Mintel Predicts Beauty Trends for 2010
“Austerity chic” ruled the beauty industry in 2009, but as this challenging year comes to a close, Mintel Beauty Innovation forecasts the top beauty trends for 2010. Though manufacturer and consumer attitudes were changed by the recession, innovation and resilience have shaped a new landscape for beauty in 2010.
Nica Lewis, global research director for Beauty Innovation, said: “While 2009 brought its challenges for the industry, beauty brands and suppliers have continued to seek creative new ways to merge science, nature and sustainability for better results and more eco-friendly formulas and packaging. In 2010, we will see more consolidation in the beauty industry and the evolution of old trends, as well as new ones, as consumer confidence returns.”
Taya Tomasello, Mintel’s U.S. Director of Beauty Innovation, explained that grocers are in a healthy position when it comes to beauty products. Many new introductions are geared toward the mass market as consumers reach out to soothe themselves at home. The economic crunch has lured some consumers away from full-service appointments to self-treatments and spa-like home services.
“Aromatherapy and fragrances that are soothing are really going to be on-trend,” Tomasello explained. “Items that have a spa-like quality to make you relaxed in the home environment will continue to grow, especially in the present economy. For example, I just recently toured the beauty aisles at Dominick’s, which has a whole spa section [where] many of the products are geared toward mood and relaxation. More consumers are looking to trade down from going to the salon to purchasing more products for themselves to use at home. Grocery stores are responding with stocking those products.”
Tomasello credits grocers with getting very creative in the beauty aisles using HEB as an example of a chain squarely focused on its offerings.
“The consumer experience in the store is what really helps to develop these impulse buys. Grocery may do well to look toward retailers such as Sephora that allows you to test and try product with a higher price point. HEB really has succeeded in this area, creating a beauty destination in the store. They are a great example of what a grocer could do to make beauty a destination. Beauty has a high margin, and manufacturers are really trying to capture the consumer wherever she is. Since everyone has to visit the grocery store, it’s a logical evolution.”
Here are some of Mintel’s predictions:
1. Mood Beauty
Makeup has long been associated with making the wearer feel better, but recent product evolution has seen actual ingredients enabling this. In 2010, consumers will be able to enhance their mood through makeup and skincare, going beyond aromatherapy and simple use of scent.
“Mood Beauty” creates a new beauty space, intersecting psychology and well-being with beauty products that offer psychological benefits and ingredients that act on people’s neurotransmitters. Expect manufacturers to make use of textures, temperatures or sounds that affect the mood, as well as innovations like makeup that “switches on and off.”
Meanwhile, the idea of beauty sleep will take on new meaning, as cosmetics claiming to induce positive moods or improve sleep quality inject new life into night care products.
2. Nu Natural
“Nu Natural” is a new vision of natural that is less focused on certification and more focused on results, efficiency and safety. In 2010, beauty products will evolve from today’s trend toward organic ingredients, revisiting attributes like authenticity, provenance and local production.
Mintel Beauty Innovation expects claims like “free from” and “sustainable” to appear in products that simultaneously contain synthetic actives like peptides, hyaluronic acid, ceramides or collagen. Beauty manufacturers will further explore simple formulas, such as infusions and fluids, but they’ll formulate them with a new generation of phytochemicals, anthocyanins and fermented actives.
3. Pro-Tech’t
Throughout 2009, there was a renewed emphasis on protection, one of the basic functions of skincare, hair care and color cosmetics. Beauty products offered increasingly powerful shields against not just UV rays, but also physiological and man-made factors.
In 2010, “Pro-Tech’t” will strengthen this shield. Marketing language is already growing more robust, borrowing from computer technology (e.g. “firewalls”). Packaging, too, will expand beyond traditional glass and plastic to materials like neoprene and concrete.
In addition, Mintel Beauty Innovation expects growth in immune-boosting and skin-defending claims, as well as new products that contain ingredients from extreme environments such as the Arctic, Alpine or desert. Expect more health care actives like rhodiola rosea, griffonia and superoxide dismutase to appear in 2010’s beauty products, forging a stronger link with nutricosmetics.
4. Turbo Beauty 4G
Developing 2009’s “Turbo Beauty” trend, “Turbo Beauty 4G” continues to capitalize on advances in biochemistry for higher-tech beauty products. Expect more quasi-medical results and “mix-it-yourself” solutions: at-home kits and cures that offer alternatives to cosmetic surgery and non-invasive procedures.
In 2010, products will increasingly include medical- or pharmaceutical-grade actives, and next-generation nanotechnology. In addition, clinical testing to substantiate claims and results will move from prestige into “masstige” (affordable for general consumers but positioned as luxury).
