Once a signifier of luxury or novelty, custom products and services are now within reach of the everyday consumer, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithm-led platforms, and the COVID-era digitisation boom. Today, everyone wants to be the main character of their brand experience.

Diverse representation is an expectation, but as individuals no longer allow themselves to be defined in singular terms, there's mounting pressure on brands to understand and sensitively reflect how the intersections between race, gender, class, and ability impact people's everyday lives.

How are digital worlds reimagining IRL beauty? What do skintellectuals want from brands? And how is emerging tech shifting consumer expectations of cosmetics? In this part of the 2023 Expert Outlook, we speak to three experts about how online and offline innovations are impacting beauty routines.

Despite tightening beauty budgets, sales of at-home hair care are showing no signs of slowing down amid economic uncertainty. No longer a nicety and increasingly a necessity, the shift speaks to how the rise of at-home beauty is transforming essentials for beauty buffs.

Black women in the UK have long struggled to fulfil their hair care needs through conventional channels, with big brands and salons often falling short. This Hair of Mine (T.H.O.M) aims to fill this significant gap in the market with high-quality, targeted products for texture-rich hair.

Isamaya Beauty is a cult beauty brand representing constant transformation and challenging conventional beauty standards. Its seasonal collections, created by make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench, appeal to Gen Zers using make-up as a way to articulate shifting self-expression over a more fixed identity.