The Big Beauty Trend of 2025: Reduction
Beautiful package-free bar soaps
The beauty industry has always thrived on luxury, which in looked like maximalist packaging, complicated routines, and higher maintenance looks. In 2025, the biggest trend isn’t about adding more—it’s about reducing. From minimalist skincare routines to packaging-free products, the focus is shifting toward less waste, fewer ingredients, and a more intentional approach to beauty. Consumers are demanding transparency, sustainability, and simplicity, and brands that embrace this movement are setting the standard for the future.
(this post does contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you make a purchase through these links)
Here are a few of our favorite trends…
Minimalistic Care Routine
A skincare routine that isn’t 16-steps? Also known as Skinimilism, this has been a trend for the past few years and is still going strong. Let’s be real, no one has time for a skin (or hair) care routine that is more than a couple of products (plus a lot of those products end up expiring before being used up).
These long-winded self care routines are also expensive, with the price of imported items to increase and federal minimum wage staying the same (varies to the state), people are looking for easy and reasonably priced products that give the results they need.
All you really need are four good products - cleanser, toner, serum/moisturizer, and spf.
“Project Pan”
Currently trending on socials is “Project Pan”, which is buying a beauty product you need only after you have already used it up. Arnold Prose, founder of Prose haircare, did his own personal research and found that 20% - 40% of beauty products end up being thrown out. Buying products only as they run out will help reduce the amount of beauty product waste.
Watch Sabrina Pare’s Project Pan IG Reel (@sarbinaa_pare).
Repair Cafes
Another avenue that directly correlates to reduction practices is repairing items. Repair Cafes are coming up strong, they are an act of love from volunteers who want to support their community. While Repair Cafes commonly repair items such as vacuums, bicycles, pants, and so on - you can probably find someone who can repair (or try to) your trimmers, clippers, blowdryers, and so on.
This can also go beyond electronics, this can include repairing broken combs, clips, hair brushes - most anything that can be broken can be fixed.
Concentrated Products
Water is added in most beauty and other household products, which can shorten their shelf life due to the opportunity for bacteria growth. Concentrated products (can be in liquid or bar form) tend to last a lot longer than products that are water based, with the bonus of creating less packaging waste.
Some examples of this include:
Haircare or skincare bar products (products like DIP, Sudz Cauldron, or Hi-BAR)
Cleaning products that come in tablets or bar form (products like Blueland or Meliora)
Multipurpose Products
A single product that can be utilized in various ways is a great way to save space, save money, and not get wasted! There are plenty of products that take longer to use up before its expiration date, hard to travel with or store, and end up not being used and thrown away.
Some examples of this include:
Product Swaps
This has been one of my favorite community events. The idea of a Product Swap is to take gently used beauty products that didn’t suit you (or that you won’t be able to use) and swap them with other donated products from other participants! These events are opportunities to give these perfectly good products a second chance to be used instead of thrown away.
Check out more about our Product Swaps that we threw last year.
Reduction isn’t just a trend—it’s a lifestyle transformation. The beauty industry and individuals are proving sustainability and simple solutions are one in the same.
In 2025, less is more, and the future of beauty looks more responsible than ever.
What reduction techniques will you adopt in your beauty routine?