Fragrance stole the beauty spotlight in 2024 and did so across channels.
Year-end data from Circana shows that across mass and prestige, U.S. beauty sales hit $33.9 billion in 2024, with fragrance leading the way in both market segments. For the first time, it’s now the second-largest category in prestige beauty behind makeup, dethroning skin care. The category made up 28 percent of overall beauty sales in the channel.
More broadly, the year can be characterized as “disruption and stabilization,” said Larissa Jensen, Circana’s senior vice president of beauty and industry adviser. “Is it decelerating, is it accelerating? It’s a bit of everything. Sales performance normalized after years of double-digit growth in prestige, and there have been a lot of disruptors in retail.”
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On the prestige side, fragrance was up 12 percent, with parfums growing 43 percent and eaux de parfums growing 14 percent. Luxury brands comprised 12 percent of overall sales, while body sprays soared 94 percent for the year. On the mass side, fragrance was the fastest-growing category by dollar volume.
Makeup is also still predominantly a prestige game, where it grew 5 percent overall. Lip, however, climbed 19 percent, driven by makeup-meets-skin-care hybrids like tinted balms and lip oils. The skinification of makeup extended beyond the segment, with face makeup products touting skin care benefits growing faster than skin products with the same benefits. Makeup in the mass market, however, declined 3 percent.
“Ninety-four percent of makeup users reported that they use makeup products with skin care benefits,” Jensen said. “And if you look at facial skin care, it’s flat for prestige and it’s flat in mass but mass-stige brands [categorized as those that distribute in both channels] are up 13 percent.”
Skin care growth moderated, having edged up 2 percent in the prestige market and 1 percent in the mass market. Body care grew faster than facial skin care, though in the latter, lip treatments, cleansers and sun care are doing well.
Hair grew 9 percent in the prestige market and 3 percent on the mass side, which is the predominant channel for the category. However, a Circana Omnibus survey indicates that 70 percent of consumers say price is important though only 16 percent said they only buy mass hair brands. All segments swelled in 2024, though styling and treatment products jumped double-digits. Scalp care products outpaced the category’s growth twofold.
“Treatments are growing at a significantly faster rate,” Jensen said. “And with scalp care, it’s a global phenomenon. This scalp care and hair loss trend is a global dynamic, and every country we track has this growth happening.”