What will beauty look like in 2025? Will women foresake their vast cosmetics collections in favor of monochromatic colors or worse yet, choose to wear no makeup at all? It’s not such a far-fetched prediction…after all, only a couple of years ago, industry observers were at a a loss to explain why young women were foresaking fragrance in droves.

Luckily, for all of us, the future of beauty looks bright, if not a bit strange too, according to Jeanine Recckio, a self-proclaimed beauty and lifestyle futurologist who insists the industry has moved faster in the past five years than it did in the previous 50, and predicts that more dramatic changes are on the way.

At a recent Independent Cosmetics Manufacturers and Distributors meeting, Ms. Recckio told the audience that by 2025, consumers will be able to take a pill that will color their hair, mix personalized antioxidant blends into their food and program their own colors into their cosmetics collections.

At the same time, natural and preservative-free will become the dominant product forms, as consumers come to accept the idea that beauty products, like their groceries, must be refrigerated. These and other novel products will demand novel packaging and Ms. Recckio insisted that the eye-opening packages of the future will talk to consumers about the benefits of the contents inside. Turning to healthcare, she predicted that patches will enable doctors to constantly monitor a patient’s health—no more life-threatening heart attacks at 3 a.m. Your doctor will know about potential health care problems before they happen.

Finally, she predicted that by 2025, the beauty and wellness segments will merge into one. We certainly agree with that last prediction. The worlds of nutrition and beauty are on a colllision course and companies that successfully navigate their way through all these tablets, drinks and beauty bars are creating the successful beauty businesses of tomorrow. In this edition of Happi.com, associate editor Ava Caridad reports on the latest trends, products and companies that are having an impact on the inner beauty business.

To help you find your way through this brave new world, take time to review the past. It’s easy with The Top 50, our annual look at the leading U.S. companies in the household and personal products industry. Their successes, and failures too, may help you plot a successful course for your company.

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