2023’s Most Popular Beauty Google Searches

2023’s Most Popular Beauty Google Searches

December 19, 2023

Foundation has looked at the most popular beauty brands, according to Google search data.

Charlotte Tilbury unsurprisingly tops the list, with nearly half a million searches each month.

A surprising second place is Sol je Janeiro, a Brazilian-based body and skincare brand that has recently taken over the UK with their Bum Bum Cream.

The full list of the top ten brands, along with their monthly searches, are:

  1. Charlotte Tilbury – 450,000
  2. Sol de Janeiro – 165,000
  3. Clinique – 110,000
  4. Rare Beauty – 110,000
  5. Clarins – 74,000
  6. Origins – 74,000
  7. Huda Beauty – 60,500
  8. Tropic Skincare – 60,500
  9. Ltd – 60,000
  10. Bobbi Brown – 49,500

When it comes to UK stockists, Boots tops the results with over 4m searches a month on average, followed by Superdrug at 1.5m.

The most popular British stockists are:

  1. Boots – 4,090,000
  2. Superdrug – 1,500,000
  3. Look Fantastic – 550,000
  4. Sephora – 398,000
  5. Space NK – 246,000

As for skincare ingredients, salicylic acid tops the most searched-for of 2023, with vitamin C following closely behind.

This year’s top searched skincare ingredients are:

  1. Salicylic acid – 60,500
  2. Vitamin C – 49,500
  3. Niacinamide – 40,500
  4. Benzoyl peroxide – 40,500 
  5. Glycolic acid – 33,100
  6. Vitamin A – 22,100
  7. Lactic acid – 2,200
  8. Glycerin – 18,100
  9. Mandelic acid – 5,400
  10. Dimethicone – 3,600

It also turns out that 90,500 people a month are looking for a treatment for their rosacea, being the most-searched skin concern of the year.

The top skin conditions that the British public are wanting to treat are:

  1. Rosacea – 90,500
  2. Acne – 40,500
  3. Blackheads – 27,100
  4. Hyperpigmentation – 27,100
  5. Age spots – 22,200
  6. Whiteheads – 12,100
  7. Dry skin – 8,100
  8. Pigmentation – 6,600
  9. Wrinkles – 5,400
  10. Oily skin – 4,900

And as for this year’s most searched-for skincare questions, ‘what are peptides in skincare?’ with 2.6k average searches a month.

The most asked skincare questions this year are:

  1. What are peptides in skincare? – 2.6k
  2. How to layer skincare? – 2.2k
  3. When to apply suncream in skincare? – 1.8k
  4. What is slugging skincare? – 1.7k
  5. Where to buy Korean skincare UK? – 1.5k

Kieran Curtis, Search Expert at Liberty Marketing Group, the parent company of Foundation, says:

“This week, we’ve seen Google’s ‘A Year in Search’, so we wanted to get a bit more specific and look at the beauty sector. While Charlotte Tilbury topping the list wasn’t the biggest surprise, it was nice to see Sol De Janeiro come in second place, higher than brands that have been around for dozens of years.

As for the most asked questions, it shows how TikTok has played a huge part in this year’s motivation to search, with ‘Slugging skincare’ first starting to make an appearance of the beginning of the year, and Korean skincare taking over the channel in summer.

It’ll be interesting to see which trends stick around for 2024, and which ones were a one-year hit.”

Anabel is a graduate of King’s College London and upon graduating, she set out on a journey to inspire and empower women through her words. Besides working as a digital marketing expert, Anabel is a freelance copywriter.