The Beauty Evolution: 20 Years of Trends, Trials & Transformation

By Guest Editor Robyn McAlpine

If brows could talk, they’d spill more drama than a reality TV reunion. From bushy power brows to microbladed perfection, we’ve survived fads, fashion disasters, and a few questionable trends along the way. Now, with Mocha Beauty turning 20 and me hitting my own 20-year industry milestone, it felt like the perfect time to take a stroll down memory lane: the good, the bad, and the downright thin-eyebrow-raising moments that shaped the industry.

2005–2010: The Era of Medi-Aesthetics & Microderm Madness

This was the time we decided beauty wasn’t “just fluffy” anymore. Suddenly, every second salon was a “Medi-Spa” with “cosmeceuticals” and “medicalgrade skincare.” (Because nothing screams clinical credibility like a fancy sounding word)

We entered the Glycolic Era, where the game plan was basically: if your skin isn’t stinging, is it even working? We were beating barriers into submission with high percentages; ever more convinced pain equals beauty... Beauty Training? Well… let’s just say the gaps started showing. Therapists were graduating with all theory, no hands-on. Product and equipment companies stepped up to the void, and we all turned to brand training to fill the gaps, and the distribu-educator was born.

In fashion and culture, acrylic nails with giant French tips were IT. Stiletto or duck bill anyone? Spray tanning took salons by storm, and we were running “coffee card” loyalty programs. Because who doesn’t need 10 orange coats for the price of nine? (Let’s not talk about the spray tan confetti we’d spend our lives scrubbing off the ceiling, walls and floors!)

Marketing your business? Forget Instagram, that wasn’t even a twinkle in Meta’s eye. You were shelling out for Yellow Pages ads, stuffing flyers into letterboxes, or paying a small fortune for a custom-coded website courtesy of someone’s tech genius cousin. Templates and DIY websites? Ha. That was still a dream!

And let’s talk salon styling: if you didn’t have a damask flocked wallpaper feature wall and a chandelier over the reception desk, were you even in beauty? Dressed in tunics and capri pants, alternating each day with a quiff or a sock bun hairstyle or both if you were really feeling yourself!

The finishing touches? A fake frangipani on the treatment pillow and brand posters blu-tacked to the wall, all the charm of a scrappy DIY project yet the epitome of ‘noughties’ beauty professional.

Treatment of the decade? Microdermabrasion had us in a chokehold, and oxygen facials were the peak of “futuristic.” If you had a machine that made a whirring sound, you were basically NASA.

2010–2015: The Groupon Years & the Brow Boom

This era was one big identity crisis for the industry. On one hand, cosmeceuticals stormed into salons, turning us into mini scientists in the treatment room, shaking up the “fluffy facial” scene. On the other? We were still burning through skin with peels like the hayflick limit didn’t exist.

Enter corneotherapy the soft, barrier-first rebel that threw a cat among the peel-crazy pigeons. Suddenly, we weren’t sure if we were meant to strip skin down to skeleton or wrap it up in cotton wool and a kiss on the forehead. The divide was real.

Groupon entered the chat. Entire salons were brought to their knees chasing “$19 facial deals.” Peel packages became the currency of survival, and many therapists were left wondering if they’d ever pay full rent again.

The IPL and laser goldrush swept the industry. The treatments got cheaper as did the flood of machines that came along with it. Anyone not hunting down hairs with a laser beam felt the seismic shift when their clients could get a Brazilian laser session for the price of a coffee.

Cue 2012 and the shift in rules bringing us SPF 50+, The collective industry cheer resounded as catch up with our global counterparts. For a sun loving country, it just made it make sense! . Brows became THE thing. We discovered the power of a good arch, went a little overboard with the block brows and cosmetic tattooing carved out a booming industry of its own.

On the business side, social media arrived like the shiny new toy we didn’t know we needed. Marketing finally got cheaper, selfies became the new word-of-mouth, and suddenly we were all hustling for likes instead of Yellow Pages listings.

Online booking systems finally showed up, paper diaries got the boot, and SMS reminders became the unsung hero of the front desk, doing their best ti mitigate no-shows

And, of course, the salon aesthetic shifted again. We ditched chandeliers and damask wallpaper in favour of selfie walls, geometric logos, and a brief, cringey fling with the “live, laugh, love” design era. Don’t lie, we all had at least one inspirational quote hanging in our salons.

2015–2020: The Insta-Face Era & Ingredient Obsession

Injectables went mainstream, and suddenly every client wanted a little filler here, a touch of Botox there, because who doesn’t want a face that could rival a filter? Meanwhile, cosmetic tattooing became “mainstream,” making brows, lips, and even eyeliner the ultimate permanent power move.

