9 Skincare Trends for 2020 Taking the Beauty Industry by Storm

From trendy facials to new products to non-toxic skincare rituals, here are the 9 new skincare trends every one in the beauty industry wants to try in 2020.

skincare trends 2020 beauty industry products brands

Hey gorgeous! Skincare is a rapidly increasing industry, thanks to everyone’s interest in getting the radiant glow and keeping it youthful. While skincare is as old a concept as fashion itself, little research was actually done by consumers themselves up until recently.

However, times have changed rapidly, as there is a rise of countless new brands focusing on educating the consumers about how skin care products are actually developed and supposed to work. Plus, global trends like traditionally natural skincare and Korean skincare regimes take social media by storm, and everyone wants to see their results.

In 2020, skincare is all about making knowledge even more accessible to us – the consumers. Going back to the roots and at the same time, trying new ingredients and technologies, skincare has so much in store for is this year. So in this ever-changing industry, I dug a little deeper to understand what we can expect to see in the trendy upcoming products. And whether or not these trends are gonna be worth splurging on. Plus, I also picked out many products, both in India and the US, to give you all an idea of where to go when you want to try new brands and these skincare trends.

inkey list niacinamide vitamin b

So without further ado, let’s dive right in and learn about the hottest skincare trends we’ll be seeing everyone fawn over in 2020.

9 New Skincare Trends for 2020

1. Waterless Skincare

The beauty industry is guilty of too much water consumption, as almost every product lists water or Aqua, as one of its top ingredients. And that’s how this new trend was born. In 2020, we’re seeing many top names in skincare introduce products that proudly declare themselves to be waterless.

Waterless beauty doesn’t only help the planet conserve this depleting resource. It also has another purpose. Water-based products feel less moisturizing over time, since water does not penetrate the skin’s layers. When it evaporates, it leaves the skin dry and stripped of essential oils in its topmost layer.

loli skincare beauty waterless jelly

Aloe Blueberry Jelly: Loli Beauty

Furthermore, water-based skincare products tend to use more preservatives, which dilutes the potent, active ingredients. The companies do this to ensure the products can last on the shelves for longer. This is because water is a breeding ground for bacteria. So chemical preservatives, perfumes etc. become essential to make the product last longer in products whose main ingredient is aqua.

Waterless skincare is actually yet another one of the skincare trends 2020, which is borrowed from Korean skincare. In Korean products, it’s common to use botanical extracts and oils instead of oil. These oils can penetrate the skin and actively hydrate, repair and rebuild the protective layers of the skin.

ilana organics waterless serum india

Papaya + Lemon Face Serum: Ilana Organics

2. Non-Toxic Everything

Everyone knows that skincare products can sometimes do more harm than good. All of us have different skin. The complicated list of ingredients all beauty products have over-complicates everything. What’s more – major beauty brands aren’t usually even transparent about their ingredients. Most solely rely on their brand value and the Photoshopped models with pore-less skins who promote them.

Well, 2020 is the time to end that. More and more new brands include a transparent list of organic, toxin-free ingredients with each and every product. Skin-care lines by brands like Loli Beauty, Drunk Elephant, Sublime Life, Farmacy and more are making a lot of effort in the area of clean beauty. Although we cannot know for certain yet if their claims are a 100% true.

loli plum elixir non toxic

Plum Elixir: Loli

What is clean beauty? Well, for now, it’s an all-encompassing term to mean beauty or skin-care products that are organic, natural, free of toxins, pesticides, carcinogens or harmful VOCs. In some cases, this also includes non comedogenic skin care, which means having ingredients that don’t cause build-up by blocking skin’s pores and therefore blackheads. And the only brands we can trust on this are those who are 100% transparent about their ingredients, listing them alongside every product on their website/packaging.

Tiffany Masterson, founder of Drunk Elephant termed the toxins the ‘Suspicious 6’ (essential oils, drying alcohols, silicones, chemical screens, fragrance/dyes and SLS) that cause sensitivity and that her brand strives to eliminate from skincare routines.

drunk elephant non toxic serum

C-Firma™ Day Serum: Drunk Elephant

For some brands, clean beauty also means that the products are certified to ensure they are made ethically with food-grade ingredients only that haven’t been diluted. For other brands, it means creating products in a cruelty-free way that is environmentally-friendly and also produces zero-waste.

3. Blue Light Skin Care

Forget UV protection for in the age of social media, who even has the time to step out in the sun? The bigger concern we need to fight against in our skin care regimes is the harmful blue lights emitted by our phones, laptop screens – basically all our electronic devices.

