Beauty consumers love skincare—and it's the fastest-growing beauty category, with dollar sales increasing by 7% during the first half of 2024 and a 10% growth year-over-year, based on units sold, Circana reported.

Brands are infusing all types of products, from hair care to fragrances, with ingredients that will benefit the skin. It’s the “skinification of beauty,” reports Jennifer Famiano, beauty industry analyst at Circana.

Applying skincare products is meant to be a relaxing, self-care “ritual.” The type of packaging a brand chooses is an important decision, because it will significantly affect the user experience.

Clean ingredients are more important than ever. There’s an abundance of innovative formulas on the market, in all types of packaging—from airless bottles and jars to tubes with nozzle tips or pumps.

The tubes segment generated over 41% of the skincare market’s revenue share in 2023, according to Precedence Market Research. The report says that tubes deliver convenience and ease of use in spades, but the bottles and jars segment will expand at the fastest rate through 2034.

Overall, the global skincare market was worth $157.6 billion in 2023, according to Precedence’s report, and will grow to reach $321.9 billion by 2034, while expanding at a CAGR of 6.74%. “There’s a growing emphasis on incorporating natural ingredients and cutting-edge formulations...and sustainable skincare solutions,” the report states.

Among the factors fueling the skincare market’s growth are new developments in ingredient technology, rising demand for natural products, and indie skincare brand “disruptors” offering unique formulations.

A few of the latest skincare launches are featured here—and insights about suppliers’ most in-demand packaging. Read on.

Colorful, User-Friendly & On-Trend

Vitamasques, a K-beauty-inspired brand that began with sheet masks, recently expanded into a full skincare range. The colorful and affordable line includes cleansers, toners, serums, and moisturizers.

“Our mission has always been to make high-quality skincare accessible to everyone,” says Emma Hu, co-founder of Vitamasques. “The skincare collection is more than just products; it’s a movement to embrace the glow that’s uniquely yours and feel good about what you put on your skin.”

The line looks modern in pink, green, and blue hues. Promotional videos on the brand’s website feature young beauty fans having fun while demonstrating how the packaging works. One person pushes down to dispense the moisturizer from an airless jar, while another twists the bottom of a serum bottle, causing the recessed pump to pop up.

The eco-friendly plastic packaging contains 30% PCR, and the line’s airless containers maintain the potency of the active ingredients. The cleansers and toners are in translucent bullet-shaped tottles with pumps, which stand upside down on their overcaps.

Vitamasques’ Barrier Repair Rich Cream is a moisturizer in an airless jar. It contains prebiotics, panthenol, shea butter, and adenosine. The Cleansing Oil Oat-to-Milk Cleanser is another highlight, and it includes ten plant-based oils, 8HA Complex, and Willow Bark. The Purifying Jelly Foaming Cleanser contains 3% Niacinamide, aloe vera, and green tea.

Soy is trending in skincare, and the use of all types of plant-based ingredients as more consumers are interested in supporting vegan and cruelty-free brands. Vitamasque's Vegan ‘Snail Mucin’ Plant Serum is very much on-trend, withn its vagan alternative to snail mucin. It includes 10% aloe, 2% panthenol, wild yam, and peptides.

Formula Compatibility is Crucial for Skincare Packaging

Vitamasques includes several serums in its skincare lineup, in bottles with pumps with nozzle-shaped tips. “The rise in oils and serums in recent years has been a challenge to package,” says Mike Warford, Director of Business Development at ABA Packaging. “Fluid products with solid particulate ingredients are often problematic as well. Brands should consider all packaging and dispensing options, and all packaging should be properly lab-tested and panel-tested before making a final decision,” he advises.

Classic Dropper Packs—& New Designs

Classic dropper packaging is popular for skincare serums, and Virospack offers numerous options. “Liquid serums and oils benefit greatly from droppers, which provide controlled, precise dosage, ensuring consumers use the right amount without waste,” says Verena Fiori Ferreira, Marketing Director at Virospack. Skincare products require the package and product to be perfectly ‘in sync,’ she says, adding, “It is crucial to ensure the product effectiveness and enhance the overall user experience.”


Virospack offers a Duo Dose Dropper System, which offers precise control over the dosage. “It’s ideal for skincare products like serums and lotions,”says Ferreira. A brand can customize this package using various decoration techniques, including screen-printing, painting, and metallization.

Virospack recently introduced glass roll-on vials. “This innovation, designed for skincare brands, is ideal for liquid-based formulations such as serums and essential oils,” says Ferreira. The vials ensure a smooth, mess-free application. Using a roll-on ball in plastic or steel to evenly apply a product will stimulate the body’s hot spots, such as wrists, elbows, ankles, and neck areas, and can improve circulation. “The bonus massage provided by the ball will also improve the user experience, enhancing the value of your product,” adds Ferreira.

