When Will Spanish Beauty Get Its Global Moment?

Spain is having a moment. Rosalía is a global superstar, the country won the 2026 World Cup, and Loewe’s new creative directors are embracing the house’s españolidad. It’s the second most-studied language on Duolingo, and Spanish cinema is tipped for Oscar nominations. Amid all this attention, though, one of Spain’s most successful export stories has largely escaped the spotlight: beauty.

In 2025, Spain exported €10.1 billion in cosmetics and fragrance, accounting for 2.6% of the country’s total exports and more than wine and olive oil combined, according to industry association Stanpa. Exports have doubled in five years, with Spain now ranking among the world’s top 10 beauty exporters and second only to France in fragrance shipments. Fragrance is by far its biggest beauty export, generating €4.7 billion in 2025, compared with €1.7 billion for skincare.

Trend forecaster WGSN associates Spanish beauty with sun-kissed skin, Mediterranean ingredients and effortless routines, although it estimates that Spanish consumers use eight to 10 products daily. “I think Spanish women put a lot of effort into looking effortlessly beautiful,” says London-based Spanish aesthetic doctor Dr. Alicia Gonzalez-Fernandez.

For Verónica Fisas, CEO of Natura Bissé, Spanish beauty reflects a Mediterranean approach to life, “deeply connected to balance, wellbeing, human connection, and the pleasure of taking care of oneself”. Alexandra Nodes, founder of Barcelona-based skincare brand Alex Carro, believes “pleasure over perfection” could define the region’s beauty.

Yet, while French beauty is synonymous with luxury fragrance, pharmacy skincare and less-is-more makeup, and South Korea has popularized glass skin, cushion foundations and ingredients such as centella asiatica and snail mucin, Spanish beauty has yet to have its own global breakthrough. Could that be about to change?

From laboratory to factory

Behind Spain’s culture of beauty and its export success lies a sophisticated scientific and manufacturing industry. According to Stanpa, scientific professionals, including chemists, pharmacists and biologists, account for 21% of direct jobs in the cosmetics and fragrance sector, while companies invest 3.4% of turnover in research and innovation. The country has particular expertise in dermopharmacy and sun protection.

Fisas points to the concentration of pharmaceutical companies, universities and research centers along Spain’s Mediterranean corridor, particularly around Barcelona. “This environment creates valuable opportunities for cross-disciplinary innovation, allowing cosmetics companies to benefit from scientific advances and develop increasingly sophisticated products,” she says. At Natura Bissé, that means looking beyond conventional cosmetics research to fields including biotechnology, medical aesthetics, and neuroscience.

Catalonia is also home to companies such as Vytrus Biotech and Algaktiv, which develop biotechnology-based cosmetic ingredients, as well as Bicosome and Indermal, which specialize in technologies designed to deliver active ingredients to targeted skin areas, according to Silvia Jareño, technical director at Spanish contract manufacturer Laboratorios Magriñá.

That expertise extends into manufacturing. For Jareño, Spain’s appeal lies in “a combination of competitive manufacturing costs, technical expertise and flexibility”. Natura Bissé brings research, product development and production together at its Casa-Fábrica HQ in Barcelona, while Germaine de Capuccini develops, produces and tests its products in its own Spanish laboratories. Keeping these processes close gives companies greater oversight of how their products are developed and made.

“What Spain does exceptionally well, but gets little credit for, is combining technical rigor with flexibility,” says Nodes. Her products are made in small batches by a family laboratory outside Barcelona, which packages them fresh rather than warehousing stock and develops formulations with her team. This allows Alex Carro to combine natural ingredients with biotechnology.

That flexibility can also help brands keep pace with rapidly changing beauty trends. “Product development can take months or even years, and by the time a product reaches the market, consumer preferences may have already shifted,” says Jareño. But Spanish manufacturers can respond more quickly by adapting established formulations rather than starting from scratch. “In my experience, Spanish manufacturers can be particularly agile in responding to these changes, thanks to a flexible approach,” she says. By incorporating new ingredients and responding to changing consumer demands, they can “shorten development timelines and bring products to market faster, while maintaining the standards required to remain competitive internationally”.

The professional advantage

Expert advice and hands-on treatments are also part of the country’s approach to skincare. Pharmacies account for 17% of cosmetics sales in Spain, with skincare making up 62% of pharmacy beauty sales, according to Stanpa.

For Spanish skincare brand ISDIN, best known for its sun protection products, its pharmacy heritage helps build trust overseas. “ISDIN is a pharmacy brand backed by the dermatology community, which adds incredible credibility to our heritage in skincare and particularly in photoprotection,” says Alain Vallejos, head of marketing for ISDIN US. He adds that the brand’s Spanish origins stand for “rigor, science, efficacy and trust” — qualities valued by US dermatologists, whose recommendations help reassure consumers.

