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NEWS > 08 September 2026

THE NEW BEAUTY CONSUMER: IDENTITY, TRUST AND NEW DIGITAL CODES

From micro-trend fatigue to the search for authenticity, from the changing role of creators to the integration of social media and retail, and the impact of artificial intelligence on beauty standards. The Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna 2026 CosmoTalks reveal a more informed, selective and participatory beauty consumer who no longer simply follows trends, but increasingly helps shape them.

The relationship between consumers and beauty is becoming increasingly non-linear. Algorithms, creators and digital platforms multiply opportunities for discovery and accelerate the circulation of trends, while the sheer volume of products, content and stimuli available is making consumers more knowledgeable and selective.
The Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna 2026 CosmoTalks exploring the evolution of makeup, the influencer economy and changing beauty standards portray a consumer who wants more than a product. They seek meaning, trust and recognition, critically assess the relationship between price and value, and actively participate in shaping brand narratives and aesthetic codes.

From Trend Fatigue to The Search For Meaning

The speed of social platforms has transformed beauty into a continuous succession of micro-trends. Clean girl, mob wife, demure and countless other aesthetics can achieve global visibility almost instantly, only to be replaced soon afterwards by a new visual language.

During the CosmoTalk “The Next Chapter of Makeup”, the discussion highlighted how this acceleration can also create saturation. After years dominated by minimalism, optimized routines and no-makeup makeup, a desire for greater expression, emotion and personality is beginning to emerge. Consumers do not appear to be asking simply for another trend, but for a reason to choose a brand and continue identifying with it.
“In a world where everything’s changing so fast, and virality changes every two hours, what they value is consistency,” observed Chloé Arjona, Beauty Director at NELLYRODI. Speed therefore does not necessarily require companies to chase every new phenomenon. On the contrary, it can increase the value of a recognizable identity that evolves without losing its direction.
This shift is particularly evident among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, described during the session as more curious, demanding and knowledgeable, but also less naturally loyal. Even when they do not yet hold significant purchasing power, they exercise considerable influence power, moving freely between luxury, mass-market and desirable accessible brands. A high price is no longer automatically interpreted as proof of superior quality: product performance, provenance, values and storytelling all need to justify positioning.

Trust Becomes the New Digital Currency

As consumers become more informed, the role of those influencing their decisions is also changing. Creators are no longer simply content producers or endorsers: they increasingly act as trendsetters, educators, advocates and, in some cases, retailers.
During “The Icon & Influencer: Masterminding Beauty’s Digital Evolution”, organized with CEW, the panel explored how almost the entire journey can now unfold within the same digital ecosystem: discovery, research, evaluation and purchase can follow one another seamlessly. According to data presented during the session, 71% of users worldwide say they have purchased products because the creator presenting them was perceived as authentic.
“What you can’t really buy on TikTok is trust. Trust is built. Trust is owned by creators and authenticity is like our new currency,” said Alessandra Sangalli, Head of Creator Marketing Italy & Spain at TikTok.
Credibility therefore becomes an asset that needs to be protected. Over-scripted content and partnerships risk weakening relationships with communities that are increasingly quick to distinguish authentic recommendations from purely commercial messaging.
 

From Screen to Store: One Connected Experience

Digital influence does not end with an online purchase. Viral products generate traffic in physical stores, reshape conversations with beauty advisors and can require almost immediate responses in assortment, inventory and supply-chain management.
Consumers entering a store often arrive already equipped with information gathered through tutorials, reviews and creators. The role of physical retail consequently shifts from simply providing access to products towards continuing and enriching a conversation that began online, through consultation, discovery and education.
Digital and physical interactions thus become part of the same journey. Experience is no longer defined by a single touchpoint, but by the consistency with which brands, creators, platforms and retailers accompany consumers across information, relationship and purchase.
image THE NEW BEAUTY CONSUMER: IDENTITY, TRUST AND NEW DIGITAL CODES

Who Defines Beauty In The Age of Ai?

Consumer participation also extends to the definition of beauty itself. The CosmoTalk “Mirror mirror…from out of reach beauty standards to ai generated models: a conversation on authenticity, image and self esteem” explored changing beauty ideals from fashion and social media through to artificial intelligence, showing how the languages used to represent faces and bodies continue to evolve while pressure towards shared standards remains.

Social media and digital tools have democratized the production of images and tutorials, but have also accelerated the global spread of particular features, procedures and aesthetics. Artificial intelligence now introduces a further layer of complexity: without thoughtful direction, models can reproduce and amplify stereotypes embedded in existing data; when guided consciously, they may instead become tools for developing different forms of representation.
“AI has no taste. It’s our duty to bring taste into AI,” observed Eva Aimone, Social Editor and AI Expert, emphasizing the human responsibility behind generated imagery and the opportunity to create representations in which people can recognize themselves.
The discussion also raised the possibility that AI could eventually help normalize characteristics that beauty imagery has traditionally removed, including wrinkles and visible signs of ageing. Rather than inevitably producing ever more artificial perfection, its impact will depend on the cultural and creative choices shaping how the technology is used.
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From Target to Participant

Across the three CosmoTalks, one common transformation emerges: beauty consumers are becoming less passive recipients of trends. They discover, compare, verify, comment, purchase, create content and influence others, directly contributing to what becomes relevant.

For brands, the challenge will therefore be less about appearing in every trend or multiplying messages and more about building recognizable relationships across different touchpoints. Consistent identity, creator authenticity, quality of experience and responsibility in image creation are becoming parts of the same system.
In a market where products and content can be replicated with increasing speed, the hardest value to reproduce is the relationship itself: the ability to offer people not only something to buy, but something they can recognize themselves in and choose to belong to.

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