The beauty industry is pretty profitable. Sorry, we couldn’t resist the pun!
If there’s anything to be learned from the great Estee Lauder herself, it’s that the beauty industry is full of opportunities, and it takes the right strategy to succeed. A big part of that is starting with the right business idea.
A good business idea is crucial in the beauty industry; it’s huge, valued over $265 billion. And that’s only expected to grow. So to join the industry, you’ll need a truly standout idea. So in this guide, we’ll cover some of our favorites.
If you are a good networker with strong organizational skills, you could stage a beauty trade show. It could be business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), or both!
Beauty industry professionals are always looking for opportunities to showcase their products, and your expo could be the perfect venue.
This a great low-cost way to enter the beauty business. Using free or low-cost tools such as WordPress websites and YouTube channels, you can build a following and recommend products. In turn, you can receive sales commissions on purchases; that’s affiliate marketing at its best.
An offshoot of the beauty blogger business focuses on video content, unlike bloggers who typically write text posts of information and also create some images. These videos can be friendly and simple or highly polished and professional.
Beauty podcasting is the digital equivalent of chatting with your friends about your favorite beauty products.
One of the most popular beauty podcasts was launched by the beauty editor of Marie Claire: “Fat Mascara.” Her advice for aspiring beauty podcasters is to first decide on your show format and have a partner host.
Many a beauty mogul started at home selling lipsticks to her friends. This can be a great money-making opportunity for moms who work from home and love beauty and makeup.
The good news is that you can sell many reputable beauty products as a business venture. Many beauty companies are waiting for people like you to start your own business selling their makeup and skincare line.
This is a great way to be an independent business owner by traveling to your customer’s locations at home or business and offering mobile foot massage services. There are very low startup costs and minimal supply costs.
The beauty of starting a reflexology business is that you can start small (part-time) and build from there.
If that interests you, check out some success tips from Barbara Kunz in her Kindle books: “The Successful Reflexologist: Starting and Growing Reflexology Business.” She’ll teach you how to get the word out about your services, get new clients and repeat sessions, and how to create and distribute promotional materials.
If you’re fashion smart, a good communicator and love people, then this may be the ideal business idea for you. This business helps people look and feel their best by advising them on the best makeup, clothing, and colors for them. Many business professionals (men and women) hire image consultants to help them look and act their best for career advancement.
There are many advantages to starting an image consulting business, including low start-up costs, home-based availability, and the ability to form referral partnerships with makeup artists, hairstylists, nutritionists, life coaches, personal trainers, and career advisors. Plus, you get satisfaction from seeing your clients become more confident and successful with your help.
If you love beauty products and are knowledgeable about the best of them, you could start your own e-commerce online store selling cosmetic products, accessories, and even advice on your website. Beauty enthusiasts appreciate the convenience of online shopping, especially with products and services they already know and trust.
An evergreen business that will always be in demand is a hair salon. While setup requires substantial capital investment for equipment and special salon furniture, long-term sustainability and profitability are high as long as you’re providing excellent customer service.
One way to enter this marketplace is by purchasing a franchise that will offer a complete business plan package and operating instructions for success. Alternatively, you could pick a beautiful salon name and start out fresh all on your own.
Today, there’s an increasing awareness of the dangers of toxic chemicals in personal products. The demand for organic, natural skincare products is growing dramatically. Capitalize on this trend by creating your own line of skincare products or subcontracting your products to an established asthmatic manufacturing plant.
Strong branding is vital for success. You can retail your line directly to the consumer online, or sell it to other retailers or e-commerce sites for resale.
Today’s wigs are so well-made and natural-looking that they’re a hot fashion trend now. You see celebrities like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, and Rihanna all wearing wigs and hairpieces all the time and looking great. So why not make a business out of wigs and hair extensions? You could offer different lengths, styles, and even colors. You could also focus on serving certain communities like individuals with alopecia.
The herbal health and beauty industry has many facets including growing and selling herbs, instructing people on how to use herbs, formulating herbal remedies and teaching others about herbs benefits. This field is growing thanks to the shift away from traditional chemical-based beauty products.
Starting an aromatherapy business can be a dream come true if you are passionate about herbal healing.
In addition to opening a retail location to give professional manicures and pedicures, a nail salon can be a mobile and part-time business opportunity.
