Why Gen Z Is Ditching Doomscrolling For The Beauty Analog Bag

If beauty in 2025 had a headline, it would read: India flirted hard and swiped right on what worked.

This wasn’t a year of blind loyalty or long-term commitment. It was the year of curious, confident experimentation. Consumers chased what was viral, sampled what was trending, and moved fast, but only the products that truly delivered earned repeat screen time in their routines.

Ingredient lists were scanned like subtitles. Reviews mattered. Reels influenced carts. And routines evolved in real time.

With a community of over 45 million beauty lovers across 19,000+ pincodes, Nykaa’s Best of 2025 doesn’t just decode what sold, it captures the beauty zeitgeist of India in 2025: what people flirted with, fell for, and folded into everyday life.

Because in 2025, beauty behaved less like a long marriage, and more like dating apps on a good day: fast, curious, trend-led, and brutally honest.

Some Categories Didn’t Just Trend. They Went Monumental

1. The Pout Power: We sold 1,750 lipsticks every hour. Whether it was a swipe of the M.A.C MACximal Matte in Mehr or the cult-favorite Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk, somewhere in India, a pout was being perfected every two seconds.
2. Infrastructure for the Eyes: Stack all the kajals sold in 2025 and you’d build 575 Burj Khalifas. Clearly, a sharp wing isn’t a phase; it’s infrastructure.
3. Base Camp: The volume of foundation sold could paint 250 football fields. From the high-coverage NARS Natural Radiant Longwear to the “skin-first” Smashbox Halo Healthy Glow Tinted Moisturizer, India is committed to the base like never before.
4. The Pink City: Blush sales hit such heights this year that if they were paint, Jaipur wouldn’t need a refresh for the next century. (Yes, Kay Beauty’s Velvet Crème Blush deserves a mention.)
5. Reviews as the final word: Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser (Dry to Normal Skin with Niacinamide) won without breaking a sweat. With 1.3 lakh+ ratings and a stellar 4.5-star rating, it officially became India’s most-reviewed beauty product on Nykaa, proof that sometimes, the quiet classics win the loudest applause.
6. Brand Topper: Dot & Key didn’t just sit pretty on vanities this year, it lived rent-free in people’s search histories. In fact, “Dot & Key Face Moisturiser” emerged as the fastest-growing beauty search keyword on Nykaa in 2025, clocking 63% growth. From ceramides to sunscreen, the brand’s barrier-first, no-fuss philosophy struck a chord with a generation that wants skincare to work hard and feel good doing it. Cute packaging helped, but performance sealed the deal.