Prestige Beauty and Skincare have alternated in their category-leading positions in recent years, but Skincare now has the No. 1 slot, according to global information company The NPD Group. The skincare category grew its sales by 9% and contributed 45% of the industry’s total gains; makeup followed with a 6% sales increase and fragrance closed the year up 4%.
 
In total, the U.S. prestige beauty industry reached $17.7 billion in 2017, a 6% increase over 2016.
 
“Change was the theme of the beauty industry in 2017, from the shifts in trends and category performance, to the wave of mergers and acquisitions which show no signs of abating in the near future,” said Larissa Jensen, executive director and beauty industry analyst at The NPD Group—and a member of Beauty Packaging’s Board of Advisors (read her 2018 trend predictions article in Beauty Packaging here). Jensen added, “The industry has not only adapted to this change, but has continued to achieve strong and consistent growth, as it has seen for the last few years. We can expect change to continue to be the catalyst of growth for the industry in 2018.”
 
After several years of soft performance, skincare was revitalized in 2017. Reaching $5.6 billion in sales, growth has stemmed from smaller segments including masks (+32%), facial exfoliators (+12%) and cleansers (+6%), and other face products (+39%) which, among other items, includes emerging formats, essences, and facial sprays. Larger segments such as facial moisturizers (+7%), skincare’s largest by dollar volume, and age specialists (+7%) also fared well in 2017. The body, sun, and hair care segments of skincare all experienced growth as well.  
 
Though makeup’s growth rate slowed in 2017, it remains beauty’s largest category, bringing the most dollar volume to the industry and $8.1 billion in 2017. Growth was driven by high volume segments including foundation (+7%) and eye shadow (+13%), as well as other face products such as bronzers, highlighters, and glow products. Sales were also positive for other key segments like face primers (+17%), concealer (+10%), eye brow makeup (+7%), and lip color (+2%).
 
Fragrance sales, which totaled $4.0 billion in sales in 2017, grew by 4%. Niche areas of the market including natural and artisanal fragrances grew sales by 32% and 14%, respectively. Beyond the body, the home scents market is booming.  It has added $44.4 million in sales since 2014. Sales reached $80.4 million in 2017, up 59%. This is building off of 18% growth the segment saw in 2016. Growth drivers for the market in 2017 included candles (+56%) and the smaller segment of home ancillary gift sets (+165%) which includes candle and reed diffuser gift sets.