Every day, Influenster members create 40,000 organic ratings, reviews, photos, videos, lists and questions and answers about beauty products. Having such a wealth of user-generated content, we wanted to share what real consumers are buzzing about within the beauty product landscape.

Our insights team analyzed the 13 million organic conversations over the past year to reveal the makeup categories and products that are on the rise and decline.

Detailed in this trend report are some highlights of Influenster’s insights analysis and projections. 

Highlight #1: Indie Beauty for the Win!

While buzz about all beauty products increased in 2017 versus 2016, there was particularly high growth of chatter about indie beauty products, i.e. products from small brands not owned by large corporations, and not launched in luxury channels.

Dose of Colors and ColourPop were two such brands that drove a lot of excitement and buzz. Typically, indie brands do not make large traditional media investments and instead rely on influencer and word of mouth marketing to drive awareness and trial.

See photo #1 in the slider above: Makeup Buzz by Channel, 2016 vs. 2017

Highlight #2: Foundation sticks, eyeshadow palettes and liquid lipstick

Another buzz-driver was a born-again facial makeup format: foundation sticks. Buzz about foundation sticks on Influenster more than sextupled, driven by brands across drugstore, luxury and Indie. One standout product was the Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick, about which members wrote over nine thousand organic reviews and gave very strong ratings.

See photo #2 in the slider above: Foundation Buzz by Formula, 2016 vs. 2017

As for eye makeup, buzz similarly grew across all formats and especially spiked for eyeshadow palettes and false lashes. Buzz about eyeliners, however, was down slightly – giving us insight to the products members are using to create their eye looks.

See photo #3 in the slider above: Eye Makeup Buzz by Format, 2016 vs. 2017

Lip makeup was another strong contender in 2017 where buzz grew across all formats (e.g. lipstick and lip care. The top drugstore, indie and luxury lip products were liquid lipsticks. 

See photo #4 in the slider above: Top Indie, Luxury and Drugstore Lipstick

Highlight #3: Beauty Tools

Beauty tools–ie brushes, sponges, etc–was another category that saw very strong growth.

Beauty tools however was the only spike category that was driven primarily by the drugstore channel, and by one brand in particular: Real Techniques. Founded by Nic and Zoe Chapman, two sisters and makeup artists who are extremely active on social media, the brand is on an exciting winning streak and we look forward to their future innovations. 

See photo #5 in the slider above: Beauty Tool Buzz for the Top 7 Brands, 2016 vs. 2017

Why should brands care?

Why should brands care about buzz on Influenster? 71% of members say that they have purchased a product because of a review. That’s a huge opportunity for brands looking to increase their conversion rates this year. 

How to win in 2018

2017 was an exciting year in beauty with many new and long-standing brands driving conversations with new and cult classic products. A few takeaways for brands this year are to continue bringing exciting, game-changing innovations across all channels, from design packaging to in-store displays and in Instagram feeds, and to enable and encourage real people to tell your brand story online.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Scherle is the co-founder and president of Influenster, the product discovery and reviews platform that enables socially-savvy consumers to find new products and get advice to make informed purchases.

With a community of over 4 million members, these digital influencers have written over 22 million reviews on over 2 million products, spreading the word all over their social media networks.

Originally from Henderson, IA, Elizabeth received her B.A. in Marketing from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.