UK's cost-of-living crisis is yet to hit prestige beauty

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 24, 2022

Prestige beauty sales are proving resilient in the face of the surging inflation that’s denting consumer appetites for other products, e-tailer Escentual, citing NPD figures, said this week.

CEO and founder Rakesh Aggarwal said: “We are yet to see signs that consumers are tightening their belts as a result of the cost of living crisis. It certainly appears to be the case that the ‘lipstick effect' is happening for the UK's female consumers and we have seen increases in sales across all categories of luxury cosmetics in July.”

The lipstick effect is seen frequently during tough times when consumers rein-in spending on some luxuries that have become unaffordable but continue to buy luxury beauty items that might still only cost £50 or less.

Escentual quoted NPD numbers showing prestige beauty sales rose by 19.5% in July, despite the economic backdrop. The market also saw fragrance sales rising 21.5% compared with July 2021, skincare up 18.4%, make-up rising 17.3%, and haircare up 13.7%.

Fragrance sales represented 54% of the total gains in the prestige market, and women's perfume sales alone were up 186.8%. Other individual items performing well were setting sprays up 59.2%, blusher up 35.9%, lip colour up 32.8%, and bronzer up 19.1%.