Airless Glass is Popular

Many types of skincare products require airless packaging, especially retinol formulas. Goop Beauty, Gwyneth Paltrow’s brand, recently launched 3x Retinol Regenerative Serum. Its innovation lies in the fact that it’s a clean formula.

Goop’s website states, “The ingredients needed to stabilize retinol initially didn’t meet our clean standards. But the technology has finally caught up, and we’ve been able to design a clean retinol serum that delivers instant and prolonged results without the irritating side effects.”


The formula combines three different retinoids with a complex that soothes and supports the skin’s barrier—without interfering with the retinols’ efficacy. “An innovative biomimetic plant peptide helps support cell repair and regeneration, while ceramides, beetroot extract, and adzuki bean extract moisturize skin,” the brand states.

The serum is in a glass airless bottle and pump package. “Our luxurious bottle is dual-chambered. The outside is glass, providing a sensory experience; the inner capsule is polypropylene. The two chambers easily unscrew after use for recyclability,” a spokesperson explains.

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The bottle’s polypropylene parts are custom in-mold color-matched, while the glass is frosted and finished with a direct decoration for a polished look. The outer glass bottle feels satisfying to hold, and its weight makes it feel more luxurious.


For skincare brands looking for airless glass, Elcos Group is a packaging supplier with a stylish line. Elcos’ lineup of airless glass bottles and jars offer brands a cohesive look across multiple products. The supplier also offers PCR and refillable designs.

Developing a New Type of Refillable Jar

Some skincare brands consider refillable packaging to be the gold standard when it comes to sustainability. But a few years ago, there weren’t that many refillable options that were truly airless, according to Jason Clerke, president of Garrett Hewitt International (GHI).  

Clerke worked with the brand LimeLife by Alcone to launch its Green Smoothie Anti-Aging Face Cream in a refillable airless jar. The product formulation required an airless package. “All of the existing refillable jars, at the time, required the consumer to remove a cap or peel off a foil seal—then insert the refill into the outer jar and attach the pump. Doing this exposes the product to air—defeating the purpose of an airless package,” Clerke explains.

A member of LimeLife’s packaging team asked Clerke to come up with a way to leave the foil seal on the refill, when inserting it into the jar, so that the pump would puncture it—similar to a K-cup. “It was a good idea, but the housing of the airless pump was too wide, so the refill wouldn’t fit inside the jar with the foil seal in place,” Clerke says.

Related: Harnessing the Advantages of Airless Packaging

GHI’s package engineers redesigned the pump to overcome this issue and ensure the sealed refill would fit inside the jar. “We made the housing half the diameter,” says Clerke. “To make it even more eco-friendly, LimeLife applied a Kraft paper label, which the user can easily peel before recycling,” he says. In addition, LimeLife’s plastic jar is made with GHI’s EcoPure additive. “That means it will decompose in a landfill within ten years, rather than 100,” says Clerke.

GHI offers beauty brands a line of refillable glass bottles and jars. They are designed with replaceable plastic inners. “The consumer just pops in a refill, and the empty one goes in the recycling bin,” says Clerke.

An Innovative Eco-Friendly Pump

Credo, the retailer that pioneered the clean beauty movement, debuted its Credo Skincare collection. The line includes cleansers and moisturizers in recyclable glass bottles. Upcycled vetiver root extract is the line’s star ingredient, and a local cooperative in Haiti ethically harvests it. The antioxidant can help protect the skin’s moisture barrier to improve texture and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.


The bottles have pump dispensers, but since the typical pump is often not recyclable, the team at Credo partnered with Pact Collective to come up with a more eco-friendly solution. Together, they co-designed "NewMatter" Pump.

Each NewMatter Pump is made from 12 grams of hard-to-recycle material or landfill and ocean-bound plastic. Every 38 pumps eliminates one pound of material going to the landfill or ocean, Credo states. It’s the most sustainable pump option on the market, and Credo says it will make the design available for other brands to use.

Tubes Offer Convenience & Precision

Tubes are often lightweight and easy to carry in a purse. Pair a tube with a dispensing cap, nozzle tip, or pump, and the package can accommodate various types of skincare formulas.


Naturium, a brand that states, “high-performance skincare should be and can be clinically-effective, skin-compatible and affordable,” chose a tube for its skincare-meets-makeup launch, Dew-Glow Tinted Moisturizer SPF 50+. The moisturizing sunscreen comes in three shades, and is formulated to deliver a dewy, radiant finish with a sheer tint. It includes niacinamide and ethylated ascorbic acid.

The plastic squeeze tube has a pump. “This product launch is a response to current trends and what consumers are looking for—effective multi-tasking products to simplify their beauty routines,” a spokesperson says. “It took over two years to perfect the formula, to create a sunscreen that hydrates the skin while delivering a warm, golden glow,” a representative explains.

