Based on data from Pattern, the leading global brand ecommerce accelerator, I rank the top 15 skincare searches on Amazon for Q1 2026 to identify the top trends.
The first one is acne. Pimple Patches take the first spot with 18.6m searches, up 338% from the previous quarter, the biggest change in the ranking by a wide margin. Panoxyl, the benzoyl peroxide treatment brand, comes in at 7.3m searches, up 231% while Dr.Melaxin, the Korean dark-spot brand, is up 22% to 2.1m. This shows customers are increasingly conscious about breakouts and the marks they leave.
The second trend is seasonal preparation. Self Tanner searches rose 242% to 4.1m and sunscreen rose 81% to 2.8m. Shoppers are getting ready for spring and summer: tan first and sun protection close behind.
But what’s falling is also telling. “Skincare” dropped 29% to 3m searches. “Korean Skincare” fell 23% to 2.7m. Lip Balm fell 38% to 2.2m. Face Wash fell 5% to 2.1m. Aquaphor fell 27% to 2.8m. CeraVe Moisturizing Cream fell 14% to 1.9m.
That doesn’t mean that these categories are shrinking but the way shoppers are searching is changing. Shoppers used to type “skincare” and browse. Now they are more precise and type the problem they have, or the product they already want, and skip the category page.
Medicube shows what that shift looks like up close. Search volume for the Medicube brand name fell 9% to 8.1m, yet Medicube was the second best-selling skincare brand on Amazon in Q1. At the same time, the Medicube Zero Pore Pad rose 54% to 4.4m searches. The brand isn’t losing ground and shoppers are just searching for the product directly.
My takeaway for skincare brands building their Amazon presence is that broad category terms are a shrinking source of traffic, quarter after quarter. The products that win either own a specific problem (acne, dark spots, sun protection) or have a product name shoppers already know and type in directly. If your hero SKU doesn’t have its own search identity yet, this is the quarter to build one.