The beauty industry is set to be worth a staggering $716 billion (approx. £591 billion) by 2025!
So we thought we’d gather our top 10 beauty and cosmetic websites that strike to perfect balance between creativity, functionality and of course, offer a seamless user experience. Whether you’re looking for inspiration for your start-up beauty brand or are expanding your cosmetic empire, we’re sure you’ll find a website that truly inspires you! Without further ado, let’s take a look at the beauty websites that stand out to us.
1. Space NK
We love the Space NK website as it is not only lightning-fast, extremely user friendly and bursting with tons of trust signals, it also celebrates creativity. Beautiful product photography takes centre stage throughout the site and each ecommerce element provides tons of value for users, whether they want to check out the latest products or browse Space NK’s blog posts. We have to say we also love the ‘Christmas Takeover’ toggle which allows users to transform their experience into a festive one when searching for gifts or stick to browsing the usual site. This is a great solution for brands who want to promote Christmas gifts, without causing user frustration.
2. Look Fantastic
Look Fantastic is a staple beauty brand that offers a diverse range of beauty products at great prices. Their site is bursting with features that drive customer engagement and increase sales such as hierarchical, layered navigation, banners featuring trust signals, seasonal banners that promote various offers and a TrustPilot reviews integration. Not to mention the minimal and crisp layout that makes browsing a breeze!
3. L’Occitane
Natural beauty and skincare brand L’Occitane, offers a memorable, engaging and streamlined online shopping experience for site visitors. An interactive mega-menu featuring product imagery enhances UX and encourages conversions thanks to its simplicity whilst quirky graphics and photography help to convey the fun and friendly values of the brand. The beauty site is bursting with advanced features such as a bespoke gift finder which seamlessly helps users find the perfect gift for their loved ones and a fun, interactive fragrance finder that helps users find the perfect scent to suit them.
4. Charlotte Tilbury
Charlote Tilbury’s website is almost as sparkly and magical as the brand itself, darlings! The website layout itself is elegant and clean, allowing product photography and promotional graphics to make a statement. The magic gift finder makes finding gifts a joy; users simply have to answer a few questions and they are quickly presented with a catalogue of products personalised to their unique needs, building trust and customer loyalty.
5. Beauty Bay
Beauty Bay began trading in 1999 as a fragrance retailer and since then, has grown into a leading affordable and cruelty-free beauty brand. We love colourful, cheerful and youthful feel that this website design provides for beauty lovers. A mixture of product grids and carousels keep the experience engaging whilst bold use of colour blocking is used as a design tool to draw attention to key offers or promoted products. Within category pages, bespoke icons are utilised to enhance navigation and once again, create a memorable and fun experience for shoppers.
6. Beauty Pie
Beauty Pie has a much more clinical and scientific feel than the other beauty sites we’ve encountered. A clean, minimal and relatively monochrome palette reflects the science-backed brand and instantly provides a feeling of credibility and expertise. This is highlighted again by a TrustPilot reviews integration and banner and testimonials dotted throughout the site from trusted brands such as Elle and Forbes. An interactive skincare quiz helps to personalise the user experience whilst an informative and valuable blog also builds trust with customers as they can dive deep into various topics that are relevant to their beauty and skincare needs.
7. Neal’s Yard
Natural and organic beauty brand, Neal’s Yard offers a streamlined and elegant online shopping experience for users searching for natural remedies for everything from skincare to wellbeing and everything in between. The website feels like an oasis of tranquility in a highly-competitive market and truly makes it stand out from the crowd. An interactive mega menu, beautiful product photography, unique graphics and verified ratings displayed within product cards ensures that users feel like they’re in safe hands as soon as they land on the site, and we love that!
8. Glossier
Next up, it’s cult beauty brand Glossier. As the brand rose to fame largely with Gen-Z on Instagram, it’s safe to say that their website reflects their community spirit and breaking the mould when it comes to the beauty industry. The website design is extremely crisp and minimal which allows their unique and creative products to shine. Dripping in verified reviews, testimonials and user-generated content, it’s clear that the brand knows its audience inside out. Superior UX is also what makes this site stand out, with users able to view various colours of a product simply by hovering over the different swatches on product cards, enhancing the user journey and encouraging customers to convert.
9. Kylie Cosmetics
Global beauty phenomenon Kylie Cosmetics, founded by King Kylie herself is one of the most successful brands in the industry and with a website like this, it’s no wonder why! An image-led mega menu instantly drives users to click on a product that they like the look of, putting product packaging and photography front and centre. An abundance of advanced features such as interactive product cards that allow users to quickly choose their perfect shade and add to bag in just a few clicks, encourage users to convert and drive impulse purchases. Additionally, a unique ‘Shop Our IG’ section ensures that popular products on Instagram are easy to find for users visiting the site – and that’s pretty genius!
10. Liz Earle
Finally, we’re showcasing the beautiful website of heritage British beauty brand, Liz Earle. On first impression, the website depicts the brand as sophisticated, premium and knowledgable. Soft brand colours are utilised throughout the website to gently guide users to key call-to-actions and products whilst an interactive, image-led mega menu provides seamless navigation. A unique ‘build your skincare routine’ tool allows users to quickly choose their favourite cleanser, toner, moisturiser and an add on, in just a few clicks. Creating a memorable experience for users which builds trust and ultimately, leads to more sales!
And there we have it! Our top 10 beauty and cosmetics websites that drive user engagement, increase conversions and provide a superior user experience. If you’re feeling inspired to revamp your own beauty ecommerce website, don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll see what our magic wands can do!
