The 2026 Most Powerful Brands in Beauty

Nineteen years in and arguably at the top of its game, Amika still isn’t resting on its laurels. The brand, which has both the number-one dry shampoo and the top hair mask in the prestige market, planted its flag in a new category in February: Body care. Infused with the brand’s signature fruity-floral scent, the foray included a body wash, butter and vitamin-C-infused body oil, aiming to expand Amika’s share of consumers’ beauty routines. Just six months later, Amika went deeper into color care with a three-piece collection that boosts shine and hue vibrancy for the long haul. Amid it all, customers have been down for the ride: CreatorIQ data shows Amika was the fifth beauty brand by global EMV growth from June 2025 through May 2026. Born in Brooklyn, but heard around the world. 

One of the key pioneers of K-beauty’s second wave, Anua’s momentum shows no signs of slowing. After building a formidable global e-commerce business via Amazon and TikTok Shop, the brand has now proven its affordable, efficacious skin care offerings can also translate to brick-and-mortar success Stateside via Ulta Beauty. Thanks to viral favorites like its $23 Heartleaf 77 Soothing Toner and $27 PDRN Hyaluronic Acid moisturizing cream, Anua’s sales exceeded $500 million in 2025 — and that number is set to grow even further in 2026, thanks to an inaugural foray into dermocosmetics and a partnership with fellow beauty sphere superstar Kendall Jenner, who became the brand’s first global ambassador in June. 

Mass skin care standout Byoma wrapped a banner 2025 with more than $300 million in retail sales and an acquisition by Bansk Group, just three years after launch. Since 2022, Byoma has proven just how far barrier care at an affordable price point can go, with its hero $15 gel cream moisturizer selling every six seconds globally, while a steady cadence of innovations have sought to forge new frontiers for the brand’s accessible approach, accruing more than 60 beauty awards in the process. And Byoma isn’t skimping on efficacy, either: In the last four years, the brand has invested more than $2 million to complete over 110 clinical trials, capturing 130,000-plus skin measurements along the way — learnings from which will no doubt be channeled into more brightly colored, power-packed products.

Even as Byredo enters its 20s, the Swedish luxury brand remains a pace-setter in niche fragrance. Launched by Ben Gorham in 2006, Byredo has become a cornerstone in the continued success of parent company Puig’s fragrance business since its acquisition in 2022, with sales up double digits in the last 12 months according to Circana. In the U.S., bestsellers are Mojave Ghost and Gypsy Water, while in Europe, Bal D’Afrique — which recently gained a more gourmand, Absolu iteration — reigns supreme. Ever the world-builder, Byredo ushered in Bal D’Afrique Absolu with a dance-driven “Scent in Motion” campaign shot in Accra and choreographed by Burkina Faso-born Ladji Koné. That’s not the only new ground the brand is breaking: last fall, it relaunched its Night Veils extrait collection with new bottles and scents, and this summer Byredo debuted its first body mists in six bestselling scents. We’d say Byredo walked so the niche perfume boom could run — and the brand continues to lap the competition.

A decade later and still kicking. Since launching in 2016, Carolina Herrera’s Good Girl — in its signature high-heel flacon — has maintained its bestseller status, with Circana data provided by the brand showing it ranked as the number-one prestige feminine fragrance franchise across the U.S., Europe and Latin America in 2025. The scent has seven flankers and counting, and last year, Carolina Herrera added a new pillar, La Bomba, to its women’s fragrance business as it expands beyond its hero. All in all, Carolina Herrera’s total beauty business has tripled in size in the last decade, as it expands beyond the fragrance counter. Now, color cosmetics, creative directed by the house’s star designer Wes Gordon, has gained increasing distribution Stateside and internationally, with a bright fashion-forward ethos that consumers have embraced. Maybe Good Girls do have more fun. 

Combining science with cultural savvy, CeraVe has cemented itself as a leading brand among beauty’s most coveted customer cohorts. Data from Nectar Social shows CeraVe is the number-one beauty brand by resonance among Gen Z men across Instagram, TikTok and Reddit, while CreatorIQ reports it reached $650.6 million EMV in the 12 months ending May 2026, making it a top-five skin care brand globally by the metric. CeraVe is also the top skin care brand by affinity among teens of all genders, according to Piper Sandler’s Taking Stock with Teens Survey, and has been for several years strong. While the brand is best known for gentle skin care hits like its $15 Daily Moisturizing Lotion and $16 Hydrating Facial Cleanser, its hair care business is also taking off as CeraVe brings its fine-tuned, “medutainment”-led approach to new categories. 

