LONDON – Growth at Unilever’s beauty and wellbeing division outstripped the consumer giant’s overall performance in 2025, with brands including Nutrafol, Liquid I.V., Vaseline and Dove leading the way.
Underlying sales in the division grew 4.3 percent to 12.8 billion euros, driven by a balanced of volume and price growth. Wellness products as well as Vaseline and Dove grew in the double-digits. By contrast, growth in prestige beauty, core skin care and hair care, was in the mid-to-low single digits.
Overall, beauty and wellbeing generated 25 percent of Unilever‘s turnover in the 12-month period. Underlying operating profit was 2.5 billion euros, down 3.2 percent year-on-year, while underlying operating margin decreased to 19.2 percent.
The consumer giant said a “significant improvement” in overheads was offset by a slight decline in gross margins and big increase in brand and marketing investment behind power brands and premium innovations.
Regina King and Vaseline’s Radiant X line.
Tym Shutchai, Courtesy of Vaseline
In the full year, Unilever’s underlying sales were up 3.5 percent to 50.5 billion euros, driven chiefly by higher prices. The company’s power brands, which include Dove and Vaseline, accounted for 78 percent of turnover in the period, and notched 4.3 percent underlying sales growth, driven by volume.
Chief executive Fernando Fernandez said that in 2025 Unilever became a “simpler, sharper and faster company, delivering our commitment to volume growth, positive mix and strong gross margin. Our underlying sales growth improved throughout the year as we landed a strong innovation plan, drove improvements in key emerging markets and successfully completed the ice cream demerger.”
He said the company was “moving at speed to build a business that drives desire at scale in our brands, execution excellence across all channels and cost discipline. We have set clear priorities for growth – building a brand portfolio for the future, with more beauty, wellbeing and personal care, prioritizing premium segments and digital commerce, and anchoring our growth in the U.S. and India.”
The company said that during 2025 double-digit growth at Vaseline and Dove reflected the “ongoing elevation” of the portfolio through science-led, premium innovations.
Hair care grew low-single digit with positive price partially offset by negative volume. Dove grew double-digit driven by the launch of its new fiber repair technology range.
The growth was partially offset by actions taken to reduce “tail brands” in the Dove portfolio, and “softness” in some emerging markets impacting brands such as Sunsilk and Clear brands.
The Dove Tres Leches product range.
Core skin care delivered mid-single digit growth. Unilever said the uptick was led by Vaseline, which delivered double-digit growth for the third straight year.
The wellbeing division grew in the double-digits led by volume. Nutrafol and Liquid I.V. delivered double-digit growth, while Olly grew high-single digit, supported by premium gummy innovations. During a call following the results, Unilever said that Liquid I.V. became a billion-dollar brand in 2025, while Olly delivered sales of more than $500 million.
In 2025, prestige beauty delivered low-single digit growth, driven by price. The company said Hourglass and K18 saw strong double-digit growth, while sales at Dermalogica and Paula’s Choice declined at the start of the year, but returned to growth in the second half.
The trends at Unilever are tracking those of the wider market, where demand for wellness products offering targeted treatments is outstripping that of traditional beauty.
While Unilever is seeing growth in wellness and some beauty brands, it faces a challenging year ahead. The company said it is expect underlying sales growth for full-year 2026 to be within its multi-year guidance range of 4 percent to 6 percent with at least 2 percent underlying volume growth.
The company said 2026 growth is expected to be at “the bottom end” of the underlying sales growth range “reflecting the slower market conditions. We anticipate a modest improvement in underlying operating margin for the full year,” versus 20 percent in 2025, Unilever said.
