Sales of prestige beauty is sizzling. According to NPD, overall sales of prestige beauty products in U.S. department stores climbed 7.5 percent in the first half of the year, ended June 30, to $4.9 billion. The category with the largest increase in sales was skin care, which catapulted 9.1 percent to $1.8 billion. The second best performing prestige beauty category was makeup, which grew sales 8.2 percent to $1.9 billion. Fragrance also reported gains, with 3.9 percent sales increases for the time period, to $1.1 billion.