The global beauty industry was worth $480bn in 2025, up from $360bn in 2019. That is a 5% annual growth rate over six years, according to McKinsey’s new report, From Aisle to Algorithm. By 2030, McKinsey expects the market to reach $590 billion, growing at a similar pace.
Skincare remains the largest category, worth $192bn in 2025. Haircare followed at $101bn, fragrance at $97bn, and makeup at $91bn. But the ranking by size hides where the growth came from.
Fragrance grew fastest over the last period, at 8% a year since 2019, in both mass and prestige. For example, on the luxury side, Amouage closed 2025 with revenue up 66% and retail sales above $430 million. In the mass category Lattafa built the largest Arab fragrance business on Amazon and became the platform’s top-selling brand globally in the first quarter of 2026, according to Pattern.
Haircare grew 6% a year, driven by a 9% increase in the prestige tier. Consumers now buy scalp and treatment products with clinical claims that used to be reserved to salons. Skincare pioneered that clinical shift and haircare is following.
Skincare itself grew more slowly, at 3% a year. Prestige struggled while masstige brands, many of them Korean, posted high single-digit gains. Makeup was the slowest 2%, still affected by the consequences of the pandemic: makeup came off people’s faces, and the skincare habit picked up in lockdown took its place.
However, the gap in category performance could tighten over the next five years, with every category projected to grow between 3% and 5% a year through 2030 as the fragrance category notably normalizes as the market starts to get oversaturated.
