Snack brands branching into health and beauty

Snack brands are crossing into the beauty aisle by leveraging flavor equity, sensory appeal, and emotional branding. As the health and beauty industry does the same, the trend is blurring the line between indulgence and self-care.

Image: © Mauhorng | Dreamstime.com

According to Euromonitor International’s World Market of Snacks Report 2025 , snack brands are using innovation to address consumer well-being needs from a fresh perspective. This reflects a broader blurring of category boundaries, where food and personal care intersect to support holistic health.

Notably, one in three global consumers expect to increase their spending on health and wellness in the year ahead, creating opportunities for snack brands to position themselves as lifestyle partners rather than just food providers. By leveraging trust, functionality and innovation, these brands can strengthen consumer loyalty while tapping into new growth avenues.

Carl Quash III, global insight manager at Euromonitor International, said: “The world is undergoing rapid societal shifts that are reshaping consumerism and redefining the standards that make a snack a worthy purchase. To stay relevant, brands must be proactive and agile, continually evolving to meet changing consumer expectations.”

The crossover of snacks and health and beauty is increasing – in both ways. The first is where snacks brand are going into health and beauty formats. “From a brand equity standpoint, this brings new tangible experiences for the consumer to engage with brand,” Quash III told FoodPacific Manufacturing Journal (FPMJ).

For example, Cheetos launched a limited-edition lip liner in collaboration with Alamar Cosmetics, called the “Say Chisme Plumping Lip Liner” as part of beauty collection inspired by Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Latina glam aesthetics.

M&M’s and Makeup Drop also tested the waters in 2022, releasing a limited-edition makeup sponge shaped like M&M’s candies.

Taste Beauty x Hershey’s have an active partnership producing lip balms, glosses, and bath products themed around Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s, and Jolly Rancher.

Blending nutrition and indulgent flavors, Reese's and Oreos have collaborated on brand name-flavored protein powder supplements targeted at men.

“Many launches that happen in this way tend to accompany some level of accentuating the brands' sensorial attributes to extend value in new, nonedible formats,” he said.

Meanwhile, the movement toward the other direction has yielded beauty and health infused into snacks. “Health and nutritional properties in foods are the top demanded attribute we find among consumers,” he said. “This is derived from a collision of trends that started long ago including ‘beauty from the inside out’ and ‘better for me’. Consumers want products that maximize their health potential and their overall quality of living. This includes snacks with functional and potentially bioactive ingredients like antioxidants which are associated with a range of beauty benefits as well as protein which also associated with better daily functioning.

“There have been some strong brands launching more closely in the health space like Mars' high protein Snickers and PepsiCo's high protein Quakers snack bars. You also have brands and products carving package space for health callouts. This is common in the meat snack space for example and you are also seeing it more in biscuits and rising in confections,” he said.

However, Quash III also said that the beauty enhancing snack space is still quite nascent. “Laws prohibit snacks from making the detailed levels of claims that supplements can. There are also consumer efficacy and education hurdles that ingestible beauty products inherently have over topical ones. “Laws prohibit snacks from making the detailed levels of claims that supplements can. There are also consumer efficacy and education hurdles that ingestible beauty products inherently have over topical ones. For example, if you place a vitamin C serum beside a vitamin C-fortified snack and ask which one a consumer believes will improve their skin, despite hesitating at the price tag, most will still reach for the serum, he said.