Eye makeup outshines face and lips
Eye beauty product sales are nothing to blink at. The category experienced a robust 4.6% growth rate for the 52-week period ended Nov.1, 2015, as tracked by IRI across multi-outlets. Total eye sales eclipsed the $2 billion mark — topping both face and lip.
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The best news is that the huge jolt was provided by a category almost nonexistent a few years ago — eyebrow makeup. Thanks to introductions of brow kits and other brow tamers, sales soared almost 62% during the 52-week period tracked. Two items in particular set the torrid sales pace, Maybelline’s Eye Studio Brow Drama eyebrow makeup and L’Oréal’s Brow Stylist Sculptor. Also new at Walmart is a Hard Candy brow kit with all the tools for the latest trend in brows. Brows got much needed attention thanks to such influencers as Cara Delevingne, along with a bevy of vloggers with tutorials on how to use kits.
Not too far behind the brow bonanza was an uptick in eyeliners, used in particular to create the emerging cat eye, which is giving smokey eye looks a run for the money. Apparently, the more dramatic the better with brands drawing an upward sales line, including Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama eyeliner and Rimmel Exaggerate eyeliner. Total liner sales rose 4.5%. A nice add-on purchase, sharpeners sales are up 15.4%.
Although mascara retail sales dropped slightly, there were some undeniable hits over the year. Two retailers, one a leading drug chain and the other a top discount store buyer, singled out Maybelline Lash Sensational Full Fan Effect mascara as the top beauty item of 2015. What’s created the fanfare? A special brush that unfolds layer upon layer for a full fan effect. Also extending its sales was L’Oréal’s Voluminous Butterfly Intense with sales fluttering up more than 600%.
If you don’t have them, fake them was the mantra last year with artificial lashes soaring almost 16%. That growth isn’t wasted on Kiss, which just unleashed several new lash items. According to Annette Goldstein, SVP of global marketing at Kiss, the new lashes are the result of research to create the most natural looks possible.
Eye shadow sales are up slightly, just under 2%, as consumers focus on lashes, liners and brows. Eye shadows, however, are the leading force behind kit sales, which Walgreens said sold well for the holidays. One the chain mentioned is the Wet n Wild Beauty University Palette of 130 shades priced at $30.