Other brands have built global reputations through spa and salon treatments. Germaine de Capuccini works with more than 6,000 aesthetic centers, clinics and medical spas worldwide, while Natura Bissé has developed relationships with luxury spas. “But a great formula is only part of the story. The therapist’s knowledge and training make a real difference to the result,” says Germaine de Capuccini CEO Anke Menkhorst. For her, Spanish beauty should stand for “proven results with a human touch”.

Why hasn’t Spanish beauty broken through?

Part of the answer lies in branding. “Spain has been brilliant at making beauty and modest about branding it: our big beauty groups operate globally, yet most of their brands present as French, British or American,” says Nodes.

When launching Alex Carro in 2016, Nodes deliberately led with “Made in Barcelona” as its origin tagline, rather than “Made in Spain”. “Barcelona had a cachet Spain didn’t: it stood for creativity, innovation and urban living at its best,” she says. Now, Nodes believes Spain is beginning to build its own reputation in beauty.

Consequently, overseas customers don’t always recognize where the products originate. “When international clients discover we are Spanish, they are often surprised by the quality of our formulas and our technology,” says Germaine de Capuccini’s Menkhorst.

For ISDIN, however, Spanish origin is already an asset. Vallejos says it gives the brand “personality and differentiation”. In the US, he says, some consumers discover the brand while traveling in Spain and seek it out again once they return home.

But individual success doesn’t necessarily create a collective identity. With 84% of Spanish cosmetics companies being SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), according to Stanpa, building one presents a challenge. “Many Spanish companies have succeeded on their own, but we haven't told that story together,” says Menkhorst.

Could Spanish beauty be next?

Maybe. But exports alone won’t create a beauty phenomenon. “K-beauty became a category because consumers bought into a philosophy before they bought into any single brand,” says Laura Koeppler, founder of On the Shelf Agency, who has worked in K-beauty for more than 12 years. “The proposition was clear: skin first, prevention over correction, continuous innovation, and immediate visible results at an accessible price point.”

“Korea smartly built an ecosystem,” Koeppler explains. Responsive manufacturers, rapid innovation, and digital distribution helped brands expand globally, while their collective success made K-beauty a mark of quality. For Spain, she recommends “defining a distinctive positioning, developing hero products, and creating platforms that present Spanish brands collectively through retail, cultural partnerships and international trade initiatives.”

That collective identity has yet to take hold in mainstream beauty retail. While K-beauty has dedicated sections at major international retailers, equivalent Spanish beauty sections are not yet widely evident. Specialist online retailers, however, are beginning to make Spanish origin a selling point. Espanova, for example, sells local beauty products to customers across Europe. “Did you discover a Spanish product on holiday and can’t find it back home?” its website asks.

Some of that work is already underway. Through Beauty From Spain, an initiative led by industry association Stanpa in collaboration with government trade agency ICEX, Spanish beauty companies are promoted internationally under a shared identity. This includes collective representation at international trade fairs, where brands can reach overseas buyers and distributors. In 2025, 43 companies exhibited in the Beauty From Spain pavilion at Beautyworld Middle East in Dubai.

Fragrance offers another route to recognition. Stanpa believes Spain’s growing cultural influence creates an opportunity for its perfume industry, with the country’s artistic renaissance providing “an ideal backdrop for Spanish cosmetics and perfumery”. The Academia del Perfume, a Spanish non-profit cultural foundation, promotes perfume as an art form through awards, education and cultural initiatives.

Stanpa sees this convergence of culture and fragrance as an opportunity to “consolidate the global prestige of Spanish olfactive talent”. The foundation’s academicians include Alberto Morillas, creator of CK One and Acqua di Giò, who cites his childhood in Seville as an influence, and Ramón Monegal, whose Flamenco, Olé and Siesta fragrances draw on Spanish culture.

Could Spain’s current cultural moment give its beauty industry a similar boost? Perhaps. “Culture opened the door, but it didn’t close the sale,” says Koeppler of K-pop and K-dramas’ influence on Korean beauty. “Product performance, accessibility and the consumer experience are what turn curiosity into repeat purchases.”

Vallejos is wary of chasing a trend. “‘Spanish beauty’ as a trend almost sounds like a fad,” he says. Instead, Vallejos believes the industry could become known for “science, innovation and consistent results, combined with irresistible textures that people genuinely love to use”.

For Menkhorst, that means being clearer about what Spanish brands already offer. “We don’t need to copy anyone. We need to be more confident in explaining what we already do well, and in showing the evidence behind it,” she says.

Koeppler offers a measure of success: “The real milestone is when a consumer tries a Spanish beauty brand, loves it, and starts wondering what else comes from Spain.”

Asked whether Spanish beauty could become an internationally recognized category, Nodes has a succinct answer: “Yes, if it stops trying to be French.”