A healthy glow: The new ‘end goal’ for consumers

A “healthy glow” is an increasingly sought-after goal for users of skincare products, both topical and ingestible. Its importance is clear from much consumer-facing beauty writing. According to Vogue in 2019, “A radiant, glowing complexion has surpassed the perfect cat-eye flick or flawlessly-applied red lip as the end goal of many of our beauty routines.”17 One recent article titled ‘Here’s Exactly What Meghan Markle Does for Glowing Skin’ included the word “glow” 24 times.18 And one writer has gone so far as to tell Cosmopolitan:

“One of the things I want most in life…is glowing skin”

                   What does Glow actually mean? New consumer insights from Lycored

Despite this, there is no one single definition of what “glow” actually means. At Lycored, we set out to explore how consumers understand it, what they see as the most effective way to achieve it and, more broadly, which skincare goals are most important to them. Lycored sought the views of over 500 consumers in six different countries. A total of 507 people in the UK, US, France, China, Japan and Korea were surveyed online between 21st and 26th February 2019. All had purchased a skincare product (either a topical or a supplement for beauty or skin health) over the previous 12 months.