The Five-Minute Face Is the New Full Glam, and Brands Are Formulating Around It
Photo: Unsplash/Element5 Digital
Full glam — foundation, concealer, contour, highlight, setting powder, each applied as a distinct step — built an entire content genre around its own complexity. The category gaining the most retail traction this year does the opposite: multi-use cream sticks meant to cover a five-minute face from cheek to lip to eyelid with three or four products total.
Brands formulating for this speed-focused customer are prioritizing blendability over buildability, since a five-minute routine doesn't have time for the layering that heavier coverage requires. That's pushed formulation toward cream-to-powder finishes that set quickly without needing a separate setting step.
The shift isn't purely about time. Multi-use products reduce the number of individual items a routine depends on, which several brands frame as a response to fatigue with elaborate routines generally, echoing the same instinct behind skincare's "skinimalism" moment.
Full glam isn't disappearing — it's still the default for events and shoots. But the five-minute face has become the everyday standard the industry is now formulating around first.
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