Beauty Stays Top-Two for U.S. Retail Growth as Mass Outpaces Prestige

Beauty ranks as a top-two industry by growth across U.S. retail, and Circana's third-quarter 2026 numbers show the gains are broad but uneven. Prestige beauty sales reached $25.5 billion through the third quarter, up 5 percent year-over-year, while mass beauty grew 7 percent to $57.4 billion, according to Circana.

The mass channel grew faster than prestige. That fact sits at the center of the new data, and Circana's own analyst offers a caution against reading too much into the comparison.

Which prestige categories drove the growth?

Skin care and hair care tied as the top prestige growth categories, each rising 7 percent in dollar sales. Skin care units grew double digits, making skin the biggest category by overall gains.

"Prestige skin care is bringing in the most volume of any [prestige] categories," said Larissa Jensen, global beauty industry adviser for Circana.

Jensen attributed part of the skin care surge to a technicality: 2025 was a softer year for the category, which positioned it for a comeback. She also cited rising interest in devices and K-beauty treatments and serums. The K-beauty numbers carry weight. Korean brands comprise just 8 percent of the $2.6 billion prestige antiaging market, yet they represent 40 percent of the gains in that category, Jensen said.

Fragrance sales in prestige rose 5 percent. Makeup grew 3 percent, driven mainly by complexion products such as concealer, blush and bronzer, alongside a return to growth for lip color and eye shadow. Circana reads that mix as a return to more expressive beauty looks — an interpretation the sales data supports, though the firm does not quantify it.

Why did mass fragrance grow 15 percent?

The mass market posted the quarter's steepest single-category number: fragrance grew 15 percent. Jensen flagged the caveat herself.

"Mass fragrance is a smaller piece of the pie, and it's much easier for smaller areas of the market to post big growth numbers," she said.

Prestige fragrances account for 85 percent of all U.S. fragrance sales, Jensen noted. The market is growing at both ends of the price spectrum simultaneously. As affordable fragrances boom, so do ultraexpensive ones. "Luxury fragrances are a smaller piece of prestige, but they are outpacing total prestige," she said.

The rest of mass grew more modestly: skin care rose nearly 8 percent, hair care 6 percent and makeup just over 4 percent.

Who is buying, and for whom?

Recent Circana research found that roughly one-third of consumers say they wear fragrance daily, up five points versus last year. One-third also report plans to buy a beauty product as a holiday gift.

Jensen identified the groups most likely to give beauty this season:

• Gen Z and Millennials
• Households earning more than $150,000 a year
• Households with kids — close to 50 percent of them plan to buy beauty products as gifts

Circana anticipates fragrance, prestige skin care and gift sets to be the popular gifting items this holiday season. That forecast rests on stated purchase intent, not completed sales, and intent does not always convert. The fourth-quarter results will test whether the top-two growth ranking holds.