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Editorial

Editor’s Letter: Packaging’s Age of Empathy

Everything that's in Beauty Packaging Magazine's December 2025 issue—take a look.

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By: Jamie Matusow

Editor-in-Chief

Beauty Packaging Magazine’s December issue is out, our last issue of 2025.

It’s been a year of newsworthy beauty deals. Going into 2026, more are expected. In 2025, for instance, e.l.f. Beauty acquired Rhode Skin for $1 billion. Unilever sold Kate Somerville to Rare Beauty Brands. And L’Oréal, in one of its largest moves ever, bet on luxury, acquiring Kering Beauté in a $4.66 billion deal. The agreement gives L’Oréal 50-year licenses for brands including Gucci and Creed. At press time, Kimberly-Clark announced it will acquire Kenvue for over $40 billion, creating one of the largest consumer health companies in the U.S.

The high-end news comes at the same time global reports show a slowdown in prestige, against an uptick in quality mass-market items. And according to data and analyst company GlobalData, “CVS Pharmacy sits at the top of the global health & beauty market with an estimated 0.22ppts rise in share to 5.57% in 2025, as it taps into consumer desire for health-led products.” Target is also predicted to benefit from a shift.

Whatever challenges the Beauty industry may face, amid the hot topics of pricing and tariffs, mass and prestige, there’s a clear upward movement in sales across the board—and the world. 

As was evident at beauty industry trade shows I visited in the last couple of months, MakeUp in NewYork and Luxe Pack Monaco, there’s no stopping cosmetic packaging suppliers and brands from their dedication to innovation. 

The same level of progress is evident in this month’s feature story, “Advancing New Paths in Innovative Cosmetic Packaging.” From new and exciting deco techniques to amazing custom designs, as well as inspiration from sustainable mandates and choices, packaging is seeing a new renaissance of sorts—and sustainability is spurring it on. 

Lauren Ryder, Global Packaging Analyst at Mintel, tells Beauty Packaging, “Innovative packaging in today’s beauty world comes from two facets: function and sustainability.” She explains, “Consumers are not only looking for products that make them feel good, but also products they feel good about buying.”

Chloe Scanlan, Marketing Manager at the Pentawards, says, “A quiet revolution is unfolding on the beauty shelf.” She explained that many of this year’s entries and winners that stayed in mind “weren’t just visually stunning but intuitive, inclusive, and genuinely human. It appears that beauty has entered its era of empathy.”

As we bid farewell to 2025, we wish you a happy holiday—and a successful and empathetic year ahead.

Jamie Matusow
jmatusow@rodmanmedia.com

We hope you enjoy this issue!

IN THIS ISSUE: December 2025

Here’s what you’ll find—and more—in Beauty Packaging Magazine’s December 2025 issue:

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