You’ll need certain equipment and supplies to launch your company, in addition to training in today’s new nail technology. Nail art and bling have become a huge (and growing) specialty service in the manicure industry.
This is one of the most profitable business ideas on this list because the market demand for tanning services is high. The downside is that you will need to make substantial capital investments in tanning bed equipment and effective marketing strategies to launch your company.
If you have a natural talent or are professionally trained on how to apply makeup, then this is an excellent business for you. Your services will be sought by photographers, models, video influencers, actresses, brides, and businesswomen.
If you’re a tattoo artist and love to create body art, then a tattoo parlor business could be the perfect venture for you. Today’s tattoo parlors cater to customers from teenagers to granddads. Gone are the days of outlaw tattoo parlors; having a tattoo is chic and fashionable these days. And there are dozens of different styles you could specialize in, too.
Many dermatologists and beauty salons have added these departments to their offices because there’s such strong customer demand. These clinics sell services and products, including creams, serums, and supplements. Alternatively, you can partner with these direct sales companies to sell anti-aging products and services.
Some tattoo parlors also offer body piercings. However, you can have a business solely focused on body piercing. Startup costs are usually a few thousand, and you can operate from home or as a mobile business on a part-time schedule.
While stretch marks are completely natural and healthy, many moms don’t love them. And that’s natural and healthy, too. You can help new and mature moms alike fall back in love with themselves with stretch mark removal services. This can be a mobile service, or you can rent space in an established beauty salon, spa, or retail boutique.
These types of businesses focus on offering beauty services such as facials, massage, aromatherapy, and skincare consultations. Some day spas offer additional hair and makeup services, including brow shaping and eyelash extensions. There are many opportunities; the important part is building an environment of relaxation.
Today, both men and women desire hair removal services, and you can create a part-time home-based or mobile business to meet the demand. Threading and waxing and popular hair removal services, and you can profit handsomely from them.
As a facial spa owner or esthetician professional, you can create your business to be exactly as you desire. Perhaps you will focus solely on esthetician services such as facials or you will include other spa or salon treatments as well. Successful facial spas offer a range of services including anti-aging treatments, waxing, massages, and body wraps.
If you’re interested in starting this business, check out our favorite esthetician business name ideas here.
An excellent business idea is to make money by recommending various beauty products and services and getting a commission through affiliate marketing. The beauty category of product sale commission rates is among the highest in the industry, making beauty a very lucrative affiliate marketing niche.
Capitalize upon the monthly subscription business model and start a beauty product service. There are many successful beauty subscription boxes such as Birchbox and BoxyCharm. So, why not create your own?
Make your product stand out with a special twist such as all organic, cruelty free, or European brands. You could also focus on a particular product, like eye makeup or nail products.
Consider opening a retail store or online store that focuses entirely on selling beauty products. You could sell makeup, hair care products, skin care products, and perfumes. Don’t forget about specialty items like curling irons, eyelash curlers, and makeup brushes.
Beauty professionals such as hair stylists and estheticians need specialized products and equipment. Consider opening a brick-and-mortar store or go online selling these particular items and supplies.
Poise and elegance is an important part of being beautiful. But not everyone knows how formal etiquette works. You can build a business training people in etiquette and manners. For example, you could launch an online course, run a YouTube channel, or teach a class in your community. Consider niche markets such as teenagers, college women, professionals, and even men.
Develop beautiful smelling perfumes and other fragrance products like men’s colognes or even air fresheners. You could blend your fragrances from natural essential oils or utilize industry standard perfumers to develop a private label custom fragrance brand.
Candle making is an art that is greatly appreciated. Plus, it can be profitable. There many types of candle making such as carved candles, poured candles, candlesticks and jar candles. Experiment with colors, styles and containers to develop your own brand.
Sell your candles at gift shops, hair salons, and boutiques. You could also sell online at sites such as eBay and Etsy.
If you know how to create beautiful soaps, you have the beginnings of a successful business. Market your soaps to gift shops and home decor stores or sell online on an e-commerce site.
There is a growing demand for home fragrance products including potpourri, room sprays and scented shelf lining paper. Develop your line with interesting scents, designs and colors.
Stress ages people and wrecks havoc on beautiful skin. That means your business could offer meditation classes and biofeedback to train people in relaxation techniques.
