More accessible than other luxury goods, beauty defies the crisis

Despite an uncertain geopolitical environment and persistent inflationary pressures, the prestige beauty market continued to grow in the first half of 2026, with sales up 7% in North America, 5% in Europe, and 10% in Latin America, according to consulting firm Circana. “This is the fifth consecutive year of strong growth in the global prestige beauty market,” says Mathilde Lion, Circana director and a specialist in the sector.

A little indulgence without breaking the bank: “Makeup is particularly well-positioned to benefit from this trend,” she notes.

A growth driver

For several years, major luxury groups have recognized the value of beauty products as an accessible entry point into their brands. Hermès, for example, launched its lipstick line in 2020, while Celine announced plans to enter the category in 2024.

The strategy has gained importance as leather goods — long the spearhead of the luxury sector — have struggled. In the first half of 2026, LVMH’s Fashion & Leather Goods division, which includes Dior and Celine, saw sales decline by 5%, while Kering’s division, home to Gucci and Balenciaga, also fell 5%.

Several factors are weighing on the sector, including the price increases introduced by major luxury brands. According to consulting firm Bain & Company, the global luxury market has lost 20 million customers between 2024 and 2025, following the loss of 50 million in previous years.

Beauty’s growing importance was also highlighted when L’Oréal, the world’s largest beauty company, recently overtook luxury giant LVMH as the most highly valued company on France’s CAC 40 index. With a portfolio spanning mass-market, prestige and professional beauty L’Oréal’s rise carries a powerful symbolic dimension.

For Éric Briones, a luxury industry specialist, it even marks a changing of the guard. “The center of gravity of luxury shifted in 2026 from fashion to beauty in its broadest sense,” he says.

Unreasonable prices?

The expert also points to the habits of Gen Z — the generation born between the mid-1990s and mid-2010s — who are “in self-optimization mode. And that includes the body, beauty.”

So, goodbye crocodile bags and haute couture dresses? Not necessarily. For Benoît Heilbrunn, a marketing professor at ESCP Business School, young consumers today “want signs of luxury, but not necessarily luxury goods.”

In cosmetics, brands “play on the idea that it might be luxury, when in fact, nothing in the substance or the material justifies it being luxury,” he argues.

Prices can nevertheless reach dizzying heights. A 30 ml serum from Swiss brand La Prairie, owned by Beiersdorf, sells for EUR 300 (or EUR 10,000 per liter). Meanwhile, 500 ml of La Mer’s Crème de la Mer retails for EUR 2,970 on the brand’s website.

“The hyperinflation of luxury is contaminating the beauty industry,” says Éric Briones. In the longer term, he argues, consumers could also turn away from products perceived as excessively expensive, opting instead for less ostentatious brands — or even dupes: cosmetics inspired by major brands but sold at much lower prices and enjoying growing popularity.