Also known as HEV (High Energy Visible) light, blue light does more harm than straining our eyes. Scientists now actually believe that blue light emitted from our devices can cause premature ageing of our skin, wrinkles and skin discoloration, according to a paper published in the Journal of Biomed Phys Eng.

care minerals blue light protection

Complexion Rescue Defense: BareMinerals

Obviously, skin care brands have all jumped on the bandwagon. They have come up with beauty products that can create a barrier between the skin and blue light. Or try to reverse the damage caused. Products that claim to protect against blue light are one of the latest skincare trends for 2020.

However, I’m not fully certain how effective this will be, since we do need long-term studies to prove any of these benefits they claim. This is especially considering that one product on my list here is a whopping $150! In the meanwhile, I’ll just recommend implementing a screen-time curfew. Also: using your desktop more than your phones, and sitting farther away from your laptop screen.

blue light protection serum

Blue Light Protection Hyaluronic Serum: Chantecaille

4. Microcurrent Facials

Here’s the trendy facial some of the top spas are offering in 2020 that we are curious to know more about. Microcurrent facials use small currents to stimulate the muscles in the face, for facial contouring, firming and toning of the skin.

microcurrent facial
No.6 Clinic in UK

According to NuFACE, a spa that offers microcurrent anti-ageing therapy treatment devices, the process uses microcurrents, which are sort of low-level electricity waves that mimic the body’s natural current. These waves travel through the skin’s tissues. They claim for this process to stimulate ATP production, though it’s so subtle you almost feel nothing. ATP or Adenosine triphosphate, is responsible for the creation of proteins like collagen and elastin, giving a lifted appearance.

nume microcurrent facial
Nuface Microcurrent facial device

Joanna Vargas is offering a microcurrent facial in NY and LA, called the Triple Crown Facial, which has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmo, NYMag and Forbes. They say it uses a special combination of microdermabrasion, microcurrent, and oxygen-infused therapy to stimulate collagen, cell regeneration, elastin and amino acids. SB Skin in New York city offers a 50-minute long microcurrent facial session costing $225-300, depending on the expert. According to their website, “Microcurrent facials are considered a form of muscular re-education for the face, manipulating 32 different facial muscles.”

5. Copper Peptides

Move over 24-karat gold facials and brightening Colloidal Silver eye masks, the new metal to take the skincare industry by storm is copper. Copper peptide is a skin-restoring ingredient and according to a paper published in U.S. National Library of Medicine, helps improve the well-being of the skin.

We’re seeing it in many forms this year, such as skin care serums, wrinkly-reducing creams and facials, as such it’s become one of the hottest skincare trends for 2020. Praised by Glamour magazine and Harper’s Bazaar, copper peptides are coming out as the anti-ageing ingredient of 2020. The latter even published a statement by New York’s dermatologist Joshua Zeichner saying, “Even often skeptical doctors are touting copper’s ability to combat the ravages of time.”

kiehls Powerful Wrinkle Reducing anti-wrinkle cream Copper peptides

Powerful Wrinkle Reducing Eye Cream: Kiehls

Copper is touted as an antioxidant that helps get rid of hyperpigmentation and stimulate collagen production. Experts like Joanna Vargas, Celebrity Facialist and Founder of Joanna Vargas Salons and Skin Care, and Nurse Nancy, Nancy Pellegrino, NP and Co-Founder of THE ROUTE have vouched for copper peptides as helpful ingredients to reduce wrinkles and fine lines, further improving skin smoothness and firmness.

However, there is some debate on how much is too much, and whether copper peptides work well with retinols or not. So if you do give them a try, to a patch test to see they don’t cause you a rash. Also, copper overuse can cause toxicity and gastrointestinal issues, so use them only topically and gently.

Omorovicza Copper peptides

Refining Facial Polisher: Omorovicza

6. Plant Based Products

The skincare industry’s new obsession with clean beauty extends itself to this new trend – plant based beauty or vegan skincare trends. Vegetables and fruits, as we all know, are important for our skin’s well-being and naturally replenish its topmost layer that acts as a barrier against pollution and dullness.

Botanical AHAs, or Alpha Hydroxy Acids, are one of the latest, most popular thing to enter the beauty world. Made from natural ingredients like hibiscus flower, grapes or sugarcane, AHAs help exfoliate the skin’s surface. Moreover, organic superfoods also help us maintain the skin’s natural pH levels.

neemli naturals argan rose day cream

Argan & Rose Day Cream: Neemli Naturals

Fermenstation, a Japanese brand, specializes in handmade products that are created from traditional fermentation of natural ingredients. Oshu Sabon is a soap for sensitive skin, made by adding Koji (rice mold) to organic rice with natural rice oil and argan oils.

