Women are prettying up their faces with colorful prestige cosmetics once they’re primed with the perfect foundation. According to beauty market research conducted by The NPD Group, Inc., during the first 10 months of 2011 (January to October), total prestige makeup dollar sales in U.S. department stores were $2.8 million, an increase of 8% in dollars, compared to the same time last year. Units grew 5% with almost 117 million units sold. October was the tenth month of dollar growth and the ninth month of unit growth for the year.

In the first 10 months of the year, all prestige makeup segments saw dollar growth: Total Nail, up 59%; Total Eye and All Other Color, each up 10%; Total Sets, up 9%; Total Lip, up 8%; and Total Face, up 7%.

The big winners in the Face segment were concealer and foundation, while Eyes showed dramatic increases in the eye shadow, eye brow, and mascara categories. In Lip, it was lip color that stole the dollars away from lipgloss and liner (each declining -1% in sales). Lip color outperformed the category’s dollar performance of 8%, with an increase of 12%. The Nail segment was a winner all around, showing 50+ dollar increases for both nail enamel and top/base coats.

In addition, eye shadow palette sales came on strong, with the trend of dramatic eyes this season. In the first 10 months, eye shadow consisting of five or more palettes grew triple digits in dollar sales, compared to the same time last year. Quad palettes grew double-digits.

“In makeup, while neutral tones and face products led in the past, across countries we see strong gains in color categories of lip and nail color and a new focus on eye shadow and eye definition with growth in eye pencil and brow products,” said Karen Grant, vice president and senior global industry analyst, The NPD Group, Inc.—and a member of Beauty Packaging’s Board of Advisors. “In makeup, the joy of color is seen with more than half of the top 25 new products (and 7 of the top 10) being from an eye or lip category.”