NPD Releases Stats on US Prestige Beauty in Q1 2014

In the first quarter of 2014, sales of U.S. prestige beauty products were $2.5 billion, a 4% decline from Q1 2013, according to The NPD Group.

While still down to last year, makeup outperformed the overall industry, with $1 billion in sales in January through March 2014, a 3% decline from the first quarter of 2013. This performance was boosted in certain segments—primarily by growth in lip color, eye brow, and other face makeup like primers.

Meanwhile, bright spots within the U.S. prestige skin care market came from double-digit dollar sales growth of masks, hair segments, and other facial skin care products like alphabet creams.

According to The NPD Group’s BeautyTrends, top growth segments within U.S. prestige beauty (measured in dollar sales for January–March 2014 vs. January*ndash;March 2013) were:

  • lip color—$101 million in Q1 2014 dollar sales, up 6% vs. Q1 2013
  • other face makeup—$53 million in Q1 2014 dollar sales, up 14% vs. Q1 2013
  • other facial skin care—$35 million in Q1 2014 dollar sales, a 26% increase vs. Q1 2013
  • eye brow makeup—$35 billion in Q1 2014 dollar sales, also a 26% vs. Q1 2013
  • skin care masks—$18 million in Q1 2014 dollar sales, a 44% increase vs. Q1 2013

“The hottest trends in prestige beauty carried through the first three months of 2014, with a focus on immediate results, flawless faces, defined eyes, and bold lips. Despite being a challenging period for the industry, seeing consistency in these bright spots indicates new ways to look for growth and position the large categories around the emerging shifts in consumer preferences,” said Karen Grant, vice president and global industry analyst, The NPD Group.

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