If you are licensed in the massage healing arts then you are ready to start profiting. Consider becoming a mobile massage business and travel to your clients home. Or you could open a massage studio in your home, a salon, spa, medical office or storefront.
In addition to performing massage services, you could develop your own line of massage oils and sell them to your customers and other massage therapists.
Many people want a healthy and beautiful body, and you can make money helping them achieve their fitness goals. The business opportunities are virtually endless, from opening a gym or exercise studio to teaching yoga classes and offering personal trainer services.
Some of these business could be low-cost or even home-based (although it ultimately depends on the exact business you start).
Eyelash extensions are trending business. Beauty professionals can launch from their homes or rent a chair in a salon or makeup studio.
Another hot beauty trend service is brow shaping and microblading. Microblading is a form of tattooing which creates a permanent brow for women or men.
Interested? Get some great ideas for the name of your microblading business.
The ancient art of threading for hair removal has become almost standard across Europe and America. You could offer a mobile home service where you travel to your clients and perform these threading services to define their brows. Charge more for this service since you save them travel time and increase their comfort by performing this beauty service in their own home.
Also, consider offering a threading party service where people would invite a few of their friends to their home and you would perform services on each individual. This increases your profit nicely.
If you have a new idea for a cosmetic line of cosmetics but don’t want to invest in manufacturing equipment, you could work with a private label company who will develop the line to your specifications. Whether it’s foundation, BB creams, blush, or anything in between, you could start a whole line or a single product depending on your goals.
The spray tanning service has exploded in popularity over the last 10 years. It’s a great business because you can get started quickly and fairly inexpensively.
Every bride wants to look her absolute best. And there’s a good chance her bridal party, her mom, and her mother-in-law all want to hire makeup services, too. You can offer your makeup artistry to the bride and the bridal party, including men and children. Everybody will look beautiful in the wedding photos.
You can make money by being a photographer’s assistant offering hair and makeup services to their clients. Fashion photographers and portrait studio photographers require the services of beauty professionals to apply makeup and style hair for their clients so that their photographs look great.
Old-fashioned barbershops are all the rage. So consider opening one in your town or as a mobile barbershop truck. You can offer men’s, women’s, and children’s hair cuts. You could also offer unisex services. As facial hair and beards continue to be trendy, the demand for grooming services will increase.
If you know how to lose weight and you can motivate others, you can sell your expertise as a weight loss coach. People appreciate the one-on-one service and inspiration that’s often required to slim down. Consider specializing in a particular type of people such as men, women over 40, or busy professionals.
Alternatively, you could offer counseling for members of popular weight-loss programs like Weight Watchers or Nutrisystem.
One of the most lucrative business models in the beauty industry is to create and manufacture your own cosmetic line. But if you go this route, keep in mind that you’ll need capital investment for equipment and materials.
Selling consulting services to the cosmetic industry for technical, marketing or e-commerce services is in demand and can yield a substantial income. If you have experience and talent in this field consider sharing your knowledge for income.
Get started with a good consulting company name.
There’s a fortune to be made in products related to the beauty industry. Consider designing and manufacturing products such as cosmetic bags, makeup brushes, and beauty implements like eyelash curlers, nail files, makeup sponges, and blenders.
If you are an inventor, explore creating new beauty gadgets that could be manufactured overseas and sold to retailers and online. Fortunes have been made on items like Jade skincare rollers, curling irons, and ionic blow dryers.
Think about training to become a hypnotherapist to help people look more beautiful by helping them relieve their stress, stop smoking, or lose weight.
People want to relieve stress and improve their health, and you can help them by renting time in a sauna or sweat lodge. Combine this business idea with massage and aromatherapy services to up your profits.
There are so many cosmetic and beauty products today that consumers are confused. They are looking for objective reviews of all types of products: skin care, hair care, makeup, nail polish, and more.
Social media offers the perfect platform to broadcast your experience and recommendations for beauty products, treatments, and salons.
You could focus on one social media platform such as Pinterest, or you could become an influencer across many social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Think about purchasing a health and beauty franchise to start your business. There are lots of advantages to operating a franchise: you can rely on the brand’s established reputation, you already have a good business model to follow, and more.
If you can develop a truly innovative and profitable salon concept, you could franchise it and sell licenses. This beauty business idea is a great fit for someone who already has an established brand.
If you have knowledge about salon marketing you could teach other salons how to increase their profits with improved marketing techniques.