The social media explosion changed everything. Instagram, YouTube, and influencers made before-and-afters the new currency. Clients discovered treatments online, and suddenly everyone was judging your work by a photo, not a consultation.

Skin needling hit the treatment room scene with micro-rollers and pens, shifting facials toward regeneration and real results. Goodbye fluffy facials, hello red-but-glowing clients.

Degrees like Bachelor of Dermal Therapies differentiated skin therapists from general beauty therapists and became a legitimate education option. This shift finally saw education catching up with what had already been happening in salons for years.

Lash mania hit its peak with “the more volume the merrier” making eyelid muscles bulge with every flutter and a standing refill appointment in the calendar.

2016 saw the death of sunbeds, #praisebe and every melanocyte in Australia collectively sighed in relief. Whilst it’s signalled the end of an era for many salons, it was a win for collagen and elastin everywhere. Single Ingredients became the skin care version of celebrities Vitamin C, Niacinamide, and Hyaluronic Acid suddenly the spotlight to every skin problem imaginable and clients were driven by the benefits of these skin saving heroes.

Guasha tools, jade rollers, face yoga and those icy cold spheres were all the rage, and DIY youtube tutorials made us all feel like skincare geniuses at home.

Enter ‘Scrubs and sneakers’ as the salon uniform of choice. Matching, colour coded, emblazoned with the salon logo. They came as the visual separation of ‘serious skin care’ vs ‘beauty’ but stayed for the pajama level comfort and forgiving elastic waist bands

And of course, salon aesthetics moved into their girlie pop era, blush pink walls, neon word signs, pampas grass, dried flower wall art basically, if you didn’t have a neon slogan over your reception desk, were you even modern?

2020–2025: The Virtual Glow-Up & Barrier-First Revolution COVID hit’s and like friends-in-a-stairwell, we enter our “PIVOT” era. Salon doors closed, and the virtual windows opened. Overnight we created opportunities to connect, consult and cure skin with the postman delivering skin solutions to our client’s doors.

This saw the rise of the DIY skin care. From Facial Kits to LED masks to Zoom facial parties, we proved that we could transform skin without ever touching it, challenging how we do skin from here on. We became sponges for online education-not much else to don in our

5k radius. Cue reskill, upskill and new skills that the freedom of time allowed.

LED therapy cemented itself as a salon staple, affordable, evidence-based, and suddenly every treatment room was glowing like a sci-fi disco rave. Now? No skin clinic is without one and it’s a staple on salon menus everywhere.

Block Brows and mega lashes released their iron grip on the industry, we ushered in feathery brows, wispy lashes and brow laminations make a comeback

TikTok and Instagram influencers dictated trends, clients arrived armed with Google and ‘receipts,’ and suddenly therapists were working harder than Kris Jenner, debunking skin myths daily. Lesson learned: if you can’t beat them, join them, thus, the era of the industry influencer was born.

Skin minimalism arrived. Barrier repair, less products, and corneotherapy principles took centre stage. Turns out, maybe corneotherapy wasn’t so “fluffy” after all. Stress, maskne, and post-pandemic skin crises pushed the industry to re-embrace the fundamentals and go back to skin basics.

Economic pressures and client savviness meant salons had to scrutinise equipment ROI and treatment profitability like never before. Therapists demanded real-world, relevant training — no fluff, no sales pitches, just education that mattered.

Community rose like a phoenix. Solo operators and home salons popped up everywhere, proving that connection, support, and collaboration could thrive even in isolation.

And decor? Welcome to the beige and bouclé everything, Beautiful, yes, but good luck keeping those textured reception chairs clean.

We’ve moved into our earthy era, flowy linen, sage green and micro cement vibes. Skin is in and we’ve ditched the full face and contour for a more fresh face and I like what I am seeing.

So, what’s next?

I predict we’ll see salons leaning even harder into personality. No more cookie-cutter blush walls or carbon-copy menus. Therapists will rebel against the “trend treadmill” and start building businesses that feel true to them, quirks and all. Clients aren’t just booking treatments anymore; they’re booking people. And what’s stayed the course?

Skin. Always skin. Through every fad, trend, Groupon disaster, and Instagram craze, our love affair with skin hasn’t wavered. It’s the common thread, the bilayers that binds us as an industry, and the thing that keeps us showing up every day.

Two decades in, I can honestly say, what a ride. I’m grateful to still be here, still learning, still laughing, and still in awe of this industry and the people who make it so damn special.

@expert_skin_therapist