Macro trends in Beauty & Cosmetics visuals

Macro trend 1: Holistic Self-Care

Across skincare, makeup, and haircare, brands embracing this trend focus on transforming routine practices into soothing, uplifting experiences.

Rich textures, immersive scents, vibrant colors, and mood-enhancing elements all play a key role in creating products that nurture both body and mind.

Rather than prioritizing complicated multi-step rituals or rigid beauty standards, Holistic Self-Care emphasizes enjoyment, ease of use, and the emotional resonance of beauty products.

Furthermore, Holistic Self-Care reframes beauty from mere aesthetic enhancement to an integral part of overall well-being. Consumers are drawn toward products that affirm self-worth, celebrate individuality, and encourage mindful engagement with beauty rituals, ultimately creating a deeper, more personal connection between consumer and product.

The trend in practice

Holistic Self-Care approaches highlight how beauty brands are turning routine practices into nurturing, mood-enhancing experiences.

• Natural lighting and water elements transform everyday routines into sensory wellness moments

• Vibrant color stories and playful textures merge aesthetic delight with emotional well-being

• Whimsical props and dreamy environments elevate products into vehicles for self-nurturing moments

Macro trend 2: Essential Minimalism

Essential Minimalism conveys clarity, intentional simplicity, and purposeful design across skincare, makeup, haircare, and fragrance.

Consumers increasingly favor streamlined beauty rituals composed of thoughtfully curated essentials, prioritizing effectiveness, versatility, and ease of use

over excessive complexity. When brands adopt Essential Minimalism, they emphasize intentional formulations and refined aesthetics, creating products that seamlessly integrate into daily routines while clearly communicating their purpose and benefits.

High-performing, multifunctional products that offer genuine utility appeal strongly to modern beauty buyers who value efficiency as much as efficacy.

Transparency and clarity are key to this trend — from straightforward ingredient lists in skincare and haircare to intuitive, adaptable fragrance compositions. Packaging and branding follow suit, with clean lines, minimalist visual identities, and honest messaging that underscore trust and authenticity.

Essential Minimalism is not merely about reducing clutter. It elevates everyday rituals by distilling beauty to its most impactful form. Every element is meticulously considered, and every product serves a clear, meaningful purpose.

The trend in practice

Essential Minimalism elevates products through the presentation of purpose and functional simplicity.

• Refined color palettes and crystalline elements convey purity and intentional restraint

• Thoughtful product positioning alongside complementary objects highlight functional context

• Considered material textures and finishes communicate quality design without excess

Macro trend 3: Affordable Fun

Affordable Fun transforms beauty into a vibrant, playful, and highly accessible space, driven primarily by Gen Z but appealing broadly across age groups. This trend is characterized by bold aesthetics, approachable pricing, intuitive formats, and packaging designed to spark curiosity and experimentation.

Brands embracing Affordable Fun encourage consumers to engage creatively with beauty through bright colours, whimsical product names, and easy-to-use, multi-purpose products. The focus is on spontaneity, individual expression, and low-risk experimentation, making beauty routines enjoyable rather than strictly functional or intimidating.

Widely available through mass retail channels and heavily driven by social media virality, these brands cultivate an energetic community atmosphere, thriving on visual appeal and shareability.

Ultimately, Affordable Fun redefines beauty as playful self- expression, turning everyday routines into opportunities for personal creativity, discovery, and joy.

The trend in practice

Affordable Fun reimagines beauty products as accessible tools for creative expression and playful experimentation.

• Bold color combinations and gradient effects create toy-like visual appeal with a polished edge

• Graphic arrangements and high-contrast lighting showcase vibrant textures and synthetic color palettes

• Nostalgic elements and fantasy-inspired styling invite consumers to engage with beauty through a lens of joy and discovery

Explore these trends for your brand

In an industry so centered around aesthetics, brands need to keep up with trends in order to stay top of mind with modern audiences.

However, adopting trends faces obstacles. For example, established creative visions resist change almost by definition. Plus, the budget and turnaround times of new production make experimentation hard to justify.

Fortunately, Omi’s Virtual Photo Studio was built to unify speed and creative vision with slimmer budgets. With ready-made scene compositions, thousands of 3D accessories to use, and unlimited branded customization, you’re free to dip your toes (or push boundaries) in any trend you want.

See below how Omi helps you do just that.

Find a composition using templates

All of the 300+ scene designs are fully customizable, from colors to objects to camera angles. Big brands use templates all the time to kickstart their projects, no matter how much of the design they end up changing.

For a Holistic Self-Care vibe (Macro trend 1), we recommend browsing the ‘Abstract’ or ‘Bubbles’ templates. These may offer either calming or energetic compositions.

Templates good for Essential Minimalism (Macro trend 2) include the ‘Glass line’ and ‘Cosmetics’ or ‘Jewelry’ categories. These have that purposeful, tight simplicity you want.

And for Affordable Fun (Macro trend 3), check out templates within ‘CPG,’ ‘Shelves,’ or ‘Creative.’ These tend to show playground-type spaces where you can balance clutter with control.

Pick your own color scheme

Add your brand’s hex codes or use the color picker to grab one from the scene. You can change the color of your background, floor, many objects, and even the light.

Explore warm pastels for Holistic Self-Care, subtle greys for Essential Minimalism, and vibrant colors for a touch of Affordable Fun.

Decorate your scenes

Scene accessories are key to trend adoption because they help to either support or contrast your products thematically. Omi's free library of 6,000+ accessories is one of the largest in the world, and should cover any need you have. Plus, 3D assets never break, expire, or melt like your physical props do.

Try adding sparkling bubbles or candles for Holistic Self-Care, water droplets for Essential Minimalism, or vintage throwback gadgets for Affordable Fun.

Play with lights and camera angles

Get the perfect perspective, focus, and mood in just a few clicks. Try soft natural lighting to evoke Holistic Self-Care. Play with colored lights and grain effects to tap into the nostalgic vibe of Affordable Fun. Choose a camera angle that makes your product the hero to express Essential Minimalism.

Adapt content to context

Ads and product launches need visuals for attention and recall. Conversion-oriented product pages require crystal clarity and a functional, toned-down approach. For social media, dynamic camera movements and video effects get the most eyeballs.

The flexibility and customizability of Omi’s Virtual Studio means every scene is ripe with content for any context.