Dr Pierre Bonetti
Longevity, AI and biomarkers are ushering beauty into an era where prevention, personalisation and scientific proof redefine value.
In 2024, life expectancy in the European Union reached 81.5 years. By 2050, almost one European in three will be aged 65 or over. This shift is pushing beauty to move from correcting signs of aging to preserving skin function over the long term. On 14 July, the European Commission published its third report on the demographic transformation of the European Union. It highlights that Europeans are living longer than ever and that population aging will profoundly change our relationship with our body, health and appearance. A fundamental shift is taking place: beauty is moving from an anti-aging logic to a longevity logic. For decades, the industry has sold correction: smoothing a wrinkle, fading a dark spot or compensating for a loss of firmness.
Tomorrow, it will increasingly need to preserve function, prevent deterioration and support the biological trajectory of each individual skin. The movement is already visible. According to McKinsey’s The Future of Wellness 2025, up to 60% of consumers consider healthy aging a priority or very important. In medicine, this evolution is reflected in the concept of healthspan, the number of years lived in good health. I apply the same reasoning to the skin through Skin Span: keeping skin healthy, functional and resilient for as long as possible. This shift opens a more predictive era. Before a sign becomes visible, a silent phase is already altering certain biological balances. This is where part of the future value creation lies. Tomorrow’s beauty can no longer rely solely on storytelling or promises. It will also need to be grounded in more precise and measurable evidence. Several fields are already converging: artificial intelligence, biomarkers, predictive analysis and, in time, digital twins of the skin.
According to the State of Fashion: Beauty report by Business of Fashion and McKinsey, the global beauty market was worth $441 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow by around 5% annually through 2030. Skin care alone represents 41% of sales. In this environment, artificial intelligence will not replace the physician. It can, however, become a tool for personalisation at scale, from research and development to monitoring use and demonstrating efficacy. This evolution is also changing the meaning of premium. A higher price will no longer be justified by the bottle, brand narrative or sensory experience alone. These dimensions will remain essential because beauty is still driven by desire and emotion. But they will need to be matched by greater demands regarding ingredient quality, safety, formulation and demonstrated efficacy. The same report notes that 63% of consumers do not consider premium brands more effective than mass market brands. Science will not make beauty cold. On the contrary, it can provide a new form of credibility, usefulness and desirability.
The new luxury will also be the luxury of proof. The challenge for brands will be to translate scientific progress into benefits that consumers can understand, without reducing innovation to a succession of technical claims. Evidence will become part of the experience itself. This expectation requires two further disciplines. First, personalisation. There is no single way to age, but many different skin trajectories. Two people of the same age can present very different biological conditions. Two apparently similar wrinkles may have different causes. A standardised response therefore quickly reaches its limits. The challenge will be to better understand the history of the skin, its environment and its evolution in order to adapt care over time. Personalisation should not become a simple marketing argument: it should make it possible to offer a more relevant response to an individual biological reality.
Second, transparency. As diagnostic tools, biomarkers and artificial intelligence progress, consumers will increasingly be asked to share data about their skin and health. In return, they will expect clarity about how that data is used, the limits of the technologies involved and the evidence supporting each claim. The players able to scale personalisation and proof while preserving this trust will gain a decisive advantage. This is also the condition under which the convergence of cosmetics, medicine and technology can create lasting value. The beauty industry is therefore entering into a new contract with consumers: no longer simply correcting what is visible, but understanding skin biology more deeply in order to act earlier, more precisely and more sustainably. Tomorrow’s beauty will no longer focus only on masking time. It will aim to extend the years during which skin remains healthy, functional and resilient. For brands and physicians alike, promises will need to be measurable, personalised and demonstrable.
Dr Pierre Bonetti
Aesthetic and regenerative physician specialising in skin longevity. Trained in Paris and Lyon, he has practised in Geneva and developed an approach based on Skin Span, regenerative medicine and the long term preservation of the skin’s biological functions.
