Skin Care saw a massive boost during the second half of 2020. And with the immense focus on self-care, mindfulness and ethos, consumers are more demanding of brands’ values than ever before. This focus is seeping into the industry’s videos, too. Here, Moss Studio + Magazine examines four major trends to look out for.

1. Sensorially-driven Video

Skin care is a sensorial experience. It’s about texture, smell, sight, and hearing—even about creating a moment that’s immersive and uplifting. For high-end video, we see this approach embraced across a range of different beauty brands’ creative pieces. Whether it’s Dior’s Prestige or Estée Lauder’s Re-Nutriv, they take their time to emulate the essence of their product beyond facts and catchy taglines. The material is specifically shot and edited to pull the viewer into an experience that appeals to more senses than one.

It’s aspirational, and it creates an encapsulating and evocative atmosphere. Sensorial video is highly impactful; it gets under the skin of the audience, in a good way. More than the end result, it emphasizes and highlights the journey that any experience represents, through all our different senses.

2. Creating a Connection with Nature Through Skin Care

With ethos taking center stage during the course of 2020, it should come as no surprise that sustainability, responsibility and a closer connection to nature is establishing itself as a skin care video trend. Furthermore, nature became an extremely important (and for many, newfound) passion for consumers across the globe. Forced into lockdown of varying degrees, nature is now a place of refuge and breathing space like never before. Skin care, in turn, is drawing the connection between their source ingredients and their products.

Big sweeping visuals of gorgeous landscapes, and micro shots that showcase texture and color of nature’s marvels. Biotherm’s Life Plankton Elixir Blue Fountain is an ode to the sea, to recycling, and to sustainable skincare production. Deep blue, sleek, and stunning; the entire ocean in a bottle, that you don’t need to throw away. Guerlain’s Orchidee Imperiale is the result of 15 years of research on the power of orchids — and a reminder that the brand supports orchid conservation in China. All in all, skin care is looking for ways to do their bit, and showcasing their commitment to nature through their creative.

3. Self-care and Human Connection

Isolation has grown into one of the largest mental health and self-care issues nations have faced during the pandemic. Skin care’s boost is largely due to an ever-growing focus on self-care, but now we’re also seeing a focus on human connection in their campaigns. Shiseido’s #AliveWithBeauty campaign is a celebration of friendship, and a touching comment on our dependence upon each other for happiness and self-confidence. As people everywhere count the days until society begins opening up for human connection again, this campaign’s focus couldn’t be more timely.

Touching on the importance of self-care, Tatcha’s Moments of Calm are sound and imagery snippets intended for a pause. A mini-meditation and a calm break in the intensity that has defined the home office lives of so many over the past almost 12 months. They are driven entirely by a promotion of self-care, solidifying the Tatcha ethos of serving their customers’ well-being in a comprehensive and holistic way.

4. Emulating a Sense of Place

Capturing a longing for travel, skin care video is focused on taking their audiences on virtual journeys, in lieu of the real ones. Tatcha’s above-mentioned campaign isn’t just a quiet moment – it’s a quiet moment in Japan. The sounds and the imageries are all carefully selected to do what Tatcha always does: Take us on a similar journey to their founder Vicky Tsai. Estée Lauder does it, too – as does Guerlain and Dior in their videos. In the space of a few seconds, we are transported to a different world.

In combination with the sensorial approach we see across the board, this is truly audience-driven video, with a strong focus on immersive storytelling. The promotion itself becomes a near after-thought; the product itself the key to the aspiration and inspiration these campaigns convey. It all lends itself well to the ethos-backed creative strategy, too, which it’s likely we’ll continue to see spreading and growing throughout the beauty industry’s video content.