The Australian beauty industry, in data.

The category that moved.

The clearest signal in this quarter's data is the steepening divergence between AU-made beauty and imported prestige. Where the Australian premium-skincare market grew 12.4% year-on-year, the imported "heritage prestige" segment (your La Mer, your SK-II, your La Prairie) declined 4.1% in the same period. Australian-developed brands at the same price point grew 28.6%.

This is not the first quarter of this divergence — it is the fourth. The cumulative effect across 2024–2026 is that Australian-made prestige beauty has gone from approximately 18% of the AU prestige skincare market to approximately 31%. Within five years, on current trajectory, AU-made will account for the majority of prestige spend in Australia.

The strategic implication for brands is straightforward: imported prestige needs an Australian narrative or it loses share. The strategic implication for retailers is that AU-made shelf placement at Mecca, Adore, and Sephora AU is now the most valuable real estate in the prestige category.

What the Australian buyer actually did this quarter.

From the Glow reader survey (n=2,840 Australian women aged 22–55, fielded April 2026):

Spend behaviour

34% of respondents reduced spend on at least one "heritage prestige" brand they previously bought regularly. The top three abandoned categories were French moisturisers (cited by 41% of those who reduced), American mascara (28%), and luxury fragrance (24%).

Where did the spend go? 52% of respondents who reduced heritage prestige spend reallocated to either AU-made alternatives or to The Ordinary's range. Only 18% downgraded to mass-market.

Discovery behaviour

TikTok overtook Instagram as the primary discovery channel for new beauty products among readers under 35 (54% vs 38%). Editorial publications (Vogue, Glow, Beauty Heaven) remain the dominant verification channel — 71% of respondents say they "always or usually" cross-check a TikTok product recommendation against an editorial source before buying.

The structural implication is the bifurcation we wrote about in our long-form essay (Why the Australian Beauty Shopper Is Different): brands that invest in only one channel are losing the brands that invest in both.

Repurchase behaviour

The single category with the strongest repurchase rate among AU consumers in Q2 2026 was at-home LED therapy devices — 87% of respondents who purchased an LED device in the prior six months reported they would buy the same device again. The category with the weakest repurchase rate was wellness collagen supplements, at 31%, suggesting the category continues to attract trial without earning loyalty.

The Australian beauty retail landscape, in detail.

Mecca remains the single largest prestige beauty retailer in Australia by share of wallet, with Adore Beauty in second position online and Sephora AU continuing to gain share in the makeup category specifically.

The story underneath the numbers: Mecca is losing share at the margin to Sephora AU in makeup specifically (Mecca's makeup share is down 3.2pp QoQ, even as its skincare share is steady). Adore's online share is gaining quietly through a combination of stronger SEO performance and a broader brand assortment than the retailers operating physical stores.

Brands gaining ground. Brands losing it.

The five fastest-rising AU beauty brands by reader-stated repurchase intent over the past four quarters (compared to the same period one year ago):

1. Ultra Violette — repurchase intent up 47%, driven by Queen Screen SPF50+ and category-broadening into night SPF
2. Mecca Max — repurchase intent up 41%, driven by Future Skin Foundation winning category rankings against $80 imports
3. Vida Glow — repurchase intent up 38%, sustained by the Marine Collagen launch refresh and Hairology line extension
4. Alpha-H — repurchase intent up 32%, on the back of the Vitamin A Serum's continued category dominance
5. Australian Glow — repurchase intent up 28%, driven by face-tan range expansion and tighter retailer distribution

The five brands declining fastest in reader repurchase intent (we name only the categories, not the brands, to avoid inadvertent reputational impact on individual companies — full data available to Glow Premium subscribers on request):

• One French heritage skincare brand (luxury moisturiser category)
• One US celebrity-led makeup brand (lipstick category)
• One Australian-distributed wellness brand (collagen category)
• One UK-developed haircare brand (shampoo category)
• One mass-market US tan brand (gradual tan category)