Beauty sales pick up in Q3, signalling strong holiday performance

US beauty sales gained momentum in the third quarter across both prestige and mass beauty, according to Circana, which could indicate a strong holiday showing for beauty.

Prestige beauty sales rose 4% to $24.1 billion, with units up 4%, while mass beauty sales jumped 5% to $54.5 billion with units rising 2%. Fragrance and hair continued to be bright spots.

The strong performance across beauty categories “bodes well stepping into the holiday season,” Larissa Jensen, global beauty industry advisor at Circana, said in a statement. She noted that one-third of consumers plan to buy beauty products as gifts, up from last year’s 29%, with higher-income shoppers, shoppers with children, and millennials and Gen Z among the most likely to buy beauty products as gifts and for themselves.

Zoom in: Fragrance was the fastest-growing category in mass, with sales soaring 17% and units jumping double digits. On the prestige side, fragrances sales were up 6% to $5.9 billion, with consumers opting for both luxury brands and mini, travel size, and discovery sets.

Mass makeup notched 1% growth while prestige makeup sales increased 3% to $7.9 billion thanks to a strong performance across all segments, though lip products continued to be a shining star across both mass and prestige.

While prestige and mass skin care secured 1% and 5% growth, respectively, masstige was the real winner in skin care, with sales jumping 14%. Prestige skin care, Circana noted, is the only segment where units are surpassing the dollar growth rate. Body and sun care were the standouts in prestige, with facial serums and moisturizers the best performing in mass.

Meanwhile, hair was the fastest-growing segment in prestige, posting an 8% rise to $3.5 billion, while mass hair—the largest segment in mass—grew 4%.

What beauty giants are saying: L’Oréal reported strength in North America hair care and fragrance in Q3, and doubled down on fragrance with the purchase of Kering’s beauty business last month. Estée Lauder is making headway in its turnaround strategy, with skin care and fragrance seeing gains in its most recent quarter, though its total sales dropped 2% in the Americas, impacted by department store struggles. And earlier this month, Coty reported improvements in the US market, particularly in prestige fragrance, and in September announced its plan to more closely align its prestige and consumer fragrance segments, which account for 69% of its sales.