It’s not just Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel that’s having a moment: the French house’s beauty business is also riding high, with Circana reporting that it is the top fragrance brand in the U.S. In July, Chanel introduced a Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu fragrance, expanding the bestselling Coco Mademoiselle franchise it first introduced 25 years ago. In tandem with the launch, the brand added songstress Gracie Abrams as its newest face, and elsewhere has grown its body care business with new oils, lotions and soaps in loved scents like Chance Eau Fraiche and Chance Eau Splendide. But Chanel is also bringing back the buzz in other categories, particularly color, creating a viral sensation with products like the Chanel Kit & Caboodle and a limited edition Denim collection that had consumers singing the bleus when it became a sold-out sensation.

In the face of multiplying imitators, makeup juggernaut Charlotte Tilbury is finding the white space. Already a top-10 cosmetics player by global EMV and the number-six brand overall on sephora.com, the brand entered new territory this year, naming Sobhita Dhulipala its inaugural beauty muse in India, and opening its first two stand-alone boutiques in the region this spring in partnership with Nykaa. The retail expansions don’t stop there: In its home market of the U.K., Charlotte Tilbury entered Boots for the first time, and none other than Tilbury herself was honored with a CBE for her contributions to British beauty. On a velocity level, the Puig-owned line is going strong: it sells one jar of Magic Cream each minute, while at least one product in its Airbrush franchise sells every two seconds globally. Well, that’s certainly one form of pillow talk. 

The number-one premium skin care brand in Europe, Clarins is sitting pretty. The family-owned brand sells one Double Serum every three seconds, and with the July launch of Double Serum Eye, Clarins is betting it can leverage its signature rejuvenating technology to forge yet another hero, in a new category. In total, Clarins Groupe’s sales reached $2.26 billion in 2025, increasing 5.3 percent, while key geographies — the U.S. and mainland China — saw even faster growth of 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, its Lip Oil — the OG that has spawned an entire category — continues to shine, proof that heritage can be hip in an age of ever-decreasing attention spans. 

Since launching in 2021, Dibs Beauty has leveraged its makeup-stick savvy all the way to the number-one prestige blush rank at Ulta Beauty. Cofounder and chief executive officer Jeff Lee is tireless when it comes to driving the brand’s success, taking a boots-on-the-ground approach — literally — and visiting at least one Ulta store in all 50 states last year. No doubt that closeness to the consumer has sharpened an instinct for where people want to see Dibs play next: in June, the brand’s innovative Brush Dry Shampoo Cleanser sold out in under three weeks, and more recently, Dibs planted its feet in the complexion category with a two-in-one brightening and concealing Edit Stick. The brand’s hero Desert Island Duo stick, meanwhile, garnered roughly $100 million EMV in the last year. Desert Island Beauty Status, indeed. 

A pillar of not just designer beauty, but the industry at large, Dior’s generational run has yet to falter. First-half Circana data provided by the brand shows that even as competition in the space heats up, Dior Sauvage is still the number-one men’s fragrance franchise in the U.S. Meanwhile, Dior’s Addict Lip Glow Oil — one of the first beauty products to achieve modern-day virality — is still the top prestige lip oil in the U.S., five years later. That hasn’t stopped Dior Makeup creative and image director Peter Philips from dreaming up new playthings, adding an inaugural lip gloss stick to the Addict franchise this summer, plus serum infusions to the Forever Skin Glow and Wear foundations. On the fragrance front, perfume creation director Francis Kurkdjian isn’t standing still, either: in 2026, Dior added a trio of Gen-Z-focused, gourmand Addict eaux de parfum, as well as a woody-floral Sauvage Extrait. Guess fragrance shoppers aren’t the only ones going beast mode. 

Even as leadership changes abound at Dolce & Gabbana, the success of the designer house’s beauty business has been steadfast. The range, which kicked off in 2023 in its current, in-house iteration (Dolce & Gabbana previously had a licensing agreement with Shiseido) has cemented its status in fragrance, while cosmetics are following closely behind. In less than three years, D&G Beauty’s Devotion fragrance pillar has become its number-one franchise, outpacing even the 25-year-old icon, Light Blue. In April, the brand entered Sephora, where its latest Your Devotion Eau de Parfum became the number-one sales-driving product online within two weeks of launching in June; meanwhile the $40 travel spray has demonstrated a nearly 15 percent conversion rate. In makeup, D&G Beauty’s hero is the Ever Icon Eye Palette, while other products like its vegan cream blush sticks and its perfume gels look to position the brand on the cutting edge of beauty. And that, folks, is how you make a comeback. 

