A beauty brand’s success depends on how well it translates customer needs into products without losing its identity. Interviews conducted in September with founders and industry leaders showed how some companies are meeting this challenge by focusing on purpose over trends, performance over gimmicks, and long-term strategy over short-term fads.

For Caroline Hirons, founder of Skin Rocks, the solution began with a simple lab directive: “No budget, just make the best Eye Cream you can.” The result, The Eye Cream, earned the Best New Product: Skincare Treatment (Prestige or Luxe) award at the 2026 TheIndustry.beauty Innovators Awards. Unlike competitors chasing viral trends, Skin Rocks addressed core concerns—dark circles, puffiness, and dehydration—while designing a refillable formula to cut waste. The award confirmed that scaling a brand doesn’t require sacrificing its mission.

The refillable packaging reflects a focus on sustainability and performance. Skin Rocks’ strategy now prioritizes expanding its refill system.

Dr. Sam Bunting, a dermatologist turned entrepreneur, emphasizes that career growth requires action, not hesitation. Her first beauty role came unexpectedly on TLC’s Extreme Beauty Disasters, where she overcame public-speaking anxiety. “I’m a fundamentally different person professionally than I was seven years ago, and that growth came from backing myself rather than waiting until I felt ready. You’re never fully ready. Start anyway.”

Dermatologist-backed simplicity wins skincare trust

This mindset shaped her Dr. Sam’s skincare line, which combines clinical expertise with simple formulations. Unlike brands that complicate routines, Bunting’s products focus on three essential steps: cleanse, treat, and protect. This simplicity appeals to consumers overwhelmed by skincare complexity, especially in markets where trust in dermatologist-backed brands is growing.

Vicky Kelly, Beauty Category Director at Holland & Barrett, took a nontraditional career path, moving from product development to retail leadership, which gave her a unique perspective. “Seeing the category return to double-digit growth within the first 12 months was incredibly rewarding, particularly because it demonstrated what can happen when there is a clear strategy and teams across the business are aligned behind it.”

Kelly’s work merges beauty and wellness by integrating topical skincare with ingestible supplements, reflecting how consumers now view self-care as holistic, not just creams and serums, but vitamins, probiotics, and mood-enhancing ingredients.

Performance over packaging redefines luxury beauty

Not all brands rely on retail giants to execute their vision. For Nicola Elliott, founder of Neom Wellbeing, the priority was proving that performance matters more than packaging. “I was clear from the outset that this couldn’t just be a nice-smelling oil; it had to perform, full stop.” she said of her Great Day Pro-Vitamin D3 Dry Body Oil, which won Best New Product: Bath & Body (Prestige & Luxe). The oil’s fast-absorbing texture and wild mint-mandarin scent were designed for real-world use, no artificial fragrances, no greasy residue. Elliott’s focus on functionality over aesthetics challenges the industry’s emphasis on luxury branding.

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When facing an established competitor, Gyve Safavi, co-founder of SURI, chose innovation through constraint. “We’re never going to outspend those companies, so we have to think differently.”

SURI’s electric toothbrush, now sold in over one million units globally, addresses a common frustration: waste from disposable brush heads. The company’s mail-back program for used heads became a key selling point, while its refillable toothpaste further reduces environmental impact. Retail partnerships, including with Boots, helped build trust in a market dominated by Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Safavi’s strategy centers on letting the product speak for itself.

Retailers now lead with customer missions

The focus on customer needs over product categories is also transforming retail. Charlotte Lock, Chief Marketing Officer at Boots, argues that shoppers enter stores with specific goals, not to browse aisles. “We don’t want to just categorise how customers shop by aisle because they don’t. They come in with a mission.”

Boots’ Give It Some Boots campaign reflects this shift. The eight-week initiative tackles real concerns, such as handling skincare choices, managing perimenopause, or simplifying routines, through storytelling. Creators and in-store staff bring these narratives to life, turning transactions into conversations. The campaign’s success depends on one question: Does the brand truly understand its customers’ daily challenges?

For Emma Simpson-Scott, the new CEO of Space NK, the answer lies in reinventing the physical retail experience. The retailer’s Oxford Street flagship won the Physical Retail Award at the 2026 Innovators Awards, demonstrating that expert advice and interactive discovery can still attract customers in an e-commerce-dominated era. “The success of Oxford Street has reinforced something we’ve believed for a long time: physical retail is incredibly powerful when it gives customers a reason to visit.”

That reason often comes down to personalized service. Space NK blends expert consultations with hands-on product testing, creating an experience online shopping cannot replicate. The retailer’s recent addition of Sarah Creal Beauty highlights another trend: brands increasingly targeting the 40-plus consumer. Unlike age-specific marketing that relies on stereotypes, Sarah Creal’s formulas were tested exclusively on women over 40, emphasizing individual skin needs over arbitrary categories. “Age is not a skin type. You can have dehydrated skin in your twenties or oily skin in your fifties.”

The debate over age-specific formulations continues. Some brands, including Merit and Laura Geller Beauty, argue that application technique matters more than age. Others, like Sarah Creal, believe formulation science should adapt to changing skin biology. The discussion gained attention at Erdem’s SS27 London Fashion Week show, where Merit’s minimalist makeup complemented a collection inspired by the aerialist Barbette. The backstage team, makeup artist Lynsey Alexander, facialist Hadda Akrim, and hairstylist Eugene Souleiman, balanced glamour with restraint, proving that even high-fashion beauty must serve a purpose.