The Sheinification of Skincare
Longevity’s rise portends a reckoning for beauty, skincare, and supplements — and a wake-up call for anyone still segmenting audiences by age instead of attitude.
Hi everyone, welcome back! In case you’re new here, I’m Olivia, a senior copywriter at Artemis Ward and your guide for this monthly column, where we dive into the deeper shifts behind viral moments and what they mean for us. Let’s take the plunge.
Earlier this month, I attended Vogue Business’ Future of Appearance webinar, based on the editorial series of the same name. The series explores what we (read: the wealthy) will look like in twenty years in light of the burgeoning longevity industry, which has interesting crossovers with beauty, skincare, wellness, and plastic surgery — not to mention fitness, nutrition, and “biohacking.”
I was particularly drawn to the webinar because of one of the articles’ headlines:
“Are tweakments just fast fashion for your face?”
The article compares fast fashion and “tweakments,” non-surgical aesthetic procedures, in light of their environmental impacts, but I’d argue the comparison extends to consumer spending behaviors, too. Now that tweakments like Botox, filler, and HydraFacials are increasingly accessible and (somewhat) affordable, they’ve become normalized as “routine maintenance.” But that got me thinking: if tweakments are fast fashion, comparable to Zara drops and Urban Outfitters microtrends, then what are our skincare routines? Shein?
The webinar confirmed my suspicions, especially when the panelists walked through the “subtle” beauty and bodily innovations of the future, which had been predicted in consultation with leading plastic surgeons, cosmetic dentists, and skincare health experts:
Fat injections to enhance body sculpting and muscle definition
Metabolic reprogramming to suppress appetite and lose weight
These predicted innovations, if realized, could render countless products and tweakments obsolete, from newer disruptors like filler and GLP-1s to tried-and-true anti-aging products like face creams and Rogaine. Marketed as invisible upgrades to help you age “naturally” (or as natural as rewiring your body’s metabolism can be), these innovations speak to the growing desire to defy aging in a way no one can quite detect.
In that world, even La Mer starts to look like the face cream version of Forever 21.
It's hard to imagine a future in which traditional skincare is rendered unnecessary, if not entirely obsolete. After all, the average Gen Zer spends more than $2,000 each year on beauty products, and facial skincare generates approximately $15.6 billion in U.S. revenue annually. Even more striking, although the oldest members of this generational cohort are just fifteen, a staggering 45% of Gen Alpha boys are interested in skincare, and 25% of them already maintain a skincare routine of 3–5 products each morning. (Remember the Sephora kids?) And let’s not forget the “morning shed,” a viral TikTok trend in which people layer their skincare routines with their choice of overnight products: eye patches, face masks, mouth tape, lip stains, chin straps, and heatless curlers, to name a few.
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While skincare routines are our current obsession, as we’ve observed with masseter Botox, filler, PRP, GLP-1s, and vampire and salmon sperm facials, once a new anti-aging breakthrough enters the market, it becomes the new aspirational “standard.” And everything else? It starts to look like theater in comparison. Think of it this way: if Lindsay Lohan can completely redesign her face, what hope have I in my morning Vitamin C and sunscreen routine?
The So What
Longevity is having a moment — one that’s reshaping not just beauty routines, but how we define health, wellness, even self-worth. And if you’re a brand operating in any of those spaces, it’s time to pay attention.
Longevity — the industry and the word itself — is slippery. It comes from Latin: longus (long) + aevum (age). So, in theory, longevity just means living longer. But it’s not that simple: as longevity is currently being packaged, what does "long age" really mean? Feeling better for longer? Looking better for longer? Or simply existing…for longer?
Here’s where things start to split.
Vogue Business’ longevity predictions signal a growing divide — not just in what consumers can afford, but in what they actually want from beauty and wellness:
The Look Goods want to erase the visible effects of aging. They’ll try anything for smooth skin, faded wrinkles, and youthful contours.
The Feel Goods care less about how old they look than how old they feel. They’ll pursue products that help with mobility, stamina, and sleep as they age. And if those products help them look better? That’s just a nice side effect.
It goes without saying that we all have a little vanity in us; the Feel Goods aren’t completely immune to aesthetic desire. But the difference between these groups becomes clear in analogy: some people will inject fat into their biceps to look more muscular; others will spend months in the gym to be stronger.
The Look Good and Feel Good divide transcends age, as well. Just look at Pamela Anderson and Kris Jenner — both over fifty, both beautiful, but moving in different directions. Pamela’s showing up on red carpets barefaced. Kris just launched her new face in Paris like designers debut new lines during fashion week.
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If you’re a brand or business in the beauty and wellness space, the stakes are clear. Where the Look Goods are concerned, you’re no longer competing with the other products next to you on the shelf. You’re competing with a lifestyle consumers are told they can engineer. The truth is, the Look Goods may be a losing battle: they’ll chase the next best thing, whether it’s injectable or ingestible, regardless of what’s in your bottle. Take another peek at Vogue’s longevity innovations above: all treat the outward signs of aging, not the inner workings of senescence.
But the Feel Goods — that’s where your opportunity lies. They’re less worried about crow’s feet than whether they’ll be able to run around in a backyard with their grandkids. So they’ll still want supplements that increase focus and reduce inflammation, skincare that soothes eczema and rosacea, and wearables that track sleep, strain, and resting heart rate.
In this new era, the brands that will win won’t be the ones declaring war on aging. They’ll be the ones helping us meet it with strength, grace, ambivalence, even beauty — whatever your version of longevity looks like.
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