Beauty companies need expert public relations professionals to publicize their brands and products. If you have expertise in publicity consider specializing in beauty companies.
There are many aspiring beauty operators who need specialized training and licensing in the cosmetology arts like hair cutting, nail artistry, and makeup techniques. Think about opening a training school teaching students how to launch their beauty careers.
As women age, they require a different beauty regime for skincare and makeup. Many of the major brands overly focus on young women and forget this important and lucrative market segment. Your brand could focus exclusively on beauty tips and recommendations for mature women. This is a huge and often neglected market.
The demand for crazy-colored hair has opened up a niche market in the salon. You could specialize in bold and vibrant hair colors like fuchsia, green, and blue for modern and innovative fashion clients. You could also develop unique formulas for these colors and sell them to other professionals.
People who have scars, ugly birthmarks, burns, and other skin conditions want to learn how to cover and correct with specialized cosmetics. You could demonstrate techniques on YouTube or sell special private-label products that perform admirably for these special make-up needs.
With the dramatic increase in videos and photos used online, people of all walks of life need to learn how to do their makeup professionally to look their best in the media. Whether their videos are for work or dating, there’s a big demand for learning this type of special makeup artistry.
You could create a course, open a YouTube channel, or write a book sharing your knowledge about these makeup techniques.
Theatrical makeup training is no longer just for actors and celebrities. Everyday folk are interested in learning how to do makeup for Halloween, costume parties, and children’s birthday parties.
If you know these advanced makeup techniques, sell your information for profit by teaching others how to do their own.
Manicures and nail art are a strongly growing business trend that is projected to continue upwards. So you could launch your own nail polish line or sell nail art tools to capitalize on this trend.
Help men to be their most attractive with advice and training in how to style and cut their hair. You can also make wardrobe suggestions, manicure and pedicure recommendations, and offer advice about pairings for accessories.
Even though there are many successful hair care brands, there’s still an open door for new brands to be profitable. Answer specific needs for particular hair types and conditions to carve out your own market segment.
It sounds simple, but it’s possible to launch a successful side business teaching people how to apply makeup properly. You could, for example, teach teenagers in the local salon while selling your own private-label cosmetics that you use during the class.
People going through cancer treatments and chemotherapy sometimes lose their hair and want to purchase wigs to cover up and look and feel better. This special market is an excellent business opportunity which you could launch. Your market could be women, men, teens, and children who are affected by chemotherapy hair loss.
If you’re looking for a less traditional approach, use AI tools to analyze a customer’s skin tone, body type, and style preferences to recommend personalized beauty routines and products. This tech-savvy service can be offered through an app or website and is perfect for entrepreneurs looking to blend beauty with innovation.
Let customers “try on” different makeup products using augmented reality (AR) before they buy. This virtual service works great as an app or feature on an e-commerce site and helps reduce product returns while increasing customer confidence.
Curate and ship monthly boxes filled with trending or niche beauty products tailored to a specific audience. Add your own twist — focus on cruelty-free items, indie brands, or themed collections — and build a loyal base of repeat customers.
Well, now that you’ve read this big list of beauty business ideas, you’re ready to get into the beauty industry as an entrepreneur. Good luck!
Staying ahead of beauty trends can give your business a competitive edge — and 2025 is shaping up to be a big year for innovation and personal expression. One of the biggest trends right now is “skinimalism,” where consumers are simplifying their routines and focusing on healthy, natural-looking skin with fewer but higher-quality products. This shift is boosting demand for gentle skincare lines, hydrating treatments, and multitasking products.
Another rising trend is customized beauty. From personalized skincare regimens to AI-powered shade matching for foundation, consumers are looking for products and services tailored to their unique needs. Men’s grooming is also continuing to grow, with more men embracing skincare, haircare, and subtle makeup solutions. Lastly, eco-conscious beauty remains strong, with demand increasing for refillable packaging, clean ingredients, and cruelty-free brands. Entrepreneurs who build their beauty businesses around these trends can tap into what modern customers want — authenticity, simplicity, and sustainability.
Beauty Business Resources
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
Written by Team ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness has helped people start, run, and grow over 800,000 dream companies. The editorial team at ZenBusiness has over 20 years of collective small business publishing experience and is composed of business formation experts who are dedicated to empowering and educating entrepreneurs about owning a company.
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