Millennials are a demanding bunch when it comes to beauty: they want quality and value; immediate performance and skin care prevention; fun and ethics, and a multitude of choices.

This means a product has got to do what it says on packaging – and then some.

“Millennials want more than what they are paying for,” said Karen Grant, Global Beauty Industry Analyst for The NPD Group. “They love to feel smart, and they like have bragging rights. For millennials, buying something and feeling like they got cheated is inexcusable.”

Lilli Gordon, First Aid Beauty’s founder and CEO, whose brand name and acronym is FAB, explained, “Millennials look for immediate results, luxurious textures and personalization all at an affordable price point, and are increasingly seeking out brands that are forthright with ingredient information. The entire First Aid Beauty collection is comprised of everyday essentials and targeted skin care solutions that provide immediate relief, lasting results and feel-good textures.”

So which brands are favored by millennials? In skin care and hair care, in addition to First Aid Beauty, NPD’s Karen pointed to Living Proof, DevaCurl and Dry Bar as gaining traction in 2016. In makeup, NPD data showed that Too Faced, Smashbox, Urban Decay, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Tarte, Benefit, Becca and Pixi Beauty are staple millennial makeup kit brands. Karen added that NYX and e.l.f. Cosmetics, in particular, have jumped to the fore in a very short period of time, and are penetrating the market right behind CoverGirl and Maybelline.

“We react fast to trends and provide luxurious products that are accessible to our consumers and that are not often found in the mass market space,” said Achelle Richards, Global Artistic Director of e.l.f. Cosmetics. “One example of this is our Mineral Infused Face Primer. We identified this trend in prestige and the benefit it provides within the makeup regimen, so we quickly created a premium pump component and formula that we delivered as the first primer in mass.” E.l.f has since extended the line with additional benefits, such as trending color correcting hues.

The lines between makeup and skin are becoming increasingly blurred as brands seek to satisfy millennial demand for more benefits with fewer products, creating a fast-growing hybrid category.

First Aid Beauty’s Hello FAB collection, launched in 2017, addresses millennial preferences in the skin care-meets-makeup bridge category, with its superfood-powered skin care and makeup formulas designed to provide an instant, flawless look with skin care benefits.

“Our Hello FAB Coconut Skin Smoothie Priming Moisturizer has been a bestseller at Sephora since its launch in January. It instantly hydrates, primes and luminizes in one simple step,” Lilli said. “Millennials get the instant gratification of seeing the formula blur the appearance of pores and imperfections, and light-reflecting micro-pearls that impart a subtle, dewy luminosity. Simultaneously, vital proteins, electrolytes and minerals hydrate, repair and strengthen the skin barrier for long-term results.”

“We know that millennials over-index in primers and want instant results,” said Bernard Zion, Vice President of Global Marketing at Smashbox. So the brand leveraged its primer expertise with Photo Finish, its face primer brand, when it launched Always On, a range of long-wear matte liquid lipsticks last fall.

“We saw the market trending towards matte and liquid lip, and wanted to offer a product that had strong color impact, but stayed on and felt comfortable,” said Bernard. “Because millennials know our strength in primers, we added primer oil to the formula to give it more comfort, and so lips don’t look or feel dry. We went with straightforward naming, i.e. Always On, to showcase the product promise, but also went with bold color assortment and fun, catchy shade names.”

Delivering ‘the new’ new thing is, of course, key to keeping millennials hooked. “Millennials are early adopters, voice their feedback and are content creators. They are looking for beauty brands that inspire, are on the cusp of emerging trends, accessible, and that they can connect with. They are beauty enthusiasts who love to experiment with makeup,” said e.l.f’s Achelle.

For e.l.f Cosmetics, this translates into an intense launch schedule – the brand launched over 90 new items in 2016. “That is more than one new product launching online every week,” noted Achelle. “Most of our employee base is in fact millennials, so we are able to gather real-time feedback on products prior to production to help speed up the process. We also launch everything on our website elfcosmetics.com first to let our consumers validate the product with their valuable feedback.”

In addition to close customer listening, some brands including Smashbox are embracing open innovation with influencers. “A big risk that we took recently was relinquishing some of our brand control and partnering with an influencer, YouTube star Casey Holmes, to co-create Spotlight Palettes. For the first time, we opened our Smashbox Studio doors and collaborated with a vlogger on all aspects of a launch – formula development, packaging design, naming, education, marketing plan etc. This was a measured risk in that we had studied Casey’s work and really felt she brought a unique point of view to the highlighting category, as well as a loyal tribe of followers.” So far, the risk has paid off for Smashbox as palettes are hitting stores now and early online sales are significantly above plan.

Other millennial brands take a more intuitive approach to product innovation.“At Too Faced, we don’t follow trends, we create them,” said Jerrod Blandino, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Too Faced. “Our Sweet Peach palette was the most successful launch in Too Faced history and it literally started a peach revolution in beauty. It’s a sexy beautiful take on natural and has the most amazing peach scent. Our girl loves it because it’s something totally different than what’s out there. I don’t always want to do something better. I want to do it different. That’s how you change the world.”

Sometimes a single shade, such as Too Faced’s La Crème lipstick in the shade Unicorn Tears, becomes an internet sensation in its own right. “The lipstick really sparked the whole unicorn trend in makeup. Our Too Faced girls love it because unicorns represent the magic of our childhood and that everything is going to be okay,” Jerrod said, pointing to the product’s ability to strike a dual emotional chord with customers, fantasy on the one hand, and reassurance on the other.

“We need to keep upping our game in the competitive makeup landscape and to keep delivering added value to the consumer,” said Smashbox’s Bernard. “You will see from us more hybrid products with multiple benefits, new forms, textures and finishes, unexpected packaging innovations and us continuing to go after trends in a big way.”

In short, the world in a jar.