This week, I checked in on the new beauty categories that have emerged in the first half of 2026, from pet care to kids’ skin care. Additionally, The Ordinary’s Brooklyn bus hits a road bump, and Orebella announces new funding and a new CEO. From pet grooming to nail skin care, new beauty founders are looking for a white space in a saturated category
When scanning for emerging beauty trends, Circana’s Larissa Jensen looks to one of beauty consumers’ favorite places: the post-event goodie bag.
“That’s my peek into where [beauty] is going,” said Jensen, svp and global beauty industry advisor at consumer analytics firm Circana. “The bag I got most recently had pet care products in it, like for caring for your pet’s paws, or skin.”
Indeed, pet grooming has emerged as a clear trend in 2026, with new brands like Biche and Welltayl applying prestige beauty’s aesthetics and ingredients to products for dogs. So, too, has kids’ skin care, in the form of brands like Sincerely Yours and Shay Mitchell’s controversial Rini. The “skinification” movement has extended to seemingly every beauty category, as well, bringing nourishing skin-care ingredients and multi-step routines into fragrance, nails and even allergy care.
