From 1,750 lipsticks an hour to 1 crore rosemary products: Inside Nykaa’s Beauty Rewind 2025

India’s beauty consumer treated 2025 like a dating app—swiping fast, experimenting freely, and committing only when products delivered. Data from Nykaa’s Beauty Rewind 2025 report shows a market driven less by blind loyalty and more by repeat performance, ingredient clarity, and daily-use habits, across a base of over 45 million users and deliveries to more than 19,000 pincodes.

The numbers suggest that while trends moved quickly, only products that worked earned a permanent place in routines.

Lip products continued to dominate colour cosmetics. Nykaa sold 1,750 lipsticks every hour through 2025, making it one of the most consistently purchased categories of the year. Eye makeup also showed strong stickiness, with kajal volumes so high that stacking them would equal 575 Burj Khalifas—underscoring how eye makeup has shifted from occasional wear to everyday use.

Base makeup expanded well beyond special occasions. Foundation volumes sold in 2025 could paint nearly 250 football fields, pointing to deeper penetration of complexion products into daily routines. Blush emerged as a standout category, with sales strong enough for Nykaa to compare them to repainting Jaipur for a century, driven by both mass and celebrity-backed brands.

Skincare remained the backbone of beauty spending. Cleansers and moisturisers saw sustained, high-frequency purchases throughout the year. Nykaa sold 19 cleansers and 25 moisturisers every minute in 2025, highlighting the dominance of basic skincare steps. Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser became the most-reviewed beauty product on the platform, with over 1.3 lakh ratings and an average score of 4.5 stars.

Serums moved firmly into the mainstream. Products with clearly labelled active ingredients and concentrations saw strong demand, particularly Vitamin C and niacinamide-based formulations. Minimalist’s 10% Vitamin C serum ranked among the top performers, reflecting growing ingredient awareness and confidence among Indian consumers.

Korean beauty crossed a key threshold in 2025. Products such as Beauty of Joseon Relief Sunscreen and COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence recorded sustained repurchases, signalling that K-beauty has moved from trend-driven discovery to habitual use in Indian skincare routines.

Makeup preferences shifted towards performance-led formats. Tinted moisturisers and breathable bases gained traction, while liquid lipsticks with long-wear and transfer-proof claims led lip colour sales. Products such as L’Oréal Paris Infallible Matte Resistance and Nykaa Matte To Last emerged as category leaders, pointing to a clear preference for durability over dramatic finishes.

Haircare saw a similar evolution. Scalp-focused solutions gained prominence, with over one crore rosemary-based haircare products sold during the year. WishCare Hair Growth Serum sold at a rate of one unit per minute, reflecting rising interest in ingredient-led hair and scalp care.

In fragrances, buying behaviour diversified. Nykaa sold five fragrances every minute in 2025, as consumers moved away from a single signature scent towards building fragrance wardrobes aligned to moods and occasions, spanning both luxury and mass-market brands.

Speed of delivery increasingly shaped buying decisions. Nykaa’s quick-commerce service delivered beauty baskets in as little as six minutes in cities such as Hyderabad and Delhi. Faster delivery also coincided with larger baskets, including the year’s highest-value order—a ₹4 lakh purchase of 91 products by a shopper in Nagpur.

Overall, Nykaa’s 2025 data points to an Indian beauty market that is faster, more ingredient-aware, and increasingly routine-driven—where experimentation is easy, but loyalty is earned only through performance.