Laura Geller & All Golden Founder Sarah Kugelman Talk Gen X, Beauty and Shifting Attitudes Toward Aging (Live Discussion)

💡 Beauty Accelerate is returning  LIVE to the East Coast March 12-13, 2025, at the Ocean Place Resort & Spa in Long Branch, New Jersey. The event features expert talks from newsmaker brands and innovation thought leaders, networking opportunities and a boutique exhibition of concept products and services from leading ingredient, packaging and contract/turnkey manufacturing partners. 👉🏽 Registration is now open.

The youth-obsessed beauty industry should take a closer look at Gen X because it represents a large, often overlooked demographic with significant purchasing power and diverse skin care needs. By catering to these shoppers' preferences, brands could tap into a market eager for products that embrace age, authenticity, and self-care rather than just youth-centric ideals.

During Aging Beautifully: the Big Business of Gen X's Empowering Movement, Sarah Kugelman, founder, All Golden, and Laura Geller, founder of the eponymous brand, will take to the Beauty Accelerate stage to discuss the untapped marketing and innovation opportunities of this sometimes overlooked generation.

Attendees will come away with actionable insights for capturing engagement and sales from this highly engaged demographic.

👉🏽 Registration is now open.

Laura Geller x Sarah Kugelman: Gen X Beauty Gurus

• Beauty industry veteran Sarah Kugelman (CEO and founder of Skyn Iceland [acquired in 2022] and cofounder and president of Gloss.com [acquired by The Estée Lauder Companies] launched All Golden in 2024, offering beauty and lifestyle products for women ages 45 and up.All GoldenIn 1993, Laura Geller—visionary makeup artist and entrepreneur—opened her iconic Makeup Studios on New York City's Upper East Side. With a passion for beauty and Broadway, Laura's journey began as a theatrical makeup artist before taking center stage with her eponymous studio. In 1997, Laura transformed the beauty industry by launching her own line of products that aimed to demystify and simplify daily makeup routines for her consumers. The brand immediately garnered attention, with instant cult favorites like her highlight & contour kit and Spackle Skin Perfecting Primer. After two decades, Laura Geller is still renowned for her wearable looks, magnetic personality, and as a key founder of an innovative baked makeup that is handcrafted in Italy and formulated with mature skin in mind.
• Beauty industry veteran Sarah Kugelman (CEO and founder of Skyn Iceland [acquired in 2022] and cofounder and president of Gloss.com [acquired by The Estée Lauder Companies] launched All Golden in 2024, offering beauty and lifestyle products for women ages 45 and up. "I often find myself and my peers feeling menopause-oriented products are just too clinical," said Kugelman at the time. "The term 'middle age' just isn't representative of how I live my life—I want to bring youthful energy to the market for this age group—no-fuss products that are easy to understand, simple to use, and that truly generate results! Our goal is to have real, authentic conversations about the pro-aging process and empower this sometimes marginalized community by representing them in the beauty industry, ultimately shifting cultural perception to celebrate the aging process."

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Gen X's Beauty Impact

• According to Circana, Gen X consumers (those born roughly between 1965 and 1980) are heavier purchasers of makeup compared to boomers, millennials and Gen Z.
• At the same time, a 2024 report from World Data Lab, Spate and NielsenIQ found that Gen X will help propel skin care into the fastest growth trajectory across beauty categories. 
• That same report found that Gen X led beauty spending in 2024, with an estimated $150-billion increase over the next decade worldwide. At the same time, Gen X are heavily engaged across beauty, with higher penetration than the total population in 80% of beauty categories analyzed by the report.
• Furthermore, Gen X is second only to millennials in online beauty purchases, per NIQ, and have a more balanced engagement across physical and digital stores compared to millenials.

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The Mature Makeup & Skin Care Opportunity

As previously reported, queries for mature skin makeup over the most recent 12-month September-September period revealed “medium volume,” per Spate. Notably, Laura Geller was one of only two brands to dominate these searches.

