What’s Hot And What’s Not In Beauty. By Tracy Gehrmann
6 minutes read
Introduction by: Peter Marshall
We know this to be true.Travel retail beauty is at a crossroads since it emerged from the pandemic era. Duty-free stores and airport boutiques are waking up to a new reality: global beauty trends are moving faster, travellers are younger and more digitally savvy, and the old playbook is losing steam. In today’s blog on trunblocked.com, written by guest contributor and beauty industry expert,Tracy Gehrmann*, we break down what’s hot and what’s not in beauty for travel retail – from the rise of global beauty trends and indie brand momentum to the need to declutter shelves and rethink legacy strategies – all with an eye on how airports and brands can better serve the new jet-set beauty consumer. If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of beauty, then this is mandatory reading.
What’s Hot: Trends That Are Shaping Travel Retail Beauty
Global Influences and Social Media Hype:
Korean skincare, Japanese rituals and Indian beauty traditions are growing in global relevance. These influences are already making their way into European and American markets and deserve more space in travel retail. As these products gain traction on social platforms, airports should be the first place where travellers encounter these trends in real life. From ayurvedic ingredients and wellness rituals (think turmeric masks and hair oiling) to innovative formulas and a focus on glass-like skin, these cross-cultural currents are just starting to permeate Europe and the US, meaning travel retail can surf the wave by showcasing trending Asian and South Asian products before they hit Main Street back home.
Travel-Tailored Beauty Solutions:
Today’s travellers are seeking beauty on the fly – literally. Long-haul flight routines have gone viral, with influencers sheet-masking and whipping out LED light gadgets mid-flight. Smart brands are responding with on-the-go formats: mini formats, leak-proof solids, multi-use sticks and simplified routines that align with airport security and in-flight needs. Travel beauty is no longer just about size compliance. It’s about performance under pressure: hydrating during a long-haul flight, refreshing before a business meeting or creating a skincare ritual from your seat. In short, beauty that travels well – from pocket-sized tech to dehydrated sheet masks – is hot property. Brands embracing convenience and innovation are earning precious space in carry-ons (and in airport stores).
Experiential Retail & Sampling in Airports:
Airports offer a unique captive audience — people with time, curiosity and limited distractions. That makes them perfect for product discovery. Brands that use this space to invite interaction – through sampling, quick treatments or visually engaging pop-ups – are seeing a measurable uptick in engagement and conversion. Many travelers use airport downtime to explore and entertain themselves and beauty can be part of that experience. By offering mini services or simply a fun photo booth, airport activations convert idle minutes into memorable brand moments. Importantly, they also drive conversion: handing a traveller a free face mist sample or hand massage can translate to a duty-free sale before boarding. Airport operators are learning that a skincare demo, a VR fragrance journey or a selfie station with ring lights does not only attract a crowd but also boosts spend. Travel retail has long lagged domestic retail in this regard, but such experiential touchpoints help close the gap, giving travellers a reason to explore beyond the duty-free staple brands. Picture a Gen Z traveller posting from a cool pop-up -free publicity that makes others anticipate their next airport layover!
Indie Brands and Niche Picks:
One of the hottest developments is the “indie-fication” of travel retail’s beauty assortment. Once upon a time, duty-free was dominated by the same handful of luxury giants – walls of Chanel No.5 and Dior lipsticks. Those classics are still there, but now they’re sharing shelf space with an influx of trendy niche brands.
The beauty consumer has evolved — they crave differentiation and stories they haven’t heard a hundred times. Indie brands are delivering just that. Whether it’s sustainable practices, minimal formulations or bold branding, smaller beauty players are shaking up retail expectations. While legacy brands still have a role, travel retail has an opportunity to reflect what’s working in domestic beauty retail: a broader mix that combines familiarity with freshness. Today, a frequent flyer might spot Grown Alchemist, Malin+Goetz, Sol de Janeiro or Tata Harper featured in airport stores alongside Chanel and Shiseido..
Retailers know younger travelers crave novelty and authenticity. These up-and-coming brands often have cool brand stories and social media buzz that legacy brands lack. Duty-free operators, from Europe’s Heinemann to Asia’s Shilla, are actively hunting for indie brands that will diversify and energize their assortment. Not only do these brands attract Gen Y and Z shoppers, they also bring in incremental sales as “discoveries.” It’s a win-win.
What’s Not: Outdated Approaches to Leave Behind
Assortment Overload and “Boring” Offerings:
If hot trends are all about curation and freshness, the not side of the coin is the persisting clutter and sameness in many travel retail beauty halls. Too often, duty-free shops have been guilty of cramming every SKU under the sun into limited shelf space – the result is an overwhelming sea of products that’s difficult to navigate.
The irony is that in trying to offer “something for everyone,” these stores end up exciting no one. Instead of inspiring curiosity, the clutter dulls the experience. What travelers want is curation. A tight, trend-aware selection that reflects current behavior – not just a static wall of best-sellers.
In 2025, failing to edit and curate is decidedly not hot. The new wave consumer values a tightly curated range – they’d rather see a few well-chosen local indie brands or travel-exclusive kits than a wall of the same old logo-ed boxes.
Relying on Legacy Playbooks:
Many large brands still rely on the same strategies that worked five or ten years ago – heavy discounting, oversized packaging and heritage-based storytelling. But travelers are changing and so are their values. Gen Z travellers are less motivated by duty-free bargains and more by unique experiences and values. Today’s beauty shopper is looking for brands that feel current, agile, and aligned with how they live. Simply assuming brand heritage alone will keep you on top is not a safe bet anymore. Legacy brands that fail to evolve risk fading into the background.
Playing Catch-Up to Domestic Retail:
On a related note, a reluctance to onboard indie brands or to experiment with new concepts is a losing strategy. Travel retail has traditionally been conservative – many operators would list only proven sellers that performed well in domestic markets. The result was a 1-2 year lag behind local retail trends. Now, with trends exploding overnight on social media, that lag can make an assortment feel stale. To capture the FOMO-driven beauty enthusiast, travel retail must be as on-trend as the high street – if not more, given its global audience. In short, what’s not hot is the attitude of “we’ll wait until it’s big elsewhere before we try it.” In 2025 and beyond, that means playing perpetual catch-up. The industry conversation now centers on proactivity: bring indie and emerging brands in early, rotate displays often, and treat travel retail as a testbed for innovation rather than a shrine to the past.
Bridging the Gap and Looking Ahead
The good news is that travel retail’s learning curve is bending in the right direction. The pandemic forced a rethink, and now there’s a palpable drive to rejuvenate the category. Airports and brands that lean into the “what’s hot” – global trend curation, travel-friendly innovation, experiential retail and indie brand diversity – are transforming duty-free from a nostalgia purchase zone into a vibrant beauty destination. They’re also proving that travel retail doesn’t have to lag domestic trends: in some cases, it can even lead (imagine discovering a cutting-edge Korean serum in an airport before your local store carries it).
What’s hot is innovation, curation, and excitement. What’s not is inertia, clutter, and copy-paste strategies. The good news? The transformation is already underway. And for those ready to take off with it, the future of beauty in travel retail looks bright.
*About Tracy Gehrmann: Tracy Gehrmann is the co-founder of TNGE, a full-service marketing agency for beauty, lifestyle and wellness brands. With over a decade of experience accelerating brand growth across global markets, she has helped drive double-and-triple-digit million dollar revenue through digital transformation, commercial restructuring and international expansion. Known for turning strategic complexity into clear commercial outcomes, she helps brands navigate the realities of omnichannel marketing, shifting consumer behaviour and the evolving demands of brand building at scale.
