Zalando is doubling down on the fusion of beauty and wellness with its first-ever data-led 2025 Beauty in Brief report, positioning “balance” as the key theme shaping how consumers approach beauty this summer and beyond. Powered by behaviour from over 50 million shoppers across Europe, the report traces how calming skincare, simplified routines, and biohacked nights are redefining what beauty means in 2025.
Inside Zalando’s first beauty trends report
Released on 26 May 2025 in Berlin, the 2025 Beauty in Brief report is Zalando’s first stand-alone beauty trend study built on platform data, cultural research, and in-house expertise. The report uses Zalando’s Trend Spotter tool, which aggregates search and browsing activity from its 50+ million customers, and layers it with social trend analysis to identify the biggest shifts driving micro trends.
The core takeaway is clear: beauty is moving away from purely aesthetic goals toward routines that restore emotional equilibrium, reduce stress, and allow more authentic self-expression. “Balance” becomes both a mood and a metric, as consumers look for products that feel supportive and sustainable rather than overwhelming or performative.
Nervous System Regulation leads a new wave of soothing beauty
Among the nine emerging trends profiled, Nervous System Regulation is highlighted as a hero theme. Zalando links this directly to a 700% increase in “calming skincare” searches over the past six months, signalling a dramatic spike in demand for products that promise comfort, grounding, and relief.
These searches reflect an appetite for barrier-supportive formulas, gentle actives, and sensorial textures marketed around safety, soothing, and recovery. Rather than chasing dramatic overnight transformations, customers are building rituals that help regulate stress and support the nervous system—using skincare as a daily self-regulation tool.
Lazy Routines, Sweat-Compatible Systems and 90s Minimalism
The report also spotlights Lazy Routines, Sweat-Compatible Systems for Menopause and 90s Minimalism as part of the same shift toward ease and realism. Lazy Routines celebrate effort-saving formats and multi-tasking products, making beauty feel accessible on low-energy days without sacrificing results.
Sweat-Compatible Systems for Menopause respond to a long-overlooked consumer need: products that work with hot flashes, temperature swings, and changing skin triggered by hormonal shifts. This positions menopause not as a niche, but as a design brief for smarter, more inclusive formulation. Meanwhile, 90s Minimalism continues the cultural nostalgia wave, using clean skin, neutral tones, and simplified lines to deliver a sense of comfort and control for customers tired of heavy contour and maximalist looks.
Biohacking Routines and Beauty Sleep at night
On the evening side of the routine, Biohacking Routines and Beauty Sleep emerge as booming behaviours. Consumers are constructing bedtime rituals that “optimise” the body’s natural recovery window, combining skincare, textures, and habits that promise better overnight repair.
This can range from targeted night serums to calming mists and sleep-supporting products, all framed within a narrative of working with the body rather than against it. The result is a more holistic view of night-time beauty—less about last steps and more about setting up the nervous system and skin for high-quality rest.
How Zalando is building a balanced beauty destination
The report is also a strategic signal for Zalando’s beauty ambitions. Launched in 2018, Zalando’s beauty offer spans accessible, trend-led labels like Sol de Janeiro, The Ordinary, and Beauty of Joseon, alongside premium and luxury names such as Armani, Sunday Riley, and Dyson.
Under the group strategy introduced last year, Zalando aims to become a unified pan-European lifestyle destination, bringing fashion, beauty, and lifestyle together in one seamless, data-informed ecosystem. The 2025 Beauty in Brief report reinforces that vision, showing how platform insights will increasingly shape curation, storytelling, and the way Zalando connects wellness-driven beauty with everyday life.
