'Patch Wars': Fenty Skin, Glow Recipe and Huda Beauty Unveil Identical Packaging

Fenty Skin responded publicly. The brand posted an image on Instagram featuring several similar packages in the style of the famous Spider-Man meme, with characters pointing fingers at each other.

The idea, however, did not come out of nowhere. A similar mechanism is already used in Korean beauty products. The Asian brand Wonder Bath showed its patch slicer back in July 2026. Kursiv LifeStyle suggests two explanations: either none of the players managed to secure the development with a patent, or all three brands share the same packaging supplier.

Why patches have stopped signalling status

Beauty influencers describe the situation as an obvious crisis in the industry. Major brands have sufficient resources to create more original products, but instead they bring identical solutions to market.

'Under-eye patches became a status symbol because people know which ones are fashionable to wear. They put on certain patches on a plane or show them on social media to demonstrate that they use them. But they don't actually work as a way to signal status, because you can't even tell which brand you're wearing,' one blogger lamented.

In the influencers' view, the popularity of specific patches is rarely tied to their formula or effect — it's the recognisability of the packaging that decides. That's why an identical design from three competitors clearly hits sales: differentiation is lost, and with it, the product's status function.

Skincare, in this way, stops working as a status symbol. When three premium-segment brands sell a visually indistinguishable product at a similar price, it becomes harder for the consumer to signal affiliation with a specific brand — and that, according to bloggers' observations, was the main motive for buying.

Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle wrote about how Kazakhstani cosmetics brands compete with major players for customers.