Before therapy, I had slime. In between college apps and late-night Tumblr spirals, I’d watch strangers on the Internet poke and prod at semi-solid mush for hours on end, mesmerized by the sticky acoustics of it all. The squish, the stretch, the soft suction sounds—it was ASMR bliss. My slime obsession may have since dried up, but that craving for sensorial stimulation hasn’t—it’s just shifted to skincare. Over the past year, skincare textures have gotten… a little unhinged. In the past year alone. Off the top of my head, I’ve tested bubblegum cleansers that stretch like taffy, spicule serums that sting and sparkle, and capsule creams that bear an oddly satisfying resemblance to popping boba. Thus, I can officially declare: Skincare is the new slime. With so many textural, tactile innovations—and the pressure cooker of social media—caring for your skin has become a sensorial spectacle where science meets satisfaction. It’s interactive, immersive, and, of course, algorithm-friendly. So, welcome to the era of “skintertainment.”

Skintertainment: A Retrospective

The concept of skintertainment is nothing new. I first stumbled upon the term on Reddit, buried in a 2016 r/AsianBeauty thread marveling at a magnetic face mask from Korea. At its core, skintertainment is all about blurring the line between skincare and entertainment. It’s the ineffable magic that happens when a formula satisfies both the skin and the senses—nourishing our epidermis while scratching that ooey, gooey itch deep inside our brains.

The movement, without a doubt, began to lay its seeds in the U.S. during the first stateside K-Beauty wave. “In the early wave of K-Beauty, much of the appeal centered around cute packaging, unique textures, and unexpected formats,” says Christine Chang, co-founder of Glow Recipe. Beauty lovers will recall the popularity of animal-themed sheet masks, banana-shaped hand creams, and rubber modeling masks in the early 2010s, cementing K-beauty’s place in our beauty consciousness.

Then came the pandemic. Consumers pivoted to ingredient-focused, matter-of-fact formulations that brought comfort in a time of uncertainty. Simultaneously, TikTok was emerging as beauty’s most powerful tastemaker, selling out products via algorithm-fueled virality and hyper-visual storytelling. Since then, our relationship with skincare has changed fundamentally.” Consumers today are craving playful, sensorial formulations because skincare has evolved from being purely functional to becoming an essential part of daily self-care rituals,” adds Chang.

What hasn’t changed since the pandemic is where we talk about skincare. Thanks to TikTok, skincare has become emotional entertainment. “Skincare is the new fidget toy—satisfying, soothing, and shareable,” explains Kelley Liu, founder of Song of Skin. In other words: We’re iPad kids when it comes to beauty. In an oversaturated beauty market, brands are forced to ask themselves: How do we differentiate? What separates our PDRN serum from another brand’s? 

That’s precisely where skintertainment comes in. “The number one thing that sells skincare on TikTok is a visual hook,” says Alexis Androulakis, a product developer, makeup artist, and one-half of The Lipstick Lesbians. There’s no shortage of serums with lofty claims and glossy packaging, but what actually stops the scroll? It’s the visual euphoria—the hypnotic glide of a milky toner, the satisfying peel of a mask, the pillowy bounce of a jelly cream—that wins you over in the first three seconds of a TikTok.

The Efficacious vs the Click-Baity

The recent onslaught of larger-than-life textures begs the question: Are these products clickbait? Not necessarily. Oftentimes, these experimental textures can serve as vehicles that better deliver actives into the skin. Androulakis is particularly fond of the Peach & Lily MiniProtein Exosome Bioactive Ampoule. “That is an example where they thickened your traditional milky toner to be more sensorial,” she says. “And that thicker base is acting as a catalyst to ignite the actives in the formula.” 

At the same time, many of the textures on the market are engineered for the camera—but that doesn’t mean they don’t work. A plethora of brands use texture as a tool, tapping into the psychology of touch to make users feel results before they even appear. “When people think of ‘threads,’ they associate it with lifting,” said Dr. Jae-Yong Ban, dermatologist and CEO of Bano Cosmetics. “So we formulated our PDRN 1000 Cream with a thread-like, elastic texture that allows users to visibly and sensorially feel the lifting and firming effects as they apply it to their skin.”

So no, the rise of skintertainment doesn’t signal the demise of efficacious skincare. The best kinds of formulas are able to deliver results while adding a touch of enjoyment to your daily routine. The beauty industry is constantly innovating—only this time around, we’re innovating with fun in mind. And what’s wrong with that? At worst, even when textures don’t improve the actual efficacy of the formula, a fun, delightful formula is perhaps more likely to be used consistently. (Especially with younger audiences.)

What’s Next in Skintertainment?

As for the future of skintertainment? Beauty, of course, is cyclical. As Androulakis puts it: “Innovation in beauty is often an evolution of where we once were.” When America was first introduced to the Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence in 2014, we were spellbound by the glossy goo that held the secret to glass skin. Years later, the beauty industry has reimagined that signature slimy texture into something a bit sexier. This year, Glow Recipe launched a vegan take on snail mucin that keeps the glossy glide but eliminates the stickiness.

If history is any indication, no texture is safe from reinvention. An educated guess on the next frontier of skintertainment? The peel-off. Remember when we used Elmer’s glue as makeshift pore strips? Or when every beauty guru on YouTube was recommending those vibrant Glamglow peel-off masks? The peel is just getting started. If we look to the popularity of Medicube’s Collagen Night Wrapping Mask and the SACHEU Lip Liner Stay-n, we have about five minutes before the beauty industry finds another way to innovate upon the peel. New texture, same rush.