Runways all over the world often serve as trend predictors for fashion and beauty in the upcoming year. As 2025 comes to an end, and with New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week just finished, one front-runner makeup trend has emerged on and off the runway: eyeshadow.

On the runway, we've seen eyeshadow make a comeback. From silver statement eye makeup to a resurgence of a bold smokey eye strutting down the runway and launches from beauty brands, eyeshadow is making a statement.

Maximalism is coming back in trends from interior design to beauty. What once was bronzer on the outer corner is now a bold pop of color on the eye. It’s evolving from runway to celebrities to consumers.

I asked our PR experts: How can independent beauty brands leverage the trends they see from runways around the world? How can these brands be first to launch when trends take over?

Here are the experts' insights:

• Leverage the maximalism trend through consumer-generated content
• Monitor runways and makeup artists’ backstage reels
• Realizing your existing product lineup can participate in the trend already
• Put a manufacturing infrastructure in place that could react overnight
• Embrace a micro-drop validation model
• Equip the trend with emotional context

Leverage the maximalism trend through consumer-generated content

Emily Reynolds, Owner at R Public Relations

"A great and sustainable way to leverage the maximalism trend is to share CGC (consumer-generated content) showcasing all the different ways your products can be used and worn. Even if you are a simplistic brand, there are countless ways to use your products, and they can likely be utilized to achieve bold eye looks. You may even consider “recreating” a runway look in a video post using only your brand’s products. Share educational and aspiration content to make the products you already have shine without producing anything new."

Monitor runways and makeup artists’ backstage reels

Deepak Shukla, Founder & CEO at Pearl Lemon PR

"Most indie beauty brands wait until Vogue calls it a ‘trend’ before moving. By then, it’s too late. We monitor runways and makeup artists’ backstage reels six months ahead. When the shimmer resurgence began, we prepped press copies before anyone had even edited their TikToks. The trick is PR readiness and having your messaging, influencer angles, and visuals sitting in draft mode, ready to ride the wave the day it breaks. PR isn't a reaction, it's a prediction."

Realizing your existing product lineup can participate in the trend already

Gor Gasparyan, Co-Founder & CEO at Passionate Design Agency

"Independent beauty brands must change their focus from traditional long lead time for product development and focus on hyper-fast content and communication execution. You saw this eyeshadow trend emerge from New York and Paris Fashion Weeks, so your brand must immediately put its creative and marketing resources to work.

The key to being first is realizing your existing product lineup can participate in the trend already. If you already sell makeup brushes or an unpigmented eyeshadow base, for example, you do not need a new product as you can launch an "Eyeshadow Maximalism Starter Kit" campaign instantly. I would suggest brands strive to have content such as social media visuals, short videos, and dedicated landing pages designed and published within 72 hours of a major trend sighting.

We were able to aid a small e-commerce client in gaining a 34.8% increase in the immediate conversion rate by repurposing existing inventory into a new trending "Loud Color" collection with this strategy. This is not about creating the new product but about repackaging the narrative with instant communication and communicating your brand's relevance now."

Put a manufacturing infrastructure in place that could react overnight

Delbert Baron Lee, President at Wynbert Soapmasters Inc.

"Existence on the cutting edge of a trend is based less on PR than on manufacturing agility. Wynbert Soapmasters didn’t become a nine-figure company by following trends, but by creating a manufacturing infrastructure in place that could react to them overnight. Independent cosmetic companies continually run out of the game for speed to market because they think linearly. Marketing identifies a trend, and production gets behind to catch it. This is a defective form of thinking which means constant defeat.

The answer is to run your supply chain and product formulation in synch with trend spotting. Instead of waiting for a trend to validate the color 'smoky plum' you want to have a scientifically tested set of base formulations and a supply of basic raw colors from reliable suppliers. When the trend hits, you are not commencing the lead time of six months necessary to bring it to market because you are just implementing a process already put into assembly and production for its manufacture within two weeks. This means that you have a library in your laboratory of stable bases for eyeshadow products and your supply chain has terms already negotiated even as to mica, iron oxides and other finishing inputs ready for you to place a purchase order at once.

This readiness of functioning presents the opportunity for the small manufacturer to take the initiative in and outrun a global giant. While the larger business is meeting in committee on the approval of production on a trend score the nimble producer has its trend protected product put in formulation, produced in sufficient measure for a pilot batch, sent out to influencers. We scaled our operation by putting into practise this very theory in respect to cleaning goods, producing a system which enabled to have a new variant of a product in sale in less than 30 days while the competitors were still carrying into effect by market survey processes. Neither speed is a function of reaction but of preparation."

Embrace a micro-drop validation model

Jon Morgan, Co-Founder at Venture Smarter

"At Venture Smarter I work with a lot of different Founders who are looking to capitalize on gaps in the marketplace before entrenched competitors can respond. The dynamics of rolling out a tech feature OR rolling out a beauty product are nearly identical when the speed advantage is the only type advantage. It is not only to recognize the emerging trend but also to have the operating platform available to facilitate rollout in weeks not months. Independent brands can not outspend entrenched competitors but they can outsmart them by being agile.

Forget the product development cycle of months in planning and massive buy in inventory. The strategy is to embrace what I call the micro-drop validation model. The instant a trend develops such as “bold eye shadow” due to Fashion week, the indie brand should work with an agile domestic manufacturer to produce a limited run of the product say 500-1,000 items. This run provides for a live test in the marketplace and provides not only scarcity but urgency while reducing financial exposure. The idea is to be sold out quickly, validate the emerging trend with real sales data and use that proof to justify a much larger and meaningful production run.

The entire dynamic of the brand is thus entirely changed from that of a purveyor of products to that of a curator of trends. The content basically markets itself focused on the speed to market from runway to consumer. No longer is there the need to wait for the trend to percolate down to the masses as the brand itself is the channel to deliver it. This allows the indie company to be inside the industry, allowing the customer immediate access to high fashion. This creates a loyal community that becomes the trusted brand for what is new and next."

Equip the trend with emotional context

Joel Lim, Finance Expert at Becoin.Net

"While my experience revolves around content strategy and brand positioning, I have worked with consumer-facing brands in amplifying trend timing awareness, which is a very important entry point that beauty startups have at hand to potentially compete against established brands.

Promo beauty can move really fast because they have not been dragged down by layers and layers of approvals or cumbersome product calendars.

Once the next big thing happens on the runway, say, bold eyeshadow attraction, smaller brands should immediately proceed with content testing via short-form video and social media campaigns to test the consumer reaction before the actual launch.

I have also seen that for a brand to be successful, it needs to pair the trend with some narrative a story of how the color represents self-expression, inclusiveness, or nostalgia rather than just directly duplicating the runway show.

That kind of storytelling actually equips the trend with emotional context, not just visual context.

In addition, smaller beauty companies ought to be making modular lines so that, say, a palette or pigment could quickly be reformulated when a new wave washes through the very essence of fast beauty, with rebranding coming in second.

The balance helps keep indie brands nimble and memorable by the increasingly trend-conscious consumer."

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