Dupes may have been the starting point, but they won’t be the finish line for Dossier. Launched direct-to-consumer in 2019, the brand has become a viral sensation for its under-$60 imitations of prestige and designer fragrances. Charm.io data shows that Dossier is doing roughly $13 million in annual sales on TikTok Shop alone, up 67 percent year-over-year, with much of that business coming from the brand’s burgeoning collection of original scents. Dossier sells in more than 7,000 doors across Walmart, CVS and Target, and last year planted its flag on “scent row” in New York City’s NoLita neighborhood with a first stand-alone boutique. Fragrance enthusiasts aren’t the only ones paying attention: in April, private equity firm American Pacific Group took a stake in the brand. Looks like It Factor isn’t just a Dossier Originals bestseller — but also, the brand’s plan of action.

It’s no small feat for an 80-year-old brand to dominate the charts and retain relevance — but that is just the code that prestige beauty’s grand dame has cracked. The reimagined Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation was the top makeup launch of 2026 year-to-date, according to Circana, and has maintained its status as the bestselling prestige foundation in the U.S. Lauder’s other hero, Advanced Night Repair, also grew double digits — 16 percent versus a 10 percent overall increase in the serum market, according to Circana. Now, the brand is looking to build on that momentum with a blockbuster fragrance launch, Glimmer, to be fronted by Hailee Steinfeld. Shine on.

We’re a long way from spherical lip balms. Founded in 2009, Eos has now established itself as one of the most exciting players in mass body care. Combining playful scents with efficacious skin care ingredients and an expanding number of formats, Eos has notched 19 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth. Its $10.99 body lotions have become a cult favorite among Gen Z and lovers of gourmands, selling more than 75 units per minute, and according to YipitData, Eos is the seventh-biggest brand in Target’s online beauty business. What’s more, Eos kicked off 2026 with a much-awaited foray into body mists — a natural next step for a brand with a knack for knowing what’s next. 

The drugstore darling that keeps on giving. Even as tariffs and economic volatility drove price hikes across the market, Essence kicked off 2026 by announcing it would not raise prices for the full year. The decision came at a time when the cosmetics brand, which ranks number one in Germany, is quickly finding its sea legs Stateside: Essence sells one $5 Lash Princess Mascara every three seconds in the U.S., and in January, the brand entered Walmart stores for the first time. It is a linchpin of parent company Cosnova’s expanding beauty empire, which in 2025 crossed $1.2 billion in net sales. Supernova might be more like it. 

Talk about an edge of glory. Since relaunching at Sephora in 2022, Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs has logged double-digit growth annually, winning makeup lovers over with its all-in approach to color, performance and clean formulations. The brand’s hero $52 Triclone Skin Tech Foundation is a mainstay not just in professional and consumer makeup bags, but all over social media, and has been the framework for a string of hybrid innovations since. But Haus Labs’ real secret sauce isn’t star power, it’s community: data from CreatorIQ shows Haus Labs is a top-20 brand by EMV growth in the U.S., exceeding $378 million in annual EMV. Never a drag, always a queen. 

At a time when clinical is one of the fastest-growing sectors in hair care, Head & Shoulders continues to perform, well, head and shoulders above the category. Numbers from YipitData show the brand drove 4 percent of the shampoo category’s growth during the first quarter, while its Classic Clean franchise continues to be a top shareholder in dandruff care overall. With new formats including a menthol-infused Itchy Scalp Serum and, most recently, the addition of a HydraZinc complex to its Classic Clean shampoo formula, Head & Shoulders is leaving no stone unturned in its aim to keep scalps flake-free — for 65 years and counting. 

Performance- and value-driven skin care, without compromise. That’s the ethos underpinning InnBeauty Project’s steady-growing range of smart, under-$70 skin care products. Launched in 2019 with an initial focus on Gen Z, the brand has since become a staple across generations, with its hero trio — Extreme Cream for the face, Extreme Cream Eye and the Elastic Skin facial serum — becoming a powerful loyalty engine, retaining up to 52 percent of retail customers. Continuing in its mission to address customers’ biggest pain points, InnBeauty poured more than $100,000 into clinical tests for its recent Pro C Serum, which launched in March and features a 15 percent blend of three forms of vitamin C meant to fade dark spots. A rising star in Sephora’s ever-competitive skin care assortment, the brand has more than 51 industry and editorial awards to date. Ask founders Jen Shane and Alisa Metzger — sometimes taking it to the extreme can be a good thing. 

When it comes to hair health, K18 plays the long game even though its own ascension has been at lightning speed. The Unilever-owned brand sells one Molecular Repair Hair Mask every seven seconds, while its AirWash dry shampoo has become a sleeper hit, selling every 17 seconds — or more than 5,000 units a day. Even though K18 ranks as the number-16 beauty brand by overall resonance on social media, it outperforms all others in the top 60 by positive sentiment, data from Nectar Social shows. Next up, the brand is taking to the scalp with its FutureIQ Biomimetic Hair Longevity Serum, which aims to address signs of hair aging early on. A prudent move, if K18’s category-catalyzing history is any indication.

