While makeup M&A fell flat this year — much-anticipated acquisitions for brands like Mario Dedianovic’s Makeup by Mario and Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty never quite materialised — it was still a solid year for cosmetics, and especially premium ones: The prestige makeup category overall grew 5 percent year-to-date in both dollars and units sold during the first nine months of 2024, according to Circana.
The lip category was a particular highlight, the sales of which surged 21 percent, “attributed to the rising popularity of tinted lip balms and oils,” explained Larissa Jensen, Circana’s global beauty advisor. Summer Fridays, a skincare label whose success is owed in no small part to its “Lip Butters”, started 2024 by launching a tinted lip oil. Rhode’s pop-up shop, which stretched across a hot summer week in lower Manhattan, may have sold tens of thousands of Sleepy Girl stick blushes, but the real draw was the $38 silicone case that adhered a tube of Peptide Lip Treatment to an iPhone.
The lip obsession is emblematic of the year’s most talked-about marketing segment; the so-called “Sephora tweens,” whose taste for premium cosmetics has been referenced in the earnings reports of specialty retailers and beauty conglomerates, and served as a recurring topic in the culture at large. (It’s true: They love Charlotte Tilbury!)
On the flipside, makeup was one of the only categories in the greater beauty industry that saw faltering mass sales in 2024, according to Circana’s data. And not for lack of marketing. The year began with E.l.f.’s Super Bowl spot starring Judge Judy, and ended with Ariana Grande spoofing a Maybelline commercial on “Saturday Night Live.” It’s as if shoppers young and old want more out of their makeup, and are willing to pay for it. Next year, we’ll see just how much.
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