The prestige beauty category
continues its upward growth trend.

According to The NPD Group, total beauty sales for the
month of September saw an increase of 6% to $895 million. Fragrance,
representing 24% of prestige beauty dollars, grew 5%. Skincare, representing
36% of prestige beauty sales, grew 6%. And makeup, representing the lion’s share
of the prestige beauty business at 40%, grew 7% in U.S. department stores.

Year-to-date (January thru September) sales of total
prestige beauty totaled $6.8 billion, an increase of 9% versus a year ago.
Looking at the individual categories’ year-to-date dollar performances,
skincare increased 11%, makeup increased 8%, and fragrance posted a 7%
increase.