

In essence, while the product simplifies, the underlying communication and information must be more precisely designed.

Multi-Use: A Method for Calibrating the Routine

The Multi-use trend transcends simple concepts of 'convenience' or 'saving money.' It represents a fundamental shift toward consumers actively adjusting their routines to match their own lifestyles.

For brands, this necessitates an approach that considers usage definition, functional claims, label language, application, and OTC potential concurrently during the product planning stage. This is not a short-term response to a fad, but a foundational design philosophy tailored to new consumer standards.

In the next article, Series 2, we will explore how this consumer sensibility of Gen Z is influencing changes in packaging and labeling practices. Specifically, we will discuss the evolution of packaging from a simple container to a structure that conveys a brand’s attitude and message.

Provision Consulting Group is an FDA regulatory consulting firm based in the U.S.,

supporting registration and regulatory compliance across diverse product categories, including cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, medical devices, and food.

We work closely with companies at every stage to align trend and

consumption patterns with actual product planning, labeling, and U.S. market regulatory compliance.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or for assistance.

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