At the same time, mature shoppers clearly have some unmet needs, which provides further opportunities for nimble brands. Spate’s report notes that searches for cakey makeup and creasing concealer are both up, pointing to perennial frustrations among older consumers.

As Spate puts it, “[T]he growth of concerns like cakey makeup and concealer creasing showcases the demand for makeup that blends seamlessly with the skin, especially for mature and dry skin types.”

This is a cross-category phenomenon, pointing to innovation windows for hybrid products. Notably, in the skin care sector, Spate has noted a 2.9K monthly spike in searches related to mature skin, as well as a 1.4K jump in searches related to dry lips (see Sarah Creal’s Speak For Yourself Hydrating Lipstick).

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Beware: Don't Sleep on the Gen X Opportunity!

In August 2024, Larissa Jensen, vice president and beauty industry adviser at Circana, told Global Cosmetic Industry that Gen X is a “highly engaged beauty consumer” that the beauty industry needs to pay closer attention to.

But there are reasons why these older consumers are sometimes overlooked.

“Gen X is smaller in size, sandwiched between the bigger, more attention-grabbing boomers and millennials,” said Jensen. “And with the current industry focus on the younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Gen X is pushed even further aside. But Gen X is a highly engaged beauty consumer that has grown their spend in beauty at a greater rate than any other generation. And in just four short years they will outnumber boomers. The beauty industry needs to start paying closer attention to this cohort.”

“Subjects like eyebrows, concealer and skin care order are ones we see increased engagement on both Facebook and Instagram,” Bethany Blair, senior director of content at Ipsy, told Global Cosmetic Industry. “Specifically, eyebrow content, whether it be a meme remembering the 90s brow or more educational content like how to fill in your brows after over-plucking, how to achieve a current trend, or suffering brow hair loss. We often see comments highlighting a feeling of being seen through this type of content."

Spate notes older consumers are specifically concerned about the compatibility of makeup products for their aging skin. For this reason, Sephora has created a dedicated page highlighting makeup for mature skin.

👉🏽 Registration is now open.

About Beauty Accelerate 2025

In an environment of consumer uncertainty, market saturation and rapid technological shifts in R&D and marketing, beauty is at an inflection point.

That’s why Beauty Accelerate 2025: Future-proofing Beauty will deliver insights from industry- and category-leading experts and brands, offering practical strategies for product and brand development, marketing and consumer engagement to deliver growth that lasts.

• Dates: March 12-13, 2025
• Location: Ocean Place Resort & Spa in Long Branch, New Jersey

By uniting the best minds in marketing, R&D and data, this year's event will deliver actionable insights and strategies for brand success in 2025 and beyond.

From expanding the beautyspan with regenerative and longevity-focused innovation, to engaging Gen Alpha and Gen Z consumers, this year’s event will provide a 360-degree view of what it takes to succeed in beauty in 2025 and beyond.

Key themes will include:

• Engaging Gen Alpha & Gen Z
• Longevity & (p)rejuvenation: maximizing the beautyspan
• The efficacy imperative: proof is not optional
• Delivering value: insights for demanding consumers across categories
• Obsession-worthy cosmetic packaging: design x function x sustainability
• What the latest data tells us about what’s next in beauty
• Beauty innovations to capture white space

👉🏽 Registration is now open.

3 Reasons to Attend Beauty Accelerate 2025

🤯This year’s event is tapping newsmaker brands, R&D technical experts and beauty leaders to present actionable takeaways for brands of every scale and across every beauty category. 

🧪 In addition, Beauty Accelerate’s Innovator Talks and boutique exhibition will highlight the latest concept products, ingredients, packaging, technologies and services to drive future product development, R&D, marketing and retail success.

🍸 To bring it all together, Beauty Accelerate 2025 will provide ample networking opportunities, from lunches to a closing cocktail reception to the C&T Allē Awards, an evening honoring the best in R&D and brand innovation.

👀More details, including featured speakers, program details and tickets, are continually updated. So be sure to check back!

👉🏽 Registration is now open.