Combining gourmands with Middle Eastern perfumery and affordability, Kayali founder Mona Kattan has a seeming spidey sense for where the fragrance industry is headed next. In the brand’s first full year under joint ownership with General Atlantic, Kayali ranked as the number-one fragrance brand at Sephora, and the top fragrance player in the U.S. by EMV. Layerability is part of the X-factor, threading a line between new additions like the four-piece, musk-based Freedom Collection; Sweet Peach and Plush Pear Eden scents, and a latest Boujee Kitty Caramel Milk | 22 Eau de Parfum, which brings a feline-inspired twist to the brand’s fan-favorite Boujee franchise. The other “It” ingredient? Kattan’s palpable love for perfume: The Dubai-based founder regularly engages with the Kayali community via her own social media pages, which have a combined following of more than 5 million.

It’s magic, all right. Powered by heroes like its 8H Magic Night Serum and Elixir Ultime, Kérastase continues to soar forward as its salon-grade, strand-boosting formulas convert new generations of consumers. The professional hair care brand is the number-one hair player globally by EMV, and also grew 54 percent in the metric year-over-year, according to CreatorIQ. It doesn’t hurt that the brand added Demi Moore as its global brand ambassador in January. No wonder Kérastase is holding rank as the top hair care brand at Sephora. 

This top-five makeup player in Europe has set its sights on the U.S., and it’s not thinking small. After closing the 12-month period ended June 2026 with 1 billion euros in revenue — an increase of more than 10 percent — Kiko tapped no less a superstar than Madonna to front its Stateside campaign, even luring the singer to Macy’s Herald Square flagship to support the brand’s launch there (and backing it up with the campaign on every bus shelter in New York). Meanwhile Cardi B caused a sensation on Day Two, making a guest appearance of her own. While it’s early days sales-wise, Kiko’s U.S. debut garnered significant buzz, generating more than $1 million EMV and more than 217,000 engagements on social media. Who needs a prayer when you have an icon — or two? 

La Roche-Posay may have partnered with the Minions for its most recent marketing campaign — but there’s nothing small about its recent wins. The L’Oréal-owned brand is nearing the 1-billion-dollar sales mark, with sales up 13 percent in the last year according to Circana thanks to key initiatives like an upgraded range of sunscreen and new acne care. During the same period, La Roche-Posay ranked as the number-two skin care brand by global EMV, exceeding $792 million in the metric. And it’s still finding fresh horizons: Since entering Walmart in April, La Roche-Posay has already become a top-10 brand by online sales at the retailer, with its Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer alone generating more than $200,000 monthly, per Market Defense. The people yearn for French beauty on a budget. 

Another year, another notch in L’Oréal Paris’ tally as the world’s biggest beauty brand. Powerhouse in hair care? Tick. Makeup: Infallible shows no signs of budging from its bestselling status, and in skin care, L’Oréal Paris continues to innovate, most recently updating its bestselling Revitalift Filler Hyaluronic Serum with PDRN, skin care’s latest “It” ingredient. The multipronged strategy is working. L’Oréal Paris’s sales are said to have reached over 7 billion euros, with 10 billion in sight. Online, the brand is the number-two hair care player by global EMV, and it also ranks in the top 10 in skin care and makeup, respectively. Even more impressive: CreatorIQ reports L’Oréal Paris is the number-five brand by EMV growth in the U.S., increasing 65 percent year-over-year. C’est magnifique, oui? Oui.

A blockbuster Sephora launch (41 years after the brand’s debut), a Chappell Roan ambassadorship and a MACZine relaunch — and that’s just in a year’s work. Ever in tune with the times, MAC Cosmetics has managed to continuously remake itself while maintaining its status as one of beauty’s ultimate purveyors of cool. The brand is the largest prestige color cosmetics player in the world, according to Euromonitor data provided by parent company Estée Lauder, and it has also swiftly become a top-10 brand at Sephora at Kohl’s since entering the retailer in March. A top-five makeup brand by global EMV, MAC holds its rank as not only one of the ultimate artistry-driven labels, but as a mirror to culture. 

Makeup by Mario has become a powerhouse in color cosmetics, with makeup artist/founder Mario Dedivanovic equally as popular with consumers as he is among A-listers. The number-one most-followed artistry brand across social platforms, Makeup by Mario grew its active client base by 41 percent in 2025, according to stats provided by the brand. The engine? Ethereal Eyes: The Original. The 12-shade eye shadow palette, first introduced as a limited-edition product in 2022, relaunched permanently this year and became the number-one stock keeping unit across Sephora North America, selling out online within eight days. More broadly, Makeup by Mario is a top-five color brand at Sephora, and it is a top-20 brand by EMV growth in the U.S., increasing 29 percent year-over-year. 

