While makeup posted slight growth in the prestige market through the third quarter of 2024, the category is declining overall.Data from NIQ shows that total makeup sales dropped 1 percent from January through October 2024, with the downturn accelerating particularly during the last 12 weeks of that period.
Consider that for most of 2023 makeup was prestige beauty’s fastest-growing category, posting steady double-digit gains. Then the holidays came around and not only did skin carefor the top spot — hair care and fragrance, too, were suddenly growing faster for the first time that year. .What was a plot twist then has remained a pattern today: Circana data shows fragrance is currently prestige beauty’sing category, and hair care is number two.
Olivia Stelmaszczyk, a beauty and fashion research analyst at Euromonitor, pointed to consumers’ growing wellness focus as another reason for the Lipstick Index’s broadening horizons. “Today’s consumer has more options for mood-boosting beauty purchases; even fragrance has transformed into a more self-care-oriented category, so some of that Lipstick Index spend is evolving beyond makeup.