One of the most important parts of a beauty brand interview is the conversation regarding industry ingredient trends that relates to the brand category you are interviewing for. These conversations typically get brought up during an interview if you are interviewing for a product team (product development, R&D, marketing), but these conversations might also arise for creative roles or just in general if the person interviewing you happens to ask if you follow the latest beauty trends etc…

If you plan on interviewing for roles on any of the above product teams mentioned above, I highly advise you to pay attention to our posts that focus on ingredient trends!

In this article, we’re going to be focusing on skincare ingredient trends that you should learn and be comfortable speaking on in conversation (this knowledge is not only helpful for those interviewing for skincare teams, but is also highly valuable if you happen to interview with makeup teams or any bodycare beauty brand teams as most brands infuse makeup with skincare ingredients now days, etc). For example, let’s say you have an interview lined up at Shiseido where you’ll be considered to support their skincare product development and marketing team…

The first step you’ll need to take is to get to know as many details about their skincare products that are currently in market. Pay attention to key ingredients that they focus on and maybe even take a personal field trip to sephora to get some samples of their skincare products so you can start to familiarize yourself with the brands products. Keep an eye out in case you start to notice trending ingredients that they feature in their products and study core knowledge on how the key benefits of using those ingredients impact the skin. That way, when they ask you if you’re familiar with their products, you can mention which one is your favorite (I suggest focusing on top-sellers, which you can use the sort tool on their website to find out which products are their best sellers), what you liked about the application or performance, and support why you like it with a strong ingredient fact… For example, during that Shiseido Skincare team interview, let’s pretend that you’re asked “What’s your favorite Shiseido Skincare product and why?”… You can respond with something along the lines of “The ULTIMATE Power Infusing Serum is my favorite for many reasons: 1st off I’m impressed by the beauty award it’s received, I love that it’s a multi-benefit product that’s not only great for anti-aging, but gives me just the right glow, I’m a fan that your team chose to include ‘Reishi Mushrooms’ as a key ingredient as I know mushrooms are a hot skincare ingredient at the moment, and lastly, the clinical results speak for themselves!”. WARNING: If you mention an ingredient, trend, beauty award, or clinical test in any interview comment, know that they’re gonna be initially intrigued, but will immediately ask you deeper questions – so only mention those elements if you’ve completely done your homework and are able to speak with confidence on those topics!

I decided to feature 5 SKINCARE INGREDIENTS you should study if you hope to interview with a skincare, makeup, or body care brand in the future on a product team. Once you soak up this article in its entirety, feel free to comment below letting me know which ingredient is your all time favorite for skincare! I hope the following information empowers you and helps ignite your passion for beauty products.

Vitamin C

Niacinamide

Aloe Vera

Hyaluronic Acid

Caffeine