Medicube crept into beauty’s mainstream in 2024 and has been in the stratosphere ever since. The brand played a key role in popularizing the salmon DNA skin care craze with its Pink PDRN range — one of several sensorial, ingredient-driven franchises that have brought consumers into the fold since. On TikTok Shop, Medicube did more than $95 million in sales during the first half of 2026 alone, according to Charm.io, making it the biggest beauty brand on the platform. That success has been replicated on Amazon, where Medicube is now the number-one beauty brand thanks to its sheer volume of heroes. (According to Navigo, 14 of Amazon’s top-100 beauty bestsellers during the first quarter were Medicube products). The brand most recently added Target to its physical retail footprint, joining Ulta, and in 2025 propelled parent company APR Co.’s net sales past the $759 million mark. The American dream, indeed. 

The crown jewel of Jaimee Lupton’s Zuru-incubated assortment of brands, Monday sells roughly 50,000 bottles of product a day. Those include goal-specific shampoos, conditioners, stylers and, most recently, hair and body mists riffing off Monday’s beloved fruity and floral scents — all priced under $15. The Gen-Z-loved brand is sold in more than 50,000 doors globally, including Amazon, Walmart, Ulta Beauty, Asos and H&M, and it is the most-followed hair care player on TikTok. No surprise it’s grown at 300 percent year-over-year since 2020. Perhaps Mondays aren’t all bad. 

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but Naturium has body care in the palm of its hand. According to Circana data provided by the company, Naturium was one of the fastest-growing skin care brands in the U.S. top 50 during the first quarter. It also accounted for four of the top 10 masstige body washes during the period, including the number-one spot for its Glow Getter cleanser, while its exfoliating The Smoother wash ranked number-two. And even though its products are function-forward, Naturium still finds time to surprise and delight, tapping none other than OG influencer Bretman Rock to front its Glow Getter franchise this spring, which most recently added a body scrub to its all-star lineup. 

Fitting that Not Your Mother’s should be acquired and ranked as the number-one hair care brand among teens just as it rolls out a collection called Aura Boost. Founded in 2010, the brand was snapped up in March by German consumer goods giant Henkel mere months after it rose to the top hair brand rank in Piper Sandler’s recurrent Taking Stock With Teens survey. Its sales in fiscal 2025 reached 190 million euros, according to Henkel, growing double digits thanks to beloved franchises like Curl Talk, Clean Freak and Beach Babe. Culturally, the brand isn’t missing a beat, hosting a NYM House influencer event in Miami the day of the Colombia vs. Portugal FIFA World Cup match, and commissioning a “Love for All” mural in St. Petersburg in time for Pride. 

The competition in the hair-loss sector may be proliferating exponentially but Nutrafol’s growth shows no signs of slowing. The original player in the hair supplement space counted the number-one beauty product on Amazon during the first half of 2026, according to Navigo, with its hero Women’s Hair Loss Supplement. Now, Nutrafol is doubling down on men, becoming the official hair growth partner of Major League Baseball last fall, and launching a first hair growth nutraceutical for men over the age of 50 in February. The opportunity is there: in 2025, Nutrafol’s men’s subscribers increased almost 15 percent, and to date, the brand has serviced nearly 2 million customers total. You could call that a home run. 

For Peach & Lily, slow and steady has most definitely won the race. Launched in 2018, the brand’s hero Glass Skin Refining Serum has only grown in relevance since, helping to secure the brand’s spot as a top-three prestige skin care player at Ulta. In September, founder Alicia Yoon added a MiniProtein Exosome Bioactive Ampoule to the Peach & Lily portfolio, leaning into skin care experts to promote the launch on social media — to the tune of more than 20 million impressions. The brand’s no-fuss approach translates across markets, too: at Ulta Mexico, where Peach & Lily made its first international retail expansion last fall, it already ranks as a top-three prestige skin care brand. Peachy keen. 

From #PerfumeTok sensation to global niche fragrance darling. The maker of viral hits like Delina and Valaya, Parfums de Marly continues to grow in leaps, with retail sales rising 42 percent in 2025 to $780 million. In April, the brand opened its third stand-alone store in Paris, and this fall it will open its 25th location globally at Aventura Mall in Florida. Meanwhile e-commerce is also revving up, rising 74 percent year-over-year to represent 8 percent of total sales. While there’s no word yet on a potential sale, it’s no surprise that parent company Artessence has hired Jefferies and Goldman Sachs as advisers. It would seem the future is coming up not just roses, but cashmeran, orange blossom and lychee, too, for the French fragrance house.