Loli Beauty, which specializes in vegan beauty products, mentions ingredients like Plum Seed Oil and Sea Buckthorn Fruit Oil in its serums that are waterless blends of food grade oils. In India, many ayurvedic beauty brands like Forest Essentials are making great strides in the direction of transparent vegan skincare.

Going back to our roots of using all plant-based remedies for skincare, organics are not just one of the top beauty trends of 2020 in skincare, but also makeup  and hair-care.

biossance squalene oil skincare trends

100% Squalane Oil: Biossance

7. Microbiome

We know that we have both good and bad bacteria both inside our bodies & on our skin, including face. Microbiome is the name for this flora – bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses. The new skincare trend is to provide nutrition to our good bacteria. They are responsible for the chemicals that improve the skin’s topmost layers, keeping the skin healthy overall.

pro balance probiotics

Pro-Balance Biotics Moisturizer: Dr. Ceuracle

Microbiome skincare works in three ways. One is prebiotics, which is to feed the bacteria so they thrive, such as wheat bran and seaweed. The next is probiotics, in which the products contain live cultures of good bacteria, in order to restore the skin’s microbiome. This is the most important part of the microbiome skincare, and a lot of brands are focusing on creams and capsules for this, such as Aime.

The last part is postbiotics, which focuses on the chemicals released after the microbes. Prebiotic and probiotic skincare trends are not the only fads, we’re even seeing microbiome focused haircare this year, which works to improve the scalp’s flora.

aime prebiotic probiotic microbiome skincare trends

Urban Glow: Aime

8. Niacinamide

Also known as nicotinamide, niacinamide is actually just the fancy name for Vitamin B3. This vitamin is essential for our skin (and our body). We usually rely on our diets for niacin. However, it can also be applied topically through skin-care products rich in this vitamin.

revolution skincare trends niacinamide serum

Skincare Blemish/ Pore Refining Serum with Niacinamide: Makeup Revolution

It is beneficial for a multitude of skin-care concerns like ageing and dullness caused by environmental pollutants. Niacinamide also improves our skin’s immunity and moisture retention. It also helps to reduce fine lines, reduce pores and even out skin tone. All these make this the super-important ingredient that has made niacinamide a darling of the skincare industry in 2020.

So luckily, we’re seeing this vitamin as a major ingredient in formulations for serums, face masks, under-eye creams. It’s one of the top skincare trends that brands like The Inkey List, Alpha-H and Glow Recipe are focusing on.

skincare trends glow recipe avocado sleeping mask niacinamide

Avocado Melt Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask: Glow Recipe

9. Rosehip Oil

Here’s another ingredient that’s back with a bang in the anti-ageing and ageing prevention skin care arena. Rosehip oil is formed after pressing the seed pods that are left when a rose’s petals fall off. It was valued in the ancient times for its healing properties.

We’re spotting it in the ingredient list of many formulas these days. Brands are also introducing rosehip oil to be applied directly onto skin. Plus, US Magazine reported that celebs like Kate Middleton and her mother have made rosehip oil a part of their daily skincare routines. It’s one of the most popular skincare trends of 2020.

Skincare Trends Rejuvenating Serum Joanna Vargas rosehip oil

Rejuvenating Serum: Joanna Vargas

Also known as rosehip seed oil, this intensely fragrant oil contains essential fatty acids. These include omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9, which activate skin cells. They also improve collagen-production and the regeneration of elastin.

High in vitamin A and C, skin care gurus say this oil helps balance the pH of the skin. It reduces skin damage, and also helps brighten the skin and even out the complexion. Additionally, it provides hydration and calm inflammation. Experts are saying you can use it twice a day, be sure to do a patch-test for any reactions. Store it in a cool place and avoid using rosehip oil and retinoids together.

anveya rosehip oil skincare face anveya

Rosehip Oil: Anveya

Read next:
Jade Roller Facial Massage | Benefits, How to & All You Need to Know
Do Anti Aging Cream Work? Do They Really Work or Another Scam?
Best Essential Oil for Acne: Do They Really Work?

4 thoughts on “9 Skincare Trends for 2020 Taking the Beauty Industry by Storm”

  1. I have been using Ejassi products and they have exceeded my expectations! From skincare to fragrances, their range is exceptional. The quality and effectiveness are remarkable. You won’t be disappointed! (potential ad)

    Reply

Leave a Comment