It only comes in three shades, but Naturium’s team says it evaluated many different shades across competitive foundations, tinted moisturizers, and other SPF-tinted products to determine which would be universally flattering—and deliver a golden glow.

HCP is a supplier offering stylish airless tubes, called Affinity Airless. “For luxury brands looking to elevate their skincare line with modern packaging aesthetics and superior functionality, our patented ‘Affinity Airless’ pump offers fast-to-market lead times, extensive in-house finishes and decoration as well as numerous product benefits,” says Stephanie Rowntree, product manager at HCP Packaging. 


HCP’s Affinity Airless tubes are suitable for low to high-viscosity skincare formulas. A beauty brand can upgrade the tube with HCP’s patented disc-valve engine to perfectly dispense highly viscous formulas. “With 360-degree dispensing, fast priming, and precise dosing, the ‘Affinity Airless’ pump allows the user to consistently apply the desired amount of product without waste,” adds Rowntree.

Elevating Aluminum with a Decoration

Aluminum may not be the material that first comes to mind when you think of skincare packaging, but ABA Packaging’s Warford says some brands are choosing its Envases line for many unexpected types of products. And the right decoration can elevate the look of an aluminum bottle.


“We offer aluminum bottles, cans, tubes, jars, and caps, and they can all be offset-decorated with up to 6 colors. Offset printing techniques are typically economical as well,” he says.

ABA Packaging’s team can add hot-stamp foil printing and spot varnishing on most of its aluminum bottles, which come in a variety of sizes. “Our new ‘Touch’ deco effect is popular,” he says. “Envases is focused on providing added-value containers—and we have developed some special innovative finishes that allow clients to create exclusive designs,” he adds.

Applicators Help Create a Skincare Ritual

Applicators are more than just a trend in skincare, experts say. They’re a necessity. “Like so many cosmetic products, for a skincare formula to perform at its optimum potential, it has to be applied in the right way, and that means pairing it with the right applicator,” says GHI’s Clerke.GHI offers skincare brands a line of brushes made with synthetic fibers, based on the latest advances, so they can deliver an even application while assisting in encouraging product absorbency.

“Using a brush also keeps the product off your hands, which is useful if you’re using a self-tanner, shimmer, or tinted product,” says Clerke. “These types of brushes typically have a large surface area for quick application on larger areas of the body. They will have dense fibers so the product stays on the top of the brush and doesn’t soak in. The density also helps to apply the product more effectively.”


GHI offers various types of brush applicators with ergonomic handles that are easy to hold in the right position for the best application. “Our fan brushes are popular for facial skincare products, such as masks,” says Clerke. 

For several recent product launches, beauty brands are including an applicator—and one brand has made it a part of the package design. Peace Out Skincare’s new Acne Gel Moisturizer with 2% Salicylic Acid is in a plastic jar. The cap is designed with a “hidden” compartment, where a plastic spatula slides out.

The silky, lightweight formula is deeply hydrating, and formulated for acne-prone skin. It contains the brand’s “Hibiscus Hydration Protection Complex,” niacinamide, and a ceramide complex. 

Related: Makeup Applicators & Brushes Designed for Superior Product Performance

When a product is in a jar, applying it with an applicator is hygienic and helps to keep the product contaminant-free. MakeUp Eraser, the brand known for its reusable makeup remover cloths, has launched Cloud Cleanse, a makeup-removing balm. Cloud Cleanse is in a pink plastic jar made with PCR. It comes with a small, curved semi-flexible spatula applicator, which makes it easy to scoop the balm without dipping in with your fingers.

Jennifer Thompson, Chief Brand Officer at MakeUp Eraser, says, “When it comes to cleansing balms, a jar is the best packaging for ease of use. This format allows the user to access every last drop of product. The formula is designed to emulsify from a balm quickly, to an oil—so it’s not compatible with a stick format, which we determined when we were exploring other options,” she explains.

Unlike most typical makeup removers, Cloud Cleanse is formulated with skincare ingredients, including wild cherry extract, niacinamide, and 27 skin-conditioning agents. The balm is made with an olive oil base.



The Penthouse Group offers beauty brands a range of cosmetic applicators and tools, which are ideal for skincare products. The supplier is known for its custom silicone applicators, which can be produced in various shapes and sizes.

As a material, silicone is ideal for skincare product application, according to Steve Ostrower, President of The Penthouse Group. “Skincare is an extremely sensorial experience, and a ritual for the consumer—and silicone is a skin-like material that delivers a clean and consistent product application,” he says.

Skincare Innovations Will Continue, Experts Say

On a final note, Circana’s Famiano says the various categories within beauty often inspire one another, propelling the industry forward. “At present, the consumer is focused on products that are multi-purpose and provide skincare benefits,” she says.

Famiano advises, “Skincare brands must differentiate their products and continue to educate consumers on technological ingredient advancements to remain in the conversation.”

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