Hannah Rice, Director of Cosmetics, and Bethany Chapman, Director of Luxury Beauty and Hair Care at Boots, presented their outlook on beauty trends for 2026 at the Beauty Leaders Summit (held in Paris on May 6 and 7, 2025). Based on proprietary data from the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer, their analysis identifies four major shifts in the market.
With more than 1,800 retail locations and 86% of the population living within a ten-minute drive of a store, the brand has a unique vantage point for observing shopping behavior. Added to this is the fact that Boots is the country’s leading online health and beauty retailer. It is used as a “laboratory” to test emerging trends in real time, well before rolling them out in stores.
Project Preservation
This trend illustrates a paradigm shift around aging. Chronological age is giving way to biological age. 60% of Boots customers say that healthy aging is their top priority. 80% of adults now take a preventive approach to their beauty routine. And 80% of people in their 40s regret not having started taking care of their skin sooner. “Our customers are investing in their skin’s future,” says Hannah Rice. “They prioritize prevention over correction.”
This trend is reflected in a massive surge in interest in collagen. Searches for “marine collagen” on boots.com have increased by 227% in one year. Sales in this category are up 62%, and the term ranks among the top twenty most-searched terms on the site.
Real-Life Revival
In a world saturated with algorithms and automation, consumers …
