From brows to lashes and lips, color cosmetic sales are trending up

From the hot color segments to new product launches, here is what you need to know about the beauty business in 2017.

(To view the full Beauty Trends Report, click here.)

Mass market color cosmetics sales continue to climb, driven primarily by adventurous millennials.

For the sixth continuous time period, the most explosive expansion is coming from eyebrow makeup. For the 52-week period ended Oct. 30 across multi-outlets, as measured by IRI, the sector’s dollar volume soared more than 34%.

To that end, chains are rushing to add more brow entries while building out brow departments. Maybelline’s Eyestudio Brow makeup showed sales gains of more than 142%, while its EyeStudio Brow Drama contributed another almost 40% increase. Milani burst into the category with its Stay Put Eyebrow Makeup, which is up more than 250%.

CVS is the exclusive mass merchant source for Wunderbrow brow gel, a one-step solution allowing women to easily fill, define and shape their eyebrows with natural-looking color in under two minutes. Wunderbrow achieved fame on the Internet, and is hitting CVS stores in five shades, priced at $22.

The focus on eyes is helping women discover the beauty of artificial lashes. Kiss Products unveiled new product innovations for 2017 designed to keep the momentum.

“We want to be category drivers,” said Annette DeVita-Goldstein, SVP of global marketing at Kiss Products. According to IRI, Kiss’s eyelash adhesives and artificial eyelashes both churned out sales increases exceeding 50% for the most recently tracked 52-week period.

“We have our ear to the ground for beauty trends,” DeVita-Goldstein explained, adding the company noticed celebrities and beauty icons were wearing mink artificial lashes to achieve a fluffy and luxurious look.

With a goal of making non-fur options that would be lighter and more affordable, the Kiss team created Lash Couture, Faux Mink Collection. New technology with a knotless lash band was implemented to create a natural, layered look. The lashes, which mimic the look of mink without using real fur, are sold in six lash styles retailing for $5.99. The lashes are reusable up to 10 times.

“Lashes are instantly transformational,” said DeVita-Goldstein, who believes the advantages of the faux mink will attract more users to the false eyelash category. To complement the new lashes, Kiss also rolled out a new strip lash adhesive that is strong but gentle, thanks to the infusion of biotin and blueberry extract.

A new lash app is expected to help women virtually “see” lashes before applying. Salon Perfect, which is exclusive at Walmart, now can be tried on an app from Perfect365. Ardell lashes will be added to the app in the next month.

“Easy application is absolutely one of the biggest obstacles concerning false lashes today, and has been for decades. Many women buy the lashes, but either end up having a professional apply them or they don’t use them at all,” explained Vickie Wei, director of marketing for Perfect365. “The nature of eyelashes and how they are sold makes it almost impossible to try them on before purchasing them. Most users purchase a number of ‘wrong’ lashes before finding their perfect pair.” Wei said eyelash-related enhancements are a $1 billion-plus category that will benefit from the further education provided by digital solutions.

Perfect365 app users can experiment with five one-tap lash looks and view videos on how to apply lashes in real life. Perfect365 is a free makeup app with more than 80 million users. It uses face-detection technology for accurate virtual makeup placement on photos and live videos. Perfect365 app users will be teased about the lash addition.

From lids to lips — women also want to make a bold statement with their lip shades.

The lip category is still shining for mass merchants with sales of lip combos up 140%, gloss up 4%, lip liner rising 4.5% and lip treatment soaring 100%. Among the standout products in the sector are LA Colors Lip Combo, Maybelline Baby Lips lip gloss and NYX lip liner.

The final category with the most positive results is concealers. Dollar sales of concealers are up almost 11%, propelled by a trio of Maybelline items — Instant Age Rewind, Fit Me and Superstay Better Skin. Also, NYX Wonderstick powered a 163% growth spurt.