Three years in and Prada’s big bet on beauty is paying off in dividends. In tandem with its blockbuster Touch Blush launch, the brand named supermodel Bella Hadid as its first global beauty ambassador in March, generating more than $17 million EMV in the process. But it wasn’t just buzz: Circana data provided by Prada shows that Touch Blush cracked the top-five blush charts during the month of April, and has also reportedly driven the highest brick-and-mortar momentum at Sephora of any launch in the brand’s history. Meanwhile Prada Paradigme, fronted by another megastar — Tom Holland — has quickly become the brand’s largest men’s fragrance launch, surpassing $57 million in sales year-to-date, and garnering more than 1 billion social media impressions at launch. The aptly named scent is, in fact, shifting the men’s fragrance paradigm, with its 100-ml. eau de parfum ranking as the top men’s fragrance stock keeping unit in the U.S. from January through May, according to Circana numbers provided by the brand. 

Though its hero franchise is called Soft Pinch, Rare Beauty certainly packs a punch. Having debuted in 2020 with the brand’s hero, 16-shade liquid blush, the Soft Pinch family has since grown to include a liquid contour; two additional blush formulas and an expanding assortment of lip products. And why not? The runaway franchise has cemented the Selena Gomez-founded brand’s status as a top-10 player on sephora.com, per YipitData, while in January, Rare made a landmark expansion into its second retailer, launching nationwide at Ulta Beauty — and becoming the biggest debut in the retailer’s history. Proving its resonance can translate beyond the brand’s core makeup category, Rare entered fragrance in 2025 with Rare Eau de Parfum and Fragrance Layering Balms, which nabbed respective Fragrance of the Year and Fragrance Innovation of the Year honors at the 2026 Fragrance Foundation Awards. And the brand’s community is just as engaged online as it is offline, generating more than two million social media posts using the hashtag #RareBeauty to date. 

With the power of science and The Real Housewives on its side, RoC Skincare is beaming bright. The pharmacist-founded brand, which in April reunited “Real Housewives of New York” stars Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan for a campaign fronting its new Retinol Correxion Rich Cream, has become a big hitter in mass skin care. No wonder it wants to double down on retinol: RoC holds the number-one retinol serum rank in the U.S., where it also ranks as the top eye cream brand, per NielsenIQ numbers provided by RoC. The brand sells in 34,000 doors globally, and someone snaps up its Derm Correxion Firming Serum Stick every 30 seconds.  

To summarize Rhode’s success in the last 12 months is an exercise in brainstorming synonyms for “number-one.” Consider the superlatives: Sephora North America’s biggest brand launch, selling three products per second during opening weekend. Mecca Australia’s biggest debut to date, drawing more than 1 million visitors across stores during its launch weekend. The number-one skin care brand by EMV — in the U.S., and globally. The Hailey Bieber-founded brand was also by and large the winner of Coachella thanks to its Rhode World activation, which drove more than 60,000 new customers in one week, in part thanks to a buzzy collaboration with festival headliner and hubby Justin Bieber. Even more recently, Rhode’s summer collection amassed the brand’s largest waitlist yet, with more than 700,000 sign-ups. When E.l.f. Beauty acquired Rhode for $1 billion in 2025, many questioned whether the move was premature. If Year One was any indication, it was just on time. 

Trust Laney Crowell to break clean beauty out of its niche. The Saie founder has built a formidable business pairing high-quality formulas with easy-to-use formats and an unwavering mission. At Sephora, Saie’s Glowy Super Gel illuminator has held the number-one highlighter position since 2024, according to YipitData, while Saie is the only clean beauty brand that ranks within the top 15 makeup brands by EMV year-to-date. In August, the brand tapped ’90s icon Helena Christensen to front its first SuperSuede Eyeshadows, and as part of its Climate Initiative, Saie is on track to help rePurpose Global recover 5 million pounds of plastic waste by 2027, and plans to reach carbon net zero by 2039. It seems only fitting that in January, Saie became the first beauty brand to sponsor the NBA’s New York Knicks. Guess it takes a champion to know one. 

Influencer brands are among beauty’s most ephemeral but British model Iskra Lawrence and her business partner, Ben Bennett of The Center, seem to have cracked the code. Sales for the burgeoning body care brand this year are expected to hit $150 million, up 87 percent versus the year prior. That headway has been driven by the brand’s signature body serums and oils, loved for their fusion of fragrance and function, as well as Lawrence’s own social media savvy. To date, Saltair has sold more than 875,000 units of its Nourishing Body Oil, and data provided by the brand shows social conversations around Saltair have grown 267 percent in the last year. Next up? The California-based brand is taking on the U.K. with a latest expansion into Space NK. A hot property in a popular category, it’s no wonder the brand was snapped up by TSG Consumer in May. 

