Mintel's 2026 Beauty Forecast Names Metabolic Beauty as GLP-1 Reshapes Product Systems

Mintel's 2026 Global Beauty and Personal Care Predictions report, released October 8, 2025, puts a trend called Metabolic Beauty at the top of its list, ahead of Sensorial Synergy and Beyond the Algorithm. Mintel's director of beauty insights, Andrew McDougall, frames 2026 as the year skin and hair become the most accessible biomarkers of the body, tracked through results from GLP-1 drugs, supplements and wearables instead of marketing claims alone.

The 'systems' language attached to that forecast traces more directly to WGSN strategist Pia Fisher, who told audiences at in-cosmetics Global that GLP-1 use is a structural shift for the beauty industry. Fisher's version of the future pairs a topical product with a device or tool and sells the pairing as a routine, not a single serum or cream.

Retailers and manufacturers are already building that shift into their numbers. L'Oréal's chief executive and Ulta's chief executive have both told investors that GLP-1 use is changing how often customers buy skincare and haircare. Image Skincare has launched a product line aimed at GLP-1 users. Galderma is building a network of plastic surgeons and aestheticians to sell treatments for facial volume loss, according to Reuters reporting from October 21, 2026.

The adoption figures behind that buildout vary by source. Event materials tied to Mintel cite 22 percent of US adults on GLP-1 drugs, up from 15 percent in 2024. Other coverage puts current use closer to 12 percent. KFF data shows use concentrated among adults 50 to 64, an age group already losing collagen and estrogen. That overlap complicates any claim that the drugs alone are driving facial change.

Dermatologists quoted in the same Reuters report call 'Ozempic face' a misleading label and attribute sagging to rapid weight loss rather than the drug itself. One plastic surgeon said it directly: a cream can't rebuild a ligament. Fillers can replace lost volume. Creams can't rebuild the structural support underneath it. Patients are showing up instead for fat grafting and buccal fat removal.