By the end of 2024, the skincare market in the UK alone is predicted to reach $24.36 billion, and standing out in this crowded market is an ever-growing challenge. While social media has made it easier to whip up a PR storm, for real staying power, tried and tested products and clear brand messaging have the best potential for success.

It’s an approach taken by L’Oréal-owned skincare brand CeraVe. The brand was set up in 2005 with dermatologists and has continued to create products and develop formulations backed by science. Three essential ceramides (specifically ceramides 1, 3 and 6-II) form the basis for many of its products, and it’s where the ‘Cera’ comes from in CeraVe.

While it had grown steadily over the years, it wasn’t until L’Oréal acquired the brand in 2017 that it began to grow more rapidly. Coming to the UK and other global territories helped amplify its presence, but it was a combination of the pandemic and CeraVe’s consistency in reminding its customers what it is that really saw the brand explode and be named as the number one skincare brand for Gen Z in 2023 (by investment bank Piper Sandler, via its semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens survey).