Who knew beauty tech could be so fun? An increasingly important division of lifestyle device behemoth SharkNinja, Shark Beauty has been on a tear with its market-shaking, hair- and skin-boosting tools. The brand’s CryoGlow LED Mask was the number-one skin care device in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2026, per Circana data provided the brand, while its FlexStyle hair styler sells roughly once every minute in the U.S. (According to Navigo, the tool was also the number-two beauty product during June’s Amazon Prime sale). Even as a growing number of players take a stab at beauty devices, Shark Beauty remains, well, a shark in the water, pushing the boundaries of innovation and even recently adding a handheld FacialPro Glow device to its assortment, which looks to replicate the results of a pore-clearing and hydrating facial at home. The future of beauty, it seems, is here. 

Has the rocket ship that is Sol de Janeiro slowed? Perhaps. But the brand is still soaring. It’s a top-10 powerhouse across platforms, including Amazon, Sephora and Ulta Beauty, while the fragrance mist category it spawned has become an increasingly key growth engine for the beauty business at large. In January, Sol de Janeiro unveiled a collection of jelly perfume balms in three fan-favorite Cheirosa scents, which drove a 49 percent lift in website sessions during launch week, and beat the brand’s three-month launch plan by 114 percent via its direct-to-consumer website. In June, Jordan Saxemard succeeded founder Heela Yang as CEO and has since hit the ground running, unveiling what may be Sol de Janeiro’s boldest bet yet: a Cheiroso men’s fragrance franchise. Available exclusively at Sephora, it features two Cheiroso 7 and 10 scents, which are well-positioned to benefit from the boom in men’s fragrances and in under-$100 scents. Looks like Sol de Janeiro is about to do it again — this time, for a new consumer. 

Tarte Cosmetics, led by its fearless leader Maureen Kelly, is on a roll. It is the number-one cosmetics brand on TikTok Shop, where it garnered more than $54 million in sales during the first half of the year, per Charm.io. The Shape Tape business is also on a roll, with the concealer selling every four seconds globally and entering Sephora for the first time in 2026. But Tarte is leveraging that momentum across the complexion category with newer innovations like its CC Undereye corrector, which debuted just last year, sells every 24 seconds and has more than 32,000 five-star reviews, and a more recent CC cream launch. The brand is also a top dog in mascara, with its tubing mascara being a top-10 in the U.S. in 2025. Tarte is also a top-10 beauty brand on ulta.com, per Navigo marketing. Twenty-seven years later, Kelly has proven it is possible to be both an unstoppable force and an immovable object at the same time. 

It’s only fitting that Tatcha, a perennial skin care favorite, should set its sights on longevity. The brand debuted its Longevity Serum last August and soon added a Longevity Memory Cream to boot, both aiming to improve skin elasticity with an Okinawa cellescence complex and other mighty actives. Industry sources estimate the Longevity franchise will surpass $20 million by the end of 2026, and other staples are going strong, too. One Tatcha Dewy Skin Cream sells every 30 seconds, and the Japanese-inspired brand most recently added a Matcha Foam cleanser and a first chemical-only SPF to its lineup with the launch of The Milky Sunscreen SPF 50. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the brand is a top-five skin care player by EMV in the U.S., per CreatorIQ: Tatcha knows what it takes to stick around.

Thayers is winning the skin care race for Gen Z’s loyalty, transforming its hero Witch Hazel Toner into a multipronged proposition that younger consumers are embracing. After repackaging and relaunching its old-school back-to-basics, it hit TikTok, where it quickly found its footing. According to CreatorIQ, Thayers’ EMV in the last year has topped $82 million, growing 47 percent versus the year prior, and the brand’s creator count, meanwhile, has more than tripled in three years. It helps that the brand is on the pulse of which formats consumers are most excited about, in 2026 adding a hydrating facial mist to its popular Milky franchise, and new exfoliating and pore-refining toner pads. As skin care grows increasingly competitive, Thayers is holding its own. 

Once again, The Ordinary has proven it is anything but. The skin care brand is up 23 percent year-over-year, per Circana, and is playing a key role in parent company The Estée Lauder Cos.’ return to organic sales growth through the third quarter of fiscal 2026. That momentum has been driven by enduring classics — such as the brand’s Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner and Azelaic Acid Suspension — as well as a steady stream of well-timed innovations, like the plumping Volufiline 92% + Pal-Isoleucine. The product launched in November and secured The Ordinary’s rank as a top-three brand by mentions alongside volufiline, which Spate reports has grown 860 percent year-over-year by Google Searches and TikTok views combined. In the brand’s true work-hard-play-hard fashion, The Ordinary has also embarked on several envelope-pushing activations, including a multicity The Markup Marché pop-up poking fun at hyperbolic beauty marketing tactics by applying them to everyday items like produce and toilet paper. Touché. 

