How Do You Make Body Lotion Cool?

This year, the body care category vaulted above and beyond the bar of soap.

In 2018, the global body care market was valued at over $18 billion, according to Euromonitor, and is forecast to be worth just over $22 billion next year. The lift can be felt at retailers like LVMH’s Sephora and the Macy’s-owned Bluemercury, who have recently increased their bath and body inventories to accommodate a deluge of elevated body skincare products, like vitamin C-infused body lotions or bergamot-scented hand serum. A swath of both legacy and upstart brands are releasing innovative formulations or expanded ranges, like Rare Beauty’s new body collection or Soft Services’ scented retinol hand cream, en masse.

It’s all to cater to shoppers who are seeking to apply their favorite skincare ingredients below the neckline. As facial formulas have leveled up, so have the tastes of consumers, who have been trained to assess a product’s value not just in terms of its packaging and experience but also its ingredients, formulation and proximity to an aspirational lifestyle. Now, it feels inevitable that every area of personal care from tooth to toe will get “the beauty treatment” at some point — and it’s just as clear that body care’s moment is well underway.

“There was still this little bit of hesitation around prestige body care and whether or not people are willing to buy up,” said Leslie Tessler, the founder of shaving care brand Hanni. “And I think this year really kind of settled those doubts.”

The category was also a reliable source of excitement in what was overall a relatively soft year for the greater beauty industry. Brands like Hanni, Kate McLeod and Nécessaire have not only raised the bar but changed its shape, turning innovative new formulas into cool, coveted products.

They all say it’s only the beginning. How long does it take to convince the lay customer that the anti-aging ingredients they use on their face might be worth applying to their legs and arms? About six years, says Nécessaire co-founder Randi Christiansen.

“I feel very humbled that together with other brands in the category we’ve succeeded in beginning this sort of trend,” Christiansen said. “I still think we’re very, very early.”

Make It Work

The body care moment began not with a bang but a boom — two of them, in rapid succession.

The first product from body care pioneer Sol de Janeiro, a body butter called Bum Bum Cream (and pronounced “boom boom”), arrived in Sephora stores in 2015. It was about as expensive as its contemporaries, which included prestige offerings from Kiehl’s and Clarins, but carried the promise of smoothing out cellulite with the added ingredient of caffeine. It went on to become Sephora’s top body SKU, which it remained until 2021, the year after Nécessaire entered the retailer.

Since then, the retailer has become an attractive destination for budding body brands. Its “Next Big Thing” pilot, which was launched this year, introduced shoppers to a new crop of brands, like Soft Services, known for its exfoliating “buffing bar,” and Kate McLeod, the purveyor of moisturizing “body stones.”

The response “has been exceptionally positive,” said Cindy Deily, Sephora’s vice president of skincare merchandising, who noted demand for experiences (involving fragrance or texture) and treatments (with clinical claims or active ingredients).

“We see continued opportunity in our core categories of wash and lotion, but we’re excited to help clients build out their body care routines from all angles,” Deily said.

In particular, it’s body care products that function as skin treatments, rather than just cleansers or moisturizers, that are driving the category forward. The best-selling body SKU at Bluemercury is an algae-infused body oil by Osea that promises not only to moisturize but has clinical claims for “improving skin elasticity.” The prestige retailer saw double-digit growth in body care this year, said Katlyn Skrinak, Bluemercury’s associate merchant of professional skincare, body and tools.

This year, insights firm Spate recorded surges in searches for body-related cosmetic issues like perioral dermatitis, sweat bumps and antifungal treatments, indicating marked interest in “functional body care.” It predicts 2025’s top trends will include magnesium oil — which enjoyed a boost from 2024’s viral advice to apply the oil to feet for better sleep — and body lotion made with skin-smoothing glycolic acid.

On shelves, “functional” body care often promises cosmetic benefits beyond cleansing and moisture, like Nécessaire’s latest offering called the Body Vitamin C, which distills the supposed glow-boosting properties of the active ingredient into a gel-cream.

But it can also mean products that are designed for ease of use, as in Hanni’s case. Each of the brand’s products are based on convenient use-cases — like a gel-stick that preps skin for dry shaving, or a lather that allows one to shave in-shower. Hanni doubled their sales this year, after Sephora extended the brand to all of its doors.

“Newness for newness sake does not interest me,” Tessler said. “When innovation meets functionality, that’s magic.” Sampling is a priority for the brand in 2025. “Rather than focusing on newness, it’s like, we have these amazing products, and not enough people know about them. How do we get them in every single person’s hands?”

Adding Cool Factor

There are two ways in which brands are able to reliably sow desire into the brains of customers. The first appeals to basic senses; Make it smell not good but irresistible.

Sidia, Erin Kleinberg’s homeware brand, dusts fine fragrances into each of its candles and in-shower formulas. It’s the idea of “this sensorial moment,” Kleinberg said. “That maybe they’re going to buy a $42 body wash instead of going to the drug store.”

Fragrance is now an indispensable part of the body care experience, brands say. Sol de Janeiro spun out Bum Bum Cream’s scent as its own fragrance, Cheriosa 62, a top seller at Sephora, Ulta and on TikTok Shop. The bath and body brand Lush has applied viral hits, like their gourmand Sticky Dates scent, across collections; the Sticky Dates Shower Gel is their #1 SKU in 260 North American stores. “As well as everywhere else,” Lush perfumer Emma Vincent added, noting less demand for gourmand fragrances in Asian markets.

The second involves collaborations, which can expand a brand’s target audience. Lush is a body care behemoth, but has nimbly produced limited-edition products tied to cultural moments. Last year, it took the brand three weeks from sketch to shelf to create a milky white bath bomb inspired by the events of the film “Saltburn”; this year, the brand has partnered with Universal’s “Wicked” and Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”

Kleinberg, who founded the fashion website Coveteur and consultancy Metier Creative, prior to Sidia, has used collaborations to build a world for her body care brand. Two of its most sought-after launches in 2024 were candles collaborating with two New York City Italian restaurants, Don Angie and San Sabino. Sidia is also stocked at Tracey Anderson’s LA fitness studio.

“We want to show up in their favorite places,” said Kleinberg.

Brands can not only level up an existing product’s value, but also innovate an entirely new product subcategory. With her “body stones,” Kate McLeod wanted to create a decadent experience. The stones — palm-sized pucks of solid cocoa butter infused with essential oils — are rubbed dry onto the skin, where they impart moisture and have a variety of use-cases, from sleep to sex (The Dusk Stone even repels mosquitos). Since the brand’s 2022 launch on Sephora.com, they’ve become a best-seller at the retailer.

“We see body care growing right now, and I’m like, of course it is,” McLeod said. “We’ve never been so disconnected from our bodies.” After the line quadrupled its online sales at Sephora, the retailer invited it into 60 doors, and will launch in a hundred more next year.

Next year, Sephora plans to go wider with its body care assortment, said vice-president Deily. Founders say that as the market continues to crowd, the bar will continue to rise.

“Don’t just give me fragrance,” said Nécessaire’s Christiansen. “Give me texture, give me performance, then give me scent.”

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