Following the explosion of social media, Mintel also expects beauty manufacturers to start marketing anti-aging products in particular to “digital natives.”
Nica Lewis, global research director for Beauty Innovation, said: “While 2009 brought its challenges for the industry, beauty brands and suppliers have continued to seek creative new ways to merge science, nature and sustainability for better results and more eco-friendly formulas and packaging. In 2010, we will see more consolidation in the beauty industry and the evolution of old trends, as well as new ones, as consumer confidence returns.”
Taya Tomasello, Mintel’s U.S. Director of Beauty Innovation, explained that grocers are in a healthy position when it comes to beauty products. Many new introductions are geared toward the mass market as consumers reach out to soothe themselves at home. The economic crunch has lured some consumers away from full-service appointments to self-treatments and spa-like home services.
“Aromatherapy and fragrances that are soothing are really going to be on-trend,” Tomasello explained. “Items that have a spa-like quality to make you relaxed in the home environment will continue to grow, especially in the present economy. For example, I just recently toured the beauty aisles at Dominick’s, which has a whole spa section [where] many of the products are geared toward mood and relaxation. More consumers are looking to trade down from going to the salon to purchasing more products for themselves to use at home. Grocery stores are responding with stocking those products.”
Tomasello credits grocers with getting very creative in the beauty aisles using HEB as an example of a chain squarely focused on its offerings.
“The consumer experience in the store is what really helps to develop these impulse buys. Grocery may do well to look toward retailers such as Sephora that allows you to test and try product with a higher price point. HEB really has succeeded in this area, creating a beauty destination in the store. They are a great example of what a grocer could do to make beauty a destination. Beauty has a high margin, and manufacturers are really trying to capture the consumer wherever she is. Since everyone has to visit the grocery store, it’s a logical evolution.”
Here are some of Mintel’s predictions:
1. Mood Beauty
Makeup has long been associated with making the wearer feel better, but recent product evolution has seen actual ingredients enabling this. In 2010, consumers will be able to enhance their mood through makeup and skincare, going beyond aromatherapy and simple use of scent.
“Mood Beauty” creates a new beauty space, intersecting psychology and well-being with beauty products that offer psychological benefits and ingredients that act on people’s neurotransmitters. Expect manufacturers to make use of textures, temperatures or sounds that affect the mood, as well as innovations like makeup that “switches on and off.”
Meanwhile, the idea of beauty sleep will take on new meaning, as cosmetics claiming to induce positive moods or improve sleep quality inject new life into night care products.
2. Nu Natural
“Nu Natural” is a new vision of natural that is less focused on certification and more focused on results, efficiency and safety. In 2010, beauty products will evolve from today’s trend toward organic ingredients, revisiting attributes like authenticity, provenance and local production.
Mintel Beauty Innovation expects claims like “free from” and “sustainable” to appear in products that simultaneously contain synthetic actives like peptides, hyaluronic acid, ceramides or collagen. Beauty manufacturers will further explore simple formulas, such as infusions and fluids, but they’ll formulate them with a new generation of phytochemicals, anthocyanins and fermented actives.
3. Pro-Tech’t
Throughout 2009, there was a renewed emphasis on protection, one of the basic functions of skincare, hair care and color cosmetics. Beauty products offered increasingly powerful shields against not just UV rays, but also physiological and man-made factors.
In 2010, “Pro-Tech’t” will strengthen this shield. Marketing language is already growing more robust, borrowing from computer technology (e.g. “firewalls”). Packaging, too, will expand beyond traditional glass and plastic to materials like neoprene and concrete.
In addition, Mintel Beauty Innovation expects growth in immune-boosting and skin-defending claims, as well as new products that contain ingredients from extreme environments such as the Arctic, Alpine or desert. Expect more health care actives like rhodiola rosea, griffonia and superoxide dismutase to appear in 2010’s beauty products, forging a stronger link with nutricosmetics.
4. Turbo Beauty 4G
Developing 2009’s “Turbo Beauty” trend, “Turbo Beauty 4G” continues to capitalize on advances in biochemistry for higher-tech beauty products. Expect more quasi-medical results and “mix-it-yourself” solutions: at-home kits and cures that offer alternatives to cosmetic surgery and non-invasive procedures.
In 2010, products will increasingly include medical- or pharmaceutical-grade actives, and next-generation nanotechnology. In addition, clinical testing to substantiate claims and results will move from prestige into “masstige” (affordable for general consumers but positioned as luxury).
Following the explosion of social media, Mintel also expects beauty manufacturers to start marketing anti-aging products in particular to “digital natives.”