Petroleum jelly may be the active in Vaseline products, but the brand’s true magic ingredient is its ability to meet the moment. Now 156 years old, Vaseline has achieved 29 consecutive quarters of growth, with total annual sales exceeding 1 billion euros, according to parent company Unilever’s quarterly earnings reports. The brand continues to find new ways to deliver hydration and moisture for the long run — literally. In 2026, Vaseline partnered with the TCS London Marathon as its Official Nipple Protector, providing runners with Vaseline products to prevent nipple chafing. It riffed again on the different ways people use Vaseline products with the limited-edition launch of a Vaseline Originals collection, which included a Brow Tamer Jelly and a Primer & Highlight Jelly. Meanwhile a new cohort of heroes are taking shape for the brand, including its Glazed & Glisten Gel Oils and its Lip Therapy franchise, which is growing three times the overall category year-to-date, per Circana.

Victoria Beckham is having a year. The namesake beauty founder — née Spice Girl — has officially reached “undeniable” status in beauty, just as the fashion label she launched 18 years ago turns a corner of its own. Blending performance and luxury, Victoria Beckham Beauty is best known for its Satin Kajal Liner pencils, one of which sells every 30 seconds. That being said, people are increasingly ready to pick up whatever the founder is putting down, as evidenced by the 25,000-person waitlist amassed by The Foundation Drops in the lead-up to their September 2025 launch. But VBB isn’t relying on just a couple of heroes to make the brand stick: it is increasingly building an identity around its Portofino ‘97 fragrance pillar, this summer launching a capsule collection inspired by the scent’s breeziness, and adding a new pen-format Blush Stylus, inspired by the popularity of the brand’s Contour Stylus. 

Makeup artist and beauty founder Gucci Westman famously doesn’t launch a product until it’s perfect — a foolproof approach if the brand’s mounting acclaim is any indication. Cofounded with Westman’s husband and fellow entrepreneur, David Neville, Westman Atelier was the fastest-growing luxury brand across skin care and makeup at Sephora in 2025. The brand blends Westman’s expertise — which has graced the faces of stars from Anne Hathaway to Cameron Diaz — and a certain cool-girl versatility. It sells a product every six seconds, and HyrdroBalm ranked as the number-one lipstick at Sephora during the Spring Savings Event.

YSL Beauty is on fire. The brand’s business is booming across both makeup and fragrance, with YSL Beauty ranking as the number-one brand in the U.S. men’s fragrance market during the first half of 2026, thanks to the growing popularity of its Austin-Butler-fronted Myslf franchise. Women’s is also up, with Libre Berry Crush being the number-one new women’s fragrance launch of 2026, and the original Libre ranking as the number-four fragrance in women’s, according to Circana data provided by the brand. The brand’s Make Me Blush Powder Blush is number one in its category this year, and YSL Beauty is cranking up the innovation in makeup, launching a Skin Affair Soft Glow Cushion Foundation, plus a new Icon Lash Clash mascara and a Lovenude Lip Blusher and Lip Shaper this year. YSL Beauty also added pop star Charli xcx as a U.S. makeup ambassador this year, and data from CreatorIQ shows it is the number-one fragrance brand by EMV globally. 

To compile the 2026 Power Brands list, WWD Beauty Inc took a variety of sources into account.

Sales

For domestic sales across the mass and prestige markets, Circana provided the top 10 brands by category for skin care, hair care, makeup and fragrance, as well as a global view into the top performers and share gainers across beauty categories. Navigo Marketing shared the top brands on Amazon, both by overall sales and growth, as well as a view into the top brands of Ulta Beauty’s and Sephora’s respective online businesses. YipitData provided online sales data for Sephora, Ulta, Target and Walmart, highlighting the standout beauty and wellness performers at the retailers, respectively, for the 10 months ending May 2026. Charm.io contributed sales rankings of the top beauty brands and growers on TikTok Shop during the 12 months ending May 2026. We also referenced the WWD Beauty Inc Top 100, an annual ranking of the world’s biggest beauty companies. 

Social

CreatorIQ provided Earned Media Value data rankings across categories — skin care, hair care, makeup and fragrance — measuring the impact and reach of brands’ cross-platform performances, both in the U.S. and globally. Nectar Social shared a 12-month view of the top overall beauty players by resonance across Instagram, TikTok and Reddit, as well as the top players by growth via its Beauty Resonance Index and Beauty Growth Index scoring systems.   

Agility and Innovation

Our own reporting informed how impactful launches were evaluated. We also asked featured brands to provide sales, social media metrics and other quantifications of performance at their disposal.