5 min read
Agent Dana Scully, Kelly Taylor, C.J. Parker, and supermodel Paulina Porizkova walk into a bar. They laugh and smile, and like the beauty icons they are, their skin is tight but not overly taut, with gentle smile lines around the eyes to show that they’re still human. Except it’s not a joke, but a scene very likely coming to a beauty store near you.
A few years after the rise of the Gen Alpha baby-beauty fanatic, brands are moving on to Gen X. L’Oréal Paris has The X-Files’ Gillian Anderson; IT Cosmetics signed 90210’s Jennie Garth; Baywatch’s Pamela Anderson co-founded Sonsie; and Porizkova is returning as a face for Estée Lauder after 30 years.
There’s more evidence. Sarah Creal Beauty, which calls itself a brand “expertly crafted for babes 40+,” is one of the fastest-growing new lines at Sephora, with double-digit growth, according to Creal. Bobbi Brown’s Jones Road Beauty, Molly Sims’s YSE Beauty, and Laura Geller Beauty are all aimed at Gen X (roughly ages 46 to 61) and Xennials (about 43 to 49). A far cry from tweens with their allowance money, Gen X is the age group predicted to spend the most on skin care and makeup compared to all others, according to a report from World Data Lab and NielsenIQ, thanks to being at their highest earning capacity.
True to the so-called “middle child” of generations, wedged between attention-hogging boomers and their millennial offspring, Gen X wasn’t courted by the beauty industry until fairly recently. Creal, 56, was a formulator at Estée Lauder and helped build Victoria Beckham Beauty. “There’s been a lot of tokenism: Here are our twentysomethings and our 70-year-olds with gray hair and wrinkles,” she says. “And I was like, ‘Where are the 40- to 60-year-olds? Do you think that the person shopping in their 30s at Sephora is suddenly going to go to department stores?’” While modern-day marketing is focused on being “everything to everybody,” Creal wanted to be “laser-focused” on her own generation and beyond. Her brand suits a range of skin tones (her concealer comes in 21 shades), and she only tests on and features models who are women aged 40-plus.
Gen X women are finding that their beauty needs have changed. “Some women haven’t had their makeup done since the 2000s,” Creal says. IT Cosmetics global makeup coach Erica Taylor, a 49-year-old content creator who’s been called “social media’s midlife makeup guru” by The New York Times, advises a generation that mostly learned how to do makeup at the mall, in a middle school bathroom, or from a friend’s older sister, rather than from a YouTube tutorial like millennials or Gen Z. She demonstrates on her own face, showing how to update outdated techniques (blush “doesn’t go up the temple like you’re in Star Trek: The Next Generation”) and avoid others that don’t work on mature skin. (Setting powder on under-eyes? “No. Return of the Mummy.”)
The cassette-tape generation is becoming increasingly active online, not only watching tutorials but even creating them themselves. “I’ve never heard Gen X more than I hear it now,” says Tennille Jenkins, a 47-year-old content creator with gray-and-white, shiny curls. “I’ve been getting a lot more meme kind of content where it’s just someone listing their Gen X traits.” Jenkins joins a group of older influencers who are “very proud about where I am in life, my age, my history, the things that bring me joy and happiness. We are spending more money and time on ourselves. We’re taking that trip. We’re just feeling emboldened to just embrace and live life. These are beautiful years.” Sims adds, “Today’s multi-hyphenate 40-plus woman looks and feels better. She’s healthier than she’s ever been. She’s inspired. She wants her beauty to meet her where she is.”
As a “latchkey” demographic who largely grew up lightly supervised and independent-minded, Gen X also has a strong bullshit meter, particularly when it comes to beauty. “We’ve been tricked, so we’re in an education era. We want to see facts and studies before we just go ahead and buy anything,” says Taylor, who references growing up with infomercials. “Younger generations are like, ‘Ooh, I love the ’90s!’ This generation is like, ‘Ooh, I lived the ’90s,’” Creal jokes—and they want not only nice packaging but also real and easy results.
They have outgrown Glossier or never really related to it in the first place, and they definitely don’t want food as beauty, so don’t even think about suggesting strawberry-girl makeup or glazed-donut skin. Jenkins says, “Don’t come to me for trends. Please don’t. I’m not the one. You want my daughter.” They saw millennials with their 15-step skin care routines, and maybe some of them did it for a little bit. “I think they tried it. Everybody did,” Sims says. (But no one stuck with it.)
Modern formulations are not your mother’s old makeup—products are infused with skin care ingredients, less likely to cling to dry patches, and long-wearing without being bionic. One of Geller’s products for Gen X is The Wonder Balm, a cream blush and illuminator that gives a very dewy look. Creal explains, “On a 20-year-old, you’re formulating on a rubber mat. Everything’s going to look good, okay? When you’re formulating for somebody my age, 56, you’re formulating on tissue paper. You have to craft it in a way that has lightness, flexibility, and an ability to layer.”
Being seen by the beauty industry also means being marketed to—the kind of “progress” many Gen X women are hardwired to resent. Cynics may argue that 40-year-olds are the youngest reasonable target for antiaging products (nobody wants to watch baby beauty influencers apply concealer), and that the flood of marketing could spark age panic in a new group of consumers. But this generation’s beauty pros are practical. “We are not trying to look 12; we just don’t want to look like your crazy sister,” Taylor deadpans. “Labels don’t scare us as much as looking dry and crusty.” Cheryl Wischhover, a beauty journalist, takes a similar view. “The anti-beauty-product absolutists out there will argue that we are all victims of beauty culture and should opt out,” she writes on the Substack Whatever Nevermind. “But I, and so many of my peers, just want to feel good in our skin and glow a bit, with a cream that’s a pleasure to use.”
A version of this story appears in the April 2026 issue of ELLE.
Sarah Creal Eyes Up Creamy Kajal Longwear EyelinerCredit: Courtesy of Sarah Creal Beauty
Sarah Creal
Face Flex ConcealerCredit: Courtesy of Sarah Creal Beauty
Laura Geller Long-n-Lifted Tubing Mascara
Laura Geller Baked Balance-n-Brighten Color Correcting Powder FoundationCredit: Courtesy of Laura Geller
YSE Beauty Skin Glow SPF 30 PrimerCredit: Image courtesy of YSE Beauty
YSE Beauty Wide Awake Brightening & Depuffing Eye CreamCredit: Courtesy
Jones Road What The Foundation
Jones Road Blushing Stick