For the beauty industry, 2017 was a year of innovation, creativity, and experimentation. So you can bet that whatever 2018 brings is going to be larger than life.

Belisa Silva joins Just Ask David for the second time to share the forecasted trends for this year. She is an editorial veteran with over a decade of experience before joining SWAAY. She’s gotten up close and personal with the trendsetters of the industry, like Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Lopez.

In 2018, The Beauty Industry Wants to Know More About YOU

This year, the beauty industry is going to be more dedicated to the consumer than ever before.

“We’ve often talked about how consumers want an experience, not just a product… people want to learn about themselves, they want to learn about the world, they want to track their overall wellness through digital solutions and kind of convenient ways to make themselves better.”

“One of the trends I keep hearing about it mass personalization, which really is a great way to address diversity,” Belisa says. The beauty industry is working to create products that are personalized to you – not people like you. There are even at-home kits out there that will create a skin care regimen for you based on your DNA!

Rihanna’s makeup line, Fenty, was a clear game-changer when it hit the market. It’s not because everyone loves Rihanna. (Even though she IS awesome.) It’s because of Fenty’s diverse palette – particularly with foundation. Other brands are likely to follow suite, giving the consumer more choices than they ever had before. “Even if it’s not fully customized, you’ll have a lot of specific options,” Belisa says.

Let Your Beauty Be Your Statement

Thanks to consumers voting with their pocketbooks, beauty brands are finally listening to our concerns.

For example, cruelty-free and fair trade beauty are becoming wildly popular in the industry. In Belisa’s own words, it’s all thanks to “unprecedented consumer voice and consumer power.” In fact, cruelty-free products in particular are becoming more of a standard.

“It may sound like a tall order, but consumers more than ever want to make a change in the world through their purchases,” Belisa says. “So it’s an interesting jump between wanting to better yourself and to better the world… It’s a loaded proposition, but I think brands that do that deliver something that makes the consumer feel more empowered.”

Be Beautiful, Be Empowered, Be YOU!

Visit SWAAY for more beauty, inspiration, and business news for women. You can also follow @SWAAYmedia for updates on your social media feed!